The first thing most of us TEFL teachers do when we make the decission and start blogging is to opt for one of the many free blog hosting providers. This, of course, is one good option for those of us on a strict budget and unable to buy our own domain name or UK Web Hosting space. When I first started blogging, with the first ELT World blog, I started in excatly this way and my blog happily chugged along on said free blog server for more than a year. As many of you who blog know, you can monetize your blog in numerous ways, installing adsense being the most common, but also by selling links or for paid reviews. This latter option, however, breaks the terms of service of many free blogware providers who state that I can not monetize my blog if using their free service.
Most of us start out blogging for fun without any real goal in mind, but if you already have a clear vision about where you want to take your blog in the future, you should really consider having your own domain name and hosting space. Domain names and hosting space are really cheap now, surprisingly so when you start looking into it, so you don’t need a lot of money to start your own blog. So, the question is… where should you look to buy a domain and hosting?
In this day and age there are hundreds of UK Web Hosting providers, wherever you find yourself. I’d say that choosing a web host near you is quite important because you’ll be looking for low cost phone calls or any other communication when you need to contact the provider. Pickaweb, which is a UK Web Hosting company, has been providing a web hosting service since 2000. While they are based in UK, they serve customers on a worldwide basis. Therefore, if you don’t have a problem with using web hosting based abroad, you really should consider using their inexpensive services, especially as they offer round the clock support for all customers.
After buying your domain and paying for hosting, your next step is installing a blogging engine, wordpress being a popular choice. If this sounds scary, don’t worry, as Pickaweb web offers assistance in getting your website up and running. When your blog is ready to go, you can join the TEFL blogging community.
2 comments
Web Hosting Support says:
January 22, 2009 at 2:32 pm (UTC 2 )
It is a good thing to start with fun until your “fun blogging” will become a habit thereby establishing a goal and objective..nice article thanks for the info.
david says:
January 29, 2009 at 2:29 pm (UTC 2 )
You’re welcome.