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Free Blogging Platforms
The two most popular free blogging platforms are blogger (previously known as BlogSpot) and Wordpress. These two sites allow you to build your own blog for free as well as hosting it live on the Internet at no cost, however there are some drawbacks.

One of the main disadvantages is the control over your blog. You would not have the flexibility to have your blog under your own domain name. This means your blog will always be a part of their domain - a subdomain and would disadvantage you if you are trying to build a name for yourself. In addition, the blogging platform sites control the site and you have little to say about it. They may choose to shut your blog whenever they want to or change the terms and conditions as they wish.

Given that the service is free, it would be a great place to start out if you are a complete newcomer and wanted to test the waters to see if blogging is your thing. As you blog grows and you wish to do more with it, such as self branding, then it would be wise to consider a paid option.

Paid Blogging Platforms
To sum it up paid blogging platform will provide you with more features. With hundreds of designs and templates to use, it gives you unlimited number of blogs, premium customer support, flexibility to control the entire blog yourself and allow you to have extra authors for your blog.

Free Webhosting
Once again like free blogging platforms, free webhosting also has limitations on its usage. You may be provided with a minimal bandwidth and disk storage space, limited number of email accounts. Some free webhosting companies do not allow the usage of your own domain. Others would allow it but you must agree to allow them to place ads on your website. These ads may cause you website to appear unprofessional and can also be annoying.

Paid Webhosting
Paid webhosting come in all different shapes and sizes. Plans are usually charged on a per month basis. The price usually varies depending on the term of the contract. If you have registered your domain name for 12 months then signing up for a 12 month web hosting plan would be beneficial as it would be at a reduced price. Another factor that may cause a difference in price between different plans is the features in which you receive. Basic webhosting plans are usually sufficient enough when you are first starting out on the internet. If you have a thriving business and need extra features, a premium plan is also available.

Knowing the different options set out above you should now have an understanding of what is required before you even build your blog. Your choices will depend on your budget. The best option, and most popular option, would be to have a paid webhosting plan and a free blogging platform. Main reason for this is that you can host your own blog on your own domain. People will know you and remember you for your site and your name (instead of "a blog on Wordpress"). Although there are limitations to the free blogging platforms you may use your own website template to customise the look of the blog to look like your own and FTP the blog to your own site so visitor will see it as being a part of your own site. Obviously the option of having a paid hosting plan as well as blogging platform is the most desirable but not so desirable for the pocket unless you have lots to spend.

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