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Go Daddy offers hosting for blogs and websites.  With the purchase of a domains I got free hosting and their free edition of the Quick Blog program.

The Good Points:

1.  It is hosted by Go Daddy at your domain address.  You control the domain and can move to another host.  Also you can download another more advanced blogging program like WordPress or Movable Type. Though you might need to purchase additional disk space to properly run one of the more advanced blogs.   For 3.99/mo. (3/25/07) can get 200GB disk space with up to 2,000 bandwidth.   Way more than the normal blog will need or use for some time.

2.  Quick blog is an easy program to get started with.  They take you through the steps to set up a basic blog. There is a help? button to hit if you have questions.  Also there is a simple tutorial with easy access.

3.  The settings are quite easy and the side bar is click and move.  It contains all the basic features of any blogging program.

4.  The editor for writing and posting is just as good as some of the more advanced blogging programs.

5.  There is a site statistics feature which really is quite good.   It not only shows you how many visit your blog but also give a detail of which posts they read, but also where they came from (referrers).

6.  Syndication is easy with basic buttons for Atom and RSS, for the posts and the comments all part of the basic blog options.

7.  Once set up, the blog looks quite good–it is a great starter blog.

8.  Zero cost-  I got it free with my domains.

The Not So Good Things:

1.  If you choose to start with a free Quick Blog, then there will be some advertising sponsored by Go Daddy at the top, actually not very intrusive.

2.  There are only 50 different templates available and most of them are appropriate for business or for specific  uses like sports, or holidays.  Each template can have a variety of colors however.  Even Blogger has more variety.

3.  Choosing a template slowed down the set up process.  The pictures of the different templates were quite small and it was necessary to choose and completely set up and view a template on the site to see what it would really look like.

4.  Not possible to really customize and add code to the site.  Only a basic blog is possible through quick blogs.

Uses:  Quick Blog is a good basic blogging tool to use at the beginning and learn how to blog with.  Later you could exchange it for a more advanced program like WordPress or Movable Type.  Since you own and control the domain, you can upgrade your hosting package at any time. 

For only 3.99/mo. you could have one of the more advanced programs installed at your domain and hosted by Go Daddy with all the disk space and bandwidth you will ever need or at least for quite a while.  You could also have a program that you could really grow into and build up into a custom one-of-a-kind blogging site.   You might as well have the best from the very beginning.        *Top