Ok, I’m not  Shakepeare. 

When it comes to blogging there is a continual debate as to whether or not to buy a domain for your blog. There is no right or wrong answer to this. What it really comes down to is what you wish to accomplish through your blog. After your goal is established it is imperative to weigh the pros and cons of using a free blog versus a purchased domain name.

The two main free blogging sites are Blogger and Wordpress.com. Blogger:

•  is great for beginners
• virtually anyone can have their blog up and running within five minutes 
• You can place adsense ads and sell items on your blog(there are guidelines to this that should be consulted before adding products)
• limited amount of widgets you can add
• if hosted on blogspot, Google can use your content for advertising purposes 

Wordpress.com:

• more difficult to set up
• greater possibility for customization
• no adsense or any other ads are allowed
• built in statistics tracker (number of visitors,etc.)

For anyone who is using blogging as a hobby then by all means, use the free blog options. I also realize that sometimes money is an issue and shelling out the $10 for a domain name isn’t in the budget. Although maybe you can forgo the Starbucks a day or two and cover the costs. (Just saying)

If you are truly seeking a professional image and wish to grow your blog into a business then the overall concensus is that you should purchase your own domain. This holds true especially for those that believe they may want to sell their site at some time in the future.

If the idea of setting up a blog on your own with your own domain scares you, don’t worry. You can download a template to your hosting company through wordpress.org and have some of the work done for you.

For this experiment I will be using several versions of each. Some of my blogs will have their own domain and others will be free ones.( I prefer Blogger because I can place adsense on it. )

All of the details on each blog will be detailed at the end of each month so that a proper comparison can be done.