Frugal | Why am I moving?

Why am I moving?

Posted by Lynnae on August 23, 2007

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After reading my post on my upcoming move to my own domain, debtfretter wanted to know if there are advantages to having my own site, as opposed to a free or inexpensive hosted blogging platform. I appreciate the question, as I’ve spent the last few weeks researching that very subject. Here are the advantages to having my blog hosted on my own site.

I am fully in control of my site. I can customize my theme, with no limitations except my skill level or the money I’m willing to pay someone to do it for me. Take the dreaded “no follow” off my comments. I believe strongly that if you leave a comment on my blog, you should be blessed with a link that Technorati actually counts. I can’t easily do that here.

I can customize how I manage my site. Wordpress has a lot of plugins for site management that I think would work well for me. This plugin looks especially interesting, as I have a hard time managing comments effectively.

I can host both of my sites at the same place with different domain names. I wanted my blogs to be easy to find. Right now, you can find my blogs at www.beingfrugal.typepad.com and the infinitely worse www.beingfrugal.typepad.com/from_under_the_clutter. It will be much easier to tell my friends and family where to find me when my blogs are www.beingfrugal.net and www.fromundertheclutter.com. I could set up mapped domain names here, so people could get to my blogs via the easier addresses, but Technorati won’t count those links with domain mapping. And it’s a little narcissistic, but I like to see my Technorati numbers go up.

Perhaps the biggest reason for my switch is the potential for future blog growth. I started blogging a few months ago on Blogger and quickly grew tired of Blogger’s layout. I wanted something I could customize more, but I was afraid to jump into the responsibility of hosting my own site. I moved to Typepad, which is a paid service, and it’s been OK, but I already see limitations that bother me.

I really enjoy blogging, and I’m going to be in it for the long haul. I just know that in time I will outgrow this site, and I’d rather make the move now, when I have fewer posts to export to another site. In the end I found a hosting site that meets my needs and doesn’t cost any more than what I’m already paying here. So the move makes sense. After all, I have to do the frugal thing, which is to get the most bang for my buck in meeting my blogging needs.

Hopefully that answers your question. Does anyone else have an opinion? Is it better to host your own blog, or go with a hosted service?

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Comments

3 Responses to “Why am I moving?”

  1. Heidi on August 23rd, 2007 10:25 am

    I don’t really have too much of an opinion. ALthough the blogger commenting feature is irritating, I have seen some folks using another service for comments.

    I guess I’m not ready to put any money into blogging is all. Good luck with your move.

  2. glblguy on August 23rd, 2007 10:43 am

    One other advantage when the content is on your own domain, you own the site and content.

    With blogger at least, they own your content (yes read the fine print). I am not sure about Typepad, but would guessing it is similar.

    New site’s look good, look forward to seeing it live!

  3. Lynnae on August 23rd, 2007 10:47 am

    I think it definitely comes down to what are your goals and what will meet your needs. If the free services meet your needs, then there’s not reason to switch.

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