Blogging is becoming an increasingly popular method of self-expression on the Internet. It's certainly a great idea to start a blog, but do you know which platform to start with is right for you? It is quite difficult to choose one site when there are many options on the Internet. Whether you are going to make money from your creation or want to tell the world about what interests you - in any case, a blog platform should combine advanced functionality, ease of management and minimal financial costs.
How to choose a blogging platform
When choosing a suitable site for your project, you should first decide what factors are most important to you. Here's a rough list of things to look out for:
- Your technical knowledge. Your knowledge of the code and the technical side of the issue determines which platform is right for you. If they are limited to how to post, then the best choice for you is Wordpess or Blogger, which allow you to create blogs from scratch without burdening users with technical questions.
- Budget. How much are you willing to spend on the creation and development of your project? Do you have enough money to pay for hosting every month, or might your blog be closed due to late payment? Assess your capabilities well. Most blogging platforms have flexible pricing options or offer to create a free account.
- The amount of content. If you plan to write long articles and create additional pages, you should take into account that some services limit the allowed number of characters for each entry. We also advise you to check the maximum allowable file size that is allowed to be uploaded to the server.
- Further plans for expansion or migration to another server. One day you want to expand your blog … and then you might be in for a nasty surprise if you don't find the features you want. It is better to check right away whether the list of tariff plans includes those that will be able to meet the requirements in the future.
- Control. Do you like to tweak your code, change templates often, and want complete control over your blog? Bad news: in most cases, this is only allowed for paid accounts.
Popular Blogging Platforms
We figured out what criteria the platform on which the blog will be hosted should have. Now let's take a look at the most popular online services that provide the desired functions and how to choose the most suitable option among them.
Wordpress.com
The most popular blogging service is the Wordpress platform. It has everything you need to get a decent start: a wide selection of themes, plugins and extensions for great features; moderately priced tariff; intuitive controls. It also allows you to subscribe to other authors and allows them to subscribe to you. It should also be noted that many sites and blogs of popular personalities have been created on the wordpress engine.
Pros:
- Free account creation;
- Easy start - you will be guided through all the steps of creating a blog literally by the handle;
- Simple controls, lots of themes, templates and plugins;
Minuses:
- Limited features on a free account: you cannot edit the code, upload your templates and plugins;
- The domain cannot be connected;
- Free profiles cannot post ads on their blog.
Blogger
Blogger, also known as blogspot.com, is owned by Google Corporation. It is the second most popular blogging platform after wordpress. It offers an almost unlimited set of features - you just need to have a Google account. In my opinion, it is ideal for those who are taking their first steps in the field of Internet blogging.
Pros:
- Completely free;
- You can upload themes, fix code, create an unlimited number of pages;
- You can connect a domain - the Google website has detailed instructions on how to do this;
- Easy to create records - no additional knowledge of the code required;
- Since blogger is a child of Google, your blog will have the upper hand in indexing;
- Easily connect Google Adsense ads - you don't even need to connect your domain for this;
- Easy to integrate with Wordpress if you want to move your blog.
Minuses:
- All rights to the blog belong to Google, it can be closed if it does not comply with certain rules;
- Limited number of characters in each entry;
- Blogger has little basic functionality and it is difficult to find extensions for it;
- There is no categorization of records; all you can do is sort them by tags.
LiveJournal
It is impossible not to mention the well-known LJ. I think this site is familiar to every Internet user, because it has existed for a long time. Whether it can be attributed to a full-fledged blogging platform, but still consider it as a possible option.
Pros:
- Completely free, except for additional features like emoticons and others;
- Easy and intuitive controls;
- Extremely popular with Russian internet users, so your blog can reach a wide audience of readers.
Minuses:
- There is no functionality like this, a very limited set of features;
- You need to pay to disable ads in posts;
- The domain cannot be connected.
Tumblr.com
Tumbrl is different in that it combines the functionality of blogs and social networks: you can follow the news of other users, share other people's posts, and much more. It has a friendly interface and the ability to update the blog from a mobile phone.
Pros:
- Completely free;
- Easy to create blogs and manage settings;
- Great opportunities for post design: easily embed.gif" />
Minuses:
- Basic, very limited functions;
- Few templates, it is almost impossible to find additional ones on the Internet;
- There are no extensions and plugins;
- It's almost impossible - or at least very difficult - to migrate your blog to another platform.
Weebly.com
Although Weebly “came” to the Russian Internet for a long time, it is not as famous as other services, but in vain. It is extremely easy to learn, it is extremely easy to start a blog with its help - using the "drag and drop" technique, you can create pages by "dragging" elements to the desired area. Very handy for those who do not have web design skills.
Pros:
- No special technical knowledge required;
- There is a free plan that allows you to test the premium versions;
- Lightweight drag-and-drop builder;
Minuses:
- Limited functionality;
- If you decide to migrate in the future, it will be extremely difficult;
- Advertising from the hoster is displayed;
- To connect a domain, you have to pay (this does not remove ads);
- Small amount of storage: only 500 MB.
WIX
But Wix.com has recently begun to gain popularity among Russian users. It should be noted that this attention is justified: on this site you can easily create projects of any complexity, from personal pages to corporate sites and online stores.
Pros:
- Almost unlimited functionality when switching to a paid account;
- Convenient constructor to create a unique design;
- A large number of templates;
Minuses:
- You have to pay to remove ads;
- Basic templates cannot be corrected, and if none of them suits your needs, then it is almost impossible to find additional ones on the Internet;
- Very limited functionality on a free account, not enough even for a beginner blogger;
In addition to these platforms, there are even less well-known services such as Medium (child of Twitter), Ghost, Pen.io and others, but they are mostly unknown among the Russian-speaking community and will not be very useful for those who are focused on the Russian segment of the Internet.
To summarize the question of how to choose a platform for your blog, to summarize: beginners should give preference to Blogger - it is free, easy to learn and offers the necessary functions to get started. For more confident users, the Wordpress platform is suitable. It is more complex, but due to extensions it provides more opportunities for creating a large project. If you don't understand anything about web design, but want to create a unique website, then you should take a look at Wix or Weebly.
