Blog Hosting Dilemma

Shopping

I almost bought a web hosting package from Network Solutions today. Why? - To satisfy my urge to start blogging. Then I suddenly realized, that I almost always take wrong decisions when I'm impulsive (Strange that I could realize this when I was in the process of impulsivse buying!). I closed the browser soon - the only way I could save myself from another impulsive shopping attack!


The Enlightenment

This is not about impulsive shopping anyways. This is about blogs and hosting. What are the most common things that bloggers consider when they first start blogging? (Other than Should I start today? Or should I start at all? I mean, there are thousands of bloggers already, who's gonna read my thoughts on the web? - Let's assume that we have crossed this stage). I mean, do you buy a domain and find a hosting provider (There are supposedly free hosting providers, just Bing them - yes BING, it's new and gives the results, so why not use it?) Or do you just go with a blog service? What happens about the data if your blog service provider goes down, to the center of the earth and comes out of the other end and escapes into the black hole of the universe (OK, I'll stop its journey there). What if I want to create a brand at a later stage? Wouldn't the service provider's url be in its way?

Yes, these are the questions I asked myself. And you know what I chose!


Blogger!

And my thought process to land in this decision was simple. This is my first blog post (yes, I finally added my share to the noise). I don't know if I can blog at all! So, going with a free blogging service provider like Blogger was the obvious choice. I could play around here, learn to write and use it like a launch pad for something big. I could even point a domain to this site. And guess what, I don't even have to reveal my name! (Those who know me closely, know this screen name of mine - But they know my other abnormalities too anyway!) So, if this turns out to be a bad experience, I can still move on! Easily!

Any beginners out there who've had similar experiences? Would love to know!