Choosing a Free versus Self-Hosted Blog: Think Carefully When Choosing a Blog Platform

It doesn’t take long to learn, blogging is one of the most powerful tools when beginning the journey to create and build a web presence.

Just think carefully about choosing a blog platform like WordPress.com … here is one reason why ….

But first a little background music …

There is little doubt; blogs are potential search engine magnets primarily due to the near constant addition of fresh content, something the search engines crave.  Couple the recurring stream of fresh content with some basic keyword placement in both the title and article text and the appeal can quickly grow.

After digging deeper, identifying a topic to write about and deciding to try our hands at blogging, the next hurdle rises before us …..

Thinking of Choosing a Blog Platform?

A quick “Google” search reveals there are numerous possibilities when choosing a blog platform.  Some include blogging software on a free host site such as Blogger.com and WordPress.com; others like SquareSpace.com and TypePad.com offer blogging software on nominally priced servers while other options include downloading the blogging software (such as WordPress from WordPress.org) and then uploading and installing it on your own host site.

Each of these options has its own benefits and limitations. In the case of the free and nominally priced blog platform options, they offer the benefit of being able to focus on posting content with minimal site maintenance concerns.  On the other hand, they have the limitation of being less flexible for adding site enhancement features and having to abide by the site’s “Terms and Conditions” (more on that in a bit).

The most flexible option is a self-hosted blog site by acquiring a domain name, a host account, transferring the domain to the host then uploading the blogging software (like the WordPress blogging software).

Although not actually a limitation (since it provides far greater flexibility in adding other features and tools), the stand-alone version of WordPress requires that the user or associate perform all the upgrade and maintenance tasks. Many, if not most people, tend to shy away from this option due to either:

• Being unsure if they will commit to content posting;
• Issues with time constraints and obligations; or
• Lack of technical expertise.

I definitely fit into the “Most” category mainly for the first two reasons when starting my recent blogging sojourn.  Once I decided on the topic for the blog (posting content about the methods learned for establishing a web presence), I ended up choosing a blog platform available at WordPress.com for my first endeavor.

Originally, I intended to launch the WordPress.com blog and post training related material that I would then maintain for just that purpose.  Once the blog was established, I would move onto a second self-hosted blog to be used for marketing purposes.

It seemed like a sound plan, so the first blog (formerly Jim Hickey’s Web-log) moved forward for about three months, posts occurring fairly regularly with more than 50 posts by early February 2009.

Absolutely cool right! …. Almost ….

Everything appeared to be coming together:

• The content was flowing well;
• The visitors were steadily increasing;
• Comments were being posted on a regular basis (positive ones too!); and
• I had tweaked the blog theme to include a number of personalized widgets.

So on what turned out to be a very fateful day, I spent part of the afternoon modifying the blog by editing one of the pages, then left for a short break. When I returned and went to add another post later that afternoon, I was greeted with:

Talk about near heart failure … here is a video that better describes my first reaction:

Frustrating is definitely one way to think about it and adding to the frustration is the fact that I still do not exactly what I did to violate WordPress.com’s Terms of Service.  Here is a copy of the email response I received from WordPress.com:

====================

“Hi,

http://prospectgencoach.wordpress.com

http://wordpress.com/tos/

# the Content is not spam, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites

http://wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/

And here are some examples of blogs that are banned from WordPress.com (all of these fall under the general heading of “spam blogs”, or splogs, and we will be deleted as soon as we find them or they get reported):

SEO blogs: Blogs that are written for search engines instead of humans. These blogs are dedicated to trying to fool Google and other search engines into ranking them or the sites they link to highly. WordPress.com is not meant for this type of activity.
Affiliate marketing blogs: Blogs with the primary purpose of driving traffic to affiliate programs and get-rich-quick schemes (“Make six figures from home!!”, “20 easy steps to top profits!!”, etc). This includes multi-level marketing (MLM) blogs and pyramid schemes.

This is why it was suspended.
-
Mark”

====================

Fortunately I did have the bulk of the content backed up though I was still faced with the task of re-developing the blog (this one) on my own host site.

It didn’t take long for additional issues related to the WordPress.com blog suspension to also become apparent.  Since I used the blog as my main website (central hub), I had links to it on many of my articles, Hubs, comments, etc. and had already created quite a “Google Trail” so to speak.

I made a second video entitled: “Aftermath of a WordPress.com Blog Suspension” discussing the issues with trying to kill the links to the old WordPress.com blog and replace them (where possible) with the new blog URL.

A word to the wise, carefully consider your intended use for any future blog you are in the early stage of choosing a blog platform. Also be sure to read the terms carefully to insure your compliance if using any of the free hosting options.

Personally, I encourage everyone to take the extra time and investigate self-hosting blog options.

If you are interested in learning more about self-hosted blogs, start by reviewing my blog post entitled: “Become a Blogger Video Series: Why Use WordPress?” or take a moment to send an email to jim@jchickey.com for additional information.