Disclosure: We receive compensation from some of the companies we’ve listed in this section if sales are generated through this website. We also choose to promote them because we use their services and are completely satisfied with their products and customer care.

Your Domain:

This is the address where people can find you when surfing the web. Think of it as your home number/address. You live at 222 Street Dr., Cityville, Province, Country and that’s how people find your home to visit you. In your website or blog’s case, the domain is your address online i.e. www.mycoolsiteforblogginggreatthings.com. This is what they type in to get to your website. Domains can start as low as $5 per year when on sale. The typical cost ranges from $8 to $25 per year. The extension of your domain can affect pricing i.e. .ca, .com, .tv, etc.

Hosting for Your Blog or website:

Think of hosting as your home’s property. When someone drives up to your home, they see your house. In your website or blog’s case, when someone “surf’s” up to your online home (site), they see your website. Instead of concrete, bricks and a roof, your site visitors see your website pages, blog posts, pictures, contact information, etc., all these things (files) have to sit on a property or hosting service in this case. The price of hosting a website can range from $4 to $4000 per month depending on your needs. Don’t be scared though… small sites or blogs will typically be on the bottom end of this price range.

Blogging for Free

You do not need a domain and hosting to start a blog. If you have no interest in monetizing and you only want to write for the sake of writing and sharing information, you can use any of these free blog services.

WordPress / Blogger (by Google) / Weebly / Tumblr / HubPages / SQUARESPACE

These blogs/sites are customizable to an extent but do have limitations because they’re hosted by someone else. Your site address is typically connected to their name (called sub-domain). For example, if you like to write about potting flowers, your address might be “pottingflowers.wordpress.com”. In this case, you have not purchased a domain or hosting service. Another limitation of these free services is that they don’t usually let you place any type of ads for monetizing.

Purchasing a Domain Name and Hosting Service:

If you’re interested in taking your blog to the next level, you might be interested in making a small investment in order to have your own domain name (easier to share with people) and your own hosting service. There are many companies that provide this type of service. We’ve used Netfirms (available in the U.S. and Canada) for years. They are very reliable and available to answer your questions 24/7. The pricing is also very competitive. Their friendly staff is available to walk you through purchasing your domain name, hosting service and using the automatic blog installation feature. Click the link/banner below to visit the Netfirms website to find out more.