Selecting a blogging provider

[lotus11]

Good morning to all,

Oops, it appears that I have double posted in the Introductions section and I hope that the Moderators will delete one of them - my apologies!

This is the first time that I am setting up a blog and I have done some reading in the Internet on choosing a blogging provider and I am indeed overwhelmed by the choices and features. I understand that an easy to use platform for not-too-computer savvy me would be at Blogger and it's free. But I read somewhere that I can't set up a store there or something? Also, I am not sure to go for a free domain or paid domain as I am very serious about my blog being a long term thing now that I have the spare time as my kids are grown up.

Can someone assist me in this respect?

Thank you.

Best wishes,

lotus11

[pelf81]

I think this has been covered in another thread, but anyway..

If you are new to blogging AND are serious about it, you may want to begin with getting yourself a free WordPress.com blog to familiarize yourself with the ropes of blogging and all. And when you've purchased your domain and hosting, you may host your own WordPress blog, and all your old posts can be imported into your new blog (to keep them all in one place).

I am not aware of any free blogging platforms that allows the setting up of an "online store" but perhaps what you can set up a store elsewhere, and link to it from your "About Me" page or something..

All the best to you! =)

[lotus11]

Hi, pelf81!

It wonderful to meet a fellow Malaysian here indeed and thank you so much for your recommendations. The one on linking my online store is good. At the moment, I am ding-donging between Blogger and Wordpress.com, trying to decide which one to go for.

Have a wonderful weekend ahead, pelf81.

Best wishes,

lotus11

[pelf81]

Originally Posted by lotus11

Hi, pelf81!

... At the moment, I am ding-donging between Blogger and Wordpress.com, trying to decide which one to go for.

lotus11

It's fairly easy to decide ONCE you know what you want. If you don't know what you want (not even a rough idea), nobody can help you! =)

[jshaffstall]

For what it's worth, if you're serious about blogging, definitely go for Wordpress. You'll probably end up there eventually, so why not start with it?

As far as Wordpress.com versus self-hosting Wordpress, if you're going to start out with a blog you want to keep long-term, then at the very least get a domain name and point it to your Wordpress.com blog.

That way any link building you do won't be wasted if you later go to self-hosting Wordpress.

Personally, with a couple years of high powered webhosting only running about $120 these days, I'd go for self-hosting off the bat. But only if you knew you were going to be doing it for the long-term.

Jay

[lotus11]

Hi there, Jay and pelf81,

Thank you so much for your advice which helped me to decide where I was going with my blog. My blog (Happyhomemaker88’s Weblog) has been up for 3 days now at Wordpress.com and so far, I am quite happy with the system there. I had tried Blogger for 1 day and found it to be stubborn as a mule! LOL!

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Best wishes,

lotus11

[F8soldier]

Actually you can still use Blogger and get an online store but only if you sign up to the Amazon affiliate program. Then you can post a link in your blog, leading to the store. My blogger blog SV Movies has a store.

[Zhuli]

I found the major drawbacks for Wordpress.com are :

1) You have to pay (or "upgrade") to change your CSS
2) You can't monetize your blog

I'm happy I learned my basics on Blogger actually... but it's a matter of taste !

[sarahsand]

Yeah... I think wordpress is great too.

[Bloggeries]

If you are in this for the long run than wordpress script on your own domain is hands down the way to go for workability, manageability and scalability!