Teresa sent along this question from one of her readers, "What should a person look for in a blog provider? Are there any disadvantages to starting with a 100% free provider? Are there distinct advantages to starting with a provider that charges?"

To start off with we can make a quick distinction between a blog provider and an installed solution. By installed solution I mean installing software such as MovableType or WordPress on your own web server. This is my preferred solution for corporate/business blogs, but unless you have the technical know-how or somebody to assist you it might not be perfect for everybody. Of course there are now hosted solutions that feature WordPress or MovableType, but that's another discussion.

When I hear 'blog provider' I think of services such as TypePad or SquareSpace. What about Blogger? I don't consider Blogger to be a good solution for any type of corporate/small business blog presence. I consider Blogger to be more of a personal blog tool, similar to MSN Spaces or Yahoo 360.

I guess I should start answering the question now :-)

My answer comes from a corporate/small business perspective. If you want a personal journal then the situation is a bit different, although I had two friends start personal blogs on Blogger, then quickly switch to TypePad. They're glad they did.

Short answer: Fork out a few dollars a month for a paid provider. I mean how much are we talking here? TypePad's basic account is $4.95 per month (plus there is a 30-day free trial). The money will be well-spent when you realize that your blog is developing beyond a 'little experiment'. If you decide the blog is going nowhere, it's only a few dollars.

The advantages/dis-advantages fall along these issues: Price, Options, Lock-in, Customization

Long Answer:
Things you need to consider when choosing a blog provider:

Cost:
Yes free is good, but not all the time. What's the saying, 'you get what you pay for.' I would hope that by paying for a service that you can expect some level of support, both technical and from a long-term viability standpoint.

Many years ago when I worked more on the hosting side of web development I would always be shocked with clients that would say the one thing and do another. For example, "E-mail is the most important communication tool in my operation." Well if it's that important why don't you spend more than $10 a month for web hosting and $30 a month for DSL. Your office lease is $2500/month!

With a free service there is little you can do if things start to go wrong. I think Blogger could care less if you cancel your account and take your business somewhere else. To be fair TypePad probably doesn't care either. You're on your own for any sort of back-up. Then there is the dreaded 'Blogger Ate My Post' meme.

Also, some free services will places advertising on your blog by default. That always looks professional.

Options:
Want to use TrackBacks in Blogger? Want to easily add a podcast? You can't do it without using a third-party solution. What's that you say, you don't care about TrackBacks or some of those other features that a paid solution offers? No problem. You might not care now, but you will in a few weeks, then what will you do?

Lock-in:
Ever tried to export your posts from Blogger? You can't do it. I can't tell you how many people I have talked to/consulted that wanted to leave Blogger but they had so much content in the old system and such a large amount of established inbound links that they were stuck. A switch can be done, but the time and effort can be enourmous. Just think if you would have paid a few bucks a month you wouldn't have these problems. With all the major paid services you can easily export/import your blog content.

Customization:
This ties back into lock-in. You don't have to customize the look and feel of your blog, but just knowing that the option is there is comforting. With TypePad you can stay within your comfort level by just using the default themes, but you can always upgrade and start playing in advanced mode.

Another thing to think about is that it might not be you doing the customization. Recently I have been assisting some clients with TypePad customizations. Many have had long-standing TypePad blogs. We simply upgrade to the Pro account and I do the necessary customization. The end-user doesn't need to worry about a thing.

I could go on and on... :-) I just don't let me friends use bad blogging tools.