Tweet

Blogging on Free Hosts not a Good Idea

Written by: Chris McElroy

Article Overview: This article is about blogging and why you should never blog on a free host like blogger.com or wordpress.com I am writing this to alert people out there who are building blogs on free blog hosts like blogger.com and wordpress.com

Blogging on Free Hosts not a Good Idea

By Chris McElroy aka NameCritic

Installing wordpress is free and gives you full control over your blog. There are other platforms like moveable type to choose from as well. Take a look around and find the platform you like or that best fits your blogging style. I've learned an expensive lesson and now will only build blogs on my own domain names.

The reason?

Lets start with blogger.com

They have a new out of control spam bot. Search the blogger help forums and you will find the horror stories. Legitimate blogs are being deleted, people are getting locked out of their blog until reviewed, and assumed to be a spammer because either the bot flagged the blog or someone clicked the little flag button at the top of all blogger blogs.

That and the fact that they have constant problems with the publishing getting stuck at 0%, slow load times, etc. it makes blogging through blogger.com a buggy experience at best and your content or reason for blogging is up to someone else's interpretation of what is or is not legitimate.

I understand getting rid of splogs and spammers, but in blogger.com’s case the cure is worse than the disease. They were not always that way. I've been on blogger a long time and the service used to be good.

As far as wordpress.com they are just as bad. If the blog links to a website and looks as if it might be promoting people to go to that website they will suspend your account without warning and lock you out of all the content.

I'm not sure what they think blogs are for, but they seem to think they have a noble purpose in life and that they alone decide what is a "genuine blog" or not.

A "genuine blog" is one that is controlled by the individual who writes to it, not one that must adhere to someone else's idea of what their blog should look like and what it should say.

If you blog on freehosts just be aware your content and your blog is in the hands of others who will decide for the world whether or not your blog should be seen by others.

I recommend all bloggers get their own domain names and install their own blogs. You probably have learned that using a freehost for your company’s website is bad for business so why put your company’s blog on a freehost?

The same goes for individuals. Blogs allow you to express yourself the way you want to express yourself. That is the beauty of blogging. Are you willing to sacrifice your individuality to conform to what blogger.com or wordpress.com thinks is a “genuine” way to express yourself?

Many times the person deciding your fate is someone who has never had any authority over other people and who think that now they have Godlike powers to decide the fate of content written by others. These are people who likely produce no content of value themselves and think they know what is best for the rest of the world.

Get your own domain name and install a blogging platform that fits your needs. It’s the best advice you will ever get about blogging. You only own the blog if it is on your own domain name. Everything else is just providing content for someone else.

Related Articles
  To Blog or Not to Blog
  Earn More Money For Your Internet Marketing Business with Blogging
  Beginners Guide to Blogging
  Want lightening fast SEO results Build a Blog
  Blogging: A Brief History

Article Tags: blogger, blogging platform, domain name, wordpress, wordpress



Related Forum Posts
Re: Internet Marketing is the best business in the world - [quote="WhyNot":ms4wci6i]You stated that you can get your product in front of millions of people within 5 minutes using PPC. What is PPC? I am considering writing an e-book, how can I best market it? [/quote:ms4wci6i] It is Pay per click advertising. You have google, yahoo, MSN and other sites that offer it. Your ad shows up along site of the search results for the key words you specify and on other sites as "sponsered results". You could test the market with PPC (track where you get your hits from;keywords and so forth and use SEO to get FREE traffic), or Free methods like article marketing.. Either way you have to [u:ms4wci6i]know what your doing [/u:ms4wci6i](supply,demand, niche, [u:ms4wci6i]Highly[/u:ms4wci6i] targeted prospects, Location specifics [country, state,city,zip code,] etc.). Oh yeah and you have to have money. Because you are going to lose money if you are a beginner. Man I need to include this post on my blog...LOL Been a while since I been here. Just got this notification in my email and figured I'd help you out. Been working on my SEO. To answer your other question there are LOTs of other Free ways to advertise/market. For example Forum marketing Yahoo Answers (great for SEO to) But be careful not to bet banned. SEO of course Search Engine Optimization US Free Leads Article Marketing YouTube Twitter Yahoo blogs Blogging (blogger,squidoo, hub pages) Myspace Facebook Newspaper ads Craigslist etc. The list goes on. These are just a few I though of off the top of my head. Now that I think of it I need to start doing more myself. ideasuniversity had wrote quit a few good post on marketing/promotion, viral effects and such. You should check them out. Just a word of advice, make sure you have the write niche first. Anyway, hope this helps.
Re: Top Banner Help - The more popular ones that I've seen: Online Marketing and Publicity Search Engine Optimization Web Design and Programming Blogging Re: the poll, I think there was enough response to warrant the new category. These are very popular search terms. I agree that too many niche categories is not a good idea, maybe keep it to a minimum 2-3 internet related topics. Good job on the banners BennyBoy!
Re: Top Banner Help - [quote:35xjo6uq]Good job on the banners BennyBoy![/quote:35xjo6uq] No probs:) I agree Online Marketing and Publicity Search Engine Optimization - Web Design and Programming Blogging also may be... Web Design Tutorials Looking to Hire - jobs section Interesting Articles / websites
Re: Free elecrtricity generator - Can anybody help me with any aspect of my invention? In basic terms it is the energy of Gravity conserved and reused = (Auto engaging and disengaging shafts) = perpetual motion Perpetual motion + static friction generated in a pipe = free static electricity Free static electricity converted to usable electricity = Free usable electricity Free usable electricity generated by the constant friction generated by an auto engaging and disengaging machine that conserves the energy of gravity in a overcrankable clock spring The weight is easilly lifted back up the shaft with the aid of a double pully on ropes
Re: Domains - Hey David, Why do you want to sell your domains? You can give them on lease for a couple of years. The reason why I suggest you this is that the two sites you want to sell can do business for you. You are already into SEO and hence you can run a website. You may have personal reasons for selling them off, like you are too occupied with other work, but still, why to slay the goose that gives golden eggs? It just needs a few minutes of your precious time. However, if you have made up your mind, try to find out some organization into ipods and make a deal. Alternatively, use the site for Blogging (it looks like a blog at the first go), do some Adsense and earn revenue. Ups and downs are a part of business and you should not plan to sell off when things don't go your way. Be a fighter. Good Luck.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Emotional Intelligence in Business

Four Secrets to Earning Income as an Author

Tips for the Novice Traveler

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.