What the Best Blogs have in Common?

Have you ever wondered about what the best blogs have in common? If you are like me then you'll have realised that they all update regularly (like this site), they are clearly written, entertaining and provide informative posts. But what may not have occurred to you is that all these blogs are self-hosted WordPress blogs.

In other words, they use WordPress software (which is Free and can be downloaded from Wordpress.Org) on their own website which can be hosted by web hosting companies such as  Dreamhost or HostGator or BlueHost (also the top web hosting providers out there - a 2nd thing that best blogs have in common - reliabled web hosting companies)  When you run a blog this one any down time = money lost, traffic lost, visitors lost, time lost (you get the point ?)

Self-Hosted, Self Managed

No Rules to Follow, NO B.S.

This is what the Best Blogs have in Common.

Check out this list of what the Advantages are of having a self-hosted WordPress blog means:

• You have complete control over your blog. It has been known for Google to shut down Blogger blogs for no apparent reason. And if you have a blog on the WordPress site (rather than on your own site), you have to allow ads on your blog (and you may not even make money from those ads so what's the point ?), unless you pay to have them taken off 

• You can design your blog to look just the way you want it. There are many, many WordPress themes (or templates) available - a lot of them free. But if you use Blogger or the WordPress site, you're strictly limited to how you blog looks . . . and it'll probably end up looking just like everyone else's.

• getting people to come to your blog is much easier on a WordPress self-hosted blog because you can install an SEO plugin which makes your site much more visible to the search engines. If that sounds complicated, it's not - it's just a matter of a couple of clicks.

• there are loads and loads of plugins available for WordPress. Plugins enable you to do all sorts of customisation of your blog - and the vast majority are free - but most of these are only available for self-hosted sites.

• WordPress has better spam filters than Blogger.

• a self-hosted blog gives you all the storage space you want. You can post picture, videos . . . whatever you want. On the WordPress site (and on Blogger) space is limited.

• with a self-hosted site, you have your own url. This is really important when it comes to being found by search engines. Instead of a clunky "ThisIsMyBlog.WordPress.com" or "ThisIsMyBlog.Blogspot.com" you can have a streamlined url: "ThisIsMyBlog.com"

Now, I have to admit, I was once afraid of WordPress and managing my own site. For a long time I thought it was difficult. I understood Blogger/Tumblr and I stuck with it. But I continued on and struggled with learning Wordpress and there is always  much to learn. There is much literature out there of which I will share some of suggestions to read to get started with your blog.

Check out the differences between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.Org

Read why I also have a Blogger website which is really just the sister site of this one