This blog is part of a series, Checklist for Starting Your Own Blog Business.

Instead of answering the question, “What is a blog and how is it different from a website?” I am going to refer you to an incredibly well written summary, the Technorati FAQ.

Hosted Service vs. Self-Hosting with a Custom Domain Name

Tibi Puiu at the Lost Art of Blogging says that the #1 mistake that new bloggers make is using a hosted service instead of starting with their own domain. Hosted services, like Blogger, can be really tempting because they are quick to set up, easy to use, and free.

I knew right from the start that I wanted to host my own blog engine with my own domain name. But what if you’re not sure you really want to blog? If you just want to “try out” blogging, then use a hosted service. Try it for 3-4 weeks. After the initial enthusiasm, if you decide you to continue then make the move to hosting on your own domain and make the move early! If you go this route, you might consider buying a domain name and setting up blogger to use your domain name, not theirs. This move alone will help you down the road.

TechZ from Attackr.com wrote a clear, excellent list of the advantages & disadvantages of both a hosted service and self hosting. Phillip Lenssen at Performancing wrote another amazing analysis of the pros and cons of self-hosting, where he contrasted the advantages of full control against the disadvantages of the time commitment and learning curve. Meg from Dipping into the Bigpond explained the top disadvantage of moving from a hosted service to self-hosting,

“The metrics used to determine how popular a blog is (and perhaps affecting your earning ability), are all reset. Technorati links, Google PageRank, and Alexa Rank all fall to zero and you have to start building them again. If you’re lucky, you can take your feed subscribers with you, otherwise you’ve got to cross your fingers and hope they’ll update with the move.… Probably the most common regret from bloggers is “I should have done this sooner“.”

Randfish from seomoz.org encouraged people to self host when he described,

“The right blog CMS (Content Management System) makes a big difference. If you want to set yourself apart, I recommend creating a custom blog solution - one that can be completely customized to your users. In most cases, WordPress, Blogger, MovableType or Typepad will suffice, but building from scratch allows you to be very creative with functionality and formatting. The best CMS is something that's easy for the writer(s) to use and brings together the features that allow the blog to flourish… Hosting your blog on a different domain from your primary site is one of the worst mistakes you can make.”

Clearly, as all these people attest, if you are serious about blogging, then you will "self" host customized blog engine server software with your own customized domain name. 

Furthermore, if you are a software developer then self-hosting with your own domain name adds credibility. You can get some light experience with DNS through coordinating domain registrars and website / email hosting companies. You learn a little about server configuration through the process of setting up and deploying your blog engine. It shows that you can competently navigate the current technology landscape… that you’re not completely dependent on the corporate IT department.

 

Choose Your Blogging Name (aka Pen Name)

You blogging name is how you will be signing your blog posts.  Many people use their real name or a nickname.  Use your blogging name to comment on other blogs and participate in forums.

Tami Baribeau from CuppyCake further describes the importance of choosing your focus, the name of your blog, your “pen name” in the blogosphere, and your blogroll. In particular, she recommends that your blogroll only include the blogs that you personally read regularly. Your domain name is typically also the name of your blog.

 

Choose a Domain Name

Recommend Tool: InstantDomainSearch.com

Once you decide to make the plunge, you have some coordinating to do between lookup tools, domain registrars, hosting companies, etc.

First, choose a domain name. As Syed Balkhi from Balkhis says, go for a .com domain if you are starting a new business or website. If you aren’t sure about the difference between a .com and a .net, read TLD (Top Level Domain) descriptions on the Enom FAQ or go straight to the source at IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority).

An excellent tool for checking on the availability of domain names is InstantDomainSearch.com. The usability on that site is incredible!!! It does what you want quickly and instinctively gives you several tools, like WHOIS, Domain Name Hacks, and Visit Site. CAUTION: the InstantDomainSearch results are not always accurate. Don’t get your hopes up just because you see green.

If your top choice is already taken, several companies, like Enom will offer suggestions for alternate names.  Jeff Atwood describes how choosing a domain name can be difficult.  He noted the following resources:  Seth Godin discusses making up a new word.  Mike Pope suggests a trochee.  You could use an elaborate process, like those used by Michael McDerment of Freshbooks or the Igor Naming Guide. Or follow the 37Signals trend and just pick something catchy. And try to avoid unintentionally bad domain names.  

Some domain name lookup tools have been accused of cybersquattting and front running. There are stories about some companies registering domain names immediately after you search… only to charge you more $$ when they resell those squatted domain names to you. I have always had positive experiences with Instant Domain Search and endorse them.

 

Register the Domain Name

Recommend Tool: Google Apps

I recently learned about using Google Apps for domain registration and I’m sold! It is by far the cheapest and highest quality package I’ve seen. For just $10/year, you can register a domain name, register it privately with annual auto-renew, and get several Google services, including 2GB GMail per user. The price is awesome if you can tolerate ads on the side of your GMail. You can upgrade to a paid hosting plan if you don’t want the ads. If you just need one simple web page, they offer a WYSIWYG web page editor and your page can be seen at www.yourdomain.com.

It is interesting to note that Google outsources the actual domain registration. My registration was done by Enom. The Enom administration pages were powerful and easy to use. Enom adds some interesting services, including text messaging and maps. Google Apps also makes it easy to access your DNS records at the registrar because they store your registrar administration logon info. One less password to remember. Cool.

Another thing to note is that Google does not handle domain transfers, but you can add Google Apps to a domain that was previously registered. I have a domain parked at 1and1.com, without a website, which I could not set up. Another domain with a website hosted at CrystalTech was a breeze to set up.  If you try the CNAME method, Hscripts.com has an easy to use online DNS Lookup tool.  Also, the setup process can be slow, as seen by this Google message:

We are checking domain ownership. This may take 48 hours to complete.

 

Buy a Web and Database Hosting Package for Your Blogsite / Website

Recommend Tool: CrystalTech

For me, the host had to support ASP.NET and SQL Server because I write software with Microsoft's .NET and those are the technologies I know. Similar to Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror, I prefer CrystalTech. Their “Developer” plan starts at $2.95/month and includes a SQL Server database! They keep on the cutting edge with technology and frequently offer free hosting for beta technologies. In my experience, their tech support is responsive, even with the Developer plan.

 

Buy an Email Hosting Package for Your Domain

Recommend Tool: CrystalTech, use the included email hosting with the web hosting package

Sending your mail through GMail or using GMail as a free SMTP server might be tempting, but I don’t think it is worth it in the end. You are better off using your domain email and having your return address look like you are using your domain email.

Keeping the email with Google Apps is also really tempting. The price and online accessibility are hard to beat.

A benefit of hosting email with the website hosting company is the ease of setting up SMTP email (server-generated email) from your website. It appears that sending Google Apps email from a website hosted at CrystalTech isn’t currently possible, as seen in this thread and this one. The space allowed on the CrystalTech plans should be enough to support growth.

If your blog or business generates enough revenue, you could consider purchasing dedicated server hosting with higher space and traffic limits for email or completely migrate the email off to a dedicated email hosting company like Inbox.com, Intermedia, MailStreet, 123Together, or ExchangeMyMail. Some interesting CrystalTech discussions about hosted Exchange are in this thread and this one.

 

Choose a Blogsite / Website Design (aka Theme or Skin)

Recommend Tool: Open Source Web Design

There are lots of good pre-built designs to choose from. Typically, your blog engine will have several “themes” or “skins” that are available and easy to use. Or you could make your own. Open Source Web Design has hundreds of designs that can be used for nonprofit or commercial sites.

 

Optimize Your Blog

OK, so you’re just getting started.  Just start writing posts/articles. Get used to the flow of blogging.

Then concentrate on optimizing your blogging experience.

For now, I'll share one optimizing tip.  Randfish from seomoz.org recommends optimizing your blog titles for keywords. I have found Google Adwords to be easy to use and free. If you have the money, you might try WordTracker or KeywordDiscovery. Randfish also recommends using Technorati tags.

 

Conclusion

The steps for setting up a blogsite are fairly similar to the steps for setting up a website.  Enjoy the resources I've shared.  If you use different tools, I'd love to hear about them.