If you are a serious blogger then you would know that bloggers need to learn many things. You need to know social media marketing, must have a good command over the language in which you are blogging, need to have at least a working knowledge of a photo editing tool like Photoshop, understand search engine optimization … the list can go on and on.
But what most bloggers forget or at least don’t pay much attention to is the web hosting for their blogs. A web host is your online space where your blog will be stored.
Now not every blogger is technically proficient to understand these web hosting matters.
Hence in this article I will explain why you should use a paid web hosting for your blog.
First of all you need to purchase your web host so that you can call that online space really your own. Don’t go with a free web host.
Blogger and one version of WordPress (www.wordpress.com) provide for free web hosting but if you are going with them then chances are you won’t be taken seriously. If you want to look professional and are in serious mood of some business you need to purchase your own web hosting.
If you need some discounts you may try BlueHost Coupon to get some coupon codes.
Free web hosts usually come with severe lack of control. You will be able to do some things but some things only. If you want to make some advanced changes or adjustments, free web hosts normally don’t allow that. For example if you want to alter the HTML/CSS style sheet of your blog, some free web hosts will not allow that.
Then you don’t own the blog. If at any time your web host will feel that you are not abiding by their terms and conditions, they can delete your blog altogether. Yes such stories are not common but still do happen occasionally.
Another reason why you shouldn’t go free is that Google won’t rank you well. Even a novice search engine optimizer will tell you that Google doesn’t show as much love to free web hosts as it does to the paid ones.
Additionally almost all free web hosts come with a free domain which looks somewhat like www.mysite.blogspot.com or www.mysite.wordpress.com. Again, such link structures impact your search rankings as search engines prefer customized domain names like www.mysite.com.
Many bloggers feel they should begin with a free web host and once they start getting decent traffic they should shift to paid web hosting. Now every blogger is different and you may like this approach but be aware of the problems you may face while shifting.
Shifting a blog from one platform to another is no child’s play. It is a very difficult and very time consuming process. It is exhausting. You have to ensure all the link juice remains intact, all your images are appearing properly, all external and internal links are working fine, etc.
Let me know in the comments below what you think about free and paid web hosts. Which one do you prefer?
