Last Updated on 4 years by Christopher Jan Benitez
Blogging platforms are one too many. Aside from being able to write and publish posts, each platform offers something different than the others. And this is where the problem starts – given the many options of blogging platforms to choose from, you’re not too sure which one suits you the best.
In this post, we will discuss the best blogging platforms for you using different factors.
Cost
[clickToTweet tweet=”One of the most valuable factors when choosing a #blogging platform is the price.” quote=”One of the most valuable factors when choosing a blogging platform is the price.”]
Aside from purchasing a domain for personal and branding purposes, you may shell out cash for a blogging platform with bells and whistles.
If you’re tight on money and wish to forego spending on a platform, you can go for free sites like Blogger, WordPress.com, and Tumblr.
WordPress is arguably the most popular blogging platform around, but there are two choices under WordPress. The first is the WordPress CMS, a flexible platform that lets you create a personal blog to a fully-functional website. The catch is that you will have to spend on a web hosting to install WordPress CMS and accommodate your online files.
To forego spending on a web hosting, go with WordPress.com instead. It’s the online counterpart of the WordPress CMS, so all of your files (images, attachments) will be hosted on the site. It won’t be as flexible as the aforementioned version of WordPress (more on that later), but it allows for basic customization such as adding widgets and changing themes to make your blog unique.
Blogger is a Google-owned blog with a very simple (some would say that it is bare) dashboard that lets you publish content with just a few clicks of a button. It’s not the sexiest choice among free bloggers, but it has some good free themes will widgets hardcoded into it (social media, recent posts, etc.).
Tumblr is a popular blogging platform where you can share memes and GIFs. It also works from a social scale as you can follow, like, and reblog entries of other users. Using this blog platform is a great way to reach out to your demographic especially if they like shareable content. However, written posts aren’t as prominent in this platform as opposed to others.
Ease of use
One of the issues that people have with blogging platforms is the steep learning curve of designing a blog. By nature, bloggers will not have the coding skills or knowledge of markup languages that designers have. For them, learning web design can be a chore.
Due to this problem, website builders such as Wix, Weebly, and Webs have made it easier for bloggers to design a professional blog using their drag-and-drop feature. This lets you pull different elements from the site editor and place them on specific parts of your site or blog – no design skills necessary!
Among the website builders listed above, Wix is the easiest to use. You can drag and drop elements on any part of the page to achieve the look that you want. You can also design for a desktop and mobile version of your blog.
Weebly is geared towards retailers and sellers who wish to reach out their online customers. You can set up a storefront and sell your physical products on that part of your page. The paid options allow you to unlock exclusive features for supercharging your website.
Webs is one of the oldest website builders around. That said, it’s also one of the most reliable builders that provide some of the beautiful responsive design templates to choose from.
Website builders will cut down your time of learning how to code for design. But these sites cater to people who want a build a website – a blog is not the main feature of website builders. Unless bloggers have something to sell or offering services online, they will find website builders limiting.
Customization
Bloggers will want to separate their blogs from the rest and make the most out of them. Both are done by revamping the design, adding plugins and widgets, and others. This is where WordPress CMS and Squaresquare shine as blogging platforms.
There’s a great reason why there are 23 million sites (and counting) powered by WordPress. It is one of the easiest platforms to use in creating a blog to share your ideas or an e-commerce site to sell your products and services. What separates WordPress from the pack is the wealth of plugins that boost the performance of your blog and help you reach your online goals faster.
Squarespace is not as sexy a choice like WordPress, but it is something that you should consider using, especially if you’re not a design-savvy blogger. It borrows the drag and drop features from website builders and takes it to another level. It also has an in-site analytics tool to see how many users visited your blog. The choices of plugins are serviceable but not as many as those found in WordPress.
Publishing
First and foremost, bloggers are publishers. They specialize in writing content or tell stories using their words. But blogging platforms nowadays have gravitated away from the capability to write by adding more and more features. While there’s nothing wrong with this, it keeps bloggers from focusing on their writing by having to worry which plugins and widgets to include on their blog.
[clickToTweet tweet=”There’s a wave of platforms that aim to bring back the writing in #blogging.” quote=”There’s a wave of platforms that aim to bring back the writing in blogging.”]
Ghost and Medium are the two popular ones.
Ghost is ‘just a blogging platform,’ literally. Minimalist in nature, it turns your attention to writing blog content with the split-screen editor showing the Markdown syntax on the left and the live preview on the right. Ghost offers a beautiful template so you don’t have to worry about design. You also have the option to collaborate with other users (if you want to publish a multi-author blog).
Medium is similar to Ghost in that it brings blogging back to basics. But this platform founded by Twitter co-founders offers more social features such as following users that produce content your like, liking their posts, sharing it on social media. It also features the Top Stories for that day that may pique your interest.
So, what’s the answer to the question “what blogging platform should I use?”
Using the factors above, you will be able to determine which blogging platform you should use to create your blog. If you’re not sure the factor you prioritize the most, try out all the platforms listed under each to have a better idea on which factor you should put the most stock on.