Should You Get A Domain Name Or Use A Free Blog Host?
April 26th, 2007 by CourtThis entry is part of my ‘Checklist For Success‘ series
This topic has been well debated all around the internet, and I have been asked personally about this issue on multiple occasions. Many people don’t want to spend money required to get a domain name; other people don’t want to use a funny looking (although acceptable) subdomain-type name.
Angles To Consider
- What will be the involved costs of each?
- What are the search engine consequences of using each?
- Are there any ownership issues?
- Can a person switch from one to the other in the future?
- Can one be monetized more efficiently than the other?
- Can one be marketed more efficiently than the other?
- Which one is going to be the better in the short term?
- Which is better in the long term?
As you can see, the decision is a complicated one. There are quite a few different angles that need to be thought about.
What Will Be The Involved Costs Of Each
If you went with the free blog host, your yearly cost is going to be $0. Free blog hosts like Blogger allow you to use their servers, and don’t charge you a thing.
On the other hand, if you opted to buy your own domain name you would have to pay at least $6 for it, so the cheapest possible way to do that would still cost you $6 per year. If you decided to set up your own web hosting you would be looking at about $5 per month, so that would bring the total to $66 per year.
Are There Search Engine Consequences For Each?
No, search engines will rank them both the same.
Are There Any Ownership Issues?
Absolutely. This is where it’s going to get really sticky for those of you that choose to use Blogger or any other free blog service. Blogger is owned by Google, and really if you decide to go with them you won’t own your blog. Google will. Here are several very important lines from Blogger’s terms of service:
Google may, in its sole discretion, modify or revise these Terms of Service and policies at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions.
Google also reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you.
Google may, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account.
As you can see, there are definitely some ownership issues that could get in your way. You probably won’t ever be able to sell the blog if you set it up on a free host, and you risk it being deleted some day.
Can A Person Switch From One To The Other In The Future?
Yes, but that would undo a lot of your work. All of the sites that were linking to your free blog would no longer be linking to you if you switched to your own domain name. You would basically be starting over.
Can One Be Monetized More Easily?
No, not really. The only major difference is that it would be very difficult to sell a free blog. If your trying to build the blog as a business it seems silly to go with a free host for this reason.
Can One Be Marketed More Easily?
On most levels, no. However it could be argued that a person that bought a domain name could get more repeat visitors. The domain name would be much easier for a surfer to remember than a complicated subdomain.domain.com.
Which Is Better In The Short Term?
Obviously it would be nice to save $66 the first year. If $66 is an issue, then maybe using a free blog host will be the best for you. Really this is the only short term benefit of using a free blog host though.
Which Is Better In The Long Term?
In the long term there isn’t any question that a person should buy their own domain name. I think it would be quite sad to work on something over time that really isn’t worth something tangible. That’s exactly what you’re doing if you go with a free blog.
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April 26th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I would say that a domain will appear way more professional than a free hosting…professional means credibility. Although if your tight on $, then go with the free hosting.
April 26th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
i’m paying 20 bucks per month for hosting and less than $15 per year per domain registration. i started off with my own domains and hosting plan, never looked back
April 29th, 2007 at 1:32 am
A very good article! Basically, if you cannot afford it or wish to use something that does not require any setting up, a free blog is the right solution for now. Otherwise, a unique domain name with its own hosting is the right way to go.
Also, like you mentioned, flexibility is possible with a personal domain. With a free blog on a service like blogger, it is hard to move all the posts, and it is also hard to redirect everything to a new site. Also, if anything bad happens, Blogger will simply cancel the account. You can start a new site and copy paste all the posts if you have been saving them, but that will take a long time.
With a personal hosting account and a personal domain, you can backup databases regularly and have a new site up and running within an hour in case anything happens.
April 29th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I know a lot of bloggers look down on advertising companies like Pay Per Post, but it should be noted that many companies advertising through places like them do not allow free blogger services to write adverts for them. One big reason to get your own domain and hosting, in my opinion, as you can make more money with a company like Pay Per Post than you can with advertising revenue. Well… maybe a very popular blog can, but for the average blog, Pay Per Post is where the money is at.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Exactly! One paid post per month would probably pay the hosting for the entire month.
April 29th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I hope that everyone takes the time to read all of the comments that have been left so far! They are really informative.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Hi Court,
For me, anyone who wanna make money online has to get his own hosting.
Not only does it makes him more credible, there is more room to play around with branding.
You can’t achieve that with free hosting.
Cheers,
Jag
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:25 pm
better to own your site, and not depend virtual companies. thanks for the useful article. also, free web sites are easier to hack. am I wrong?
June 5th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
What about buying a domain, and pointing it at your free blogging service to get the best of both worlds? I’ve considered this, and that’s why I’m asking.
I’ve invested considerable time into marketing my site (hosted on blogger). I’m not so big I can’t get out, but I have been ranked by google and get frequent hits from them. The idea of starting from scratch is not something I particularly look forward to.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
You won’t really lose any of your marketing efforts! Blogger has an easy option to redirect all of your traffic to the new domain.
You could do that, but you will have a lot more flexibility if you switch to WordPress!
June 11th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
The biggest mistake I made was getting using a free service (Blogger). I’ve recently switched to self hosted Wordpress, and I really regret that I hadn’t done that in the beginning.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:26 am
I’m moving that direction…. I have a little bit of cash flow coming in now thanks to ReviewMe and Smorty, so hopefully I’ll make enough to make the transition next month.
Me being willing to put the work into learning to code and do html isn’t the problem, but I do think it will take me some time to work the kinks out. Things like that don’t come to me quickly, which is why I’ve been hesitant. Blogger feels safe because it’s just so easy.
Jeremy’s Consumer’s Corner will be hosted and Wordpressed at some point in the near future though, of that I’m determined.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Well, I’m just about to start an experiment.
I have a number of blogspot blogs. Two of them have their own domain names (inc. the one above). I have just registered another domain name - FinancialMites.com - and I intend creating a financial blog of the same name using Wordpress. The two blogs (sharescity and financialmites) shall deal with the same sector, but one will be with blogger the other with Wordpress, so I shall see what the differences are between the two.
Next question is - who is a good hosting service and as I am in the UK does it make sense to get a UK service or does it not make any difference? Vic
November 28th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
[…] Should You Use Your Own Domain Or Use A Free Blog Host? […]
March 21st, 2008 at 4:18 am
hi.good site
June 4th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I think that using google apps to host is okay but i dunno