Blogging has grown as one of the most potential careers in recent years. It provides the opportunity to work with full freedom. However, if you are actually serious about your blogging career, it’s time to choose a self-hosted blog rather than a free one.
If you have just started your blogging journey, you may be confused between a hosted platform and a self-hosted platform. Well, there are several options to begin blogging free of cost. WordPress.com, Blogger, etc. are some of such options.
But these hosted sites all have their own limitations. If you want to flourish your blogging career to the fullest, a self-hosted blog is the best choice. It actually means you are hosting your blog with a premier web hosting company like Bluehost, Godaddy, Hostgator, etc.
Although hosting your blog requires some money, you will benefit way more than you think in the long run. It will add some incredible expanded features along with fast and facile monetization to your blog.
Top 11 Reasons to Start a Self-Hosted Blog
There are countless reasons to start a self-hosted blog. Usually, beginners stay away from self-hosting because they are scared of technical issues. But no worries. In most cases, they are super manageable. Also, remember that-
If you invest a little to learn, You will get a lot in return.
So give a bit of effort and enjoy the limitless convenient features of a self-hosted blog.
The benefits of using this platform are borderless. Not only you can get complete ownership and thorough control over your blog, but also you will be able to customize the domain name, theme, plugins, monetization, advertisements, and whatnot.
Want to learn more? Take your time to go through the following points below!
1. Full Control Over Your Blog
This is the fundamental reason we always recommend using a self-hosted blog. When you do that, you literally own everything on your blog. Be it the name, domain address, the content you publish, or the traffic.
You can even shift to another self-host quite smoothly. But the hosted platforms don’t let you control your blog 100%. They decide the outlook, content type, advertising process, etc. You cannot freely personalize the brand you want to establish.
Moreover, your blog can shut down along with the free platform without any prior notice. Isn’t it alarming? So a self-hosted blog is the most feasible floor to take your blog to the next level.
2. Domain Name Customization
Domain name customization is another excellent feature of a self-hosted platform. You can choose a unique domain name that represents your blog the best. In the case of a free platform like WordPress, you will see .wordpress.com at the end of the domain name.
But if you self-host your site, you can get rid of that additional part and personalize the domain name according to your brand.
A self-hosted site would enable you to make your blog more professional by providing the freedom to select an exclusive domain name that is relevant to your brand. In this way, it will be shorter and easy to remember.
3. More Storage
If you blog for a long time, you will need a lot more storage. Additionally, you sometimes need to add high-quality images and videos.
But free web hosting doesn’t provide you with the necessary storage space. There are some restrictions inflicted.
But in a self-hosted service, you can access a wide array of storage plans. So, you can select based on your choice and requirement. This is an ample opportunity for regular bloggers because they often run out of space while using free hosting services.
4. Better Monetization Facility
No matter how you start but ultimately, blogging is a great business. So, monetizing your blog is equally important to turn your passion into a money-making source.
But a free website will prevent you from fully monetizing your site. If you want to monetize through advertising, they will limit the category. You need to pay yearly to take their ads down. Moreover, you must give them half of your total earnings. So you see? They are not basically free platforms; instead cost you a lot more.
On the contrary, you can monetize your website however you want if you use a self-hosted blogging platform. You can provide affiliate links, sell products, ad programs, and many more without any limitations.
5. Better SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a notable factor that directly influences your website’s ranking. To make your blog SEO optimized, there is no better alternative than a self-hosted site.
It will let you customize your website whenever you want. You can edit the meta description, add tags and keywords, edit the permalinks, optimize images, and a lot more. In this way, your website will rank higher in Google searches and generate a lot of traffic.
6. Loads of Free Plugins
Plugins are essential to add some of the unparalleled features to your website. Usually, free hosting services don’t offer you them. But by paying a little, you can enjoy the benefits of more than fifty thousand plugins absolutely free.
Wonderful isn’t it??
You can add plugins to speed up your site, add contact forms, email subscription forms, and many more based on your necessity. Subsequently, you can use those emails to promote your own products to your audience.
So, adding some useful plugins to your website is always a great idea to let your blog grow. It will add a long-term benefit to your blog, ensuring a fruitful future ahead. But you can only get the free plugin services from a self-hosted web service.
7. Prominent Technical Support
Along with the additional pages, plugins, widgets, and customization, there are many technical issues. Unless you are a tech pro, you might find it intricate to manage all the technical sides.
No worries at all. Once you decide to self-host your blog, the rest is up to the hosting service providers. You can get help from their customer support team 24/7. Besides, they are fully trained professionals. So, you will find the exact guideline regarding any technical issue.
But free hosting platforms will not give you this type of opportunity.
8. A Professional Outlook
To attract your readers within a few seconds, your blog’s outlook is the most crucial thing. If it fails to give your audiences a professional vibe, they will not stay on your site.
To give your blog a professional outlook, you need custom themes and templates which perfectly represent your brand value.
Free blogs have almost similar kinds of looks. And just a few options of templates which are not enough. Besides, they don’t allow any modifications of your own.
Only a self-hosted blog will give you the freedom of unlimited customization. You can decorate your blog with the exact theme and template you want. This will add way more professionalism to your website and let you outstand your competition.
Your blog’s layout and appearance are the deciding factors for creating an impactful first impression on the audience. So, grab the opportunity by using self-hosting services.
9. Personal Email Address
It enables you to create a personal email address. The private email is associated with your domain name.
What a professional impression! Really praiseworthy.
It also creates a credible impression on your readers. Self-hosting platforms provide you with a private mailbox. This will let you order your emails accordingly. You can also separate your personal emails from blog emails.
10. Reliable Back-Up
One of the major amenities of paying for hosting your blog is that you can get reliable backups of all your content.
If your website crashes someday, your hard-written content will not be lost forever. You can always restore them. The process is a lot smoother and hassle-free than you think.
So, using a self-hosted site is even more recommended to avoid the risk of losing your content.
11. Bigger Blogging Community
With a self-hosted blogging site, you get an enormous community of professional bloggers throughout the world. If you encounter any troublesome issues, you are free to seek help from one of the most prominent online families. Just search on Google and find the solution.
When you are using paid hosting for your site, it also looks way more reliable to both the readers and your fellow bloggers. So other bloggers may team up with you for achieving a targeted goal together.
In this way, you can be a part of the online blogging community and grow your blog faster than before. But free-hosted sites don’t include any such facility.
To Wrap Up
Well! We have tried to incorporate the basic reasons for starting a self-hosted blog on our list. However, blogging is not at all a short-term investment. It is a long-term project with a lifelong profit. Although it initially charges a few bucks, it’s totally worth the advantages it provides. You will be able to successfully regain the investment within a short period once your blog starts thriving.
So, let your blogging career touch the new height of success with a self-hosted blog and enjoy complete creative control over your dream project.
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