I was talking to a colleague the other day and she asked me why she should get her own blog domain and web hosting? Why shouldn’t she just go for free hosting services like blogger.com or wordpress.com?

I told her that the answer her really depends on why she blogged. I told her - If you blog because you simply want to showcase your writing-skills or release some personal stress, you can live with blogger or wordpress.com. But if you want go get some online income, you should get your own domain and web hosting.

Why?

You have control over whatever you put on your own blog.

You can’t really make money from your blog on most of the free web hosting available. There are services that allow you to put your own ads (like blogger or soulcast) but it’s pretty limiting. You can’t use other money-making schemes. In wordpress.com, for instance, part of the terms of services indicate that bloggers can’t really write commercial content:

the Content is not spam, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);

Over at blogger.com (which is owned by Google), they have a similar policy:

No Resale of the Service. Unless expressly authorized in writing by Google, you agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes (a) any portion of the Service, (b) use of the Service, or (c) access to the Service.

This means you really can’t take advantage of money-making services like PayPerPost, Bidvertiser or WidgetBucks.

Not having control over your blog also means that blogger or wordpress can terminate your service ANYTIME. These are explicitly stated.

Blogger.com: Termination; Suspension. Google may, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account.

Wordpress.com:Termination. Automattic may terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately.

Having your own domain and web hosting gives you the power to automatically back up your files. If something bad happens, you can just resort to your back ups and restore your blog.

Maintaining your own domain and hosting service might take be a steep learning curve for most people. It pays to know someone who is quite technology literate to help out in these cases. I’ve helped out a friend who blogs about health set up his own blog. I do some of basic tech management for him.

If you want your own domain and Philippine web hosting, just shop around. I have my own service (as you can see) and I personally try to help those who get hosting from me.

UPDATE: Highly recommended if you have a high traffic website - Dreamhost webhosting. For more hosting sites, visit my quick tips page.