Blogging has become extremely in demand lately with 100 million plus blogs having been created.

While blog authors tend to start off by using a free blog host (such as 'Blogger' or 'Wordpress.com', most eventually decide to take the step into self hosted blog, due to the freedom that it brings - and the search begins to find a popular blog host that suits your personal needs.

However, while there seem to be a million hosting companies, not many of them specialize in blog hosting - so is there a difference, and if so, what do we need to look for to find the best blog host (and bypass all the dodgy ones).

Here are my 4 top things to look for in popular blog hosts:

1. An Uptime Guarantee Of 99.9% - what this does is that it allows you some comfort that you website will not disappear for extended periods of time.

2. Fantastico - This is a fantastic bonus that has a lot of popular scripts available to install with the click on one button - Wordpress included.

3. Unlimited Hosting - This has become quite normal with most hosts, and should be something you expect.

4. They Have a Great Track Record - There are quite a few blog hosts why host well over 500,000 domains. It is always best to go with a trusted company, as opposed to a garage run operation.

You will want to make sure that the hosting comes with a money back guarantee of some sort - most of the popular blog hosts have atleast 30 days. What this does is it allows you to test out their promises and work out if they are they perfect fit for your blog - and if they are not, you can cancel your account within the first 30days and you will be refunded and costs you have incurred.