Self Hosting Is The Way To Go
Since I’ve started blogging, I’ve run into this issue in a variety of forums. The question is, if you want a blog or a homepage should you host it yourself or use a managed server? The responsible answer (that most people suggest) is it depends. I’m going to take a different tack. If you want to learn about web technologies, are serious about blogging, hope to ever make money with a website, or just build your “geek cred” then you need to self host.
First we should probably define some terms. When I talk about self hosting, I mean either a server you own, or rent from a web hosting company. Managed services is when you go through a blogging or hosting provider. Usually these are free, already set up, and only minimally customizable. I’m thinking here of blogger.com or wordpress.com (or to show my age geocities). While these services are free (which is a big plus to some people understandably) and easy to get up and running, I believe that hosting your own site is a much better idea.
There are alot of reasons to self host. These are the ones I think are most convincing:
- Knowledge - This is the biggie. Running a website will give you the hands on experience that no amount of ready will be able to compare to. Getting familiar with basic web technologies like SSH, FTP, databases, web servers and the like will help if you have a technologically dependent job (who doesn’t nowadays) as well as make you more marketable.
- Branding - More and more, the web is becoming the first place to look for information on people. Many employers will do some basic research into who they are considering for a position. While running your own site will not give you an automatic top Google page rank, it makes it much easier (unless you are named Bill Gates and are not the founder of Microsoft or some other very Google popular name).
- Professionalism - You tell me, which one looks more proffesional seanelavelle.com/blog/ or seanlblog.wordpress.com (just the URL, not the site itself). Or another example : robert@robertxsmith.com versus rsmith12475@homtmail.com? To muddy the waters a bit, you can do this through managed services like wordpress. if you buy a domain name, but then why not just go all the way?
- Personalization - I’m not sure if this is still the case, but when I hosted my blog at Wordpress.com there was less then 15 themes to choose from. Which meant almost every blog looked pretty similar. The Kubrik theme got to be a bit of a joke (since it was the default theme and probably 50% of the blogs out there). Beyond look and feel, if you ever want to monetize your blog through Google Adsense or some similar program, you need to be self hosted.
- FREEDOM - Knowing that this is MY site and I can do whatever I want with it (within the TOS of the hosting company) gives me a great feeling. It is your peice of virtual realestate.
Now don’t take any of this as bashing service providers like Wordpress.com and Bloggger.com. I think they offer a great service. But if you are even remotely considering self hosting, I would urge you to take the leap.
