Need a few tips, primary question is where should I create a blog?

This is my first post at Digitalpoint so I'll give a quick intro, if you just want to get to the questions I have just skip to below the line.

My experience in writing has been on debate boards, and repling to the topics of others on various websites. I write a lot and I'm an experienced researcher so I have a good start with this. I'm realizing now exactly how much time I'm spending on this hobby so I want to jump into the blogosphere to write about something Im passionate about, with the end goal of becoming a freelance blogger, and possibly drawing attention to a book I plan to write that will be useful to the readers of the blog. I've read that in order to attract the attention of employers I need a blog with followers if I'm serious about making a career of this. I'm passionate about multiple topics including politics, religion, music, philosophical issues, ect, so it will be very hard to settle on one but some of those topics tie in together which is good.
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Questions...

First and foremost I need to know where to start a blog, I don't want to spend months writing only to find out the site I chose has serious problems. Any ideas?

What are some of the differences between free blog sites and paid ones, is it worth it to spend a little?

Last question orients around comments I've read saying it's best not to do a multitopic blog. I'm sure there's a reason for that but it's saddening to me. It's like approaching a news reporter and telling them they can only cover one type of story, it happens that way sometimes actually but many do cover multiple types of stories. Bruce Nolan in Bruce Almighty went nuts just covering stories about things like cookies. It also sounds a bit like approaching a guitarist and telling him that if you play the blues, don't try to play rock music. It just sounds like a limiting factor to me, and it's had me consider doing multiple blogs.

Can anyone explain why a one subject blog is best?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

I agree with @sarahk - use Wordpress if you want a decent blog-platform with LOTS of customization capability. Of course, you can also use Blogger or something like that, but it doesn't allow for anything close to the same.
If you want, you can host your blog at wordpress.com, for free. However, to release the full potential, and look more professional, having your own domain, with your own install of WP, is probably best. It doesn't have to cost that much, but depending on your level of knowledge, it might be easier to find a host that provides 1-click installs. I personally use DigitalOcean - they provide VPSes with SSD, decent memory/CPU and workable bandwidth limits - prices start at $5/month, and they provide a lot of different 1-click installs, including Wordpress. If you want to check them out, here's a promo-link: https://m.do.co/c/bb051b7804b3 (it gives you $10 extra credit for your account).

 

Thanks

I believe I understand, it seems my expertise is in the human behavior surrounding divisive political, racial, or religous issues, or at least it's what I write about the most. The thing with that is I often focus on non divisive topics in an attempt to cool things down a bit and offer something new and interesting. For example I'm into our space program a great deal and know a lot about it, I find it a fun topic to debate but also one that could unite us a great deal, perhaps I could take a similar approach to what your client has.

I have some follow up questions if that's okay....

I've heard Wordpress mentioned a great deal, what's the difference between self-hosted and normal Wordpress, or is it all part of the same thing?
If you had to choose one popular alternative to Wordpress, that you would consider using, what would it be?
Will these blogs alow for others to reply, and will I be able to engage in conversations with the readers of the blog? One of my qualities is being able to communicate with others quite well and it helps keep me going to read the replies of others.)
Id love to see some examples of successful blogs and observe how they got started, can you direct me to a couple?

Sorry, I know I'm hitting you hard with questions here.

 

Popsicle, you replied at the same time I did and answered one of the questions. With self hosted you get your own domain as in your own web address? If so is that likely to draw as much attention as someone scrolling though Wordpress pages on a centralized domain?

I have literally no skills as far as web design goes so the 1 click installs may be better, I'll check out your link. I could potentially get more advanced with it though, I've some video game design so it may be something I catch onto. I just hope that if I pick a 1 click install that it doesn't limit customization options for later.

Sorry if some of these questions sound dumb guys, I know little about blogging, but will surely learn.

 

I'm looking into bluehost, and I'll probably be doing a self hosted Wordpress account as recomended here, but I still have questions before I do so. I'm going to start work on an opening post in the meantime.

A few important ones....

Can I run ads on a self hosted Wordpress page?
Can I include links as substantation for my writings?
Does it support thumbnails, or perhaps other features that spice things up a bit? I'm speaking of various fonts, color for text, and page customization?
I don't make things look crazy, similar to this topic of mine perhaps.... http://www.americasdebate.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22688

I did the opening post under the screen name net2007, it showcases some of my writing and researching abilities but also how I use fonts to make for an easier read. I don't always utilize those features, typically it's on longer topics that may make a persons eyes bleed if it's not broken up somehow.

The question of can I engage in conversation with the readers on a self hosted blog is also important, can they reply to what I write and can I reply to what they write?

Thanks in advance for any help, I'm close to being ready to commit but need answers to all of these questions before I do.

 

The basic answer to all your questions is "yes".
However, SOME of what you want to do might involve a bit of coding (although, most everything, in its basic form, should be doable via plugins).
If you have your own domain, your own site, and your own host, you can do whatever you bloody well want (within the limit of what a webserver can do for you, of course).
And yes, of course you can talk with (create a comment-section, discussion) with your readers/followers - that is pretty much one of the key components in any blog, isn't it?

There are built-in comment-sections in Wordpress, although you might consider installing better plugins for comments - either Disquss (very popular), or Facebook comments (not as good looking, and limits the amount of threading and such, however "everyone" has an FB-account).

 

Thank you Popsicle! That answers all of those questions.

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I'm regestering with Bluehost today, any idea on what I should create for my web address?

They Have

.com
.org
.net

Ect

Will any of these have a limiting effect on my blog, it could end up being a website at some point but more than likely just a nice looking blog?

 

Also what happens if the name I choose for the domain is already chosen?

 

You cannot chose existing domains - it won't let you. You CAN however chose a different TLD (.net instead of .com for instance) - however, depending on what name you chose, there might be legal issues if you pick a different TLD.
As for which one to chose, it doesn't really matter - if .com is available, pick that. It's a littlebit more professional, and if your site gets big, it might benefit a bit from having a .com name. However, as I said, it doesn't really matter.

 

Ahh, okay. I was just worried about picking an existing domain by accident. I ended up putting the domain name I wanted in the chrome address bar to prevent that.

I created the domain so all is good, I'll come back on here for other issues. I'm needing help all the time to do this thing right