Free Blog? Say, “No Thank You!”

Continuing with the free advice on freebies there are distinct disadvantages to free blog formats. In fact the largest advantage of a free blog is that is free. This makes it a great way to get started to see if you like to blog and you like the format. Unfortunately this is where the advantages end.

Limits

You are limited to the themes  they have installed.   You are also limited to the plugins they offer.  This limit is a lot smaller than your options should you upload them yourself.  They have restrictions that can severely limit or completely eliminate revenue opportunities.  Some sites will not allow you to sell products or even collect donations.  There are blog formats that may share advertising profits but they control the advertising.  Most control the advertising and the profits.

Who owns the content?

Terms of service at the blog host can change, what may be acceptable posts today on their site may not be tomorrow. Should you be in violation of their terms they may terminate your blog with little to no notice and all the content you worked to create could be gone. There hae been cases where the blog host makes claim on the content you created.

A rose by any other name… does not smell as sweet

This is probably the largest disadvantage of free blogs. While you can buy a domain name and have it point to your blog, it costs money to change that free blog to using your domain name. Otherwise you must settle for having blogspot.com or wordpress.com attached to you blog name.  Potential clients and customers are not going to see a blog with another name attached as professional.

So unless you just want a personal blog, then get web hosting and get a blog!  And as always I do recommend WordPress for ease of use.

~ MJ Schrader