Hosted Blog Services

Hosted Blog Service Or Self Hosted Blog

First of all, weblogs, or blogs, are an up and coming wave of internet Content Management Software (CMS). Blogs are often set up like a journal or diary, consisting of an author's commentary on a certain subject or group of subjects. The entries are listed in reverse chronological order, so the most recent entry is at the top of the list. Bloggers often allow other users to post comments about their blog entries. That being said, blogs have also been known to be very much more than simple journals. They are capable of becoming a full web publishing system, as well as, being a valuable asset to businesses who use blogs as notice boards or log records.

There are generally two ways to host your blog on the internet. One way, is a hosted blog service. These services come in two varieties, free and paid. Some major blog engines (such as Wordpress or TypePad) offer both services. There are, of course, pros and cons to everything, including blog hosting services. Free hosted blogs don't always have a lot of support offered. If you have questions about your blog service, it may take awhile to get an answer from a free blog hosting service. Also, due to a lot of people finding free to be very inviting, the server that your blog is hosted on may be rather slow. Also, free hosted blogs tend to have a limited number of templates and designs to choose from. Paid blog hosting services also have a limited number of templates and designs to choose from, but they often offer the option of creating your own design from scratch, as well.

Both free and paid hosted blog services are very easy and convenient to use, however. You are not required to have any technical knowledge in order to quickly and easily make a professional looking blog. You also are freed of the responsibility of installing the blog software, as well as, maintaining the database and keeping the software updated with the latest security patches.

Having a self hosted blog can sometimes be a bit more difficult and time consuming. Blog software is generally relatively easy to install, but you may find it helpful to have some technical knowledge in the areas of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), PHP and HTML. Some technical knowledge in these areas will also assist you in customizing your blog to look and act precisely as your want. Also, hosted blog services (mostly free versions) place ads on your blog. If you host your own blog, you can control whether you display ads on your blog and what those ads will consist of. Also, self hosted blogs will be under your own domain name (www.yourdomain.com) as oppose to being under the hosting service you have chosen (yourname.wordpress.com). Self hosting your blog will require you to keep track of security updates yourself, and you will be responsible for maintaining your database and keeping track of blog software version updates.

If you plan to blog for personal use, you are probably better off using a hosted blog service. If you plan to blog for your business or use your blog as your business, self hosted blogs are a much better and more customizable option.