Business owners wonder whether they should set up a blog in the same space as their business website (a self hosted blog) or use a free blog service like WordPress.com or Blogger.com. While free blogging services are easy to set up, a self hosted blog offers enough additional benefits to warrant the investment.
- Customization: Almost every part of the blog can be changed for better functionality, resulting in a blog that is easier for readers to use and customizable to you and your unique business brand
- SEO: A content rich blog at a free blog hosting site is beneficial to the free blog hosting provider. The blogger does SEO work for the host every time they add content and attract inbound links and content from the readership. Building a content rich blog on your own server is highly beneficial to you. Search engines like to see relevant content, updated regularly, with links coming in from other websites (from readers who comment and link to your blog). When a blog is hosted on your business website, you get content, links, and more.
- Attention: a blog on your website helps attract attention directly to your online business presence. Blogs are uniquely capable of engendering interest, even publicity.
- Trust: Blogs can build trust if approached not as an opportunity to market but as a chance to engage with readership and invite two-way communication. Blogs can build customer confidence and loyalty; when hosted on the business website, this forum is just a click away from a desired customer action (making a purchase, signing up for a seminar, etc.)
CMS: Content Management System
- A CMS is software used to create and manage content, including HTML documents and images.
- A content management system is designed for those who don’t know a lot about programming or markup languages.
- Software may be free or for sale.
- CMS content is presented in layers, with a behind-the-scenes layer and a presentation layer that visitors see.
You can use the CMS provided by a free blog hosting provider like Blogger.com, but you can tailor your business site and make it easier for your readers to use when you implement Open Source CMS software like WordPress®. Hosting is free at WordPress.com, but you get much more when you self host, using the thousands of plugins® available through WordPress.org.
If you already have a website for your business, you already have a domain name (your unique Web address) and a Web host (where your domain name is “parked,” the Web server space/bandwidth you purchase). Your blog can be hosted on your business website.
If you don’t have a domain name and Web hosting, obtaining these is the first step to setting up a self hosted blog. Fortunately, you have many options and can easily get everything you need. Some hosting providers include WordPress blog hosting automatically.
