Does Having Your Own Independent Website Make Sense For A Blogger?

In the past few days I have been reading opinions from various people debating whether it makes sense for bloggers to invest in their own domain name and independent hosting solution. The argument is that such a setup shows the world that the blogger is serious about their content. Serious enough to spend their own money to put their content on the web rather than relying on the largesse of companies like Google or Wordpress to do so.

The argument against doing so is that most blogs do not make any money for the blogger. Advertising is not very lucrative for low-volume blogs, and too much advertising distracts from the content on the blog. So, in most cases, the blogger is showing his/her commitment to the blog by producing and publishing content on it with no meaningful remuneration anyway. Does it make sense to then go overboard and spend money to make a statement about the blog?

I had not looked into hosting my blog on an independent hosting provider before. I have always assumed that if my blog had interesting content, people would find it, and not have a negative opinion about the blog just because it is hosted for free on Google's servers. In any case, I decided to do some research.

First, I created a poll for my website that asks visitors whether they think it makes sense for bloggers to have their own domains and independent hosts rather than using free blogging solutions. I have no idea what the results of that poll will be. If the poll shows that most visitors do not care one way or another, then I can breathe a sigh of relief and continue on as before.

But what if a large majority of visitors feel that an independent host and domain name make sense? In preparation for that eventuality, I have started doing research on the best web hosting providers and solutions out there. As they say, I have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst! You can help shape this debate meaningfully by casting your vote in the poll in the left sidebar of this blog. Please take the time to vote and let me (and other bloggers) know what you think!