Over the past few years the popularity of blogging has rocketed and the choice of suitable platforms has matched the growth. There is now an overwhelming number of viable options for budding bloggers and businesses looking to reach new audiences.

Many of the platforms are free to use so how to you decide which is best for you or your business when the cost of the platform isn't really an issue? Would you be better to have a blog hosted on your own server, or would it be more beneficial to have someone else take care of the more technical aspects of setting it up and running maintaince? Both self hosted and hosted platforms have their benefits both have their drawbacks. Find out what they are and decide for yourself which is best for you.

Self hosted platforms

Pros

• Ability to choose your own host.
• Ability to install plugins and edit the source code if requried.
• Unlimited theming abilities, you can make your website look and behave exactly how you want.
• Increased control of your website and it's content as you are not dependent on another company's services.

Cons

• Out of date versions of the platforms are often targetted by hackers who seek to exploit platform wide bugs. Conversely, hosted solutions would always be kept right upto date with the latest fixes.
• Requires a more complicated and involved set up process that may require you to understand server side scripting languages, file transfer protocals and domain name setting changes.
• Need to pay extra for web hosting and a domain name, both of which would be included free of charge on a hosted solution.

Recommendations

There is probably a much greater choice of self hosted platforms which you could use, below is some of them that I would recommend trying. It is worthwhile trying a few out before commiting, just to see which interface works best for you. It should be noted that some of these are more content management systems than blogging platforms. The line between the two begins to blur when using self hosted solutions.

• Wordpress
• Drupal
• Joomla

Hosted platforms

Pros

• The platform itself and web hosting is free, and if not, at least cheap.
• Most allow you to use a custom domain name.
• There are usually a wide variety of stock templates available to use.
• No need to know how to install blogging software.
• Quick and easy to set up and get posting.
• Most platforms have the ability to create or your own themes or modify existing ones.

Cons

• Limited extensibility due to lack of plugins or ability to extend code.
• Limited comment functionality on some platforms.
• Generic themes may mean that your blog does not make an impact.
• Don't have to worry about installing and setting up your blogging software.

Recommendations

There are a number of hosting options available now, a few recent favourites of mine are:

• Posterous
• Blogger
• Tumblr
• Wordpress
• Typepad (Paid)
• Squarespace (Paid)

Conclusion

In the end, the choice of whether to go self hosted or not comes down to what you need from your blogging platform. If you'd rather choose your server of choice instead of relying on another companies, or if you are seeking to edit the core scripts of the platform, then definitely go for the self hosted solution. On a side note, editing the core coding is generally a bad idea as it may cause additional bugs in the code that could allow unauthorised access to your content. Any changes will likely be erased when you update the software too, or even prevent the update from taking place if it is automated.

Generally, hosted solutions will meet most peoples and the majority of businesses needs. These free to use services are generally very efficien, easy to use and offer an array of features that rival most self hosted solutions. The ability to use a custom domain name is also something which will draw users to these free platforms. The continual development and enhancement of these types of services is meaning that self hosted solutions are fast becoming redundant.

Whether you're setting up a new website or looking to move your existing one, you'll more than likely be in need of a new host. When looking for a host there a few key factors that you need to bear in mind.

• Functionality
• Performance
• Reliability
• Cost

Functionality

When planning a website you should consider what features and technologies your server will need to be able to run it properly. For example, if your website is a dynamic, database driven one then you will require databases and the availability of a programming language such as PHP or ASP.NET. Simple static websites, however, will likely not need such technologies and will only need a basic file system.

Another point to consider is whether to use a Windows or Linux based server. This will be developed by what language you or your web developer chooses to develop your website in. ASP.NET based websites or applications will need a Windows server whilst those built on PHP will generally run on both Windows and Linux platforms.

Email functionality and the option to add subdomains may also be something that you need to consider.

Performance

Performance of your web server is another thing that needs to be considered. Web servers with a greater amount of RAM and CPU power will be able to load your website quicker. This not only means that users will have a shorter time waiting to see your content, but it will also help to optimise your site for search engines.

With this in mind there are a number of different types of hosting solutions including: shared, semi-dedicated and dedicated. With shared hosting, the servers power is split between every site held on it. This helps lower costs but it also lowers performance. With semi dedicated and dedicated hosting the effects of this are limited as each website is guaranteed a certain amount of the servers resources. This however comes at a premium.

Though not strictly relating to the performance of the server itself, the physical location of your server can affect the performance of your website. If your website is aimed at visitors from the UK then it would make sense to use a datacenter based in the UK too. This decreases the response time, or the time it takes for your website to be loaded into the visitors browser. The further away from your target or main audience your server is, the greater the response time.

Reliability

To reach your audience and maximise your websites potential, it should be available all day, every day. Some hosting companies guarantee a certain level of 'uptime'. For a business website, guaranteed uptime will give peice of mind and ensure that your website will be available to your customers whenever they need it.

Cost

As with most things, cost is the ultimate element that needs to be considered when choosing a new host. Cost controls all of the above aspects. Greater functionality, performance and reliability will come with an increased cost.

If your budget is limited then it is likely that one of the discussed factors will take a hit. Spend the time to search the web for a number of different hosting companies to see which ffver the best features for your budget.

When starting up a new website, either for you or your business, the first thing you should do is get your hands on a suitable domain name. Chances are this will be the most frustrating part of the whole process of getting yourself set up online. 

Firstly, there are a number of top level domains, or TLD's, to choose from, including: .uk, .com, .net, .org and .info. Some of these TLD's are further defined by second level domains or SLD's to make domain extensions such as .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk.

For geotargeting of an audience, i.e. targeting user in a specific country, it is best to choose a coutry specific TLD. In other words, if you are based in the UK and are seeking to reach a mainly UK based audience, get a domain name with the .uk TLD, such as .co.uk. Geotargetting is less of an issue for personal websites and blogs as the owners of such sites maintain them as hobbies rather than as an online presence for their product or service.

It is common for larger businesses to register domain names under most of the common and popular TLD's in an attempt to protect their brand and also to give them the option of expanding their online presence by creating country specific websites in the future.

When you have settled on which TLD's you wish to use, you should them aim to find an available domain name that in some way links and represents you or your business. This website for example uses the domain name 'developerjames.co.uk' because my name is James and I am a web developer. Dashes within a domain name are not reccommended as they add another layer of complexity for your visitors to remember. Visitors like short, sweet, descriptive domain names, much like search engines. Google's indexing algorithm is able to parse individual words from a domain name quite easily so don't feel tempted to use a dashed domain name to seperate your keywords.

If you are having trouble finding a domain name that you like which isn't already registered, I find it helpful to sit down with a pad of paper and think of a bunch of synonyms and related keywords for the subject of the website. You never know, a perfect combination of a few short snappy words that you never even considered before, could be exactly what your looking for. In the past I had always aimed to register domain names based around my full name, but have since come to understand that slightly more descriptive domain names are usually available for registering and are better for search optimisation.

I generally manage all my domain names through Heart Internet, but there are a number of other well known registrars as well. In the past I have used 123 Reg to register my domain names, too. I'd recommend opening with a few companies to see which you find easiest to use. When you decide which is best for you, you can simply transfer your domains over to your preffered account.

One final note on registering domain names. Never pay over the odds for a domain name. Some companies set their prices at a ridiculously uncompetitive level whilst some private owners will offer to sell you your preffered domain name for amounts sometimes in excess of three figures. There's no need to waste money like that, shop around, make sure you're getting the best deal you can for a relevent domain name that you can live with.

Read more about the domain name system over at Wikipedia.

Earlier today, Google announced that it was simplifying it's privacy policy's by amalgamating over sixty different policies into one shorter, simpler document that covers a range of Google's products and services.

Privacy is a major concern across the entire internet at the moment and most users will be happy that Google have made things a lot simpler and more transparent. Some, however, may be a bit concerned that Google will now have the ability to share a users personal details from one Google product with another.

Personally, I think it's a good idea and has been a long time coming. The changes come into play on March 1, 2012.

Put simply, I'm a web developer and this is my web development blog. I'll be posting regularly with a range of hints, tips, tricks, tutorials and news articles from the ever changing world of web development. Expect posts relating to coding, hosting, domain names, social networking, search optimisation, content strategies and much more!

Thanks for visiting, have a Happy (Chinese) New Year,
James