Why Free Hosted Blogs Suck

Over the past month, I’ve been working as an admin in the newly launched ProBlogger Forum. It started as part of the 31 Days To Build A Better Blog Project which ended last week (but you can still sign up for the course and take it at any time, or you can wait and buy the ebook), but the forum is still open.

This was the first time I realized the huge diversity in ProBlogger readers – most significantly in the difference between those who use free blogging services like Blogger or WordPress.com versus those who have a self-hosted blog built using WordPress software or TypePad.

There were quite a few discussions that started with people on free hosted blogs that wound up with them being frustrated because they didn’t have the ability to do some of the things that were suggested in the project. That’s reason Numero Uno as to why free hosted blogs suck: Lack of freedom.

This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for quite some time now, even before the forums, but I didn’t realize the need was so intense until now. Before I get started with this… let me first explain the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org:

WordPress.Com is a free blog hosting service. It’s built on the WordPress software, however your blog is hosted on their servers. You can point your domain name to it, but you’re not blogging on your domain, per se.

WordPress.Org is where you download the WordPress software, access support, tools, training, and other helpful things. Using the software means you have purchased hosting through another hosting company (such as GoDaddy, HostGator, etc.), have your domain name resolved to that hosting account, and have installed the WordPress software to your site using a MySQL database to store the information. (And no, it’s not as complicated as it sounds. It just means you’ve paid either a monthly or annual fee to the hosting company.)

Okay, so now that that’s cleared up, let’s move on to all the reasons why free hosted blogs suck.

1. As I said previously, lack of freedom. Lack of control. With a free hosted blog, you tend to lose flexibility with what you may want to put on your blog. This could be in terms of content, advertising positioning, even design. Sure, if you pay for upgraded service on your free host, something like $7 – $10 a month, you can customize SOME things – but um… why then wouldn’t you be paying a hosting company $4 a month to do the very same thing on your own domain, where you’re 100% in control instead of only 80%?
2. They’re simply NOT search engine friendly. Not even Blogger (which is owned by Google). Go to Google right now, and punch in your favorite keyword phrase. I’ll give you a hand: Here’s the results for the phrase “personal finance blog” (opens in new window). How many of those are on blogger, blogspot, or wordpress.com? ZERO. Not convinced? How about “diet blog”? Zero free hosted blogs again. Sure there are exceptions, but those exceptions have likely been online for 5 years or more, and it’s SO rare. I can almost say with 100% certainty that you can’t come up with a phrase that will have a free hosted blog in the top 5 I’ve been corrected on this in the comments of this post, however there are still many highly searched keyword phrases where this applies. I’ll admit that right now I haven’t the time to do the research, but the mention of this has piqued my interest, and I plan on doing some case studies soon.
3. Limited income opportunities, if any. Sure, not everyone who puts up a blog gives a hoot about whether or not they make any money from it, but those people are few and far between. At some point, pretty much everyone wants to at least make a few bucks a month off their blog. Guess what? Advertisers don’t WANT to pay free hosted blogs because of reasons like above #2. There’s no “juice”. There’s no way to get that search traffic in there. If you’re not willing to pay $4 a month to help you rise to the top, why should an advertiser have faith in you enough to pay you even $5 a month, which is well below average ad rates? People read ProBlogger to learn how to make money from their blogging, yet they’re not willing to put forth the small effort of eating one less fast food meal per month to give themselves the edge? To look like they take their “job” seriously? I understand if you can’t afford it right now, but you’re not going to make the money to pay for hosting off ads if you’re on a free blog, so save up and do it right.
4. Credibility. Okay, I know this is super un-PC of me to say, but imagine walking down the street and you see two stores.
   • Store A has clean, shiny windows that allow you to see into the store. The store owner is standing outside on the stoop in a well-tailored suit. He’s neatly groomed, and is offering a 50% off sale on his wares.
   • Store B has flaking paint on the exterior walls. The wood around the windows is cracked, dry, and damaged. The store owner is on the stoop in rags you just know came from the trash bin because they were free. He’s wearing greasy hair, is missing a front tooth, and is lunging at you as you pass trying to get you to come in and buy something for a rock-bottom price.

   Which store would you walk into? Be honest.

   Liken this to cars even. When you see an old beater driving down the street, puffing out smoke from the tailpipe and making obnoxious sounds, verus a nice, clean, affordable car… what are your impressions? That the driver of the first car is jobless? Unclean? Living in a trailer park? That the driver of the second car has a decent home and just got done eating a nice meal out with friends? Seriously… think about it!

So what I’m saying is this: You can’t possibly expect to be taken seriously if you’re using a free hosted blog. Period. You get no search traffic, no ad revenue, and no credibility. I don’t care if you have a main website for your business and have attached an external, free hosted blog either… that’s the worst! If you already have a website, with paid hosting, why on earth would you even consider NOT putting the blog software on your hosted site?

I’m fully aware that the economy’s put a serious pinch on everyone. But you have to stop thinking about this as “spending money” on a hosting plan, and start thinking about it as an investment. Blogging isn’t nearly as volatile as the housing market – in fact it’s growing stronger all the time. If you do it right, you should make back your annual $60 before you even spend it (if you need to pay month by month of course), or at the very least by the end of your first year. Honestly!

Now if you’re worried about the technology of it all, the act of migrating your free blog to a paid one, really, I can help. It’s what we do around here. But if you’ve read this and are still thinking that free is the way to go, really… have fun with that, I dare you!

Oh, one more source of proof: ProBlogger’s What Blog Platform Do You Use Most? Poll. Yah. Check out those results! Self-hosted WordPress wins, HANDS DOWN. Even though there are over 400 people still using Blogger.

FeedBurner changes throwing a wrench into code

In case you’re not aware, FeedBurner (a highly used RSS management tool) was acquired by Google (this happened back in May 2007). As in true Google style, they’ve finally gotten around to messing with it to the point of driving web designers/developers mad.

I admit, I rarely log into my FeedBurner account. But I’m pretty grateful I did, because THAT is how I was notified of the problems that were soon going to mount on my plate. See, there was standard code for creating subscription tools on your blog – and Google had to go and bork that all up, so now I have dozens of sites that need immediate attention (before February 28, 2009 in fact) or subscribers will be in the dark. (For some reason, I’m hearing those “switch to digital cable” commercials in my head now…)

In effect, the code has changed. Depending on your site (all sites I develop are in WordPress), and if and how you’re using any plugins to help drive your feed to feedburner (Feedsmith is most popular), and then depending on your site’s theme setup, you or your developer may have a TON of work to do.

If you’re using any of the popular Revolution Two themes (as I am… ugh), you can find help in the forum here: How To Update Feedburner Code To New Google-Feedburner Code

If you’re using any of Justin Tadlock’s great themes, and are a support forum member, you can view the fixes in the forum here: Feedburner RSS issues with Options Theme

Otherwise, you’re kind of on your own, and will have to use the new tools provided by the Googlenator to help you take care of business.

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