Can you start a blog without domain, hosting

Hi, there I am Praneeth.

In this blog, you will learn,

10 pros and cons of a blog without domain and cms.

This is the ultimate guide to blog without domain and cms.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Here is a 30000-foot view of the blog.

What is the domain?

A Domain name is the website address on the internet.

Just like we humans have specific names to identify and recognize, a domain name helps people to identify websites on the internet.

What is cms?

A content managing system is software that helps you build, manage, modify, and publish articles and posts on your website.

Let’s learn the pros and cons of the free domain and blog without cms in detail.

Pros and cons of the free domain.

Here are the pros and cons of having a blog without a custom domain/free domain for your blog.

Pros:

Here are the pros of a blog without a domain name.

1. It is Free.

You know having a blog without a domain name means it is that you own a blog on a free domain and a free blogging platform.

It is free and it is obvious.

A blog without a domain is about that you don’t have to invest money in a domain where you will have a domain name with a subdomain attached with it which depends on the blogging platform you choose,

For example,

• If you are using a blogger, your domain will be, yourdomainname.blogspot.com.
• On Tumblr, your domain will be, yourdomainname.tumblr.com
• On wordpress.com, your domain will be, yourdomainname.wordpress.com.
• On Wix, your domain will be, yourdomainname.wix.com.
• On Weebly, your domain will be, yourdomainname.weebly.com.

There is a subdomain attached to it and you don’t have to worry about buying a domain name, attaching it with your blog, and doing all the technical work.

You will get a domain in just a few clicks at no costs.

Cons:

Here are the cons of the blog without a domain name.

1. It hurts your blog’s credibility.

You know if you want to do something good or big in blogging or online.

Like,

You need to,

• Earn money.
• Build a brand online.
• Gain more customers.

You definitely need to invest your money into buying a domain name for your blog.

I have written a detailed guide on which domain and extension you need to purchase,

• Read, domain name guide.

The reason being is, your domain name is the name and address of your website,

It is the face of your website.

If people want to visit your website at some point in time,

• Having a subdomain like Blogspot or tumble or Wix attached is going to create a bad, negative impression for users and it looks unprofessional.
• Having a free domain name and that URL structure is going to be very bad like your blogposts URLs will be crazy,

Your blog posts URLs look something like this on blogger,

Yourdomainname.blogspot.com/year/month/date/yourblogtitle.html.

Instead of, yourdomainname.com/yourblogtitle.

It is just looking shitty and less credible.

The thing here to know is that you can’t customize your URL structure and that inability with a free domain is going to hurt your rankings in search engines.

2. Redirection of domain is difficult.

If there is the least investment you do online is buying a domain name for your website.

And if you are serious about starting a website or blog or business online you will consider buying a domina name for your website.

After working on the free domain for so much time and when you think of redirecting your free domain name to a custom bought domain name.

It is going to be difficult.

You will be at risk of losing,

• Your rankings in search engines,
• Your traffic.
• Your backlinks.

It is tough for beginners who want to redirect their free domain name to a custom domain name after working on the free domain name for a while.

So, it is better to start your work online on your website with a fresh new custom domain name you bought.

Pros and cons of blogs without hosting, cms.

Pros:

Let’s first start with the pros of blogs without cms.

1. Free host.

The interesting thing with blogs that are not managed with cms is that they have free Webhosting for their blogs.

You say,

• Blogger.
• Tumblr.
• Wix.
• Weebly.
• Squarespace.

You just name them and they have a free plan and they provide web hosting for your blog for free.

You can get started with your blog for free without investing money in hosting and domain at all.

2. Better security.

The problem with the Content Management System[cms]  in short is that you need to be very careful with the security of your website.

Unlike CMS, you have better security of your blog on blogs that are not using cms.

There are fewer hacks, security breaches on these blogs that are not managed by cms.

They are less vulnerable to attacks and even if the blogs get attacked, the security team of the platform where the blog is managed will help you figure out things in a matter of minutes.

This is not the case with a CMS mainly opensource CMS like WordPress,

You need to be extra careful with the security of the website on Worpdress and other opensource cms like drupal and Joomla.

• You need to have a backup of your website all the time to safeguard your data from any uncertainties.
• You need to be very mindful of the themes and plugins you install on your cms.
• You need to be very mindful of permissions you give and logins you give for other people on your CMS.

Basically, your WordPress website security has a lot to do with you and you know having a blog without a cms means you have to deal less with the security of your website as the security is dealt with by the platform developers itself.

3. No need for technical knowledge and coding required.

Another big advantage of blogs without cms is that,

You don’t need any,

• Technical knowledge & web server settings.
• Learning time.
• Coding.

Required.

You just don’t need to have these things.

Having your blog managed on cms like WordPress is not so easy as Wix like drag and drop feature but you need some sort of history and skill in coding and HTML work.

If you want to add some external code like analytics code or AdSense code you need to do it manually without the help of external software.

With blogs without cms, you have all the things right on the fingertips,

• There are obviously fewer features so no learning time required compared to cms like WordPress and Joomla.
• There are templates all default and easy to use.
• There are drag and drop features.

You don’t have to deal with any coding work for your website.

Cons:

Here are 5 cons of blogs that are managed without cms like WordPress and drupal.

Let’s learn them in detail.

1. No updates & upgrades.

You can call this to be both advantages and disadvantages of CMS.

The advantage is that your cms will get updates and is always on constant improvement in terms of performance and flexibility.

When you are talking about CMS, mostly we consider WordPress because it is by far the largest cms in the world as it is powering more than 35% of the websites on the internet.

There is a world-class security team that is taking care of and constantly working on improving the core of WordPress CMS.

You have constant updates and upgrades to higher and higher levels, which obviously brings with it,

• Better SEO.
• Better security.
• Better and higher performance.

This is awesome with having cms but in a blogging platform where blogs are managed in a platform like,

• Wix.
• Squarespace.

The problem with them is that they never get updates and upgrades.

The problem with updates for CMS is there is a few CMS mainly wordpress that you have constant updates and upgrades of the themes and plugins and the version of the cms overall.

It is quite frustrating but it is what it is.

2. You can’t customize everything you like.

You know what,

What makes a big difference between a blog with managed on cms and without cms is the option of customization.

With cms, of course, you get a bunch of free themes and many features here and there right at your fingertips not just that you can tweak the code for the theme and with some coding, you can change and add new features to your website.

You don’t have the same luxury on a blog without cms.

Blog with cms means, Your blog, your software your web hosting, your money, your wish. There is no limitations and restrictions for you, you are not under the control of anyone, Your Webhosting, your software, it is all your wish.

You can design and tweak the things on your website the way you want it to look,

• Better navigations with more menus, categories, tags.
• Moderate blog comments and removing spammy ones.

Whereas, blog without cms means you are limited to only a bunch of default themes and widgets,

• You don’t have access to any plugins.
• You cannot make changes with the code of the themes.
• You are only restricted to a handful of features, so you cannot print what design you thought of on your website.
• You have to do the SEO for your website manually unlike the help of plugins.

3. It is costlier if you just want a blog.

If you just want to have a blog and just interested in writing and publishing articles on your website.

Why go for a blog without cms and spend a larger amount of money if you can get things done at half the price.

Yes,

I am talking about,

• Wix.
• Weebly.
• Squarespace.
• Constant contact.

You just name them,

The paid premium plans of these blogging platforms are really very bad comparing to what the features they offer in the plan.

Let’s get practical a bit here if you want to just start with a basic blog on your website.

• The Wix pricing plan for blogging is good at 40 dollars with 10 GB storage and free domain.
• Weebly pricing plan for blogging is good at 12 dollars a month with unlimited storage and free domain.
• Squarespace pricing plan for blogging is good at 12 dollars a month with a free domain and unlimited storage
• Constant contact pricing plan blogging is good at 10 dollars a month with a free domain and unlimited storage
• Whereas wordpress and other cms are free.

But,

You need hosting & a domain name to get started on cms like wordpress and Joomla which you can get for 70 dollars at Bluehost with free domain, 50 GB storage, and SSL for free for a year.

Considering the blogging platforms I mentioned earlier, you can access to wordpress and your own server within half the price and more features.

Read, my blog on why blogging platform is superior and why you should choose WordPress for your blog.

Let me tell you why you should consider mainly wordpress among the many other cms out there is:

1. WordPress blogs are more SEO optimized in terms of better HTML markups, better URL structure, title, metadata, better navigation.
2. WordPress gives you access to multiple themes [already mobile optimized] and plugins for free which are overwhelming for a beginner and can save a lot of your time in SEO and performance of your website.
3. You can design and customize your website whichever way you want, you can create, online e-commerce store, a forum, a website, a membership website. etc.
4. Images on wordpress are better optimized with alt text for SEO.
5. WordPress as cms is very flexible to external software like email marketing software, it easily adapts external software without many hurdles.
6. WordPress is an open-source cms.
7. WordPress is more user-friendly in terms of interface and usage mostly focused on bloggers and website owners, not on developers comparing to other cms like Joomla and drupal.

of course, you need to,

• Invest your time in learning things.
• Need some coding knowledge in customizing things.
• Need to invest money in hosting and be much careful with the safety and security of your website.

But, if you choose blogs without cms.

You will not have the advantage and luxury of the things I mentioned earlier.

• Limited themes and not that SEO & user optimized.
• No plugins.
• Limited control of the website.
• Fewer features and restricted customization.
• Not that scalable and flexible compared to cms.

4. You can’t access the FTP of your website.

If your blog is not managed with cms clearly means you don’t own a web host and server.

Which obviously means you are either on,

• Blogger.
• Tumblr.
• Wix.
• Weebly.
• Squarespace.
• Constant contact.

You just name them,

You have created your blog on these blogging platforms.

These blogging platforms do not give you access to your database of your files of your website which are directly stored on your server.

If you are not aware of FTP, it is,

File transfer protocol.

It is the place where all your website content, data, files, images, themes, posts, videos, etc are stored.

It is the place where you can make any small and big changes to your website right from the database which directly gets saved to your website server.

When you have a blog with cms you own the blog, you own the hosting of your website so you own the database of your website.

Unlike a blog that is on cms, you can’t access your blog’s database and FTP.

A blog without cms means your blog is not hosted on your servers rather on the servers which the company owns.

Wix doesn’t give you access to it, neither does Weebly and Squarespace gives you access to FTP.

The reason being is,

When all your website data is organized at a place, you can take a backup of it and you can easily migrate to different platforms if you want for example from Joomla to wordpress if you already have a blog on cms.

But blogs without cms, you neither have access to FTP, can’t make changes in your database, and can’t take backup and migrate to other platforms easily.

Like Wix to Weebly or to wordpress.com.

These platforms like Wix and Weebly which we are using most commonly.

Obviously, these companies want you to stay & keep on using their service so that they can make money out by selling plans so they won’t give you access to FTP and backup of your website.

There you go, there are 10 pros and cons of having blogs without domain and cms in 2020.

Now, you will learn in short how to start a blog and earn money without a domain name and cms like free blogging platforms.

How to start a blog without domain and cms?

Now that you know the pros and cons of having a blog without a custom domain and cms but still if you want to start a blog without a domain and cms, here is a short guide.

Here are platforms where you can start a blog without investing a penny in domain and hosting.

1. Wix.
2. Weebly.
3. WordPress.com.
4. Squarespace.
5. Tumblr.
6. Blogger.
7. Medium.

Each and every blogging platform comes with it their own pros and cons,

You just don’t need to enter your credit card details and numbers to start your blog on these platforms for free.

As I said earlier, you will get a subdomain attached with your domain name with extension, for example,

You have a blog on wordpress.com,

Your domain will look like,

Yourdomainname.wordpress.com.

The same goes with other free blogging platforms,

You will obviously have a domain name for free with a subdomain name related to the blogging platform you choose.

You just need to enter your Gmail account and create your account on these platforms and start designing your website.

Be very careful with the terms and conditions of these blogging platforms mainly,

• Blogger.
• Tumblr.

These blogging platforms have deleted their user’s blogs without giving them notice ahead as they have found to be violating the terms and conditions of the platform.

Also,

You can earn money through Google AdSense from these free blogging platforms mainly blogger. When it comes to monetization, Sadly, you can’t monetize your blog through ads on other free blog platforms such as,

• Wix.
• Weebly.
• Tumblr.
• Squarespace.
• WordPress.com

The reason being is that these platforms show ads on your free blogs and do the branding of their blogging platform on your blog so you can’t show any external ads on your free blogs. By upgrading to higher plans in these free platforms,

You can upgrade your monetization strategies from just ads to online e-commerce stores and membership websites.

Ending remarks.

There you go, I have answered everything there is to know about blog without domain & cms, pros, and cons of it, and should you start a blog without investing money in domain and cms in 2020.

Please share the blog with your family and friends if you found this blog to be a helpful resource.

You know, sharing is caring.

Do check out my other blogs,

• Read, why blogging platforms si important.
• Read, everything you need to know about web hosting.
• Read, everything you need to know about the domain names.

I will catch you next time,

Till then, keep learning and keep growing.