BLOGthenticity

As we have already discussed the first decision point, as to whether to use a blog or a standard website for a business presence on the web, the next decision point is to decide how to go about hosting the business blog. So far, in my day to day job of counseling small business owners regarding blogs, we have only used two solutions: free blog hosts and paid blog hosts.

Read more for Free and Paid Blog Hosts …

Free Blog Hosts

There are a number of free blog hosts to choose from. Google’s Blogger was one of the first. Being the first, starting a business blog at Blogger has the advantage of a large built-in audience of visitors. Not to mention, being added to the Google search engine almost instantaneously. One of the downsides of Blogger is the growing amount of spam blogs originating from Blogger.

Another choice for free blog hosting is Blogsome.com. Anita Campbell gave Blogsome.com very high ratings in her reviews of blog hosts. It was based on her review that I chose Blogsome.com to host my own blog, the Land of Opportunity small business blog. I have to admit that I had a very easy time setting up a business blog using Blogsome. So much so that I recommended Blogsome.com to two small businesses seeking an Internet presence. In the case of the two businesses, neither had much cash for the expense of a paid hosting solution and custom design solution. These two businesses were quit willing to exchange labor for cash. A third business also chose the Blogsome.com solution because they are located outside the United States in Bhutan and there just wasn’t a simple way for them to purchase blog services. (Internet services run 3-4 times more expensive in Bhutan.

As of this writing we are half way through getting two of the blogs operational. The hold up is getting content on the businesses and their services for the initial site design.

Paid Blog Hosts

A few weeks ago, I had the fortune to advise another small business on business blogs. This business is already established and has several websites and domain names already. They also love to write, but have not had much success in marketing their existing websites due to large numbers of competitors in an already overcrowded industry. Due to the fact that search engines love blogs and often rank blog content ahead of traditional website content, they feel a business blog may give them a more competitive position. As they also wish to sell other products and services, I recommended several commercial web hosting companies that also offer blogs as part of their basic packages. This is were paid blog hosts really shine and stand out.

While the free blog host services are quite good, you get what you paid for. A blog and little else. With a paid blog host, you get your choice of several blog platforms (WordPress, MoveableType, etc.) and all the bells and whistles of a traditional hosting solution — mailboxes, email aliases, autoresponders, shopping carts, databases, file transfer and storage, and so much more. Surprisingly, you can find a paid blog hosts that offer their packages for under $5 per month and without any setup fee. Add in a discounted domain name and you can have a very robust business blog for under $100 a year (design not included).

The paid blog hosting solution is clearly a preferred solution, particularly if you plan to either sell your own products or provide additional content dynamically. It is far easier and less expensive in the long run to choose a blog hosting service which offers the many features that your business might probable need. If you think you’ll ever need a shopping cart, get a blog host that offers a built-in shopping cart, like Miva. Your blog hosting company will have already installed and troubleshot the cart software for you. All you’ll need to do at a future date is load the cart with product and add links in your blog. No muss, no fuss. This is a far easier solution than deciding two years down the road that you need a shopping cart. What are you going to do then? Spend money and lots of it. That’s what you’ll do if you haven’t thought ahead.

Filed under: How to Blog, Timothy