Many people will begin blogging as a fun hobby or a means to make some money. Whatever your reasons for starting a blog, congratulations. You have made the big decision to start, but now what? Where do you go from here? You need to choose a blogging platform that provides the features you desire to have on your blog and here you can learn about the 5 most popular blogging platforms today.
- WordPress
WordPress provides a free blog that is easy to set up and use. You can browse their many free themes or purchase one to use on your blog. Your blog will need to be hosted if you wish it to have your own specific domain name. WordPress offers a variety of features for free blogs including SEO, traffic statistics, anti-spam filters and much more. WordPress is used by many individuals as well as companies. Should you want to upgrade in the future to a premium blog so that you have more features it will be easy to do.
- Blogger
Blogger is provided by Google and a favorite for many people. As with WordPress, blogger is free to create a blog and they offer a variety of features for free users. You can arrange your template and design it the way you want. While the themes are somewhat limited in comparison to WordPress, the design can be tweaked more and easier. It’s simple to add content and switch it up when the need arises. Blogger is often used by those blogging for hobby and fun instead of professional use.
- Tumblr
Tumblr is another popular blogging platform that is also considered a micro blogging platform. While it’s easy to use, and free, it can be a bit of a challenge to tweak the design exactly how you want it. It’s a more ‘fun’ way to share your thoughts, photos, videos, music and more with your family and friends or people across the web. You can also sync Tumblr with your social media account which will allow you to update your status in one place.
- Blog.com
The blog.com platform is powered by WordPress. You can access very nice premium themes as a free user and even superior plugins. The main difference is that this blogging platform will display more advertisements than most free blogs. You can have the ads removed but you upgrade to a paid blog to do so. You are allowed less space than with WordPress but depending on your needs it may be the perfect start for your blogging expedition.
- Posterous
Posterous is a unique blogging platform in that it works as a great showcase for those who love style, food, photography, crafts and more. It’s a neat way to share your products, projects, hobbies, and more. Posterous is unique in that it provides more control over the privacy of your space. You can choose to share certain things with certain people. The designers have worked hard to make an easy to use yet attractive platform for users to share with the world.
While there are many more blogging platforms used by millions of people, these are the most popular. Everyone looks for specific things when choosing a blogging platform and the features you want will have the most persuasion on what platform you choose. Luckily you can easily sign up for free and try it out. If you find that you’re already satisfied within five minutes of setting up your blog, you might consider trying another platform. The last thing you want to do is create a blog and fill it with loads of content only to decide it isn’t exactly what you want. Determine if it’s the right fit right away to avoid having to switch later on.
Dan Ripoll is co-founder and CEO of ContentBLVD.com , an innovative new content production platform enabling bloggers to publish high-quality, free blog content at no cost. The website connects bloggers to marketers looking to build their brands, increase traffic, and boost their author rank through their association with quality content.