Blog Hosting Tips
Read these 12 Blog Hosting Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Web Hosting tips and hundreds of other topics.
Paid vs. Free Blog Hosting - Which is Best?
The decision on whether to have a free blog hosting account, as opposed to a paid one, will be based on your individual circumstances and reasons for having the blog in the first place.
Reasons why you may want to stick with a free blog hosting account include:
- You decided to start your blog on a whim and don't plan to dedicate much time or energy to it.
- You are on a limited budget and would prefer not to pay for your blog hosting privileges.
- Your blog is still small and you would rather wait until you have more blogging experience before you “graduate” to a paid blog hosting account.
Reasons why you may want to switch to a paid blog hosting account:
- You're not satisfied with the service provided by free blog hosting companies.
- Many free blogs are ad-supported, and with a paid blog you can remove any unwanted ads.
- You use your blog to make money and therefore want a more “professional” option.
- The blog is for a group or team that you are a member of.
- You want more features than are provided by free blog hosting account.
- You want more control over the look, feel, and size of your blog.
If you feel that a free blog hosting account is good enough for your needs, chances are that it probably will suffice. Once you get the hang of blogging and are posting regularly, a paid blog hosting account will still be available if you feel you need to “upgrade”.
What are the Cheapest Blog Hosting Rates?
Paid blog hosting can be more reasonably priced than one many think. For example, prices are as low as $2.50 per month and there is plenty of competition at this low rate, which means that you can afford to be picky about what company you choose.
It goes without saying that the more of a professional appearance you want to reflect and the more features you want, the higher your blog hosting fees are going to be. However, for the normal user, the services that you can find for $2.50 to $3 per month should be sufficient.
Remember, some blog hosting providers are set up to accommodate large business blogs as well. The features provided with a business-focused blog hosting account would be more than most users would need. So, just because you don't have the highest priced blog hosting account available does not mean that you are missing out.
What is Blog Hosting?
When a company hosts your blog on their web servers, it's considered blog hosting. The difference between a website and a blog is that a blog is (usually) much smaller and contains much less information. Blogs are like a daily journal, where the blogger posts his or her thoughts, updates, news, etc. These posts can include text, images/pictures, and videos.
As blogging is gaining more and more popularity, so is blog web hosting, and there are many providers in both the paid and free arenas. Additionally, you can use a regular web hosting company for your blog hosting. There are many options when it comes to blog hosting, including:
- Exclusive blog hosting providers
- General web hosting providers
- General web hosting resellers
You should closely examine each of these options before you decide where to host your next blog.
Benefits of Free Blog Hosting
When you want to start your own blog, you'll first need to decide where you want to host your new creation. There are numerous free blog hosting services that will provide you with the space you need to get started, but they may have some limitations when it comes to adding extra features.
If you are completely new to blogging, your best bet is to select a free blog hosting service that makes it very easy to get started. Bloggger.com and WordPress.com are both great solutions that are uncomplicated and very straightforward. Blog hosting is an area that can be very confusing, particularly when it comes to the actual application that will run your blog. This is the main reason that I recommend going with a free service first, before delving into complicated programs.
When you select a free blog hosting plan, you won't have any risks, and you can take your time to truly learn what blogging is all about. Once you've got your self confidence up, you can then upgrade to a paid blog hosting package that will grow with you and your blog.
Benefits of Free Blog Hosting
When you want to start your own blog, you'll first need to decide where you want to host your new creation. There are numerous free blog hosting services that will provide you with the space you need to get started, but they may have some limitations when it comes to adding extra features.
If you are completely new to blogging, your best bet is to select a free blog hosting service that makes it very easy to get started. Bloggger.com and WordPress.com are both great solutions that are uncomplicated and very straightforward. Blog hosting is an area that can be very confusing, particularly when it comes to the actual application that will run your blog. This is the main reason that I recommend going with a free service first, before delving into complicated programs.
When you select a free blog hosting plan, you won't have any risks, and you can take your time to truly learn what blogging is all about. Once you've got your self confidence up, you can then upgrade to a paid blog hosting package that will grow with you and your blog.
Benefits of Free Blog Hosting
When you want to start your own blog, you'll first need to decide where you want to host your new creation. There are numerous free blog hosting services that will provide you with the space you need to get started, but they may have some limitations when it comes to adding extra features.
If you are completely new to blogging, your best bet is to select a free blog hosting service that makes it very easy to get started. Bloggger.com and WordPress.com are both great solutions that are uncomplicated and very straightforward. Blog hosting is an area that can be very confusing, particularly when it comes to the actual application that will run your blog. This is the main reason that I recommend going with a free service first, before delving into complicated programs.
When you select a free blog hosting plan, you won't have any risks, and you can take your time to truly learn what blogging is all about. Once you've got your self confidence up, you can then upgrade to a paid blog hosting package that will grow with you and your blog.
Blog Hosting for Businesses
Using a blog can be a major tool for any business. There are many advantages associated with blogging for your business, including:
- Keep your customers/clients/employees updated on company news, special offers, or anything else you want to share.
- Each blog entry is another chance to boost your blog's search engine rankings, which will draw in customers.
Finding a blog hosting provider can be a little tricky. You will need to find a blog hosting provider who can cater to the size of your blog, as well as the traffic it could generate. For example, if you have management and employees blogging, you would need a lot of available space if each of them were to receive a blog of their own. If you are just blogging to the public, you may not need more than average space, but you could have more than average traffic if your company is well known. Either way, you will need a blog hosting provider that will be able to keep up with your demand. For this reason, it is best that you choose a company who caters to and advertises toward businesses, who also has a proven track record.
“I Decided to Sign-Up for a Free Blog Hosting Package - Now What?”
Now that you have signed-up for a free blog hosting package, the next step is deciding what to do with your hosting platform. Below are a list of ideas on what you may decide to post on your blog.
You could dedicate each blog to a subject that you have a particular interest in. For example, if you are passionate about animal rights, post the latest news on current efforts being made to protect animal rights and give your own opinions on them. You may even convince a few people to join your cause.
You could use your blog hosting package as an online journal, where you can update friends and family about what is going on in your personal daily life.
You can make a small income through your blog by gathering a steady readership and putting affiliate links and Pay-Per-Click ads on your blog. The more your readers get to know you, the more comfortable they will be checking out offers that are recommended in your blog.
The possibilities of what to use your free blog hosting space for are endless. You can literally use it for almost anything you want (assuming it does not violate your TOS). If you need more space or more advanced features, you could always consider upgrading from your free blog hosting package to a paid one!
How to Make Money From Your Blog Hosting Account
There are many ways to profit off of the Internet, and blog hosting is no exception. It is fairly easy to make at least a small profit from your blog, as long as you are committed to regular posting and promotion of your URL.
Steps to making an income with your blog hosting account:
1. Decide on a subject that you are really interested in and could write a lot about. This topic should be as specialized as possible, so that you can get targeted traffic.
2. Decide on a theme that matches your subject. Design your blog around this theme.
3. Pick a few affiliate companies that compliment your theme and/or set up a Pay-Per-Click ad account. For example, if your subject is “effective resume writing”, you could add links to affiliates that provide resume writing services.
4. Find popular keywords for your posts that will help generate traffic from the major search engines. Each post should be centered around at least one of these keywords/phrases.
5. Dedicate yourself to your blog and post daily. Post your URL in any “signatures” that you have (i.e. in your e-mail replies or on discussion forums).
6. Put a visitor counter on your site to track your progress.
Hopefully, after a few months you will begin to get a few regular readers. As the months pass, your readership should steadily climb. Once this happens, it won't be long before you begin to get “click thrus” to your affiliate partners and Pay-Per-Click ads. After that, you will soon be on your way to making an income from your blog hosting account.
Free Blog Hosting Video Providers
There are many free blog hosting video providers to choose from on the Internet. These providers are best for those who are not into serious video blog hosting, as many provide no more than 25GB to store your multimedia collection for free.
This can be a great solution for:
- Those who want to offer short video clips on their blog
- Those who want to have a voice file of that day's blog entry.
- Those who want to host music files on their blog to compliment their subject.
For those who want a blog hosting video provider for larger scale multimedia, say to give a lecture or speech, will need to upgrade to a paid blog hosting video plan. These plans often give you close to 250GB of space and will charge less than $10 per month.
How to Find the Best Free Blog Hosting
Free blog hosting can be easily found by doing a simple web search. The hard part is knowing which of these blog hosting companies will give you the best service. Often times, free Internet services of any kind will be flooded with users, and blog hosting is no exception. Below are a few tips on how to find the best free blog hosting provider.
- You need to find a free blog hosting company that can handle the space used by its members, as well as the traffic that all these members generate. Otherwise, those trying to access your blog my run into downtime or delay issues.
- The best thing about free blog hosting is that you can try it out before you commit to it, without losing out on any money. If you have a pre-made blog, upload it onto the company's blog hosting servers and visit it for a week before you begin passing out your URL. If you are using the company's tools to create your blog, make it small at first and don't put too much effort into its design, until you know that you will be sticking with the blog hosting site.
- If you don't know how to make your own blog, you will need to find a free blog hosting site that offers tools to help you accomplish this. Most of the “big” blog hosting companies will.
These should be the three main factors in your decision, when you finally choose which free blog hosting company to stick with.
Reasons for Needing a Blog Hosting Video Provider
As you become more experienced as a blogger, you may start to realize that the more features you add, the more interesting your blog will be to potential viewers. This may be a particular concern to you if gaining traffic is part of your goal. One of these features is adding video to your blog. For this, you will need a blog hosting video provider.
There are many reasons one may want to use video on their blog and thus need a blog hosting video provider. You will want to find a blog hosting video provider whose tools are easy to use and that is compatible with the blog builder that you use. Adding this great feature to your site will help to generate traffic and persuade visitors to tell others about your blog.
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