Hey. Wordpress has become the standard for building niche sites because it has a lot more functionality and things of this nature. Also, the reason it's recommended that you get your own domain and hosting is so that you can control the content. When you publish something on a free site, the powers that be can decide to remove it. If and when they decide to do this, you are screwed and have to start all over again.

This happens all the time since about 2009. Not only do they tell you what niche markets you can go into, but in a number of cases, they also might not let you promote certain products. Also, when you have your own site on your own domain, you can build a list or even sale your blog for a lump sum of cash (sites on their own domains gain equity like houses on the housing market.

My final piece of advice would be that you go into a really profitable niche market that you enjoy and can stay in for awhile. Once your site reaches authority status, not only will it be incredibly easy for you to outrank other sites by just posting something on your blog, but your blog will build backlinks naturally without you having to do anything.

Good luck,
Joey

You can have free wordpress blog as well. Your blog's url would be something like yourblog.wordpress.com.

Anyway, there is nothing wrong to use blogger as well. In fact, I have noticed that at the moment Google favors blogger blogs in its serp results. I have some one page ClickBank product review blogger blogs that are on page 1 in Google with rather little backlinks.

However, in a long run, I recommend that you should have your own hosting. In this way, you are in full control over your blog or site.

For example, what about if Google decides that you are not allowed to promote any affiliate products with blogger. If you have only blogger blogs, your business will sink virtually overnight.

It isn't ok for me; no. Not at all!

Only you can decide if it's ok for you, and before you do, you can read about plenty of Warriors' experiences with Blogger in all the many threads like this one.

Appreciate that it's not the fact that Blogger is free that's the problem. Yola and Blinkweb and 000WebHost and Byethost are all free, too, but none of them has the same problems and drawbacks that Blogger (and Squidoo and HubPages) have.

Don't imagine that "Google will prefer a Blogger site 'because Google owns Blogger'," or anything of this kind: that wishful thinking is for people (and there are plenty) who live in a dreamworld.

Here you go - a careful read of this one thread is really all you need: Squidoo/Blogger as primary website

But if you want more, these posts/threads may also help ("Blogger", "HubPages" and "Squidoo" are all the same in this regard - they're all unsafe and owned by someone else who changes the rules frequently and interprets them idiosyncratically and inconsistently and is in control of "your" site, which you can never own!) ...

Too Much Advertising on Squidoo??
Is Squidoo still okay to post article to?
How to subtly advertise on Squidoo and Hubpages?
How do I Use Squidoo Effectively?
Advice on Squidoo
What's the value of a Squidoo Lens?
Using Hubpages, Squidoo, and Tumblr to generate backlinks

The bottom line is that self-hosted Wordpress blogs are safe, secure and reliable. You can own them yourself. And you don't even have to pay for either the software or the hosting. Not much to think about, here, really?

Right ... (because wordpress.com, on their hosting, isn't for monetized sites).

What's your problem with hosting?

If it's cost, you can use free hosting at Byethost or 000WebHost. They're both well established, safe, reliable and free from advertising. (Hostica is also widely said to be good, at $1 per month for 1 domain. I haven't used it myself).

If it's convenience/installation, use a host with "C-Panel", with which Wordpress installation is so trivially easy and non-technical that even I can do it. And I promise you unreservedly that when it comes to anything techie, if I can do it, you can do it.

@jchoros - I'd dig in and take the few weeks it's going to take to get a basic proficiency with wordpress. You could try something like "thewordpresscourse.com" (I haven't taken it). There's also tons of free tutorials. You are venturing off into the world of online publishing, and the de-facto platform is Wordpress. I'd use WP training as a litmus test-- if you can't figure out the basic ways of using and deploying the software (and don't love it), this business just isn't for you.

Really? We are weighing whether or not to save a couple of bucks per month on one piece of blogging software over another? They are both crap for ecommerce. Get a real ecommerce software platform, an SSL, an 800 number and treat it like a business. Treat it like a cheap hobby site and your results will mirror what you put into it. If you can't afford a minimum of $30-$50/month for a decent ecommerce solution and tools, you aren't serious about making money.

Blogger is fine to use. I have a few sites making money for me every month over there and have been for a few years. All using free seo traffic.

Wordpress has a bigger learning curve. When you have time you should learn it, because you eventually want to have some sites you own.

Why can't you spare $10 a month for a cheap shared hosting account? $10 a month is a small investment that will save you from the frustrations and troubles of losing your websites should Google (the owner of Blogger.com) decides to shut down your sites.

I'll make it short. Don't build a business around services and products you can't control. Blogger, Squidoo and all the rest have terms of service that hinder promoting products. Build your business on these platforms and one day it's likely they'll shut you down because eventually everyone crosses the TOS line (not with anything bad, necessarily, just something that goes against their rules) and you'll have to start over.

You're looking at $5 to $10 per month for decent hosting, then $7.49 (with a Godaddy promo code) for a .com domain. This investment for under $20 is one that you will not regret.

Kevin

Thanks guys really appreciate all the feedback! Since I'm building 3 page sites and will probably use bluhost I just wanted to ask if it will cost a monthly fee for each site I host, or if it's one fee for a certain amount of space that can be devoted to multiple sites since they're all small?

There you go. Take what Alexa Smith said seriously! No matter how tempting it becomes, it is always better to have hosting for which you have paid. Forget blogger and all the others. If you still decide you want to go with them, make a vow with yourself to remove your site to paid hosting as soon as you earn your firsrt $100. It's just not worth the risk.

All the best,
Anthony