Why should I pay for a blogging website?

We get asked this question all the time, and it’s a fair one. There are all kinds of operators willing to give you “free” space for a blog. Some are better than others. Some we even like, but everyone knows that nothing comes for free. There are critical tradeoffs in using a free blogging site for your business, and we like our clients to be aware of them.

You Only Thought It Was Your Content

So you’ve been blogging regularly and have some pretty good articles. As a matter of fact, you think it’s time to go to ahead with an online or paper book featuring your writing. So you pull together your various blog posts and get ready for press, only to discover that you’re not the only owner of your content — it may also belong to your free blog provider, according to their Terms and Conditions! Here’s an example from just one common online blog provider:

[You give us] a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works…communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute [your] content.

How do you like the sound of that? What’s more, anything you’ve ever posted on their site, they can claim the right to publish, whether you’ve terminated your relationship or not. See? There’s no such thing as a free blog.

You Can Have Any Color You Want, As Long As It’s Black

Henry Ford’s famous maxim applies to free blog sites too. Simply put, you are limited in what you can do with the design and structure of a free blog. Do you want to add ready downloads? Do you want to have some standard web pages alongside your blog posts? Do you want older posts to use a past design and newer posts a new design, to reflect changes in your personal style over time? Do you want a picture here, instead of there? We can name all kinds of questions where the standard answer from a free blog site would be: “No, no, no and no.”

We’ve Decided to Make a Change

The biggest surprise is when a blog site changes their design standards, or alters the type of advertising plug-ins they’ll allow you to use. You may be making a fair online income stream via your blog advertising, but if your blog host decides you need to use their proprietary advertising system instead of the one that works for you, well that’s just too bad. “We’ve decided to make a change and you were not consulted.”

Speaking of advertising…

There are far more robust advertising options available when you host your own blog site, compared to using a free host. Since most people online are hoping to make some money in the process, if not a lot, the better your advertising tools, the better your chances of having a good income.

Keep in mind too this quote from an Internet expert:

You need to try to get people from social media to your blog and not the other way around.

When your blog starts on a social media site, you are helping them make money. When your have your own blog site, social media helps you make money. It’s a critical difference that many netizens have missed.

You Get What You Pay For

So let us help you discover the advantages and options from having your own blog site instead of relying on someone else to host it for you. We’re certain you’ll be pleased with the flexibility, power and connections you’re able to make as a result.