Free Blog Vs Paid Blog - Which One Should You Opt For?

One of the first questions, especially if you are new to blogging, would be "Should I get a free blog or should I get a paid blog?"

First and foremost, what is a free blog, and what is a paid blog?

A free blog, as the name suggests, is a blog that you can set up for free - Website such as Blogger allow you to setup a blog for free (all you need is to fill up a simple form which takes less than 5 minutes to complete, and after which you can start blogging away).

However, for a paid blog, in order to set one up, you need to get 2 things - Domain name (this is your.com,.net,.me, etc.) and hosting (to contain the files related to your blog). After which, you will install your blog platform (most people use Wordpress) from under your hosting server (I shall not go into the complexities of how to set up a paid blog here in this post).

If you are new to blogging, which one should you opt for? In this post, I am going to show you the pros and cons of each (free blog vs paid blog) so as to help you decide which one is better for you.

Free Blogs

Pros

It's free! (As the name "free blog" suggests, it is completely free to set one up) Easy to setup (you can set one up within a few clicks of the mouse button)

Cons

Not customizable (you have to stick with the few blog template designs that they have) Non commercial use only (especially for free Wordpress blog - you are not allowed to promote/sell and products/services using a free Wordpress blog. Otherwise you risk your blog being deleted) Ads on your blog (you may see advertisements being served on your blog (by your free blog provider), and some of the ads may not be relevant to the topic which your blog is about - Thus making it look unprofessional)

Paid Blog

Pros

Highly customizable Can use for marketing purposes More professional (in that the address to your blog is a.com, or.net, and that you can customize the entire blog such that it is very professional-looking)

Cons

Cost (in the domain name [which costs approximately $10 every year], as well as hosting [which costs less than $10 per month, depending on the service you choose]) Complexity in setting up a professional blog (if you are not technically inclined, you may need to get someone to help you set it up)

After looking through the pros and cons of a free blog vs paid blog, I would recommend that, if you are looking to setup this blog for marketing purposes and build up your reputation in the niche that you are intending to go into, I would suggest that you opt for a paid blog.

The reason is this - Even though it may be a bit more complicated to set one up (in customizing it such that the entire blog looks professional), but after you have set it all up (you can always outsource the entire blog setup job to someone else for a small fee if you feel that you do not have the technical expertise to do so), the earning potential if you have a paid blog is much greater compared to a free blog.

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