Blogging On Free Hosts Not A Good Idea
This article is about blogging and why you should never blog on a free host like blogger.com or wordpress.com I am writing this to alert people out there who are building blogs on free blog hosts like blogger.com and wordpress.com
Installing wordpress is free and gives you full control over your blog. There are other platforms like moveable type to choose from as well. Take a look around and find the platform you like or that best fits your blogging style. I've learned an expensive lesson and now will only build blogs on my own domain names.
The reason?
Lets start with blogger.com
They have a new out of control spam bot. Search the blogger help forums and you will find the horror stories. Legitimate blogs are being deleted, people are getting locked out of their blog until reviewed, and assumed to be a spammer because either the bot flagged the blog or someone clicked the little flag button at the top of all blogger blogs.
That and the fact that they have constant problems with the publishing getting stuck at 0%, slow load times, etc. it makes blogging through blogger.com a buggy experience at best and your content or reason for blogging is up to someone else's interpretation of what is or is not legitimate.
I understand getting rid of splogs and spammers, but in blogger.com?s case the cure is worse than the disease. They were not always that way. I've been on blogger a long time and the service used to be good.
As far as wordpress.com, they are just as bad. If the blog links to a website and looks as if it might be promoting people to go to that website they will suspend your account without warning and lock you out of all the content.
I'm not sure what they think blogs are for, but they seem to think they have a noble purpose in life and that they alone decide what is a "genuine blog" or not.
A "genuine blog" is one that is controlled by the individual who writes to it, not one that must adhere to someone else's idea of what their blog should look like and what it should say.
If you blog on freehosts just be aware your content and your blog is in the hands of others who will decide for the world whether or not your blog should be seen by others.
I recommend all bloggers get their own domain names and install their own blogs. You probably have learned that using a freehost for your company?s website is bad for business so why put your company?s blog on a freehost?
The same goes for individuals. Blogs allow you to express yourself the way you want to express yourself. That is the beauty of blogging. Are you willing to sacrifice your individuality to conform to what blogger.com or wordpress.com thinks is a ?genuine? way to express yourself?
Many times the person deciding your fate is someone who has never had any authority over other people and who think that now they have Godlike powers to decide the fate of content written by others. These are people who likely produce no content of value themselves and think they know what is best for the rest of the world.
Get your own domain name and install a blogging platform that fits your needs. It?s the best advice you will ever get about blogging. You only own the blog if it is on your own domain name. Everything else is just providing content for someone else.
Chris McElroy aka NameCritic owns several blogs he posts to daily like http://www.blogs.pn and http://www.WhoLetTheBlogOut.com He also manages several blogs for clients. Email NameCritic@Blogs.pn for more info.
Related Articles:
Get With it; New Program Offers Practical Ways to Use Web 2.0 in Your Business
Get with it! This is the advice John I. Todor, Ph.D., managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, LLC is giving CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, consultants, independent agents and employees who want to advance. Why? Customers increasingly vet companies, products and the people they do business with online and are highly influenced by online reputations. Businesses that don't have a credible social media presence are losing out.
How To Make Money Using Web 2.0
For every change that arises in the ever changing Internet environment, the internet-marketing community always finds a way to make money from it. Web 2.0 is no exception. In fact, experts say that the greatest money making schemes on the web are in Web 2.0. Since its introduction in 2004, venture capitalists have been putting billions of dollars into Web 2.0, and you can cash in. One of these Web 2.0 make money resources is blogging.
Top 10 Reasons to Start Blogging
"What's blogging?" you ask."Where have you been?" I reply.
Blogging: A Writer?s Journal
A novel way for a writer to keep prospects and fans in the loop on their progress as a writer is through the use of a web log or ?Blog?.
Free Construction Market Research is Now Available at MarketWikis?
Free market research is now available on construction markets including paint, facilities management and non-residential construction at ResearchBuy's MarketWikis?.
Video Demystifies Social Media and Web 2.0
ECommerce Rocks video interview with Ben Wills helps demystify social media websites for business owners.
VIP Tone Acquires Web 2.0 Website for Teachers
Today VIP Tone announced the acquisition of WeTheTeachers.com (WeTheTeachers), a Web 2.0 social networking and educational content sharing website for teachers. WeTheTeachers.com allows teachers from all over the world to search its database by subject area and grade level and to download lessons, educational resources and tools for free. It provides tools for its users to author, store and share educational content and best practices. Members can rate and discuss each other's content and can work collaboratively across the globe through special interest groups and discussion forums.
Free UnConference to Demystify Podcasts, Blogs, Web 2.0, Social Media and Internet Marketing Promotion and Advertising
Podcamp Boston October 26 - 28, 2007 session schedule will feature podcasting technical, content and marketing how-to's, video podcasting for profit, basics of podcasting and social media, and more
TopRank CEO to Highlight Business Blogging, Social Media During IABC Event at St. Thomas University
Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing to present the business benefits of blogs and social media as part of corporate communications to IABC Minnesota Senior Communicators group.
Webapplica Launches Open Source Community; Previews Web 2.0 Business Applications
Webapplica launches open source community to build next generation Web 2.0 business applications
Definition Of Blogging- Free Helpful Facts For Bloggers
You see, we should be very thankful that we are born in this modern generation due to the existence of the Internet. With the Internet, all information (whether about define blogging or any other such as reasons to quit smoking, what to do today, sports blogs or even radio blog gadget) can be found with ease on the Internet, with great articles like this.
How to Pick the Best Free Blogging Site to Join or Not to Join
Joining an established blogging site like live journal or blogger has plenty of advantages, especially for the blog novice. Sites that host a lot of different blogs often have very useful tutorials about building and updating your blog, and you are likely to encounter a very user-friendly software interface at an established blogging site. In addition, these sites provide a kind of instant community of fellow bloggers who can provide advice,insight, and feedback. These established sites often keep directories of their members, which can be great news for your traffic logs because it means that other bloggers on the site will find out about your pages.
Deitels' Free eBook Answers, "What is Web 2.0?"
The best-selling programming authors release Dive Into® Web 2.0--a free eBook that introduces the principles, applications, technologies, companies, business models and monetization strategies of Web 2.0.
How To Make Money By Blogging With Three Simple Steps
All a blog is is your own journal. Well, this is what blogs were meant to be for. Now, people use blogs for more than just their own journal. They use them to make money by blogging. This technique has been proven to be very effective in several different ways. To have an effective blog you need to use these three tips in order to make money by blogging.
Blogging and SEO
Blogging gets its name from the term 'blog', itself a short form of 'weblog', which again is a blend of two words, 'web' and 'log'. A blog is a repertoire of web publications stored in reverse chronological order, which means that a new entry comes on top of the one just preceding it. Anyone who looks after a blog, writes for and maintains it is said to be 'blogging'. Blog-posts are articles posted on a blog by a 'blogger'.