Recently, Scott Hanselman challenged software developers to blog more - to stop “wasting their words.” He emphasized how important it is to own your own domain and content and so I looked for a way to self-host a Wordpress blog, for free. (I chose Wordpress because I previously had a Wordpress-hosted blog)

Here’s how to do it:

  • Sign up for Microsoft BizSpark** program.
  • Sign up for Windows Azure using the BizSpark Azure benefits
  • Create a new Wordpress blog website (from the gallery)
  • Create a CNAME with your domain registrar to point your www name to the name Azure gives you. Untitled-1
  • In Azure, convert your site from “Shared” to “Reserved” in the Scale section.
  • Add your www name into the website configuration of Azure Untitled-2
  • Blog.

There you go, free blog for 3 years.

**There are certain eligibility requirements for the BizSpark program, so please make sure you qualify before going down this path.