Business at Home Income Blog

Posts Tagged ‘starting a blog’

This is a question I get all the time and many bloggers undoubtedly get all the time.

Should I use a free WordPress Blog? Or should I host my own WordPress Blog?

To be clear, a free WordPress blog can be obtained by simply signing up for one at WordPress.com. The username you use to join becomes your blog name. As an example I have a username “howdoyoustartablog”. This translates to my free wordpress blog site “howdoyoustartablog.wordpress.com”

The self-hosted WordPress blog would be on your own domain on your own site you would install the WordPress software on. The WordPress software would then be the blogging system that manage the content of your website. These days, installation is quite easy with most hosting companies. Most use push button software such as Fantastico Deluxe or Simple Scripts to install Wordprses. Check out my website and watch a free video and watch before your eyes as I set up a blog and post to my blog all in about 10 minutes.

So now to address the question: which is the right one for you?

FREE WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES

PLUS free to setup

PLUS installation is easy (done by WordPress the company)

PLUS maintenance is free (setup, upgrades, spam, security, backups are all done by WordPress)

PLUS reliable servers (hosted on WordPress.com servers)

PLUS inclusion into the WordPress.com community may facilitate community traffic

MINUS cannot update/upload your own theme. Must use WordPress.com themes

MINUS cannot edit any of the php code (useful for adding additional features from third parties)

MINUS cannot upload any plugins. The WordPress plugin community is huge by the way

MINUS no ad placements allowed. In fact, WordPress will place their own ads on your blog

MINUS WordPress brand (not your own brand)

MINUS no true ownership of content. Site is still a WordPress site

SELF HOSTED WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES

PLUS can upload custom made and third party WordPress themes. There are thousands of third party themes you can choose from or you can make a custom one.

PLUS can change the php WordPress code as desired. This will allow nearly unlimited functionality in your site. There exists a large community of WordPress developers with many out-of-the-box scripts to add function to your site.

PLUS can upload plugins! iPhone’s motto is “There’s an app for that”. WordPress’s motto should be “There’s a plugin for that”.

PLUS your own ads allowed, better control of monetization

PLUS your own brand/domain name

PLUS you have ftp access to your hosted account which allows you a lot of control on your site outside of your actual WordPress blog

MINUS you need to set up yourself (though most hosting providers provide push button installation through “Fantastico Deluxe” or “Simple Scripts”. Plus my free video walks you through this process.

MINUS costs involved to setup. You have to pay domain registrar fees which is about $15 a year. Hosting fees can be $5 to $10 a month.

MINUS you maintain on your own including spam control, backups, security, etc. There are many plugins available for this.

MINUS need to find reliable servers. Make sure to choose a good hosting company. Most of them have a pretty good uptime guarantee.

In summary, if you want just the most basic blogging features of the traditional blogging sense, a free blog is for you. If you plan to monetize it even with adsense, then you will want a self-hosted paid blog. Moreover, if you want to add your own custom look and feel, you will want a self-hosted paid blog. You also have access to many free WordPress themes as well. And finally the world of plugins is the big kicker. Think about apps for the iPhone. There is a quote that whatever you want, .there is an app for that.. Plugins are much the same from security to SEO to driving traffic to membership sites to just about anything.

In most cases, I recommend a self-hosted paid blog.

I hope this has been helpful. And please do contact me if you have any questions or post them here on the blog. And if you are thinking about starting a blog, check out my free video which walks you through the simple setup of a hosted blog in about 10 minutes with a hostmonster account.

Want to learn more about starting a blog with WordPress? Come by Emil Yau’s site How Do You Start A Blog and watch his video as he creates and posts to a new WordPress blog in less than 10 minutes right in front of your eyes.

Blogs are used for many reasons these days (whether it is called a blog or not). Much of the time it is used for marketing. Other times it is used to distribute information much like a press release would. This article, however, will go back to the roots of what a blog is: an online journal.

At its core, a blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3′s on your blogs.

So what is in a blog?

A blog consists of many blog posts.

A blog post has these basic features:

Title: which allows you to label your post

Body: this is the content of your blog post

Trackback: this is when other sites link back to your blog entry

Permanent Link: every article that you write has a URL

Comments: this section is for readers to post their comments about your blog entry

Blogging is especially easy today to jump right in and blog right away through the evolution of blogging software. WordPress and Blogger are the two most popular blogging platforms. Both are web based so you can blog from anywhere. Both also have the ability to change the look and feel and design of your blog at the push of a button. For example when the holidays come you can find a holiday design to put on your blog at the push of a button and then change it back later.

I have been focusing on online journal for your blog, but as you learn more about blogging keep your mind open as well because there are many uses for blogs. At its base it is a way to distribute information so blogs can be very useful for just about anybody who needs to get information out to others. So once you get used to how a blog works, don’t be surprised if you want to start more than one for all your information distribution needs!

So just how do you start a blog? Come to Emil Yau’s site and let his free video walk you through step-by-step how to start a blog today!