Update: I’ve written more advice on this topic at Self-Hosting Your Author Website: How and Why to Do It.
Recently I was asked why authors should self-host their own blog or website.
First, what does self-host mean?
It means that you don’t use a free service to run your blog or website. The most popular free services are Blogger and WordPress.com. What confuses a lot of people is that you can run a website or blog that is based on the WordPress system, but is self-hosted. (That describes THIS site.)
So what are the big reasons NOT to use a free service?
- Free services limit the functionality and options for your site.
- Free services limit how much you can customize the look and feel of the site.
- Sometimes you are working on proprietary systems that could be abandoned at any time. They might not be supported in the way you need them to be.
- Free services might not offer the kind of metrics and analytics you need to see what’s working.
- It’s more difficult to make money from a free service (it can be impossible to add eCommerce/shopping cart functionality or to run ads)
When you’re self-hosted, you really own your website and have full control. And for serious, professional authors, who are building a longterm online presence, that’s what I recommend. (If you are doing a very short-lived site, or if you’re just “fooling around,” then yes, do use a free service!)
You can read more of my opinion at Roz Morris’s blog.
To learn how to self-host your site in 10 minutes or less, here’s my free tutorial showing how to set up your site at Bluehost.
Disclosure: I am a Bluehost affiliate marketing partner. This means that if you end up clicking one of my links to Bluehost and sign up for a hosting package, I receive a commission. However, I recommend Bluehost because I’ve used them and think they offer good value, along with a 30-day, money-back guarantee.
I find I’m just so intimidated by the sounds of this! Any tips on where to begin?
I’d set up your site first through a service like WordPress.com, get comfortable, then decide when the timing is right for a switch to self-hosting. If it sounds beyond your reach to manage on your own, the switch can be easily and efficiently managed by a freelance IT person or developer. It’s a very quick process and wouldn’t cost much. (In fact, the process is so quick, some hosts will walk you through it or assist. Check out the services at HostGator, BlueHost, etc.)
Hi Jane, this reassures me as well. I’m considering moving my own site, criticalmargins.com, from WordPress.com to .org, and I’m glad to see this can be done. Do you know of any functionality that I would lose if I move my site from wp .com to .org, or advise of any steps I should take before doing this? In particular, I’m thinking about some of the followers I’ve built up through wordpress.com — I don’t want to lose them. I appreciate the post/discussion! Kevin
That’s a great question, Kevin! I believe your WordPress followers can be accessed through your WordPress admin panel—you can see their e-mail addresses or accounts? If so, then you can gather/export this data, then manually add them to your new site’s RSS or e-mail notification system for new posts. So, that means: When you switch to self-hosted, you’ll need to integrate Feedburner (a free RSS system from Google). Once you get the Feedburner plug-in, add it to your site, people can then subscribe/follow via their preferred method. You can see how I’ve done it on the righthand side of each… Read more »
Jane, I appreciate the response. Yes, luckily I do keep track of my followers on my blog, and Worpress does give me information on who is following and *how* they follow me. Now it’s a matter of making the switch. By the way, I love your blog and what you’re offering here, and I’m very interested in the future of the book posts you’ve done as well. Kevin
I could not disagree more (sorry!) I’m on my sixth site and the one I have now, from WordPress.COM is, hands down, the best and most hassle free AND offers more flexibility for design and structure than any other that I’ve had. Self-hosting is great IF, and this is a big IF, you want to learn code, scrimmage with hosting services and/or web designers (the used car salespeople of the digital world), and deal with hacked sites. (ALL of my self-hosted sites were hacked. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. I feel much safer w/WP.com) I’ve had to do all of… Read more »
Thanks for commenting, Maureen. Just to be sure, you are aware that you get to keep the exact same site (that you’ve built using WordPress.com) if you self-host? That’s the beauty of WordPress. You can start out using the .com version, then move to self-hosting without any kind of change to your site, and immediately expand the possibilities of what you can do. (You can start using WordPress plug-ins, Google Analytics, plus open up endless customizations that just aren’t allowed through their .com, etc.) Granted, for most authors, the .com version suffices for the early part of a career, but… Read more »
Apparently I wasn’t clear in my original post. Why would I WANT to move my site (again…)? And why would I want to mess with self-hosting when using another service is so much easier? I’ve got plugins. I’ve got analytics coming out of my ears. I’ve got — ease! What more do I need? As for the notion that somehow the easy road is for the newbies …. hmmm. My career and my online presence are both 12 years old. So maybe when I’ve been around 30 years I’ll need something different??? But 12 years in, and it’s never been… Read more »
I don’t dispute that you find the process a headache!
Yet I don’t think you clearly understand my point either. It’s impossible to use plug-ins with WordPress.com. Their analytics are basic and surface.
If and when your career progresses to the point that these things matter, you’ll definitely know.
Wow. Just, um, wow.
I’m sorry, Maureen. That didn’t really come out right. Obviously you’re established/advanced in your career. It becomes a choice of what’s most important to you. I assume your writing & research time is paramount. I require independence in my site ownership and am willing to give up some time/attention to have it. I’m not interested in letting a third-party play any role in the future functionality or direction of my site.
As another point in favor of Jane’s suggestion, in particular with Blogger in my experience, they determine when to label your blog as “adult content”. You may have a bad day, shoot off some colorful language, and voila – warning label before folks can get to your site forever. They may decide at any point that you have violated their terms of service in some way (did you read those?) and shut you down altogether. I have been working with authors and WordPress sites for the last couple of years (even our corporate site Booktrope.com is based one one). I… Read more »
Great point about Blogger!
On a side note, anyone who started a serious site using Apple’s iWeb is now in bad shape, since they’ve discontinued supporting it. There’s always a chance with proprietary systems like Blogger (run by Google) that they will decide to walk away from it, or sell it!
Jane, I’m a bit confused, but that’s not unusual when it comes to computer lingo. I use BlueHost, so that means I’m not self-hosted, right? I believe self-hosting is using your own computer as a server, but I’m not even sure how that would happen, unless I learned a lot about code, which I just don’t have time for right now. I’m pretty happy with BlueHost (never been hacked) but know I have lots to learn about using their services–especially about plug-ins. I’d love to take a class just on those. Like how to get them to work and which… Read more »
Deborah, in this context, using BlueHost would mean you ARE self-hosted.
Re: plug-ins, these would be affiliated with WordPress rather than your host. I wrote about essential plug-ins for WordPress awhile ago + the comments on that post are wonderful:
https://janefriedman.com/2011/10/26/wordpress-plug-insessentials/
I’m so glad to see these discussions. I am not self-hosted at the moment, and I’ve started to feel frustrated by the limitations. I’ve read both the pro and con blog posts, and I’ve also been listening to some recorded sessions from Blog World, and I think that (for me) self-hosting is the way to go.
Yes, I think every author knows it’s time when, on a weekly or monthly basis, you find yourself saying, “I wish I could …” and you realize it’s not possible unless you self-host.
I am self-hosted and love the control it gives me. My blog has some functionality that wouldn’t otherwise be available. My site (http://liveyourwhy.net) and my store (http://terryhadaway.com) are self-hosted blogs and work wonderfully.
Very glad to hear it’s working for someone! 🙂
Thank you, Jane for posting this. Lot’s of people are asking me about this and it’s great to have this post to send them. I say wordpress.com is good to start with if you have nothing. If you learn to use that dashboard it makes it easier to use the self hosted dashboard. I set my clients up on Bluehost.
Those who need lessons on using WordPress can go to http://www.lynda.com
Thanks so much for your contribution to my piece, Jane – and it’s great to see the discussion widened here. I think the biggest takeaway is that there are ways to do this in stages, and that wasn’t possible before. So we can start blogging at a manageable level and upgrade without too much disruption as and when we feel it’s necessary. In the past it seemed to be either/or.
Thanks for this post! I was just asking in #blogchat about this, as I have a free WP site up for my new writing blog, and there are some ads starting to appear on there when I check it out through Incognito. Weird, and a little awkward. I love the social side of the WP community, and would hate to lose it, though–also I don’t want to have to keep upgrading my site. Can you speak to these concerns? Really appreciate it! Thanks! Dipika
I would look at it this way: the “social side of the WP community” is something they’ve created and that they own. This isn’t a good situation; you should be able to form a community that is about you, not them. If you read some of my comments elsewhere in this thread, related to WordPress followers, you’ll discover how you can take them with you to a self-hosted site. Upgrading a WordPress site is a matter of clicking “upgrade” when WordPress notifies you that an upgrade is ready. However, you do need to backup your site yourself, which can be… Read more »
Thanks for the post and advice it is indeed helpful. I’ll add that bloggers unable to self host now for financial reasons should have a backup for their published posts so, if for any reason they are shutdown they can always recover and republish.
Just to add ANOTHER point in support of Jane’s excellent post– I’ve had this happen to several clients and there is always much crying involved– Blogger and/ or WordPress.com can take away your site at any time, for any reason, and they don’t have to give you an explanation because, as they say, “You get what you pay for.” I’ve also had an author client have copyright issues with a free platform when she tried to turn the blog into a book. I just say if you’re going to take a chance and use a free platform, make sure you… Read more »
Dipika Kohli makes a great point that I actually forgot about– when you put your work on a free platform, they are going to use your site to make money, so you could end up with advertising that you don’t approve of and that is not within your control. Again, treat your writing like a business– WordPress.com and Blogger certainly are!
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This is good information that I only wish had come into my peripherals earlier. I had my site disabled for adding some “kindred” links. It’s not that I was trying to get rich, I just like the idea of promoting others along with building my platform. And adding an Amazon link to my books seemed like a fair bargain too. Now I am a bit concerned that the website names/domains (yes plural) will be tied up if I leave. That would be decidedly uncool as a few are the names of my books. It seems the only solution is to… Read more »
Hi this is a great thread. We work with custom WordPress websites all the time. Love WordPress. Also over lately personally become intrigued with squarespace. It’s easy, good looking, and you pay for the service plus 24/7 support. Curious your thoughts on this platform? It seems kind of a hybrid of your recommendation.
I know writers who use SquareSpace, but I’m not familiar enough with how it works to recommend it.
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In ways this post reassures me a lot I guess, I had recently switched from Blogger to my own self hosted site using GoDaddy. Whilst I can completely agree with the control and ad placement, I had lost so much traffic. I thought I would be able to improve my rankings in search engines through meta tags, alt tags and the many other head tags. I placed a strong focus on exact keyword research, it has been almost a month and my site is indexed but on pages where I used to appear in the top 3 results I now… Read more »
That is a really huge drawback of changing URLs/domains. Sometimes it’s possible to offer redirects, but that’s tough, if not impossible, when using a service like Blogger. The situation usually does improve over time. If you haven’t done so already, consider optimizing your content by claiming authorship over it via Google Authorship.
[…] Should You Self-Host Your Blog? by Jane Friedman […]
Hi Jane. Great write up! One of the things I think new bloggers forget is that, although it seems more complicated, the amount of knowledge and experience you get from starting your own blog on your own host is priceless. Learning about plugins and themes and all those things is pretty valuable if you are going to make a go of it. I did a video about why I think self hosted is better than free: http://youtu.be/cleaquT6OiA The main thing, as you said, is that you want to fully own that asset. Migrating from free to paid after you have… Read more »
If you are looking for a personal web host, that is not run by a big evil corporation you should take a look at http://cloudbeast.net, low prices and all around great support 🙂
I am a new blogger and I am using self hosted wordpress. Still I am developing my website. It’s all about personal experience and sharing that all. 🙂 http://ajbozdar.me
ghf
Both will be great to host 🙂
http://www.xhosting.hr
Hi Jane, Guess I’m a slow learner, but I’m still trying to figure out what self-hosting is. I’m using Fatcow (considering changing) with free WordPress.com install. My understanding when starting was that you need to use a host company to set up a domain name, etc.
Self-hosting is when you own your domain, and pay a company such as Fatcow, Bluehost, DreamHost, HostGator (or thousands of others) to basically make your site live and available to the world. (Your site has to “live” on someone’s computer to be accessible 24/7. That someone is your host.)
The WordPress situation is often confusing to people because it is both a technology for building websites AND it also offers free hosting. So you can have a WordPress site that you self-host (like at Fatcow), or you can have a WordPress site that WordPress hosts (at WordPress.com).
thank you for the information.i am looking some information about website hosting service?
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When starting out as a beginner, this question comes in everyone’s mind. Which one is better? Is it better to pick the Self Hosted WordPress.org, or is it better to go with Free WordPress.com?
You can find more of my advice on that question here: https://janefriedman.com/2014/09/09/website-self-hosting/
Thank you so much for this post!! The video was great. Just what I was looking for! Such a great walkthrough, and explanation. I’m excited to get started.
Thanks, Kelsey!
Hello Jane, I am getting started with Whiz, for businesses. I am just beginning a career with internet marketing and I am reading the material, which is a lot. I came across Self Hoster which I didn’t have much of a definition for. So, I started looking around and wound up seeing your post with a simple, but very clear definition. Thank you.
Jane what are the real ways of getting good ROI on the self hosted website?
For most authors, a website is simply the cost of doing business (it’s part of your marketing budget). But if you were trying to earn money through the site, it’s most commonly done through affiliate marketing (such as Amazon affiliate links) and advertising (such as Google Adwords).
I totally agree with Jane on this one, self-hosting is a much better option for serious bloggers. Self-hosting gives you the total control of making your blog EXACTLY what you need rather than it being something that is limited by the options available to you. There are a lot of one-click setups for WordPress now, so it’s not really that hard as it was when this article was written. Let’s put it another way. People that start with self-hosted blogs, rarely migrate to a free blogging solution afterwards, and yet people move from free services to self-hosted regularly. You just… Read more »
Hello, nice article.
I have a question though.
Can you place ads to self-hosted blog from services like Adsense, Revenuehits, Propeller ads media, popads, Chitika, Adversal, Infolink, etc ??
I was very dissapointed when I found out that wordpress.com really restrict placing ads. I want to get earning from blogging.
So I hope you can tell me, because that might change me to self-hosted my blog via bluehost.
Thank you
Yes, a self-hosted site can place or host ads from anywhere.
Oh
Thank you for your reply, appreciate it 🙂
Hello, do you have to pay for the wordpress premium or business package to get your own domain on top of the self hosting fee from bluehost?
No, you wouldn’t purchase any upgrades from WordPress.com if you plan to use Bluehost (or another hosting service).
There are plenty of sites that allow you to start your own blog for free, most notably WordPress.com & Blogger. But these free blogs are only useful in certain circumstances. Free blogs are great if you want a personal blog to share your pictures and videos with your friends and family. People also use free blogs as an outlet for their writing, whether it be a way to express their personal opinions, comment on the news or even writing short stories. There are many uses that a free blog can be used for, but all would fall under the ‘amateur’… Read more »
[…] Jane Friedman over at JaneFriedman.com provides a great summary as to why Self Hosting is the way to go. […]
Thank you Jane. Your detailed explanations aforementioned cleared a lot of confusion I once had.