subject: 5 Reasons You Should Go With a Paid Hosting Account Rather Than Free Blog Platforms [print this page] 5 Reasons You Should Go With a Paid Hosting Account Rather Than Free Blog Platforms
Whether you're setting up your own website or outsourcing design, you might be pondering over the issue of whether or not you should buy web hosting or just take advantage of a completely free option, like WordPress.com (as opposed to .org) or Blogger. It is a good question, and it's worth asking. It really depends on what you are doing with your site and how you want to position yourself, but many internet marketers (myself included) will tell you that there are substantial advantages to hosting a site on your own paid hosting account.So today, I want to look at five great reasons to buy web hosting instead of going the 100% free route.1. You Get Better SupportFor one thing, when you pay for hosting, you tend to get better support. This isn't always true, but in many cases, when you are a paying customer, that means the company has a vested interest in keeping you happy. With top webhosts like HostGator, for instance, this means 24/7 live support any time you need it and a vast collection of video tutorials to help you with your account.2. You Maintain ControlMany companies that allow you to host their site have certain restrictions on what you can and can't do. We'll talk about a major one of these in a minute, but these restrictions can even change at times. They will usually notify you in some manner, but if you don't follow their blog or read every email they send you, then you can be in danger of losing your site at any time just because you didn't properly understand the TOS.I don't know about you, but when my money is on the line, I like to maintain as much control over these things as I can. I want to be able to decide what I can say or do on my own website, and I surely am not comfortable with someone else having the ability to pull the plug and take all my content off the web so that I lose it forever.3. No Restrictions on MonetizationOne of the major ways many of these free hosting options restrict your site is by not allowing you to monetize. Sorry, but that's a deal killer for me.The same may not apply to you. You might be setting up a site to get your hobby online, and that's perfectly okay. But if at some point you decide to start promoting a great product you come across or even throw up a little Adsense just so you can make a few cents off the effort you put in to bring your ideas to the world, it sure would be nice to have that option.As an aside, Blogger, in particular, does allow you to monetize, but all the other reasons on this list still make that a no-go for me.4. Search Engine RankingsThis one I'm not totally sold on, but many internet marketers believe that a site hosted on WordPress or Blogger's free hosting platforms will not do as well in Google rankings. This may or may not be true, and again, I'm not so convinced. But, having said that, I do know Google is always doing more to their algorithms to get the best information out of the pile, and there is a chance that someday they will decide that includes giving more points to sites hosted on their own server.Again, it's about having control, and the last thing you want is to put all that energy into ranking your site and see it plummet due to a change in Google.5. It Looks More ProfessionalFinally, the most important reason for many, even if they don't believe these sites are harder to rank...When you host your site with WordPress.com instead of using WordPress.org on your own account, your domain name would have the .wordpress handle at the end. In other words, instead of it being YOURDOMAIN.com, it would be YOURDOMAIN.wordpress.com, and let's face itthat just doesn't look as professional.I personally believe that if you take your business, or even your hobby, seriously and want others to do the same, you need to ditch that .wordpress or .blogspot handle. Period. So for all these reasons, and more, the majority of professional webmasters choose to buy web hosting instead of going the strictly free route, and I agree it makes much better business sense. Again, it really comes down to what you're trying to accomplish online. So first, sit down and make that decision for yourself, and once you've determined that you can come to an educated conclusion whether your own servers are the best option for you as well.
