With the increasing accessibility of the internet, more and more people are now coming online and so it comes as no surprise that blogging is coming forth as a powerful tool in modern media. Millions of people are using blogs as an outlet to channel out their creativity, exercise their freedom of expression and connect with a wider audience. Perhaps, the best thing about blogging is that anyone can set up a blog no matter if it’s as a hobby or from a business perspective.
If you too want to dive into the world of blogging, there are a few simple steps you need to follow to set up a blog and watch it prosper. One of the first things you should do is to utilize a hosting platform to get your blog online. But what is blog hosting and how should one go about it? If you’re baffled by such questions, keep on reading and everything will become clear to you.
What Is Blog Hosting?
Blog hosting is a subset of web hosting and can be regarded as a platform that allows your blog to come online. A blog host essentially provides you space and equipment to store your blog on the internet. A simple analogy is that of a house — blog hosting is the land on which your house is built and the domain name is your address. Businesses must connect with a hosting platform which acts as the blog’s foundation.
Types of Blog Hosting Services
There are an array of blog hosting services available out there but the quality of the services provided is generally not uniform across the board. However, choosing the right host is quite important since it will have a great impact on user experience along with ensuring that your content is kept secure.
There are essentially two distinct categories when it comes to blog hosting, depending on whether the services provided are free or paid. Hence, the first step for setting up a blog is to decide if you want to opt for free blog hosting or invest in a paid web hosting service. A general rule of thumb is to go for the free version if you want to start a blog merely out of personal interests or keeping in touch with your friends and family. However, if you want to pursue blogging as a career path and generate income from it, it’s wise to invest in a paid blog host.
Free blog hosting services such as WordPress generally have a simple interface, making them perfect for newbies. All the blogging software is already set up for you so that you don’t have to get into the technicalities of configuring anything. Moreover, there are also a few template options to choose from to make your blog more fun. However, since free blog hosting services generate revenue from running adds, you won’t be able to remove them from your blog as well.
On the other hand, going for a paid web hosting service opens many new doors for you and your blog. You get your own domain along with more options for customization according to your needs and preferences. Moreover, a self-hosted blog can handle more traffic and you can even run monetized adds to generate income. Most of these paid blogging services allow you to install some basic yet essential blogging software by just a single click, something that will make your life a lot easier.
In simpler words, choosing a free hosting service is just like renting an apartment while opting for a paid service is analogous to buying the land itself and building your house from the foundation.
How to Choose the Right Blogging Platform?
Like we have mentioned above, there are a number of free and paid blog hosting platforms available out there to choose from. However, you should closely analyze factors like the offered features, security, support, and speed, to name the least.
WordPress is considered as one of the most popular web hosts by the bloggers’ community, particularly because of the hundreds of free and paid plugin options it offers.
What Comes Next?
Once you’re done with selecting a suitable web hosting service, the next step is to get a domain name through a registrar. This domain name will be the address the readers will use to access your blog. After this, you should select the blog template you want to go for. While you can only get a limited set of pre-made templates on most hosting sites, customize your blog to get as creative as you can and try to bring some innovation in it so that it stands out amongst all the others.
Once you’re done with all this, you’re pretty much good to go. You can now start generating content and posting it online for the world to see.
