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Having a self-hosted WordPress blog is the key to blogging success.
To make it as easy as possible for you to start your blog on the correct platform and be self-hosted, all of the links we share to start a blog will always set you up with self-hosting and automatically come with the correct version of WordPress installed for you.
Let’s start with the 1-2-3 basics of why you need a self-hosted WordPress site.
1. You should never build a business where you don’t own the “virtual” land.
You need to have a self-hosted blog so that you are in total control of your blogging business. Other options take away control.
With a self-hosted blog, you never have to worry about your blog just disappearing because you didn’t have complete control and ownership of your blogging business.
And because you 100% own and control your blog when you are self-hosted, you can use all of the tools that will greatly increase your success. Blogs that are not self-hosted can’t use any of these tools.
2. You need to be self-hosted so that you can be found by search engines.
When you are self-hosted, you can fully optimize your content to be found by search engines and you won’t be subject to search engines blocking results from non-self-hosted blogs (which happens).
3. You can make money however you want with your blog when you are self-hosted.
You get to choose any option you want to monetize. There are no rules to follow on how you are allowed to make money when you own your own blog. You can have ads, you can have sponsored posts, you can have affiliate links… you can do whatever you want. If your blog is not self-hosted, you are not permitted to make money in all these ways. Some don’t allow you to monetize at all.
Plus, having a self-hosted blog is normally much less expensive too!
Detailed information on why you need a Self-hosted WordPress blog.
What is hosting?
Hosting is the physical location of where your blog files are located on a server (also known as a really powerful computer).
What are the types of WordPress hosting?
There are two types of WordPress hosting, they are hosted and self-hosted. Hosted blogs are ones where someone else has ultimate control over your blog and monetizing. Self-hosted is where you own 100% of your content and are 100% in control of how you make money from your blog and what you are allowed to do with your blog.
What is self-hosted?
Self-hosted is when you have a web host, like Bluehost, and they keep your blog files on their servers for people to access when they come to your blog. Put another way, web hosts serve your content to your readers.
This is our link for you to use to get the best pricing to start your own self-hosted WordPress site.
Why do I need to be self-hosted?
It all comes down to having 100% control of your online business.
You want to have a self-hosted WordPress site so that you have unlimited capabilities as to what you can do with your blogging business. This means that you can make money with your blog in any way that you want.
It also means that you 100% own all of your own content. Nobody can take away your blog posts or delete your blog if you don’t abide by their (often confusing) rules.
If you want to sell a course, have ads on your blog, share a sponsored post, or any other idea you have, you are free to do it. Nobody can limit the money you earn because you are in control.
This is very important because blogs fail all the time because they are limited in what they can post and how they can make money. With a self-hosted blog (like when you use our link to start your blog), you own your blog 100%.
Related: Start your own money-making blog.
You also are limiting your blog traffic if you are not self-hosted.
What does it mean if your blog traffic is limited because you don’t have a self-hosted blog? It means that search engines do not send as much or any traffic to blogs that are not self-hosted.
Search engines can tell the difference. They can tell that you can’t optimize your posts or blog like you need to… to be found in search results.
Non-self-hosted blogs have also been completely blocked from search results. To search engines, the content on non-self-hosted blogs is not as high in quality as self-hosted. It makes sense because self-hosted blogs are professional blogs and that is where they want to send traffic. They don’t want to send search traffic to what could be a junk site.
What about those site builder blogs?
Those are not ones you want to be on either. They have very limited functionality, you don’t have full control, search engines limit their reach and they don’t allow you to monetize your blogs or have strict regulations on how you can. Most advertisers also won’t work with a blogger that is on one of these sites and require you to be self-hosted.
If you are not self-hosted you are setting yourself up for failure and not a success. If you are on one of these low-quality sites, you will want to switch your hosting immediately and then move your current content over.
If you haven’t yet started your blog, make sure you do so on the right platform so that you don’t have to worry about this later.
If you are starting a money-making blog, self-hosted WordPress is the only way to go.
Get a self-hosted WordPress blog now.
Thank you I am going to see how to move everything over
So happy you are setting yourself up for success, Loretta!
I see, I am very new at this, just starting really, so I appreciate your imput. Let me look into this.
Carla
Yes I need help in all areas, simple n challenging.
Tku
We are here to help! Please join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/startabloggingbusiness/ if you haven’t already where we answer questions and help you get your blog started!