Free Blogs – Three Big Reasons Not to Use Them!

One of the biggest questions asked by new bloggers is "Should I get my own hosted blog or should I get a blog?" I've heard that question more times than I'd like to remember.

Although there are advantages and disadvantages to both, having your own web hosting server is always better at the end of the day. Let me give you two simple and valid reasons why you should never use a blog provider:

Reason # 1: Limited Resources

Posting content through a remotely hosted blog requires that you relinquish a tremendous amount of control over how messages look and work. This is primarily because a remotely hosted blog by design is built to accommodate hundreds of thousands of bloggers.

For such a big volume of activity, it can only afford to offer the very least. A blog that offers an extensive amount of features to a large number of people consumes much more resources than what its own servers can provide – absolutely running the risk of major crashes.

Even something as simple as a low-graphic poll can consume an insurmountable amount of bandwidth if over 100,000 bloggers decide to offer one to their visitors. A popular blog already consumes more bandwidth than you can imagine.

Resources simply are not an issue with a self-hosted WordPress blog these days. With your blog web hosting, you can deck out your blog with as many plugins and widgets as your heart desires without having to fear server crashes or time outs.

In fact, you should not consume any more bandwidth with your own hosted blog than you would consume with your own hosted website.

Reason # 2: Limited Monetizing Opportunities

We could not count the number of people who want to monetize their blogs if we wanted to. The simple fact is that everyone and his "mom" wants to monetize their blog but the ugly reality is that many (free) remotely hosted blogs do not allow it.

If you host a blog at WordPress.com for example, you're prohibited from using any form of direct advertising like Google AdSense or affiliate links.

Limited resources could play a factor in this restriction, however since most monetized campaigns call upon the resources of a 3rd party, this restraint is mostly censorship. Providers than block third party ads typically do so because they want to promote their own services, or at the very least get more people to sign up for their free blog accounts.

If you have your own blog, you can use any type of advertising program. You're only restricted by your conscience (or by the data disclosed from your visitor stats) and the only policies that you have to follow are the policies of your 3rd party ad providers. This allows you to tap into popular programs like Google AdSense, Chitika, Text Link Ads and much more.

Reason # 3: Long Term Control of Content

One of the most overlooked reasons to get your own blog hosting is the complete control over content in the long term. Although some free blog providers like BlogSpot are unquestionably to go our business, some of the smaller ones ever will.

And when that happens, it can be difficult (if not impossible) for you to move your content to another free provider. Even in the case of BlogSpot or WordPress.com (free version) you may want to move your content to your own blog host two or three years down the road.

Unfortunately, any search engine ranking you get, and the free traffic that comes along with it, will be lost. So even if you think you're saving a buck or two today, in the long term you're always on the losing end if you decide not to host your own blog.

Web hosting blog blogs nowdays is pretty affordable – mostly under $ 7 a month – so there's no real reason not to take your blog to the next level. The meager cost is nothing compared to the benefits you get, like flexibility and professionalism.

Source by Gobala Krishnan