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One of the most important decisions you’ll have to make when starting a blog is what platform to use. There are three main types: self-hosted, free hosted (WordPress), and fee-based hosted (Blogger).
Each of these has its benefits and drawbacks and depends on the needs of the individual.
But If you’re looking for more control over your site’s look and feel, better SEO opportunities, or increased freedom with advertisements, then self-hosting might be the best option.
In this article, I will explain seven reasons why you should launch a self-hosted blog in the hope that it will help you make a decision.
Also, I will be covering a step-by-step guide on setting up your self-hosted blog, so you will have a blog with full authority by the end of the post.
Before we dig deep into the post, let’s understand the definition of a self-hosted blog.
What Is A Self-Hosted Blog?
A self-hosted blog is a type of blog hosted on your domain name and server (rather than on free hosting sites like blogger.com or wordpress.com). It has all the features you’d typically expect from a modern blog but with more flexibility, power, and customization.
For example, you will have more advanced options for monetizing your site, and you can do more with the development of the blog itself.
How Much Does It Costs To Start A Self-hosted Blog
The cost of starting a self-hosted blog will depend on the type of WordPress hosting you choose. For example, those who wish to purchase multiple domain names and platinum-level support can expect to pay more than someone who wants a basic package with no frills attached.
It is possible to find a decent web host for as little as $5 per month.
My recommendation is Dream Host; why? Because I use it myself, and honestly, this company provides fast and secure web hosting services at the lowest price possible.
The entry-level package on Dream Host-only costs 4.95$ per month. This package gives you free SSD storage, a Free SSL certificate, Unlimited Traffic, Free WordPress migration, and much more.
And if you choose the yearly plan, the price will cut down to only 2.95$ monthly, with a free domain. Apart from being cheap, the Dream Host has great customer service and technical support.
Why People Choose To Run A Free Hosted Blog
Many bloggers who are just starting on the internet often choose to run a free blog. Why?
The answer is simple: it’s FREE!
I mean, why pay money if it’s possible to have a blog without any financial commitment?
However, there are several drawbacks to running a free blog. Some people think that these drawbacks outweigh the advantages, but that is not the case in reality.
Having a free blog on WordPress.com or Blogger means that you will not own your blog’s content, you will not earn anything from the blog, and you’ll have limited customization options, etc.
Another reason why people choose to start a free hosted blog is that it is more convenient; everything sets up quickly without any tech requirements.
Advatnges Of Running A Self-Hosted Blog
Whether you are launching your first blog or upgrading to a self-hosted blog, there are several advantages to consider; why should you switch from a free-hosted blog to a self-hosted one? Let’s look at the benefits:
Complete Control And Ownership Of The Blog:
One of the best advantages of running a self-hosted blog is that you will have complete control over the blog.
How? When you purchase a hosting service, your website no longer belongs to a third party, and you obtain ownership of the site and the content created on it. In other words, you become the boss of your blog!
Therefore, you can install plugins, themes, change settings and do whatever you like to do with it. You can even delete the blog entirely if you want.
Besides, you will own your data. No one will have the authority to take away your blog.
Earn From Your Blog:
Many people choose to start a blog in the first place to earn from it. Unfortunately, you can not generate income by running a free blog on WordPress or Blogger.
No matter if your blog gets hundreds or thousands of views per day. I know you might have the question, but what about those ads I see on my free blog? WordPress runs those ads on your blog so that you can use their services for free.
Yes, it’s the harsh truth they earn from the content you create, and you don’t even get a dime for all the hard work.
But by going self-hosted, you will be able to place ads on your blog and earn from your content. Other than ads, there are many ways to earn from a blog, such as affiliate links, courses, and more.
Choose The Blog Theme:
I used to have a free hosted blog on WordPress for a year or so, and the thing I disliked the most was the limited theme. I know there are many free themes to choose from, but they have limited customization options, and the one with more features is the premium ones.
As soon as I went self-hosted, the first thing I focused on was my blog theme. Many beginner bloggers tend to ignore it, but the blog’s appearance matters a lot because your readers might think you are just new to blogging if they see a plain, dull theme on your blog site.
Anyway, a great benefit of self-hosted blogs is you choose your blog theme.
You can download free or premium themes from the web to add many features and custom colors. These things will make your blog look more professional.
Your Website Will Be More Reliable:
A self-hosted blog looks more reliable because it has the “.com” address, while a free blog site will have the domain with “Blogspot,” “WordPress,” etc.
I’m not saying that there aren’t great blogs in these domains, but still, your readers might get confused with addresses like these. Also, people hardly trust a website or a blog with a free hosted address.
I have to mention that your website’s credibility and reliability can be lost if you choose to go for a free hosted blog site instead of paid hosting service. Your website can go down easily, and you will need to wait many hours, if not days, to get it back online.
Your readers might lose faith in your site because of reliability issues.
Build Trust With Audience:
Another reason to start a self-hosted blog is to build trust with your readers. It could be that you are providing great content and valuable information for your readers, which they appreciate, but this is not enough to build trust with visitors on your blog.
You need to take extra measures to ensure their loyalty, reliability, and support for your blog.
By turning your blog into a self-hosted site, you give a severe guarantee to your readers that you will keep providing them with valuable information without any interruption or controversy.
SEO Advantages:
A free-hosted blog has many SEO disadvantages when compared to self-hosted ones.
Free hosted blogs have limited SEO benefits and with not have much control over SEO settings like the title of your post, slug, meta description, etc. Because third-party service providers run free hosted blogs, you do not have complete control over the site SEO.
But with a self-hosted blog, you have complete control and authority over your domain name, URL, pages, and posts. This gives you the liberty to add good SEO-related plugins to improve the SEO performance of your blog and increase traffic with more ease.
Add Plugins:
Plugins play an essential role when it comes to adding SEO features and optimizing your blog.
With a free hosted blog, you have no control over plugins as your host provider decides them. In contrast, with self-hosted blogs, you have full authority over what plugin you want to add or remove to improve the functionality and appearance of your blog.
Also, you can easily update earlier plugins and make them more compatible with your new blog theme, and you can customize the plugin to match your requirements.
How To Launch A Self-Hosted Blog
After knowing the benefits of starting a self-hosted blog, you may be thinking, How to launch a self-hosted blog? Well, I will share a step-by-step guide on how to launch it.
Choose a hosting service:
You will first need to find a hosting company that meets your requirements and signs up for it. There are many hosting providers available in the market, but I will recommend Dream Host.
Dream Host is the best one because, as I mentioned above, this company provides a fast and secure web hosting service at the lowest price possible, with as low as 4.95$ per month.
Also, with excellent customer service to help you set up your blog.
Register for domain:
Registering for a domain is the easiest part. You can register for a domain with your hosting service, but most bloggers recommend signing up with a domain register because it is more secure.
For example, if you somehow plan to switch your hosting service with a new one and your current domain is attached to your old hosting company, you could lose your domain name.
That is why it is always better to register for a separate domain.
Many domain registers are out there, but if you are looking for a cheap one, Namecheap might help.
Install WordPress:
There are many blogging platforms out there, but WordPress is the most popular and the best one. Based on its popularity, almost all hosting companies provide pre-installed WordPress. So, you don’t have to deal with any technical stuff.
Dream Host also has this service with free automated WordPress migration. You can read this article if you are interested in migration “How To Migrate Your WordPress Website To Dream Host In 6 Steps”.
Also, In my opinion, self-hosted blogs should be created with WordPress because it makes exporting data from an old site to a new one much easier.
Choose A Theme:
As I mentioned before, choosing a suitable blog theme is important because it reflects your brand and niche. WordPress has thousands of themes. You can find a theme that matches your taste and purpose.
Not all the themes on WordPress are free; some are premium, but basic ones are free and suitable for a start.
Login And Start Blogging:
Everything is all set up. All you need to do is log in with your new user name and password start writing amazing articles on your blog.
Launching a self-hosted blog isn’t hard it just requires some time and a little effort.
Conclusion
If you want to start a blog but are unsure what the benefits may be, this post will help. You can use your self-hosted blog for all sorts of things, including increasing sales and building an audience.
The seven benefits I’ve outlined in this article should give you some good motivation to launch a self-hosted blog soon as possible.
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