If you’re still new to blogging, you will most likely opt for a free blogging platform such as Blogger, TypePad or Tumblr. Why? The answer is quite obvious. These platforms can be used for free and you are not obliged to pay for a monthly hosting fee. You can simply start by creating a blog out of your platform’s list of free templates and you’re good to go.
While blogging on a free platform such as Blogger isn’t a big deal, there are certain features that you just can’t get for free. Thus, if you are looking forward to use your blog as one of your major sources of income, you might as well reconsider your options for there are a lot of things that you cannot do on your free blog.
For example, you cannot easily add or edit your widgets without altering your blog’s template source code. Yes, there are a couple of ready-to-install widgets that you can get but a lot of these are so plain that you will eventually seek for a better version. Plus, you cannot directly upload a non-supported type of file on your free blog and your media database will basically be limited to videos and photos. If you want to upload your own eBook or compressed file, you have to make use of a third-party file host such as DropBox, Google Drive or MediaFire.
In terms of backup, free blogs would only give you the option to download a copy of your template design and posts. The rest including your uploaded files will be at risk of being deleted, but if you decide to transfer your posts to a self-hosted WordPress blog, you will have the ability to create a full and scheduled backup. You can do this by simply installing a free or premium plugin that you can sync to your secured cloud storage account.
A lot of bloggers, especially those who are still new to the field, are quite worried about the problems and complexities that could occur once they opt to migrate their free blog to a self-hosted WordPress blog. This should not be the case. As a matter of fact, a lot of professional bloggers would highly recommend those who are still undecided to migrate from a free blog to a self-hosted blog. By doing so, you have the full ability to control your content.
It’s never too late to migrate. It’s even better than keeping your blog as well as your original contents at risk because you’re too afraid to spend a small portion of your money for your blog’s monthly hosting fee as well as for purchasing your own top-level domain.
