Wordpress How To Pro

The question of using a hosted or stand-alone blog site is a major concern for many bloggers. Here are the differences of the two methods that can help you make your decision.

Hosted blog platforms are where many bloggers start their blogging experience. They are fast, easy and usually cheaper. The major blog sites are Blogger.com, WordPress.com, MSN Spaces, and TypePad. The reason these are hosted is the sites host the blogs on their sites providing the bloggers with their own URL that is a combination of the host site and bloggers ID.

There are pros and cons with the hosted blog platform. The pros are it is free to run the blogs. They are easy to set up with the templates the sites have to offer their bloggers. They are simple to run and maintain. They have automated updates without hassling the bloggers for the revisions. They are indexed into the various search engines quickly with good rankings for their pages. After adding content to your blog, you will be ranked with the search engines.

The bad sides of the hosted platforms are there are limited configurations options to customize the blog. You get only what they have to offer. The default designs are limited creating a more commonly used blog compared to the other bloggers. To make changes with the individual blog, the bloggers need to know the complicated CSS and HTML to edit the templates. There is less control over the blog site. This includes the times the host site is down making many bloggers lose money from their sites. The URL is generic leaving the professional appearance lacking for the bloggers. Upgrading to a standalone host can be difficult when leaving the hosted blog site. It can be done but not easily.

If you are a blogger that does not care for having a unique domain and the benefits of the stand-alone blog site, then the hosted sites are exactly what you will need to use. There are great features with the hosted sites many bloggers do not mind using and are more than comfortable using.

The stand-alone blog platforms are hosted under your own stream and URL domain name. You can use WordPress.org as well as MoyableType, TextPattern, and Expression Engine. There are more services that are not listed but these are some of the major services used for stand-alone platforms.

The pros for the stand-alone platforms are full control over the design of the blog site. They are very adaptable to the needs and desires of the bloggers. The platforms are free even though you will pay for the domain and hosting systems. The domain name looks more professional.

The down sides of the stand-alone platforms are they are hard to set up depending on your technical abilities and web design levels. You will have to set up databases and then download the platform onto your PC design the blog then upload the blog with FTP onto the web-hosting server. There are costs associated with the stand-alone platforms, which is a negative issue for the beginner blogger. There are updates that will need to be downloaded to the blog site. There are also hosting issues such as the required back-ups of the blog site to avoid losing valuable information.

Based on your individual needs and computer technology you can decide the best option for your blog sites. Many different hosts you can choose from may fit all of your needs.

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Your Blog: An Easy Alternative to a Website

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