Time to start a blog? Then start a blog! 9 Free and paid options and their advantages and disadvantages (in our opinion):
Start a Blog option 1
Blogger blog (your URL will end in .blogspot.com)
Advantages:
– Free,
– No domain registration or hosting required,
– most people find Blogger very easy to use, so this is often a popular way for beginners to start a blog
– A fair amount of free themes to choose from, with some basic customization options,
– Can monetize with Adsense ads if you are an Adsense publisher
Disadvantages:
– Not really your own site,
– Your blog’s address will end in blogspot.com instead of simply ending in something somewhat more professional like .com or .co.za,
– Not all that many free themes (the basic look of your blog) to choose from ,
– Not all that much to choose from when it comes to adding extra features to your blog
– You need a Google account if you don’t yet have one (a gmail email account is fine as that means you have a Google account already)
Do it! Start a free blog! blogger.com
Start a Blog option 2
a free wordpress.com blog
Advantages:
– Free,
– No domain registration or hosting required,
– You do not first need a Google account before you get your WordPress blog,
– relatively easy to use
Disadvantages:
– Not really your own site,
– Your blog’s address will end in wordpress.com instead of simply ending in something like .com or .co.za,
– wordpress.com may sometimes run some ads on your blog that you earn nothing from,
– Not the best choice if you are thinking of monetizing your blog with ads, as you first have to have quite a fair amount of people visiting your wordpress.com blog and then can only use wordpress.com’s WordAds set-up where you would only share in what wordpress.com earns from those ads.
Do it! Start a free blog! wordpress.com
Start a Blog option 3
register a domain, get hosting, and install WordPress, all on your own
Advantages:
– Your blog is your own so you can do pretty much whatever you like with it,
– You won’t need to share your advertising earnings with the owner of the blogging platform like you may need to on wordpress.com
– You still get to use the powerful blogging or Content Management System that is WordPress,
– Very many free themes to choose from at wordpress.org (over 1 500) or you can purchase a theme or you can have a web designer design a custom WordPress theme for you,
– Your blog’s address ends in .co.za or .com like any professional website online.
– You do not first need a Google account before you get one,
– Not that difficult to learn to manage your blog if you have a little patience,
– Can use it as a professional business website instead of as a blog,
– Tons of free extra features you could add to your blog
Disadvantages:
– Not free because you need to register a domain and get hosting for your blog,
– Have to register your domain and get the correct kind of hosting (must have at least one database and must support PHP and MySQL) on your own,
– Have to install WordPress on your own,
– If you are not a patient type of person, or do not enjoy finding out things or how things work on your own, or hate reading and having to understand manuals or steps on how to do something, this option is not really for you
– Will need a Google account and will need to be a Google Adsense publisher if you wish to monetize your your blog with Adsense ads – but there are other ways to display ads on your site, too, if you don’t become an Adsense publisher
Do it! Start a blog! Get your domain registered and get hosting on your own, and start a blog using a free (or bought or custom designed) WordPress theme!
Start a Blog option 4
hire somebody to help you get started with your own WordPress-powered blog
Advantages:
– Same as the advantages of option 3,
– PLUS somebody else does the domain registration for you, gets the correct hosting, installs WordPress, and perhaps does the basic settings for you too, and may even also add your static pages of content for you too, like home, about, contact etc
– PLUS just get right to the starting point where all you have to do is use provided log in details to access the dashboard of your blog!
Disadvantages:
– Not free due to needing domain registration and hosting, and due to paying somebody to help get you closer to the point where you can just start blogging
– spending time looking for somebody who does domain registration, hosting, and who will also assist you with installing WordPress and more
– may end up using two different places or people – one for domain registration and hosting, and one for assisting you, when it may be best to use just one place or person
Do it! Start a blog by hiring somebody to assist you!
Start a Blog option 5
Get your own domain and correct hosting, give the hosting log in details to somebody and pay them to set up the basics of your WordPress-powered blog for you, so that after that you can just log into your site and start blogging (and maybe creating your navigation tabs etc too if the person you hired didn’t do that for you).
Advantages:
Can browse around and can get a domain registered and can get hosting cheaply, then somebody else does the installation of WordPress for you.
Disadvantages:
May be expensive to hire somebody to do the installation for you and may take a while to find somebody who will also do the basic settings and more for you too, at not too much of an extra fee.
Do it! Start a blog by getting your own domain and hosting and hiring somebody to assist you with the rest!
Start a Blog option 6
If you want to start a blog and you see website packages where you could add your own content and manage the site yourself, it is a Content Management System and you could use that website as a blog.
Disadvantages:
– A cost of R300
Advantages:
– See our testimonials page, or browse around our site and see that we are down to earth, friendly, and earn a living from home in a number of different ways, including from blogging, from website design, and from setting up sites or blogs.
– Can browse around and can get a domain registered and can get hosting cheaply, then we do the installation of WordPress for you.
– inexpensive
– you immediately know that we also do some basic settings, and send you a user manual, all included in that excellent R300 price
Do it! Start a blog by hiring us to assist you!
Start a Blog option 7
Hire us to do your domain registration and get hosting for you too, in addition to installing WordPress, doing some basic settings, and sending you your WordPress dashboard log in details and user manual (R300). .co.za domain registration R120 (renewable yearly), .com domain registration R190 (renewable yearly), hosting R400 (renewable yearly) for 100meg disk space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited professional email addresses.
Disadvantages:
– A cost of R300 plus R120 or R190, and R400
Advantages:
– All the trouble taken away from you. Just get to the point where you can use your WordPress dashboard log in details and go start playing with your blog. Also see the advantages of option 6.
– inexpensive
Do it! Start a blog by hiring us to assist you with everything!
Start a Blog option 8
Add a WordPress-powered blog to your existing html or brochure website, if your existing site is on the right sort of hosting package needed for this (enough hosting space and supports WordPress being installed) by logging into your site’s hosting area and installing WordPress.
Advantages:
– Free because you already have a website and will just be adding an area that you can manage yourself, and also free if you already have the correct hosting and enough disk space on that hosting.
Disadvantages:
– You need to know how to (or learn how to) do quite a few things, including how to add a tab to your existing site that says “blog” or “news” if you want people who visit your existing site to also navigate their way to the blog area of your existing site.
Do it! Start a blog by adding a blog to your existing site!
Start a Blog option 9
Same as option 8, but you provide somebody or us with your website’s hosting log in details and they or we install WordPress for you. If it’s us you hire we can do it for R300 like in option 6, but if you also want us to add one text link on your existing site’s homepage that links to your blog, our price increases to R350.
Do it! Start a blog by having somebody or us add a blog to your existing site!
If you don’t know what kind of hosting your existing site has (or if it will support WordPress being installed) contact us telling us where your site is hosted and which hosting package of theirs your site is using, and we’d be able to tell you if that hosting would support WordPress, and if it doesn’t, can offer advice on what to do.
Also feel free to contact us with other queries you may have, or have a look at our website packages page first.
© Copyright Teresa Schultz 2014 – of Terry and Tony; tant.co.za
