The Pros and Cons of Self-Hosting
May 24, 2011
Topics: Blog, Blogging Tips
Photo by Dominic´s Pics
For those trying to figure out the next steps of their blogging endeavor often find themselves at a crossroads of whether or not to self-host.
Many have a hard time deciding which platform is best. It is not an easy choice to host or self-host. One of the primary reasons why some of us self-host and even more of us discuss it — is flexibility. A self-hosted option allows us to pick and choose plug-ins, functionality, themes and platforms. This level of flexibility is a very attractive feature set for many of us — especially those of us that have turned to blogging as a business.
For the most part the grand majority of us are not technically inclined to manage our own web site. That is just the nature of things not and not at all an insult or putdown. As bloggers we are more concerned with content strategy, community building and less about errors such as “cannot modify header.” For me, I find one of the main differences in hosting or self-hosting is time. Finding the time to manage not only your self-hosted site but your content and community; for many this may simply be too much, especially when juggling tons of other projects, activities, etc.
If you are thinking of making the move, below I have compared what I believe are some important pros and cons of a self-hosting platform.
Pros
Absolute control and flexibility. Being the master of your own domain, you have the power to customize, modify and do just about anything you like to make your site as unique as you are
Full support and access to themes. With a self-hosted site you have access to all custom and commercials themes available
Full access to plugins. You control the site and therefore can upload any plugins (be sure to check if they are reputable and safe to use) that you like to aid in the customization and extension of your blog
Advertisement. A self-hosted site provides you with the ability to sell unlimited ads on your site
Cons
Site maintenance. Since you are in full control of your site, you also have to make sure you dedicate time to keep your blog up-to-date and properly maintained to prevent hacking, viruses, etc.
Cost. Self-hosted sites requires you to pay a domain registration fee (yearly), a web host fee (often monthly) and if you decide to create a customized site, you will have to pay a designer
Are you still on the fence and have some more questions about self-hosting? Just ask me.
Jessie Nuez a native New Yorker covering stories that focus on mobile and personal technologies. When You can find Jessie writing for her site Hecho Para Mama. Follow her on Twitter @JessieNuez.
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Tracy
Thanks, Jessie. This article helped remind me that I’ve made the right decision NOT to switch to self hosted for now. I’ve had self hosted blogs and while I loved the freedom, it just totally stressed me out to take care of all the tech stuff on my own. I’d literally stay up all night messing with the code. The money to be made in advertisements, (at least in my case), did not make it worth it. I prefer to focus on my content.
Much thanks. You laid it out very clearly.
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Lilian Hurn
Good Post. I will like to suggest a top is possible. Spam issues in wordpress how to avoid, what plugins are the best.
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sweetlife
Thanks for the info Jessie. I switched over to self hosting about a year ago and it is alot of work, but my support team is wonderful.
bonnie
from sweetlife
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Brad
Thanks Jessie for an insightful post. I agree with your comment:
(more concerned with content strategy, community building and less about errors such as “cannot modify header.” )
But I think you’ll get that regardless of where you host your blog – unless of course you host it yourself. And by that I mean self-hosted – on your own computer, on your own Internet connection.
That particular error message “cannot modify header” is simply a message to you from your webhosting company – it means you do not have the correct permissions to change anything on your WordPress theme.
By hosting your own site, on your own computer, from your own Internet connection, you can avoid all those error messages – because you have full control (and therefore full permissions) over your own environment – if you have a self-hosted site.
Its nice to see someone else posting about self-hosted WordPress sites. Thank you.
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Brad
Hi Lillian
I’ve moved away from WordPress comments, and have implemented Facebook comments specifically. It cuts down on a lot of spam comments, because the poster needs a valid Facebook account in order to comment.
Something to try.
Cheers
Brad -
Brad
Hi @Tracy
I’m wondering why you’re stressing out with all the code? I can’t understand that – what sort of code stuff did you want to change?
As I said above, some hosts just don’t give you the file permissions you need to make the changes you want.
That’s why I have a self-hosted site – at home, on my own computer, on my own Internet connection – I can do whatever I need to do, and I don’t have to pay per month charges! (apart from my monthly ISP connection fees of course)
I hope things come together for you.
Cheers
Brad -
Vicky
Self-hosting WordPress is much easier if you know what to expect. The problem many bloggers face is the lack of knowledge around the different aspects of using a self-hosted WordPress site. There are many plugins which are not compatible with the most updated version of the WordPress platform which is where the “cannot modify header” error message often comes from. There are also a ton of plugins that are poorly coded or have malicious code in them. And there are plugins that conflict with one another, which causes your site to break. It has very little to do with hosting and more to do with what kind of plugins you add to your blog.
As far as hosting a website on your own computer from home, that’s fine if your computer runs 24/7. If it does not then it would defeat the purpose of building a blog since I would assume one keeps a blog for others to read it at any given time. Going that route is much more complicated and has a higher maintenance involved than going with a reputable web host.
A good way to start getting acquainted with WordPress is to start off on WordPress.com and get familiar with using it. If SEO is important to you then you need your own domain name and your own web hosting. Mapping your domain name to WordPress.com or Tumblr.com or Blogspot.com is not good SEO for your domain.
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Karina
Very nicely put. I have information overload right now. This is all new to me but I’m learning. Thanks!
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