About a week ago, I asked the question, “Are You Self-Hosted? If not, why not?”. For those of you who are scratching your heads wondering what the heck I’m talking about, being ‘self-hosted’ is when you have your own domain name. I.e. www.yourwebsitehere.com instead of something like yourwebsite.blogger.com or the other big alternative, yourwebsitehere.wordpress.com etc.

Two of you answered saying basically the same thing.

1. The Issue of control.

So here is my contribution to your answers.

1. When you blog at a place like blogger or wordpress (.com) or typepad/bravenet/xanga/vox/insert blogging service of choice here, CONTROL is the one thing that you do *not* have.

Or at least for me, I didn’t have *enough* control.

Your template choices are limited (unless you’re a coding genius), your widgets are limited, the ability to personalise your blog is limited – and then – and this for me was the clincher when deciding to finally ‘self-host’ is that I realised that blogger/wordpress (I have used both a lot in the past) OWNED everything that I put there, and that they could at any time delete my blog, and all my rants/raves/photographs and memories with barely a click, just because.

Now of course they’re not going to simply just delete you on a whim, but they could. What, would you be able to do about it if they did (even if it was an accident) would you even know who to rage at, with all your lost writings? Plus I know that the ability to personalise is one of the areas that is improving at blogging services, but still – the fact is that you do not have complete control.

2. Believe me, I hear you when you say you don’t have time to learn something new, I know that feeling *extremely well*. But here’s the thing. It’s SO easy to self-host, that you can’t possibly say you have to learn something, because it is SO easy. I was afraid too. Afraid of messing up, and having spent money.

However, when I finally took the plunge, I actually laughed at myself, and then proceeded to rapidly reserve three more domain names, and set up more blogs. It is *that* easy.

3. I understand when people say that they don’t want to monetize their blogs, they fear making their blogs look like one big adsense advert, or somehow cheapen what they have to say – when in reality – you can make decent money from a blog, and use it to enhance your blog, or for whatever else blows your hair back.

I’m using my blogging funds, to put myself through school . In these economic times, everyone should be happy to make a few extra dollars here and there, and while most choose to do it for their children, I know other bloggers who use their blogging funds as their ‘me myself and I’ fund and anything they make is for completely fun purchases, the latest gadgets etc.

4. The cost is *really* small too. My first domain name, cost me absolutely nothing, because I purchased a hosting package with it – which currently costs me $7.95 a month (that’s about R70 for you locals). This package is UNLIMITED, so I can host as many sites as I like with it and the cost remains the same. New domain names cost me anything from $1 to $8 (annually) depending on what I’m looking for.

I can see why someone would be intimidated by self-hosting, when they are not familiar with these numbers, because especially local hosting businesses, tend to quote much higher prices (MWEB!!) until they realise that you know you can host overseas for next to nothing, by simply having a credit card. There are local hosting options (which I can highly recommend) which do NOT cost an arm and a leg, and offer a great support service too.

So, in summary, here’s what I want to say about self hosting:

When you self-host, you buy your own little piece of internet real estate, that can actually increase in value, depending on how you develop it. If you register a domain name, it’s yours forever (provided you keep paying the annual fee). This is why all the stars and celebrities register their kids names as soon as they’re chosen – in order to keep them for their kids one day.

Your blog is hosted, by the hosting company of your choice. NOT by the service you use to publish it, so YOU have complete control over where and how that information is stored. NO ONE but you can have access to the ‘back-end’ of the website where you write your posts – so there is NO more “Oh darn, blogger is on the fritz this morning I can’t blog etc” because ONLY YOU are accessing your publishing platform on YOUR webserver.

So how do you get the publishing platform (wordpress/blogger/joomla/drupal) onto the webserver without having a brain meltdown?

When you register your domain, and buy a hosting package, the hosting company gives you something called a control panel.

Inside this control panel (it’s a screen with a bunch of easy to understand icons like “email” “webmail” “scripts” etc) are easy click through SELF-INSTALL options. You can literally click an icon called “install wordpress” for example – and it does it all for you.

So, in essence I highly, highly recommend self-hosting, as the ultimate form of control and self expression when it comes to your blog. Your blog, is not yours as long as you are not the owner of that content – which is the case if you use a blogging service, so I implore you to make your content yours!

If you are keen to self host, but are really afraid of all the technicalities, then please contact me, and I will be more than willing to offer you a support service for a small monthly fee which would include the following:

a) advice on which local web-host to sign up with (You handle all cost based transactions with them yourself)
b) assistance with selection and setting up of your domain.
c) installation of your wordpress publishing platform, done for you by me on your hosting package.
d) maintenance of your publishing platform (i.e. I will log in and perform any necessary wordpress updates etc)
e) installation and maintenance of ‘plugins’ which will make your blog run better, and offer you more options in personalisation etc. (plugins handle things like flickr/you tube and make it easy for you to insert these in to your posts)
f) regular uploading of new templates and themes right to your theme directory – so with one click you can install a new one as you feel like it.
g) Email and telephonic (during office hours) support for any issues you may have – YES! A REAL LIVE PERSON TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS!! (want to know how to do something – just ask!)
h) access to discounted rates for graphic design bits and bobs to really make your website your own. (i.e. personalised buttons, and sidebar widgets that match your theme etc)
i) lastly – help with SEO – or Search Engine Optimization, and a weekly newsletter keeping you in touch with what’s new and hot in blog world.

All you need to do, is blog, as you’ve always done, and enjoy it that much more because it’s ALL yours.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Relying on People
• Keeping It In the Family
• Advise me oh, thou great re-readers
• I need Your Opinions
• WordPress for Blackberry and P-Dub