Leahs Cafe

When it comes to starting a blog, your biggest decision will be whether you want to host the blog yourself, or use a free blogging service that is hosted for you.

Yes, you can host your blog for free, but nothing is really free. When you start a blog with a free blogging service, you don’t get your own domain and you don’t actually own the blog. If you ever do decide to move to your own domain, you may find it difficult to take your readers with you, because you have no control over the site.

Paying for a hosting plan will offer much more flexibility and freedom to do what you want. You will have your own domain name and have access to the root directory. By far, the easiest way to get a website is to go with a hosting company that offers “1 click installs”, or instant installations for blogging and forum software. If you are not sure which web host to choose or what kind of options you have out there, you can always check out webhostinggeeks.com to read about the reviews of different hosting providers and feedbacks from their customers.

Friends and family members often ask me how to start a blog, and the teacher in me always enjoy explaining it, but it is a lot of information to take in over lunch. It also takes a while to process and understand all the terminology used, especially if they are not Internet savvy.

A few of my friends have taken the trouble to have me sit down for a few hours, going through the steps by steps and they taking down notes. At the end, some decided that starting a blog is not what they want to do, and some find picking a topic to blog about a challenge. Guess blogging is not everyone’s cup of tea!

One last post to complete while waiting for the big boy to call me on the phone. He wants to call me before I leave the house because he won’t be able to contact me on a land line for a few days.

We usually talk on the phone using the VoIP service that we subscribe to. We are able to talk for an hour for free on the VoIP phone systems if it’s a call originated from a land line to another land line. But we won’t have time to talk for an hour today. I am in a hurry to go out to catch a bus, so that I can reach PJ before noon. That’s because my sister can only pick me up during her lunch break.