The Best Places to Start a Blog Today
If you’re looking for the best places to start a blog, you first need to ask yourself “why do I want to start a blog?”
You see I could just simply give you a list of the Best Places to Start a Blog and be done with it but I know this isn’t really what you’re looking for.
Rather you need to find the best place to start a successful blog. And yes there is a difference.
Can you imagine spending all your time writing and blogging, only to find after a few years, you’ve wasted your time on the wrong platform?
Well, there are two types of Bloggers that exist on the Internet today.
Hobby Bloggers and Business Bloggers.
So let’s take a closer look at both.
The Best Places to Start a Blog – Business Blogger
Generally, there are two ways to start a blog.
- Start a Free Blog
- Start a Self-Hosted Blog
However, in the case of a business, you’ll rarely find a free business blog on the Internet because usually a business has a brand and requires it’s own domain name. Plus the restrictions on free blogs makes running a business and making money extremely limiting.
Let’s face it who really wants to use the same website design or theme as the millions of other free blog owners out there.
It’s not very professional is it?
If you want to start a business blog then it must be self-hosted and you need to have your own domain name. Period.
Fortunately, it’s easy to purchase your own domain name from a website like GoDaddy or better still just use the one that’s included in the following blog hosting companies.
iPage – One of the cheapest blog hosting companies on the Internet and yet they provide a quality of service comparable to all the other blog hosting companies out there.
Best Feature: Blog Hosting + Domain Name for $1.99 per month
BlueHost – Seems to be the most common web hosting solution that professional bloggers start with and this is likely because of their solid reputation and flexibility in hosting packages.
Best Feature: Anytime Moneyback guarantee and Free Domain Name
GoDaddy – Another reputable web hosting company with plenty to offer a new business blog. GoDaddy is also the largest domain registrar in the world.
Best Feature: Anytime MoneyBack Guarantee and Free Domain Name
If you want to compare blog hosting you’ll find all the common features listed here.
Now when I say business blog, I’m not talking about corporations, as these companies usually host their own websites internally. Instead, I’m talking about all the bloggers like you and I who what to start a blog to make money online.
Therefore, these self-hosted blogs are ideal for small business bloggers.
The rest just simply fall into the Blogging for Fun category.
The Best Places to Start a Blog – Hobby Blogger
Now if you have no intention of making money on your blog or becoming crazy popular like these popular bloggers, then your options are a little different. You see, the best places to start a blog for fun are usually the free website and there are plenty of them.
For instance, if you are a teenager, you’d likely start blogging on Tumblr. It’s easy to use and has a thriving teenage community.
A college student might be more attracted to a website like Medium as a place to show off their intellect.
And Mum’s and Dad’s bloggers, blogging for fun might simply use WordPress or Blogger to start their hobby blog.
The last two free blog websites do offer options to have your own domain, but this essentially locks you into their products and thus limiting you from finding a better deal elsewhere on the web.
However, it’s also important to note that each of these websites have their own rules, which could ultimately stifle your creativity and limit your capacity to make extra money on the side.
Sure you might start blogging for fun, but if you already know you love writing then, consider at the very least getting your own blog hosting for at little as $25 USD per year.
Seriously, choosing a Free Blog rather than paying just $25 per year for your own blog could be a big mistake down the road.
And if you worked on your blog all year and decided to sell it, you’d actually make more money than you paid for it on the Secondhand Domain Market.
So even if you just want to blog for fun, you should still consider spending the $25 for 12 months hosting which actually includes a FREE domain name. This gives you the option to ‘Flip It’ when you’ve finished blogging and make a little extra money on the side.
You’d be crazy not to.
So as you can see the best places to start a blog today really depend on your needs as a blogger and your desire to ultimately make money from your blog.
Just one last observation.
You’ll never find a business blogger who regrets hosting their own blog, but you’ll come across thousands of bloggers that regret wasting so much time on Free Blog Hosting.