The Search for a Free and Decent Blog Host

There are a lot of free blog host out there offering various types of free services and features. Faced with these vast choices, you may find yourself somewhat confused especially if you're new to blogging. Searching on a search engine and clicking every result it display is a very time consuming task and not a practical choice.

New blog host emerge like wild mushrooms almost on a daily basis, and with users showing great interest in making blogs, expect that this blogs host sites will increase in number in a short period of time. Before searching, you should make a sort of personal criteria which will serve as your guide to satisfy your needs for your "ideal blog host". Having a personal criteria / list should help ease your search for a free and decent blog host.

Ask yourself what you want then make a list describing what features a free blog host should have, what free services it offers and other things necessary that will meet your requirements. You could always find a link to features or services a blog host offers, if not then its not a good one. After you made a list, search for a free blog host over the web, using the keyword "free blog host" will display free blog hosting sites that you could check out. Base your choice with the list you've made, take note of the features and services they offer. I've made a list myself, you could refer to this list or add a few yourself.

What features a free blog host should have?

• A quick, easy and comprehensive sign up process - A long and arduous process of signing up may sometimes turn me off, personally i prefer signing up to a good blog host who explains in plain english the step by step process of signing up, giving examples on how to correctly fill the required fields, a fast confirmation to my email address if it requires me to validate my account.

• Free professional looking templates that can be customize - The over all look of your blog is one of the big factor that will determine its success or failure, think about this my friend, who would show interest in reading you blog if at first glance it looks like a mess ( remember, first empressions last). Acquiring a professional looking template will add a little spice to the look and fell of your blog

• user friendly interface that lets you create blogs with ease - This may come in handy in building you blog, especially if you want it to be as attractive as possible. Adding page elements to your blog using a push button interface is the preferable way, don't tire yourself by using / writing codes in customizing or creating your blog, or using a push button interface that you could hardly understand its use.

• Photo posting allowed - By having this feature you could post photos of your choice adding a little appeal to your blog.

• RSS feed supported - Having an RSS feed on your blog helps your user track the content of your blog, it lets your user subscribed to the feeds then later on check if those feeds have new contents into it. For begginer's or experienced bloggers who want to incorporate RSS feeds in their blog i strongly recommend using rapidfeeds, it uses a very easy and highly comprehensive 3 way step feedmanager. Highly recommended for beginners who have less or no idea at all about how to put RSS feeds on their blog. Another popular feed management provider you might need to consider using isfeedburner, great features and customization.

• HTML editor that lets you customize your blog - If the templates available from a blog host don't satisfy you then you need an HTML editor to help you customize your page, see also if a blog host offers a java / java script editor aside from html, this will further enhance your customisation.

• Lets you make some money out of your blog - If your a full time or a part time blogger and love doing it then why not make some money out of your blog?. I mean, if your spending a lot of time building your blog then why not reward yourself with the fruit of your labor, Monetize Your Site. A little advice though, don't make blogs just for the money, it would sometimes hurt bigtime if you fail. Build blogs with an honest intent of helping your reader acquire quality information, write good quality and relevant content first then you may add some AdSense, Text Link Ads, affiliate programs, referrals or product sales that will make you money on the side, just don't over do it !!!, it will scare your reader rather than click your ads.

• A standby support team that could answer your inquiries in a short notice - This is probably one of the most important service i look for in a free blog host, this may determine if a blog host is really a good if not a best one. Sometime its comforting to think that there's always someone to help you ( in a short notice) in times that you really need some questions or inquiries to be answered, or if you need some help on how to build your blog.

Choose or add a few more from this list then you should be ready in choosing your ideal blog host

Here are some list of free blog host that you may want to check out:

• Blogger - A very popular blog host, developed by Pyra Labs in 1999 then bought by Google in 2002

Blogger features includes :

1. a variety of free customisable templates to choose from (professional looking ones like what I'm using now)
2. Lets you post pictures
3. A user friendly interface that lets you create and maintain your blog
4. Allows you to add RSS feeds to your blog
5. Gives you an opportunity to make money out of your blog by adding AdSense

• Live Journal - One of the popular blog host built on an open source software

Live Journal features:

1. Posting photos allowed either via pc, web or web-enabled phone or device
2. Instant messaging features
3. Advance search feature lets you find users by city, state, country, age, friends
4. Free Templates ( the variety depends on what type of account your using)
5. RSS feed

• 20sixUK - A UK based blog host

20sixUK features:

1. Free customisable templates
2. Posting photos allowed
3. Password protected option
4. RSS feeds
5. Blogging via mobile or email

• EBloggy - A free blog host that lets you use templates off the web then edit it to their html template editor

EBloggy features:

1. Point and click link management
2. Point and click template editor
3. Pre coded templates
4. Oppurtunity to earned money from your blog

• mindsay - A blog host that was co founded by Adam Ostrow and Brian Klug, lets you create blogs quickly, easily and free and share them via a unique assortment of social engaging features

mindsay features:

1. Lets you find people with similar interest via mindsay wiki
2. Geographic directory features lets you find user using zip code
3. Uses tags to assign keywords to each blog entry, making it easy for users to find blogs about specific interest
4. Vote for blogs you find most compelling
5. RSS feed

• BlogEasy - Another popular free blog hosting which offers free web page publishing and syndication services

BlogEasy features:

1. Photo Uploading
2. Allows multiple authors and editiors to create and edit your free web pages
3. allows RSS feed
4. Site promotional tools such as blog pinging automated
5. Earn extra money from your blog

• Soulcast - Blog host that offers an uncensored blogging, you get to blog anonymously, uncensored and without constraints