I created my first blog using wordpress.com and I suggest that
if you are going to blog for any sort of professional organization, it is a must to get your own domain and hosting package set up.  It is against wordpress.com’s policies to use it for commercial blogging.

Blogging becomes an addiction, and you catch the bug when you first start seeing visitors to your site.  A well designed and optimized blog will push your site up in the rankings of Google and other search engines.  If you opt for the free platforms, you may be limiting yourself as your blog grows,  once you begin establishing links into the your blog through the free sites, you will not be able to carry the link juice over if you opt to get your own domain & hosting.

Creating a blog should begin with a domain name, we use the following domain suggestion tool as well as a keyword rich domain suggestion tool. You are able to see which domains are available with and establish a keyword rich url for your site.

There are a variety of hosting companies to choose from when it comes to your website and blogs.  I recommend either of the following companies.

GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans

Hawk Host

Domains & Hosting Reviews has a line up of user feedback for a variety of companies.