Few bloggers ever find much success hosting a blog on a free site. Blogger and Wordpress are great sites for beginning bloggers, but I recommend making the switch SOONER rather than LATER.

These are just a few of the many reasons to switch from a free blog host.

Traffic -

Let’s say that somehow you hit the big time using a free blogging software… GOOD FOR YOU! It’s awesome to reach those blogging milestones like the first day with a hundred

hits, or the first day with 1,000 page loads. But guess what, if Darren from ProBlogger decided to host on a free platform, his site would be closed in a day. You are limited to how much traffic you can have per day by the free sites. Take up over a certain amount of overall bandwith for their site… You get shut down! It’s free; what do you expect?

Reputation -

It’s extremely difficult to build a reputation as a serious blogger on a free site. Do you think that anyone would take John Chow seriously if his site was www.johnchow.blogspot.com? I doubt it.

Customization -

Hosting your own blog gives you the full freedom to customize your blog in any way imaginable. Want to add a forum? Done! Want to add a few more pages? Done!

Search Engine Rankings -

Statistically speaking, free blogs don’t fare as well in search engine rankings as paid ones. I couldn’t find the exact reason, but if someone wants to weigh in on this… let me know!

Google PageRank -

It is MUCH harder to build a respectable PR with a free blog. The reason? Google PR is largely based on your number of incoming links (along with many other things). As I mentioned above, you don’t get a lot of respect with a free blog… so incoming links are harder to get.

Leverage -

This is by far the most important reason to switch to a domain. Building a blog is like building a business. It’s all about leverage. If you want to attract advertisers… it takes leverage. If you want to build your reader base… it takes leverage. A good example of leverage comes from free blogs. Lets say you generate X number of incoming links on your Blogger account. Leverage right? WRONG! You don’t own these incoming links. It benefits you very little while it stands to help Blogger quite a bit (PR, traffic, etc.). Advertising is another example of leverage. Advertiser A wants to advertise on your domain. That is leverage. You have something he wants! Your traffic. So you Leverage your traffic to increase your ad revenue from Advertiser A.

Time - You put a lot of time into your free blog right? You post great articles, you are starting to generate a bit of traffic, and you might even have a Google PR by now! That’s great! But when you want to take the next step so that you can be taken seriously as a blogger… GUESS WHAT? You have to do all of this over again. A lot of people think that they just post a link on the old blog, directing people to the new domain and they magically follow… WRONG. I started with a Blogger account. When I moved here, I had to start all over and generate the traffic that wasn’t following me. And that Google PR? Doesn’t exist on your new site… you start with a 0. The incoming links? Gone too! Start from square one.

I was lucky enough to have readers tell me the benefits of moving to a domain early on. I was only generating a couple of hundred page views a day, and didn’t have a PR or a bunch of incoming links. So starting over was relatively easy.

Bloggers take my advice! Move your blog NOW! The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to move your blog without starting from scratch.

If you are interested in moving your blog to a domain. Check out the banner below. Go Daddy is the largest domain and hosting service on the web. They have millions of satisfied customers (and I am one of them). They have great deals on domain registration, and web hosting. Setting up your account couldn’t be easier and with the 24/7 tech support. You’ll always have someone to answer your questions.

Interested in moving to a domain? Check out this 3 part article for advice on how to start.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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