There are loads of reasons to blog and plenty of free blog options out there. Whether you choose to do a free blog or host your own or do a combination of the two is up to you. Today’s post explores the pros and cons of each option. I choose to do a combination of these things for my own purposes mostly because in my early online days, I didn’t realise the benefits of having my own blog on my own domain and didn’t realise just how inexpensive it could be to do it on my own and be able to have just what I wanted.

The pros of free blogs include that there are no costs and that they usually have an easy interface or template for you to use so you don’t have to be at all technical to figure out how to use them.

On the con side, you have no control and they can be very simple so they may not have all the functionality you’re looking for.

With a free blog, there may be some advertising that you cannot control. With a blog on your own domain, you have much more earning potential and power over the layout of the site.

How Much Does Having Your Own blog cost?

You can typically get a domain registered for $10 or less for a one year period and hosting is often less than $10 a month when you want a basic package that hosts a blog. Wordpress is the most popular and most versatile option and you can install it for free. Your own host might even have Wordpress built into your hosting control panel making it that much easier to get up and running quickly.

Benefits of Blogging

In terms of money making potential, blogs can definitely help you. Not only do they do great in search engines because of being continuously updated but they create viral marketing for you because people will link to you in their blogroll and on their site as well. Whether you’re planning to blog for profit or add a blog to your existing site to enhance search engine optimization, you can definitely benefit. If you’re not yet blogging or not yet using this to your full advantage, it’s definitely worth looking into.