So often I am asked the best place to start blogging? Which platform should you use? Here is a post I originally wrote for Thinking Outside the Sandbox that I thought my readers would appreciate. Be sure and check out their sites for tons of blogging, parenting, and DELICIOUS recipes!

Best Place to Start Blogging
You have seen all these amazing blogs and you want one too! But you cannot decide where you should start; should it be WordPress, Blogger, Wix, Tumblr, and the list just keeps going…What is the best blogging platform?
Best Blogging Platform: Free vs Self-Hosted WordPress
What most bloggers will tell you:
Self-Hosted WordPress is the ONLY way to go.
Why is Self-Hosted WordPress the Best Blogging Platform?
- Your Domain
- Easy to Monetize
- Endless Plugin Options
- Flexibility
- Amazing Amount of Themes (both paid & free)
- Community Support Forums
- Continually Updated
- Fully Customizable
- Great SEO
- Reliable
One of my personal favorite reasons is: I own my site and all information on it! When you use a free service (like Blogger) you need to keep in mind that someone else owns your site. In Blogger, for instance, it is owned by Google, and they have the option to shut down your blog when they want to or even discontinue the service! With Self-Hosted WordPress blog you own your site, domain and can choose when to stop if you ever wish to.
Problems with free blog platforms?
- Very Limited Customization
- Hard to Monetize
- Long URLs (example: myblogname.blogspot.com)
- They control your ad space and they receive income from it
- Pay to Upgrade (example: choose your domain or remove ads)
- Less Professional
- Hard to Migrate to Self-Hosted
- No plugins or Very Few Plugins
- Theme Errors
- Little Support
Now go visit Thinking Outside the Sandbox to learn what does it mean to be self-hosted and who might choose a free platform.

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