If you are new to blogging, you may not know what exactly self-hosting mean. However, choosing self-hosting is critical if you want to eventually monetize your blog. So what is self-hosting and why you need it?
Let’s face it, as a purpose-driven blogger, we have so much on our minds: how to share our passion, craft our message, make a difference in the World while earning enough money to support ourselves and those we love.
Honestly, the techy stuff may be the last thing on our mind.
But, choosing the wrong hosting method or picking the wrong one between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com can literally cause you hundreds or even thousands of dollars each month.
And in my opinion, it’s just way easier to do things right the first time and setup your blog correctly so we can move onto the bigger things (like blogging your heart out and making the impact you want).
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SO, WHAT IS SELF-HOSTING?
When you have a self-hosted website, it means that you are paying for a web hosting company such as SiteGround to “house” your blog and display it on the internet.
You own your blog and you can get your own domain name such as “www.yourname.com” instead of “www.yourname.freewebsite.com”.
With self-hosting, you have full control over your blog. Plus, you have unlimited capability as to what you do with your blog and you can customize it the way you want to.
Self-hosting is always recommended, especially if you intend to earn money from your blog.
What Is Non-Self-Hosted?
Non self-hosting means you are having your blog on a free hosting platform, such as WordPress.com, Wix, Tumblr, Blogger etc.
If you are using “free” hosting platforms, you are limited in what you can do and in many cases you cannot monetize it.
So, if you intend to make money from your blog, you should set up your blog with a paid web hosting company such as SiteGround.
WHY YOU NEED SELF-HOSTING
There are many reasons why you should self-host. Here are the 4 key reasons.
(1) Ownership
Scary, right?
(2) You Can Customize Your Blog To Your Liking
This is the fun part! You have your personality and your personal branding, so why have a cookie-cutter blog that looks just like every body else’s?
And for passionate creatives or entrepreneurs like us, we value beautiful designs. So being able to create and customize our blog to look the way we want is so important.
Self-hosted blogs can be built on popular content management system such as WordPress.org (NOT WordPress.com – more on that below), which allows you to choose from thousands of free and premium themes.
For example, Creative Market is the place where you can select thousands of beautifully-designed themes. If you like the theme I’m currently using, you can check it out here. Not only is the theme beautifully-designed, light-weight for fast-loading, the theme designer also provides excellent support.
Moreover, when you build your blog self-hosted, there are also unlimited plugins you can use to help customize the looks and functionality of your website too. You can check out my Blogging Resources for useful plugins that every blog should install.
Seriously, with a self-hosted blog, you are only limited by your own imagination.
(3) You Look Way More Professional
This is a big one.
If you have your blog hosted on free platforms, your blog URL will look like “yourbusiness.Freewebsite.com” (rather than “yourbusiness.com”).
Not so professional, isn’t it?
First impression matters. And visitors make an impression about your blog and your business within just seconds.
So, if you want to build a business and make money off your blog, investing in a self-hosted service like SiteGround is a must. Period.
(4) You Can Monetize It
Money, money, money!
With self-hosting, you can turn your blog into a real business and make profits from it.
For example, you can earn an income from your blog by running ads, working with brands for paid sponsorships, earning affiliate incomes and selling your own products and services. And this is something you cannot do if you are using free hosting platforms.
Therefore, as you can see, actually these ‘free’ hosting platforms are NOT free at all! But rather, they are extremely expensive as they limit you in earning an income, keeping you from earning hundreds or even thousands of dollars every month.
So, I am sure by now you have a better understanding on what is self-hosting and why you need it. Now, let us move onto another important point which many people get confused about. And that is the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
Lots of people get this confused, but it is extremely important to know the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
WordPress.com is a free hosting platform and WordPress.org is for blogs that are self-hosted. They are both created by the same co-founder and hence, their similar names.
WordPress.org is the content management system you can use for self-hosted blogs.
On the other hand, WordPress.com is free to set up, but your selections for themes, plugins and software are limited. And this, in the long run, will likely limit your ability to grow your blog and your business.
Honestly, it is just far better to set up your blog correctly right from the start, so you can focus on growing your blog, sharing your passion and making a difference in the World afterwards.
How To Self-Host Your Blog Correctly
Fortunately, it is simple to set up your blog and have it self-hosted correctly and affordably!
Please check out the related reads below, I think you
Related Reads:
- How To Start a Blog: A Step-by-Step Guide For Blogging with Purpose
- How To Find Your Perfect Blog Niche? (Step-by-Step Guide for Purpose-Driven Bloggers)
- How To Make Money Blogging: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
- How To Write a Compelling About Me Page For Your Blog
Now itWhat’s your biggest takeaway? Have you started your blog yet? Please comment below. I reply to all my messages.
