Launching your career on Facebook as a blogger is a beautiful idea but eventually, you’ll be more disadvantaged than bloggers who own stand-alone blogs. There are several cases of bloggers who gathered millions of followers and eventually regretted why they couldn’t start their own blogs.
In this era of fake news and unpredictable nature of Facebook, it’s important not to heavily rely on Facebook as a full time blogger. Here are common disadvantages of not owning a blog:
- You don’t own Facebook
Facebook is owned by Mark Zuckerberg, which means he has control over your page. Even if your page grows to hundred millions of Followers, it’s Zuckerberg who has the final say on what you post. But when you start your own blog, you have absolute control over it.
- Facebook limits the adverts you post
One thing I don’t like about Facebook is that it heavily regulates the kind of advertisements one should post. You may have a well-paying article to post but Facebook refuses to approve it. But when you have your own blog, you can post any article because you have absolute control over your blog.
- Facebook can delete your page anytime
One of my friends had 1.5 million Facebook followers, his Facebook page was growing exponentially. At one time he was earning over $5,000 per month from adverts he received from corporates. But despite the glory, there were several policy warnings the page had received. One morning as he was about to login to his page, he was informed that the page had been deleted because of constant policy violations. That’s how he was reduced from grace to grass.
A Facebook page should only work as a backup for your blog but not the main platform where you share your content. Facebook deletes millions of pages annually, implying that not even the most popular are spared.
- You can’t build a brand
Since you are hosted by Facebook, your brand is simply dwarfed by Facebook. Even if you grow so big that everyone recognizes you, if you don’t own a blog, your growth is just plastic. You need to have a blog where you share your content freely and independently.
- Limited growth
You may not grow as you anticipate because Facebook regulates you. This is what affects most bloggers who don’t own blogs but rely on Facebook. Sometimes there are issues you wish to put across but the platform regulates you.
Sometimes you may want to change contacts or email address of your page but Facebook will limit you. But if it was your blog, changing anything takes few minutes.
Again, it’s Facebook that determines who views your posts. You may have 100 million Followers but Facebook decides to censure your page.
The best thing to do as a blogger is to change the way you interact with your audience. It’s wise to launch a blog and share content, grow with time and have total control of what you post. It will only cost you less than $20 to create and host a blog. I would suggest that you buy hosting plan from Bluehost.There is one that goes for as little as $2.95 per month. Follow this link to see available hosting plans at Bluehost