Internet Marketing Strategies – Free vs. Self Hosted Blogs

Posted by JR in Best Website Builders, Blogging, Bum Marketing, Internet Marketing

As a follow up to Internet Marketing for Bums – Zero Start Up Costs, there are free blogging platforms available for those that want to start a blog with zero start up.

Free blog platforms vs. self hosted platforms means that you can start a completely free blog that is hosted by the platform providing it, instead of buying a domain name and paying for hosting as with self hosted blogs. Of course, free blogging platforms will give you less control over your blog, but they are useful in some situations.

Internet Marketing For Bums

A free blog can be used as a landing page instead of or along with Squidoo lenses and Hub Pages with the same promotion techniques that I listed in Internet Marketing for Bums – Zero Start Up Costs, but, free blogs will need more attention than Squidoo and Hub Pages, as there is no rank piggy-backing with free blogs. You will need to use the usual Internet marketing strategies like aggressive link building for promotion and SERP rank.

Two Most Popular Free Blog Platforms

Blogger – Google’s free blog platform allows you build a free blog. There are many themes and options for customizing and it is easy to add Google Adsense or any other affiliate products you want to.

WordPress.com – WordPress free blog platform. This is a blog that is hosted by wordpress so it is completely free. Not to be confused with WordPress.org, where you can get information on self hosted wordpress blogs.

Blogger vs. WordPress

BLOGGER

Blogger is much more versatile and has many options
Blogger allows you to place affiliate links, Adsense and any of your own ads
Blogger does control comment features, like there is no do-follow option for comments and I think they have eliminated allowing url’s in comments.

FREE WORDPRESS

Free WordPress does NOT allow affiliate links
Free WordPress may place their own money making ads on your blog
Storage and bandwidth limits

The point is, If you want a free blog, then go with Blogger, WordPress is limited and while I have not used it, I have heard from other affiliates that there were problems.

Beyond Bum Marketing – Free vs. Self Host Blogs

Beyond bum marketing, the decision to choose a self hosted or free blog I think in large part comes down to the goals and Internet marketing strategies of the blog.

Are you blogging specifically to make money online?

Are you launching a flagship blog, that is a blog where you will want subscribers, visitor engagement and fame for your name?

Internet Marketing Strategies – Make Money Blogs

If you just want to make money online via Adsense for example, by posting keyword rich content on a blog to rank in the SERPS for popular search terms and getting clicks on your Adesense and other ads from search traffic then you will not care so much about subscribers, readers and creating popularity for yourself so a free blog platform is a great alternative. You don’t have to pay for hosting, or any other fees and you can launch many blogs without any fees or star up costs.

Internet Marketing Strategies – Flagship Blogs

If, on the other hand, you want to create a blog that is targeted for subscribers and you want to become famous and make a name for yourself and engage your readers beyond clicking on ads, then a free blog is not your best option. A self hosted blog is necessary in this situation, for several reasons:

Design – Tweaking and customizing a free blog is like remodeling a rented apartment, you may put in all the work and effort, but it is not truly yours.
Branded domain
Your own real estate – Unlimited control of content, design and everything else
Professional – A self hosted blog is more professional and is much more brandable overall than a free blog.

By the way, this is not to say that a free blog that’s main goal is to make money will not get lots of subscribers, depends on the content, as is the case with Grizz’s blog Make Money Online, that started out with primarily MMO in mind, but has gained a very large readership. But, generally speaking, if you want to become another Problogger, you will need a self hosted blog.

A free blog platform is still a great way to get some experience in the world of Internet marketing and to see if blogging is for you. I do not believe that blogging is for everybody, it does take a lot of discipline, drive and interest to keep it going and maintain success whatever your goals. More on this in the next post.

What do you guys think? Anyone using free blog platforms?

Print This Post

Have You Subscribed to Blog Updates Yet? Get New Content Delivered via Email or RSS Reader Here!

Read My Review of The Best Content Spinner

More Useful Stuff

Comment Policy: Comment links become do-follow after 8 comments - see New Comment Policy - Keywords are okay to use, but please sign your name at end of the comment or use Name @ Anchor/Keyword format! Junk comments, like "great post" will be deleted as comments are moderated! Thank you!

Comments

Dusty@NASCAR Trading Cards (1 comments) 01/15/2009 at 12:29 am

Congratulations on reaching PR3 at your site, JR. What do you mean Grizz’s blog blew up? If I needed to make money from a free blog I would use blogger. If I just wanted to have a pretty blog and not make money, I would use WordPress.com blog.

Dusty

Dusty@NASCAR Trading Cardss last blog post..NASCAR Pink Hoodie

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/15/2009 at 12:34 am
  
  @Dusty
  LOL, a pretty blog and not make money, for sure on that!
  
  ie: Grizz, I mean that he never intended to get so many subscribers, he is all about making money, and if you read his blog in his posts he mentions that his 2k+ subscriber count was unintentional.
  
  Reply Link
Andy@mlm email leads (2 comments) 01/15/2009 at 9:20 am

Hi JR.
I can attest to that fact that WordPress.com is not a place to be for commercializing a blog. I had a hosted blog there and after 15 posts they said it was too commercial and shut it down. I tried to get an explanation and they just said I should go somewhere else if I wanted to commercialize my blogging.
It looks like they just want blogs from Grandmas and Teens.
I was wondering about the rank piggybacking from squidoo. If I link from a squidoo lens does any of the ranking from the domain figure into the value of the link? Also, in the serps, if you had too exact onpage optimized pages, one on your self-hosted site and one on Squidoo, would the Squidoo site have a higher ranking?
Thanks for all the great information you provide. I check your feed first every morning.
Andy

Andy@mlm email leadss last blog post..MLM Email Leads for Enlyten Network Marketing

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/15/2009 at 7:46 pm
  
  @Andy
  Thank you Andy, you are so good for my ego.
  
  The links from Squid lenses are strong, especially for aged lenses. Many marketers build lenses with the primary purpose of a backlink to their sites, I do and Hub Pages as well.
  
  The question of rank with Squidoo vs. your own site would depend on the site, Squidoo’s do get outranked with older and solid PR sites, but I have seen Squid easily outrank new and lower PR sites, it really depends on the KW and also the site.
  
  I never use the same keywords for my sites and lenses because then I am just competing against myself. Choose different kw within the niche for your lenses and often I go for the higher competition kw for lenses since ranking is a little easier. Check out my How-To Squidoo post to correctly SE optimize a lens.
  
  Reply Link
the three dog blogger (12 comments) 01/15/2009 at 10:44 am

A thorough write up (as usual).

Personally I have had a few free blogs via blogger etc. and came to the conclusion that there is no comparison to being self hosted.

I looked to the future and realised that if I was to continue blogging (and I will) then paying for hosting and wordpress.org is the way to go. Stump up once for a hosting package with someone like bluehost and you are set. A one off hosting fee and you can add as many domains to it for freeas you want.

Even if you just think you may want another site in the future it is definitely the way to go. Total freedom over design, dofollow, nofollow etc, and no worrying about getting closed down because of affiliate links.

the three dog bloggers last blog post..A Day In The Life Of The Three Dog Blogger

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/15/2009 at 7:41 pm
  
  @the three dog blogger
  I totally agree, with the exception of Hostgator vs. Bluehost, HG is #1
  
  Reply Link
Home Business Marketing Blog (1 comments) 01/15/2009 at 11:01 am

It’s really neccesary to know the purpose of your blog before you really start. Yes, make money or not make money, it very important.

I’ve come across many people who want to argue that blogger is much better than hosting your own wordpress since google search engine crawls blog hosted there many times a day and it is good for traffic reason. However, if you really want to make money with your blog then treat it as a business. Do not leave you business in the hands of google.

A free blog may be an option if you’re just starting out and want some experience as you mentioned. But apart from that hosting your own blog is a must!

Chadrack

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/15/2009 at 7:40 pm
  
  @Chadrak
  I have heard the Google crawl Blogger often too, but I had a blogger blog once and I saw no evidence of that, I had to market that blog just as aggressively as anything else.
  
  And, I agree with free blogs or even free website’s that are out there, you are in the hands of the platform and not in total control and at any time, they can do whatever…anf then you’re f’d!
  
  Reply Link
Taris Janitens (26 comments) 01/15/2009 at 11:17 am

Looking back, I think it would be crazy to do anything other than a self hosted blog – but maybe thats just me

Taris Janitenss last blog post..What Makes you Unsubscribe??

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/15/2009 at 7:37 pm
  
  @Taris Janitens
  I agree, but for some it works, and for newbies who want experience it does have it’s perks.
  
  Reply Link
Sacramento Weddings (44 comments) 01/15/2009 at 12:04 pm

Yeah, self-hosted is definitely the way to go! (Having learned the hard way when my “blogsavy.com” blog went poof one day)

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/15/2009 at 7:37 pm
  
  @Sacramento Weddings
  That must have sucked!
  
  Reply Link
trade show displays (1 comments) 01/15/2009 at 7:18 pm

hey JR,
Self-hosted all the way, but then I’m a control freak! As I said on your “bums” post, it’s worth the little bit of money to control your own real estate. Then you pointed out that some bums don’t even have that little bit of money, to which I would say, beg, borrow, or steal it, and control your own destiny! No offense meant of course, and to each their own. ~ Steve, aka “trade show displays”

Reply Link
Jen@TipsFromANetworkMarketer (5 comments) 01/15/2009 at 9:30 pm

Luckily it never happened to me but I know several people from both WordPress.com and Blogger that woke up one morning and their blogs were gone due to violations.

I think having a self hosted blog give a more professional polished appearance- just even in the little things like the domain name.

And you are right HostGator gets a big thumbs up from me.

Jen@TipsFromANetworkMarketers last blog post..Blogging- So Much More Than Just Writing

Reply Link
Dennis Edell (221 comments) 01/16/2009 at 3:18 pm

I was very lucky in the very beginning to bump into my first mentor. I didn’t suffer any of the free blog horror that so many have….however yes, I have heard that WP.com is a great traffic generator for your self hosted blog.

Dennis Edells last blog post..Blogroll Effectiveness – What Do You Think?

Reply Link
Angelo Gon (1 comments) 01/16/2009 at 4:44 pm

No questions self hosted ! Too many problems with Blogger and so on

Angelo Gons last blog post..Simple, Easy With Loads Of Options- Free Classified Ads

Reply Link
Mitch (9 comments) 01/16/2009 at 7:24 pm

Good stuff, and I’d like to reiterate that self hosted blog is the best, and to me, WordPress is the best way to go. I’ve heard that some people like Drupal because they say you can do a lot of things with it, but I’ve seen that the learning curve for some of those folks seems to be a long one, especially if they’re not overly techie. Why bother, if you ask me.

Mitchs last blog post..My Big RSS Subscriber Contest!

Reply Link
Dalirin (1 comments) 01/17/2009 at 1:09 pm

I will also choose self hosting because you own the blog. If google decides to shut down blogger tomorrow, say good bye to your blog.

Dalirins last blog post..Are You Ready to Choose a Niche?

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/17/2009 at 1:57 pm
  
  @Dalirin
  Welcome and yeah, that would be a nightmare
  
  Reply Link
JR (1442 comments) 01/19/2009 at 4:00 am

@Andy,
I can understand that. What is the reason you were deindexed so much, do you know?

Reply Link
Free Podcasts for Blogs - 27 Podcast Submission Sites | JR's Internet Marketing Strategies 01/19/2009 at 5:03 pm

[...] also provide a Podcast WordPress Plugin that adds a “Listen Now” button to your blog posts (see it at at the top of the post) which allows visitors the option of listening to your [...]
Steve@Success Factors (9 comments) 01/20/2009 at 2:53 pm

I think it’s ok to get started on a free platform, but as you learn more and want to reach more people, it’s imperative to get a self-hosted blog. That is my goal for 2009 for two new blogs I will be starting!

Steve@Success Factorss last blog post..Links for 2009-01-11 [del.icio.us]

Reply Link
Leo @ Strategic Internet Marketing (1 comments) 01/21/2009 at 4:05 pm

Man, I thought I was going to read yet another “everyone needs to pay for hosting…oh..and by the way, here is a link to who I host with”…post. Thanks for being real.

Leo @ Strategic Internet Marketings last blog post..114 Things I Wished I Knew as an Internet Marketer When I First Started

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/22/2009 at 3:06 pm
  
  @Leo
  Thanks!
  
  Reply Link
Internet Marketing Strategy (1 comments) 01/21/2009 at 4:33 pm

Free blogs are a cost-effective solution for new internet marketers, who want to test their writing skills and generate some advertising revenue, without having to risk significant start-up costs. Self-hosted blogs, on the other hand, are better suited towards experienced internet marketers, whose main objectives usually revolve around brand building, readership level, and long-term net income. The choice, therefore, depends on the marketer’s goals.

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/22/2009 at 3:07 pm
  
  @Internet Marketing Strategy
  Thank you for your thoughtful reply!
  
  Reply Link
aniroy1986 (1 comments) 01/22/2009 at 5:45 pm

even if u host ur free blog with likes of blogger buy a custom domain if u can.
then u wont hav to start over if u intend to move your blog to self-hosting or another platform.

aniroy1986s last blog post..Yahoo is Shutting Down Content Match in Europe

Reply Link
seo test (2 comments) 01/24/2009 at 4:00 pm

I use both of them, but my free blogs are just to support my self hosted blog lol :d

seo tests last blog post..It’s Gonna Be Hard

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/24/2009 at 5:34 pm
  
  @seo test
  That is a good use for them.
  
  Reply Link
Website Promotion Strategies (1 comments) 01/26/2009 at 12:10 pm

Good overall info….

I have to agree if you want your own blog stay away from free sites even the ones that give you MySql db’s to work with are limited and will start charging you for space once your blog takes off.

Get your own domain and host your own blog its the only way to go.

Website Promotion Strategiess last blog post..How to Create an Effective Resource Box

Reply Link
JR (1442 comments) 01/29/2009 at 5:59 am

@marc
Well put Marc!!

Reply Link
geek05@free blogger templates (1 comments) 02/02/2009 at 8:57 am

for me i really want my own domain and make a good blog on it..But for now im using wordpress maybe ill stay on because of its free benefits…

take care,
geek05

geek05@free blogger templatess last blog post..PS3 | Blu-ray Disc Developments

Reply Link
Kennewick Real Estate
Follow Me on Twitter @: colleenlane
(9 comments) 02/04/2009 at 2:15 pm

I would beg borrow or steal before I used a subdomain of blogger or wordpress. Why build up someone else’s authority. Plus, I’ve heard of account being terminated without notice. If you do a search in Squidoo’s SquidU forums there have been several threads on the topic.

~ Colleen

Kennewick Real Estates last blog post..I Love Jesus But I Drink A Little

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 02/04/2009 at 9:49 pm
  
  @Kennewick
  Yeah I too have heard some horror stories!
  
  Reply Link
Wes - PR Distribution (1 comments) 02/17/2009 at 4:50 pm

I agree, there are other advantages to free blogs that you may have missed, such as building brand awareness for another website.

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 02/17/2009 at 5:04 pm
  
  @Wes
  Great point!
  
  Reply Link
Brad Callen (5 comments) 02/20/2009 at 12:06 am

By now I think most people in the world are online or have access to the internet. What most don’t know is that there is a huge amount of income to be made for a minimal cost of even for free! For those that are aware of this, they’ll know about this..

Reply Link
Rafael Apolinario @ Stealth Cash Method (3 comments) 02/27/2009 at 1:01 am

I would also use a self hosting site for the main reason that you have a complete authority with the blog site. Free hosting are good but I’m hearing updates that WordPress just delete blogs if they think your it was just set up to promote a certain product. Like, this is just bad if you already invest a good amount of time and effort with it.

Rafael

Reply Link
Jack Clarke (1 comments) 03/02/2009 at 11:14 am

I made the same mistake as a beginner when I simply put one small affiliate link on the front page of a wordpress.com blog and logged in one day to find it had been suspended. Self hosting is the only way to go.

Reply Link
20 Blog Comment Do-Follow Resources and Plugins | JR's Internet Marketing Strategies 03/11/2009 at 11:24 am

[...] If you want to be the first to comment, then this tool is for you. Gives real time alerts when the blogs you program into it update and so you can be the first to [...]
seo tutorial (1 comments) 03/12/2009 at 2:02 am

Yes I also agree that a we can make self hosted blog more professional than free blog. If you are planning to make money then forget free blog

Reply Link
Morristown NJ Real Estate (11 comments) 03/14/2009 at 9:39 am

I have gone the wordpress paid path myself. I like to have full control over my content and want the ability to make the blog as successful as I am willing to work to make it. An example is http://www.nj-realestate-agent.com

Reply Link
Albert (14 comments) 04/04/2009 at 3:59 pm

Free blogging is good for starters, but if you are blogging for serious, then you must have your own hosting and domain.

Alberts last blog post..Top 21 Article Directories Worth Submitting

Reply Link
Jeevan (1 comments) 01/25/2010 at 2:05 pm

I would go with a Domain (10$US/Yr And Hosting can be found for less than $100/yr). It’s easy to brand your self when you got your own .com or what ever extension domain you may prefer. You can place Adsense ads to pay for the hosting expenses.
Jeevan´s last blog ..Lake Norman Waterfront Estate

Reply Link
tiffany (1 comments) 06/28/2010 at 10:53 am

Free blogging is good for starters, but if you are blogging for serious, then you must have your own hosting and domain.

Reply Link
Name

Email

Website

Cancel reply

Notify me of follow-up comments via email

SHARE YOUR TWITTER
Add a link to follow you on twitter in your comment! Just add your Twitter username in this box. Twitter Username ( No http or @ )