The decision to use a host for your blog or to host your blog on your website relies on your blogging needs. There is no universally recognized right choice but the two options have advantages and disadvantages that can affect the long term and immediate success of your blog.
Free blogs
There are many free blog sites but they offer similar services.
Advantages of using free blog site
The main advantage of free blog sites is that they are free thus handy when on tight budget. They are easy to launch and a novice user can easily publish and post new content that includes pictures and videos. They feature an easy to use interface that is almost similar to Word. It includes spell check and auto save features. Some free blog hosting sites permit a number of customizations meaning that you are allowed to customize your blog according to your target industry.
Disadvantages of free blog hosting
The main disadvantage is that, your blog URL uses the name of the free blog hosting site. This makes your URL longer and less attractive. The free templates are limiting in terms of structure and you may be required to hire IT support to customize your blog.
Hosting your own blog
Hosting your own blog is not as expensive as people describe it. It offers a unique connection level that translates to easy user experience and improved brand affiliation.
Advantages of hosting your blog
Hosting your blog offers seamless correlation between a brand and a blog. When you use your own website, all your blog content is hosted under your main domain to support SEO. This offers more page indexes and easy to remember URL that are quite attractive. Another main advantage is the high level of customization it offers. There are no restrictions on the structural and template changes you can make.
Disadvantages of using your own domain
When a blog bares your domain name, its content has a connection with your brand and company. This connection can be a disadvantage to your company especially when the blog writers write negative content.
Final factors to consider
When making a decision on whether to use a free blog site or your own blog, consider these three factors.
Search visibility: if SEO is an essential part of your blog, then using your own website to host your blog to be the best idea. A live blog on your domain allows indexing of new blogs by the search engines.
Flexibility: depending on your blogging needs, you may choose the flexibility offered by a free blog and bear with the downsides or use your own blog hosting if you want to enjoy design flexibility.
Control: a free blog does not offer you control over your blog and they can easily kill it or deny you access if they feel like you are violating their policies. Having your own blog offers more control over your blog content. For more information click here