WordPress.com or Blogger? Free Hosted Blog Gone Without Warning Or Chance Of Recovery

Are you currently using a free hosted blogging platform like WordPress.com or Blogger.com?

Caution. This post is not designed to scare you into moving to a self hosted blog but give you the facts about using free hosted blogs which you may NOT be aware of.

Over the last couple of years, i have read several articles about why bloggers should seriously consider NOT using Blogger.com or WordPress.com.

Both offer free hosting, but in return ,control your blog, its links and its contents.

I know for a fact many business bloggers use either Blogger.com or WordPress.com as a free blog to drive traffic to their website.

Example:

Hello,

I need your help based on one article you had posted. I had an external blog called

But some how wordpress guys have suspended my blog not sure why. Now what I have done is exported the XML file of all the content. But now if I do a Self hosted install and import the file. How should I maintain the URLs. How can I redirect my old urls to the new self hosted thing. Is there a way, or solution since the url links will change?

Would appreciate your response.

Regards
Khushal B

Here’s another example which is my own

This Blog Has Been Archived Or Suspended

Imagine waking up one morning and finding your site is gone forever with No chance of recovery!

I contacted WordPress.com to find out what the problem was and this is their response:

Hi,

You agreed to the WordPress.com Terms of Service when you signed up.

WordPress.com does not allow blogs that are created for the purpose of directing traffic or creating backlinks to commercial web sites, affiliate/ptc programs or multi-level marketing campaigns. Your site has been suspended and will not be returned to you.

If you want to continue using WordPress for your site, we suggest you look into self-hosted WordPress.

Anthony – WordPress.com

What this means is you can’t use a WordPress.com blog for business or to drive traffic to a website that makes money even if you are offering WordPress services.

Solution

Transfer from Blogger or WordPress.com to a Self Hosted WordPress.org blog on your own web server.

I’ve created a guide to moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and another guide on moving from Blogger to WordPress.org.

WordPress.com and Blogger.com can’t touch your content once you’re using WordPress.org as its hosted on a server you control.

Common Installation Problems To Avoid: Here’s a guide on avoiding the most common WordPress installation problems effecting beginners.

Free WordPress Guide for Beginners: Grab my free guide on getting started with WordPress and setup your blog the right way the first time.

Conclusion

I didn’t have much content on my WordPress.com blog so there’s no real loss but i know many that do who maybe in violation of their terms of service.

What would you lose if your site became permanently suspended and archived and you didn’t have full backup?