The recent explosion (and impending implosion) of blog networks means that if you’re thinking about starting a new blog, you’ve now got another choice to make.

Before now, many new bloggers would have gone it alone. With their newly-discovered niche topic under their arm, they would have trotted off and created a blogging account with a service like Blogger or Typepad, or rolled their own using a bespoke Wordpress or Movable Type installation. After that, everything else was down to that individual blogger. Promoting their blog, building traffic, networking with other bloggers, selling direct advertising, paying for hosting, upgrading software, etc, etc, etc – it was all something that you needed to do yourself.

Hard work, make no mistake.

But now, with a whole list of networks wanting bloggers to join them, there’s no need to get your hands dirty if all you want to do is write. Why? Because the majority of networks offer a ready-made infrastructure, a commitment to promoting your blog, a promise of eyeballs and in some cases, a half-decent revenue stream. But is it worth it? Here’s our take on the practicalities of joining a blogging network vs. going it alone.

1) Getting started

Getting started with a network is pretty simple. All you need is a good, workable idea for a topic and the ability to sell yourself and your topic to the network. The network will then set you up with a ready-hosted blog, and take care of providing a quality design for you. There’s no testing software, searching for a host, or putting your hand in your pocket. All you need to do is get your head down and write.

However, the story’s not quite as straightforward if you’re doing it yourself. Once you’ve got your topic, you then need to choose your blogging software or platform. Do you go with a free service like Blogger? Do you choose a paid service like Typepad? Do you host your own Wordpress or Movable Type blog. It’s usually a case of trying each and discovering which suits you best, and deciding whether you’re comfortable installing, tweaking and customising code. If you don’t go for a hosted blogging service, you’ll also need to find a suitable web host. Your blogging software will dictate what kind of hosting platform you’ll need – after that, your choices will usually depend on your budget.

Then there’s the design of your blog. Sure, you could stick with one of the pre-made templates that are usually bundled with blog software. But you run the risk of looking just like hundreds (if not thousands) of other blogs out there. So that means you’ll have the extra work of designing your own template – or even paying a designer to do it for you.

Once that’s sorted, all you need to do is get your head down and write. If you still have the energy, of course.

2) Writing posts

Blogging is all about writing – and maintaining momentum, quality, and timeliness. But is it easier doing that by yourself, or as part of a network? With a network, you’re going to have the benefit of built-in support, plenty of motivation, and probable access to a private forum for network members where you can share (and pick up) great ideas for new posts – which can give you a fantastic boost if your inspiration occasionally runs dry. It’s like being part of a team at your day job. Everyone’s aiming for the same thing, and everyone’s willing to help the rest of the team get there.

With your own blog, you’re on your own. And lets face it, you’re not gonna get the same kind of support, aside from various generic forums and bulletin boards. You’ll need to find your own inspiration for post ideas, and you’ll be taking on your competition all by yourself. And anyone who’s ever worked on virtually any kind of project entirely by themselves will know that staying motivated is easier said than done.

3) Promoting your blog

A bit of a no-brainer, this one. Join an established network and your blog will have instant traffic. Even if you join a brand new network, you’ll still pick up a growing stream of cross-network traffic which will only increase as the network itself grows. Add to that the page views that are generated organically by the blog itself, and you’ll have a healthy stream of readers within weeks, if not days or hours, from launch.

Do it yourself, and the whole thing suddenly becomes much harder. As well as writing your content, you’re going to have to promote your blog, too, which will eat up a great big chunk of your time. But if you don’t put the effort in, you aren’t going to see the rewards you want or the results you need. Simple as that.

4) Making money

Again, if you’re with a network, there might be more opportunities to make more money. For a start, the increased traffic you get with a network could lead to increased Adsense revenue, and there could also be cross-network advertising programmes which earn cash for each blog in the network. Most likely, though, is that you earn a percentage of all of the revenue your blog makes. And that precentage value is entirely up to whoever is running the network.

With your own blog, there are all kinds of revenue-generating oportunities, from Google Adsense to affiliate programmes to selling direct advertising. Sure, you’ll need to manage it all yourself, but the real bonus is that you get to keep 100% of anything you make, which could be more than with a network, but it could also be less.

5) Owning content

This is definitely something to watch out for if you’re joining a network. Who actually owns the content you write? The chances are that the network will insist on having outright ownership of your words. What’s slightly more acceptable is that the network offers some form of joint ownership – however, there’ll probably be some kind of clause that states you can’t use your own content in the places that you’d probably want to use it. It’s a sticky area that hasn’t really been completely resolved yet.

Running your own blog means you get to do things your way – and that means you retain full and complete ownership of your content. You can do absolutely anything you like with it, whenever you like. And that’s a pretty reassuring thought.

So what should you do? Join a network? Go it alone? There are pros and cons to both, but it all boils down to control. If all you want to do is write great content and let someone else worry about traffic, advertising, design and marketing, then join a network. But if you want a little bit more satisfaction out of the whole process, you want to own your words, and you want to keep all of the cash for yourself, you know what to do…