Question About Hosting

[juliej]

I have brainstormed and now have narrowed down a niche that I would like to start a blog on. I have a domain name picked out, but I'm still not sure on the hosting I want to use. I have had a site hosted on HostGator before, but shut it down because load time was super slow and my template would never load correctly. I moved that site to Blogger hosting with my custom domain and the load time was super fast. But since, I have deleted that blog because it just wasn't a niche I was excited about. Anyway, I'm excited about the new niche I have chosen and I have a lot of experience with it, but I'm not sure which way to go with hosting. I was impressed with Blogger's load time and that I didn't have to deal with plugins. Blogger also has a template that I love. So, my question is, are there any negatives with using a custom purchased domain name and Blogger's hosting? TIA

[Kayla Fay]

If I'm not mistaken, Blogger blogs don't belong to you, even if you use your own domain name. That means you're at the mercy and whims of Blogger.

Hostgator is a great host, ordinarily. I'd recommend giving them another go. Lynn is an affiliate; if you use the link on her site, she gets commission.

[Lynn Terry]

I remember asking you about that issue before. I can't imagine what caused the load time issue there. I assume it had something to do with the theme. Instead, you want to install WordPress on your HostGator account and then set up a WordPress theme (you can find a lot of free themes).

See: http://www.clicknewz.com/1872/how-to...ordpress-blog/ for a checklist.

I started my first blog on blogger, and switched to WordPress (hosted by HostGator). This is an older post, but it explains the reasons why (at the time): http://www.clicknewz.com/782/blogger-vs-wordpress/ The biggest being the last. They even deleted their OWN blog once by accident. And Kayla is right, they can/may delete yours at any time, so your investing in their property - not your own.

[juliej]

Thanks, guys. I had no idea that Blogger had that much control over a custom domain.

Lynn, I think I said before that it was probably my theme or too many plugins that caused the massive slow down in load time. I went over board on the plugins, but I wasn't exactly sure which ones I really needed, so I went nuts with the plugins. My theme was a free one and it seemed rather glitchy.

So, I was wondering what you all thought. Should I just use the domain that I have already purchased (the one that I had a blog on and took down) or do you think I should purchase the new one and start over completely? The one I had is not a really niche domain. It is, but it isn't. I could put everything I have planned to put on Squidoo on that blog. I've been trying to think longterm, and I do know that building a business on Squidoo isn't exactly a wise move. I could make money faster on Squidoo, but my blog is something that I would have complete control over. I guess traffic is still a major worry with starting a blog versus Squidoo, but I don't have time for both. I'm going to have to choose. I'm fickle. Thanks for the help.

[Lynn Terry]

Long term it's definitely better to own your own property. Once you get the new blog set up and running smoothly, you can incorporate Squidoo into your marketing plan. As for which domain to use, it depends on how suited it is to the topic you'll be blogging about...