I truly believe that if you want to show the world that you are a serious blogger then you should really host your own blog. Just think about it for a minute. If someone was going to advertise on a blog or ask someone to write a post for them who would be their first preference, a self hosted blogger or one that opted for the free blogging platforms such as myspace.com, typepad.com, xanga.com, blogspot.com, livejournal.com, wordpress.com, and vox.com. But it doesn’t all have to be about money, so let’s look at some other reasons why you should host your own blog.

  • Security: This is very important. Imagine spending months or even years developing your own blog only to have it yanked out from under you and being left with nothing. It has happened and I know because I lost two blogs in this way, one that was hosted on writingup.com and another on blogcharm. Even if you choose to blog with the big two, Blogger or LiveJournal.com you are not safe as they reserve the right to terminate your account and can do at any time.
  • Total Control: You do not have to worry about offending someone and possibly having your blog extinguished. You can write about whatever you want using whatever colorful language you choose. If you choose WordPress and your blogging platform you will be able to choose from thousands of templates that you can personalize by tweaking it to your hearts content.
  • Keeping All The Profits: A lot of the so called free blogging platforms will tell you that they will share their profits with you by letting you run your own google ads on them. So you do all the work and only keep part of the proceeds? Yeah, right! Hosting your own blog means you are your own boss and you get to keep all the revenue raised through your blogging efforts.
  • Annoying Comments: Those of you who blog on those free platforms have occasionally received annoying comments that you have no control over. They detract from your professionalism and really have no right to be present on your post. With your very own blog you can delete them with a click of a mouse. You could even ban their IP address.
  • Enjoying All The Features: There are so many things that you can add to tour very own blog that you will never have the opportunity to enjoy on those free blogging platforms, and you get to choose which ones they are. You may want to reward your readers for leaving a comment, be able to see a whole range of stats, increase your blogging revenue or even

Stone the flaming crows if this isn’t starting to sound like an ad for a hosting company, “And There IS More”. Seriously I could go on but I think that you may have caught onto what I am saying, that a serious blogger should consider hosting their own blogs.

I can almost see a lot of you shaking your heads and saying how it would cost you an arm and a leg when in reality the actual cost is a pittance, especially when you consider that you are investing in your own business, of sorts. Three of my blogs are hosted on LunarPages and the initial outlay was $6.95 per month which included a free domain name and you keep that domain for life. My other four blogs, including this one, are hosted with Host Smart, and Aussie company, and it only cost me $94.80 which is a measly $7.90 per month. Most people probably spend more than that on coffee a week.

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