Blog•Insider

By now everyone has heard of blogging or as it was originally phrased posting a web log. There are dozens of Blog Hosts to chose from and many, such as MySpace, BlogDrive, Bravenet, and Blogger by Google are free. Others like LiveJournal charge a fee but offer more than just a blog.

MySpace and FaceBook are the most recognized names among Blogging Hosts. One reason for this is the negative press they’ve received in the last few years. You’ve read the stories of students putting lies on their sites about other students and causing harm or the stories about employees losing their jobs because of their blog content. It’s important to remember that all Blogging Hosts have a customizable privacy level that ranges from private, meaning only the blogger can read it, to public.

The biggest difference between the various Blogging hosts is the look of the blog pages themselves. Bravenet tends to have an edgy look to it while Blogger by Google aims for a homey look. The way the host looks tends to impact the type of blog poster they draw.

Most Blog hosts allow advertising widgets and banners on their blog pages provided the content isn’t offensive. They’re usually pretty stringent about not promoting hate, animal cruelty, or abuse. So if you want to advertise on your site, be sure you check out what you’re advertising. If the blog host finds it to violate their terms of service they will either require that you remove it or close your site down completely.

All Blogging hosts, regardless of whether there’s a charge for the hosting, require you to sign up with them. They want some personal information and a reliable e-mail address so they can contact you. Unless they charge a fee for their site they should not want any financial information from you. Any site that claims to be free then wants money after you register is a scam.

One thing to consider when seeking a Blogging host is what you intend to use the blog for. If you’re thinking of starting a blog for your store, business, or service finding the blog that the majority of your customers use is probably going to be a strong consideration. A business blog is going to be a different proposition from a personal blog; not on the Blog host’s part but on yours.
For instance, if your customers talk about what they saw on MySpace it wouldn’t make much sense to start a business blog anywhere else. You don’t want your blog page to look too personal though so check through the themes and try to find one that reflects an aspect of your business that you want to promote.

Next, don’t crowd your page with advertisements from your vendors. Pick one or two banners or widgets a month and use your blog to post helpful information about the vendor’s products. Say, you put a Proctor & Gamble banner on your site. You might want to discuss the history of Tide detergent. So keep it concise and relevant and your readers will thank you.

Remember, your blog is a way to reach out to customers, friends and family. It is not an internet store front. Keep you blog casual and talk to people with it. Make it a part of the community you live in. All Blogging hosts are geared toward being a part of a community, use the strength of that. One last note is to look for blog hosts that have a good track record of few server errors and problems that could cause your blog to be temporarily out of service or inaccessible.