Why You Should Consider Hosting Your Blog Instead of Running it on a Free Platform
WHY YOU SHOULD QUIT FREE BLOGGING PLATFORMS?
Do you own a free blogspot.com or wordpress.com site? There are so many reasons why you should consider hosting your blog and registering your own domain name.
Some bloggers want to eat their cake and have it. If you blog on a free platform, it means you are at the mercy of your host and they owe you no explanation anytime they wish to shut you down for whatsoever reason. Also, there are limited opportunities for you to generate revenue from a free hosted site.
Most bloggers use their blogs as archives where they store their stories, artworks and other useful e-materials.
It is rather unfortunate that a serious blogger with good quality content or a niche blogger with thousands of ardent readers/followers and good traffic will choose to continue blogging on a free platform with no intent to get a paid host, yet, no backup should they be shut down or there information get missing online.
I was prompted to write this post after reading the sad story of Dennis Copper, an artist that lost 14 years of his artworks online just because Google shut down his free BlogSpot account denniscooper-theweaklings. blogspot. com.
Even more saddening is the fact that Cooper has no backup for his work and weeks after, no concrete reason was given to Cooper other than the general “Violation of the terms of service” statement even after several attempts to reach Google.
I can only imagine how devastated Cooper will be and how bad he will feel for trusting and relying solely on Google blogspot.
Similar Experience From a Popular Nigerian Blogger
Linda Ikeji, a popular Nigerian gossip and entertainment blogger was faced with the same issue on the 8th of October 2014 when her blog was shut down owing to reports from Google that she plagiarized other bloggers work. She was lucky to have her blog restored but this was after she had lost revenues.
Her blog is very popular and at a time the most visited news blog in Nigeria. She gets paid daily by individuals and businesses that wish to sponsor posts on her site, so any day she was down, she lost revenue. This prompted Linda to register a domain name and she now hosts her blog.
Register and Host your Blog
I therefore advised that no matter what your intents are as a blogger, always endeavour to register a domain name for your blog and as well host it. You can register with NameCheap at a low fee. They are good.
Registering a domain does not cost much, host companies like Bluehost (my favorite), Fastcomet will give you a free domain name of your choice if you host with them. I use Fastcomet for this blog and their uptime is really amazing with great customer care.
Conclusion
If you intend to blog not just for fun but to create a lasting impact through your stories and write-ups, or you write on your blog without having any form of backup plan on the information you give out online, I strongly suggest you host you blog.
Also note that you can make limited revenue with a free hosted blog.
Here are various ways to make money blogging.
To your success.
Also Read
- 3 Smart Money Moves Everyone Should Make – Mark Cuban
- Procrastination as a Disease: How to Cure it
- Your Network is your Net Worth
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