Easy and Free way to Host a blog

Even though I think Wordpress is better than Blogger, the new version of Blogger is a big improvement; however, you can not take advantage of these new widgets if you use FTP publishing. i.e. host it on your own hosting account. However, you can host a blog for free, courtesy of Google (who probably aren’t short of a bit of diskspace and bandwidth)

For newcomers to Blogging I would be happy to recommend the use of blogger software. If you want more options and flexibility choose wordpress. Both are pretty good.

 How to Get Free Blog hosting with own Domain
Buy a domain name (e.g. at 1 2 3 Reg ) If you are in UK a co.uk domain may cost £3 a year. (.com domains maybe $10 to $20)

• Sign up for a blog at blogger
• You will need a google account, but that is quite straightforward.
• Choose a title and set up a blog, it will be hosted at .blogspot.

• When you have your .blogspot blog. click on Settings and then publishing.

• It will say you are publishing on blogspot. Then click on switch to: Custom Domain 

Add the domain you own and Blogger will automatically switch your .blogspot blog to the new custom domain.

Benefits of Custom Domain over a .blogspot

It is definitely worth paying £3-£10 a year to get you own domain.

netwriting.co.uk sounds better than netwriting.blogspot.com

• People will take you more seriously
• Easier to get links
• easier to write
• Not assciated with spam blogs, which seem to proliferate at .blogspot
• Feels like your blog, rather than someone else’s

Is it worth switching from .blogspot if you have an established blog? 

If you have an established blog at .blogspot, with many posts, don’t worry about switching over late to a custom domain.

Blogger automatically use a 301 redirect on old blog and blog posts. There may be some temporary disruption in search engine rankings, but some have claimed a 301 redirect is really quite minimal