Vivaldi.net the Underappreciated Blog Host ramblinggit.com

@bradenslen Vivaldi is a really good option to know about. This part kills the deal for me, though:

Your blog is on a subdomain of Vivaldi.net ie yoursite.vivaldi.net

Without a way to use my own domain it’s ultimately just renting space under someone else’s banner.

@fgtech True. It's only for those that can live with that limitation, namely those who are considering Blogger or Wordpress.com for their blog. But since it's WordPress it's pretty easy to move to your own domain later.

@bradenslen Well, you can move the content of your posts (with a little wizardry to update the domain in any inline hrefs) but followers (and search indexes) still must all update to your new domain if you’re going to stay connected. Not so professional.

@fgtech There are many people out there that just are not going to pay to try blogging for the first time. I don't trust Google on keeping Blogger around and many people want both free hosting and ad free hosting which makes Wordpress.com problematic.

A pro blogger needs a pro platform. The trick is I'm not trying to solve that problem - I want to just get people started blogging - to try it instead of Facebook. Most are not going to pay fees for their first blog, and at least with my writer friends, they get this look of terror in their eyes when I mention domains and DNS and such. ;-)

@bradenslen Yeah, I get that. I think what’s needed is a service that can take you from a free tryout to a sustainable model if you catch the blogging bug and want to get more serious. Registering a domain is definitely an early stumbling block both technically and financially.

@bradenslen The expectation of free set by Google and other ad-supported services is tough to overcome. Even revelations about serious privacy violations haven’t moved many people. Is everyone just waiting for government regulation to catch up?

@fgtech That's a good idea. I'd like to see several of those services. We need some good low bar to entry blogging services that can grow with you. WordPress.com is not terrible if you keep it basic, but the costs rise rapidly on thier pay services.

There seems to be 3 bars to getting people to blog: 1. Costs, 2. Learning the UI, 3. the whole domain thing. Not mentioned: actually writing stuff.

Costs are subjective. I purposely upgraded to paid hosting because I knew myself well enough that if I was paying monthly I'd be more inclined to actually post stuff! It worked.

@fgtech And I think most people that want a website will go with a platform like a blog. Very few will go with learning HTML these days like the old Geocities or the new Neocities model.

@fgtech I doubt that it is possible. I once ran a directory on a company that offered free hosted directories. They later said that about 9 out of 10 free directories either ended up spammy or were abandoned or never really ever used. It's sort of the tragedy of the commons thing. Vivaldi gets away with it because for them it's a fringe benefit they give their community members - a loss leader and not really marketed to anybody but Vivaldi browser users. (it's also a very soft marketing approach for them as they get feedback about the browser in the forums, which they pay attention to.)

Frankly, Manton has the right business approach for the long term: charge a reasonable fee up front and people are more likely to actually use the service.

@bradenslen Thanks for the extra details about Vivaldi’s offering as a loss leader. The free service itself is a kind of marketing in that context.

@bradenslen Hmm. You’re probably right that it wouldn’t work as a business. The spam angle would be a serious problem. The free accounts would need to be monitored or screened somehow to prevent abuse.