Back in the early day of blogs, jumping onto Google's blog hosting platform--Blogger--was a simple and easy thing to do. Wordpress was just getting started and was Blogger's main rival in those early days. A lot of people who started with Blogger switched to Wordpress because the templates were cleaner and more professional. But I stayed on Blogger.
Eventually, as the readership of this blog grew, people began to inquire about when I'd be taking the next step in blogging professionalization, moving to a new, branded web address like "experimentaltheology.com" or "richardbeck.com." Over the years I have also been invited by Patheos and Christian Century to be hosted on their sites.
But as you can see, I've declined those opportunities and have just kept blogging away here at the original site on blogspot.com.
Why? Three reasons.
First, it's free. Moving to my own branded address would involve paying for that hosting service. And I refuse to pay money for something I can have for free. Image be damned.
Second, about that image. I don't know if you've noticed, as I mentioned last week, but I intentionally handicap myself on social media when it comes to building a brand. I don't use Facebook or Twitter to promote the blog across social media platforms. People also email me all the time about how they can get email notifications about my posts. And I have no idea, and have put zero work into figuring it out.
All that to say, I make it hard to find me and follow me.
And that's intentional, a practice in humility. I want to spend zero time pondering how to get "bigger." Such thoughts are just not spiritually healthy. Keeping with Blogger is a similar practice. A move to a web address like "experimentaltheology.com" would be a spiritual shift for me, a shift away from being a person who loves to blog to becoming a brand. I keep on Blogger to mortify the branding temptation.
Third, Blogger helps keep me away from advertisements. One of the reasons I didn't shift to Wordpress was that if you use their free service you have to have ads. Blogger is both free and allows me to remain advertisement free.
I've resisted monetizing my blog because I blog for fun. This is also connected to keeping with a free service. If I had to pay for blog hosting then I'd have to think about monetizing the blog to pay for those expenses. And I really don't want to go down that rabbit hole. If I stay here on Blogger I can blog for free and I don't have to hit you with advertisements or requests for financial support.
So, there's your answer. That's why I'm still here at blogspot.com.
