There are two ways people make their blogs. Some spend money to make them while others create free ones. People who want to start their own blog and don’t know much about blogging often ask a question, “Should I start a free blog or a paid blog?” Well, the answer to the question is pretty simple. IF you are serious with your blog, go for the paid one. By word serious we mean if you really want to be doing blogging for a long term, if you want to build a business online and build a following then you will have to spend some money for it. There are various platforms that allow you to create free blogs and host them for free. These platforms give every internet user a way to put their content online. Wordpress and Blogger are the two leading platform in this regard. However, such platforms have many limitations that restrict you.
Limitations in free blogging Domain name: When building a blog with free platforms, you don’t get a custom domain name (mywebsite.com) instead you get a subdomain (mywebsite.wordpress.com). This type of subdomain name is not considered very good for ranking in search engines, where as your own domain name which can be bought for $10 to $40 shows how serious you are about your blog and also proves god for search engine optimization. Freedom of content: When blogging on a free platform you cannot publish any content that is against their terms of use. For instance, you cannot use a free Wordpress Blog for an adult website similarly Blogger might also delete your free blog if it breaks any terms of use and you cannot claim it back even. You have complete freedom with a paid blog. You can publish any content that pleases you and your readers.
Looks and Functionality: using a free blog you have only a very limited control over the looks and functionality of your website. Free Wordpress platform does not give option to upload a purchased or custom theme. You can only choose from those available in their platform. Wordpress also does not allow free bloggers to use plugins that add the functionality of the blog. On the other hand Blogger gives you access to complete website code and allows you to upload themes but does not allow you to add many functionalities according to needs. For example: adding a form to ask your visitors to submit their email ids, showing a pop up to visitors with a message when they see your site or when they exit, serving your visitors to share your content on social media before they can see it, making your simple blog a social media websites with a few clicks and much more.
Advertisements: Free blogging platforms like Wordpress and Weebly show random ads on free blogs. They hold rights to show whatever ads they like and you can only get rid of them by paying.
Customer’s Perspective: You are going to build a blog for your business or may be as a hobby. You want your customers to see you as an authority in your topic which you can only get with paid domain name and hosting. Will yoru customers know you as a professional who is serious enough to pay from domain name and premium hosting or will they see you as an amateur who uses a free blogging platform?
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