There are free blogs that are hosted by the blog platform at no cost to the end user. WordPress.com and Blogger.com are examples of free blogs that do not require hosting. Also it is possible to design one page sites on platforms like Squidoo and Hub pages.
But eventually a person comes to understand that the nothing is free and that the price for a seemingly free gift is a step price indeed. The original content that you produce and place on a free site invariably becomes the property of the free site. Your content is building up someone else's web presence and all you have to show for it is nothing. The dime drops and the idea forms. The time has come to buy a domain name and host your own blog or web site. Now the valuable content that you are producing will be adding wealth to a product that you own and control.
A simple way to set up a blog that is totally yours to do with as you wish is to use the WordPress.org platform. WordPress comes in the dot com and dot org variety. WordPress.com is hosted by WordPress. WordPress.org is uploaded to your own hosting and operates under a domain name that you personally own. Some people think that they are getting a deal by having a free blog but in the long run it is the free blog platform that is getting the deal. It's like a worm on a hook. The only reason for the worm is that the fisherman has other ideas for the fish.
If the free blog is the worm, and the blogging platform is the fisherman, who do you think is the fish? Yes right first time it is you. Free blogs are a great marketing resource for internet marketers as one can find keywords rich url's available that would never be available in a domain name. My personal choice for hosting is HostGator. They are a top notch host with fantastico deluxe in their cPanel. Fantstico allows a simple WordPress installation. No uploading as fantastico does it all for you.
Also HostGator offers unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disc space and with their baby plan you also get to have unlimited add on domains. This means that for the same low price you can host as many blogs or websites as you want. This means that at no extra charge you could also host a blog for your husband/wife/kids. So I hope this has given you some food for thought re your first foray into the WWW. Visit my site at: My Web Works for some great information for the web newbie.
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