Self-Hosted vs. Hosted Blogging

The debate often arises when bloggers begin about how they should start blogging.  After all, it is quite a big leap for people that have never blogged before to begin with something that works.  There are dozens of solutions out there available, some of which I highlighted in a previous post about the best alternatives to popular blog services.

Generally, people feel that starting with your own domain and self-hosting your blog is the best solution for people that really want to take blogging seriously, there are some other reasons that should be taken into consideration before venturing in either direction.

What Do Each of the Terms Mean?

Well, first off, you have to know what self-hosted and hosted (service-oriented) blogging services are.  Once you get the feel for what they mean, you’ll be able to make an informed decision on which service suits your needs.

When your blog is self-hosted, you are able to control nearly every aspect of your blog – from the template to the weblog service your are using.  Generally, self-hosted blogs are more prevalent in the list of “top blogs”, as they are (generally) given more respect, as you must purchase a domain and hosting in order to take full advantage of the features and benefits.

Hosted services are generally created and tailored to help people who have a very little to no budget whatsoever, and allows them to blog, often with little restrictions when it comes to the number of posts and functionality.  However, it is “often” more difficult to make it to the big league when you blog using a free service, as it doesn’t prove that you are as committed to blogging as someone who invests money in their domain and hosting.

Self-Hosted Benefits and Disadvantages

Before you begin blogging, you will often question whether you want to got the route of self-hosting your blog.  In other words, you must purchase a domain, hosting, and then promote your blog (easier than using a hosted solution).  Roughly 95% of the world’s most popular blogs are using a hosted solution, or are blogging with a domain that they have purchased (through a free solution like Blogger).  For this reason, it may appear obvious that going in this direction is the most beneficial choice.

By far one of the most beneficial choices that you can make (or change) when starting to blog is to go with a self-hosted blog solution.  Doing so allows you to leverage your control over your blog to gain more respect from both search engines (in the sense that you can control permalinks) and from readers.  In addition, you are able to do more than simply blog when you purchase a domain and hosting – you can create subdomains and folders for placing a forum connected to your blog, run affiliate offers and monetize your site to a better extent than any free service will ever be able to offer.

Until recently, thousands of additional templates were available for this type of blog system, rather than the Blogger blogging system.  However, that is quickly changing as more theme developers are jumping on board and converting other designs to multiple platforms, eliminating the need to use multiple blog systems to get the theme that you want to use.  However, it has generally been accepted that updating, installing, and managing templates using a self-hosted solution is easier than using one through a free service, with limited flexibility in how you manage the entire experience.

Now onto the negative aspects of self-hosted blog solutions.  While there are more generally more updates provided with this type of solution (as it has to cater to all security releases and people using the system on their servers), there are often more security vulnerabilities as malicious code can be inserted more easily into the template or core files to cause conflicts with the database, leaving your blog corrupted and not displaying.  In another sense, you need to be more aware of the actions and consequences for them.  For example, if you don’t secure your admin files, then anyone will be able to see them, take data from your site, or again insert/corrupt files in these locations.

Another main disadvantage of your site, traveling in line with the aspect that you must be more aware of what you are doing, is that you must make an informed decision when choosing your hosting provider, or you will be left with a site that is either constantly down or is slow enough that visitors don’t want to return.  When you look at hosted blog platforms, most are already optimized for visiting, and you generally have a site that is up 99.9% of the time, other than when they are updating the core files and need to bring the sites down temporarily for maintenance.

In my opinion, for a majority of bloggers, going with a self-hosted option is a better option if you want to properly blog about a subject you are passionate about.  It is important to remember that once you have purchased a domain and a hosting plan, you must remember that you must be committed to it – after all, it is something that you wanted to begin doing, as you were influenced by other people.  You have so much more flexibility and customizability when it comes to self-hosted blogging than the constricted offerings of nearly every hosted/service-oriented blogging system.

Key Advantages

• More control over your entire blog.
• Contrary to the “negative” point listed below, often it is easier to install and use than a free solution, as you can customize both the backend and frontend to your liking.  Plus, Fantastico and SimpleScripts are available for automatic installation of these self-hosted blogging platforms.
• Generally more templates available than other systems, although there isn’t an easy way to customize the template unless you are using a template with a backend set of features developed by the designer of the theme.
• Easier to market and target your blog as you will be developing a community based around your domain name.
• Much easier to gain readership, income opportunities, and related benefits.
• More flexible as you are able to customize (at least with WordPress) the plugins and every aspect of your blog.
• Requires you to know some SEO skills, although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  You are able to use “friendly URLs” to “compete” against other sites and gain more dominance and higher ranking results in search engines.
• People look at your site as being an “authority” when you have taken the time to do your own hosting and buy your own domain – another aspect of branding.
• Most hosting plans come with more than enough storage and features to expand your site.
• More compatibility with plugins that are necessary and popular within the blogging community for better networking.
• A large community is following open source projects like WordPress, providing help and support if you should need it.

Key Disadvantages

• Cost factor – domain, yearly hosting costs, promotion.  Some platforms require you to purchase commercial licenses in order to monetize your site and use it for other commercial purposes.
• Default features – many of the default blog systems are limited unless you add dozens of plugins or widgets.
• More difficult to update/upgrade, and install than using a hosted provider, as you must do it yourself.
• More likely to get hacked, encounter problems, as you are in control of what happens, so extra precautions must be taken.
• If you don’t choose the right blog hosting provider, you blog will continually be down, so you’ll lose income opportunities and/or readers.
• May be harder to upgrade from a free solution to a paid/self-hosted solution, so it may be better to start with one, or completely start over if you desire to “upgrade.”
• Plugins and “bad” code can completely damage your blog if you are not aware of what the code does and if the plugin is outdated or hasn’t been properly tested.

Managed/Hosted Benefits and Disadvantages

Hosted solutions generally don’t offer the level of customization that hosting your blog system provides.  In this case, we’ll say that you spend nothing to create your blog, not even purchasing a domain, as most people don’t.  You are essentially “renting” space from another company, blogging on a subdomain of their service (ex. mywebsite.blogspot.com and mywebsite.wordpress.com).  In itself, this is a limitation, as you are unable to effectively grow your website and business.  How many times do you visit a site hosted on these subdomains compared to sites that have their own domains?

One of the main advantages of these services however, is the ability to get your blog up and posting and commenting within a few minutes.  Blogger is famous for this, as you don’t even need an account (provided you have a Google Account), and can start blogging within three easy steps.  In addition, everything that you need is built right into the system, however limited at best.  For example, you are able to use default templates provided within the service or find ones that others have developed.  The blog system that you are using may limit the types of templates that you use and the code that is included in order to limit the risk of security vulnerabilities, however.

There are some plans that do require you to purchase a monthly membership plan, but they generally include hosting space, additional features, and sometimes you own domain.  This may be a better solution for people that don’t want to have to install the blog platform on their server of have to manage updating plugins in order to keep their blog secure.

People that generally start out with a hosted service generally don’t have a clear direction on where they want to take their blog.  Not in the sense that they don’t want to blog, but that they don’t want it to be a full-time “hobby”, but simply a place to dump their thoughts for others to read.  It is often that you see these bloggers wondering why thousands of visitors haven’t arrived at their blog, as they now have five posts.  An additional reason people start using a free system is due to the fact that “everyone else” is, so it must be easy to use.

On the aspect of customizability, most of the templates used by Blogger, and often WordPress.com users are default.  By this, I am referring to the fact that users don’t know where to find templates or they are not freely available to suit the needs of their blog.  However, the system may offer a way to customize the default’s template colors and layout, which may be beneficial to people that don’t know CSS and HTML (or the language used by the particular platform).

Key Advantages

• Typically free, with some providing paid solutions, as in the case of TypePad.
• Easier to update, as the provider is performing the updates and pushing them out to their users.
• Support typically provided by the company that created the service, often free.
• Everything you need is included within the dashboard area, making it easy to add widgets, change templates, and other key features to you blog.
• Often easier to get higher results in search engines, as both the code and domains are already optimized and high in search engine dominance.
• More people are using free platforms at this time, providing more resources and community help if you need it.

Key Disadvantages

• Less features and functionality.  For example, no tag and individual page support in Blogger.
• Usually hosted (with limited control) on a .blogspot.com or .wordpress.com domain.
• Bandwidth and storage space is often limited, especially for images.
• You are given less control over how you brand and promote your blog, as these domains are harder to remember and optimize.
• Security vulnerabilities are still present.
• Customizability is often limited, with less templates freely available than with self-hosted solutions.
• Updates are often not provided as frequently as services that are hosted on individuals’ servers.
• When updates are performed, everyone on the service suffers, as their site or features are temporarily shut down.
• The content you produce technically isn’t “yours.”  If the provider decides to shut down your site, for any reason, you are not entitled to receive your content, as your were “renting” storage space.

Conclusion – Which Is Best for You?

In my opinion, there is no one solution that is best for everyone.  It comes down to a case-by-case basis for how seriously you want to take blogging.  For instance, people that start with a free service; Blogger or WordPress.com are able to get a feel for the work involved in blogging and are able to easily transfer their site to a hosting provider by exporting their data, while people that start with their own domain “give up” due to the fact that they didn’t know what was involved.

Important Factors to Consider

1. How seriously will I be blogging? – Full-time or just as a small hobby?
2. What is my budget? Am I able to fork over $10 for a domain and ~$100/year for hosting?
3. Do I need advanced features like plugins to add contact forms and other functionality to my website?
4. Is it in my best interest to go with the most compatible blog system or one that is simple to use and everyone uses?
5. Will I need to upgrade storage or be limited in any way by the blog system if I choose a particular free/hosted solution?
6. How well do I want to brand my business – should I stick with a .blogspot.com domain?

Before you begin blogging, it is important to think about the main benefits and disadvantages of each service before you finally decide on one that will allow you to be the most successful.  There are, in face, millions of different options that you have – using a free service with a domain, self-hosting every aspect of your site, whether on a shared host, dedicated server, or virtual private server (VPS), and so on.

The most important aspect of the whole decision is that you plan and figure out a long-term plan.  Without a plan, you won’t be able to grow your blog beyond the point that you only need a free service such as Blogger/BlogSpot.

Over to You - What are your experiences?  Do you prefer to use a free service or host your blog on your own servers?  Would you have taken a different path than the one you are currently taking?