Now that you know how to get started on the writing, let’s talk about how to setup your blog online, To start blogging, you need to have access to blogging software – specialized software that runs on a web server (not on your local computer). You have 2 options – the hosted service and the self-hosted packages.

Hosted Services

Hosted services are great for people that don’t have a dedicated web hosting solution and want to get started blogging quickly. Some of the hosted services available include WordPress,Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad and Xanga
The main advantages for going with hosted services are 1) you never have to worry about technical maintenance of your blog, 2) you can get up and running within minutes of signing up for an account and 3) most of these services are free. Although all of this sounds well and good, there are some disadvantages to using hosted services.

The major disadvantage in using a hosted service is that you give up some brand autonomy and lose control over what you can do with your blog in terms of the root functionality of the software. By giving up brand autonomy I mean not being able to accurately match the look and feel of your corporate website and having your blog URL look something like http://your_blog_name.blogspot.com/ rather than http://your_blog_name.yourdomain.com/, which is akin to having the following corporate URL – http://superhosting.com/~yourcompanyname . If you saw the value in having your own domain name for your corporate website, then you should see the value of extending your online brand to encompass your blog. After all, your corporate blog is (or should be) just an extension of your corporate website.

Self-Hosted

This solution is for those that have Web hosting available (or are willing to purchase hosting) and feel that the benefits of having your corporate blog under your brand umbrella outweigh the drawbacks of maintaining your own blog installation. Self-hosted blog software packages include Movable Type, WordPress, and Textpattern.

<>Please keep in mind that the self-hosted packages will require you to perform installation and maintenance tasks. Some web hosting companies have made the installation process a little easier, allowing one-click installation from a browser-based control panel. Check with your hosting company to see if this functionality is available to you. Like hosted services, these packages may be offered free of charge, or for a fee, depending on the package you select and its intended use.