{"id":12675,"date":"2016-04-27T13:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T17:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.shareaholic.com\/?p=12675"},"modified":"2017-11-07T13:45:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T18:45:27","slug":"best-blogging-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/best-blogging-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose the Best Platform for Your Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shareaholic.com<\/a>When you’re ready to step up your blogging game, get our free suite of tools. Our share buttons, social analytics and related content tool will turn your website into a destination where visitors comment, read and stay.\u00a0Get Shareaholic<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"blogging<\/a>

Photo Credit: opensourceway<\/a> via Compfight<\/a> cc<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

When I first started blogging, I was pretty clueless–I didn’t even choose my own platform. <\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that I was becoming interested in social media and blogging, my boyfriend created a Blogger blog for me for Valentine\u2019s Day. It was a great option for me. Blogger was a super easy-to-use platform and to be honest, I had no idea that other options existed. <\/span><\/p>\n

As I started to better understand the other available choices, I hopped around from platform to platform\u2014Tumblr, WordPress.com and finally self-hosted WordPress.org.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what did I end up with? Four or five stagnant blogs on different platforms that I rarely updated and the most confusing Google search imaginable. No one could find my real blog because there were so many other blogs cluttering my search results.<\/p>\n

Picking the right platform for your content is essential to you establishing yourself as a blogger. While it\u2019s fine to make a transfer one time, you shouldn\u2019t really be jumping around from platform to platform like I did. You\u2019ll end up having a very<\/em> fragmented web presence, which will be hard to overcome with even the best SEO efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead, learn from my mistakes. There are a ton<\/i> of blogging platforms out there to choose from, but you need to find one that will work for you and the content you are creating right when you’re starting to blog.<\/p>\n

To help set you on the right path, here\u2019s a rundown of the pros and cons of the most popular blogging platforms:<\/p>\n

\"wordpress-v-logo\"<\/p>\n

WordPress.com<\/a><\/h3>\n

Price: Free with costs to upgrade<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard of WordPress before\u2014it’s been around for awhile, and it continues to be one of the most popular blogging platform in the world<\/a>. WordPress offers two different blogging platforms: WordPress.com<\/a>\u00a0and WordPress.org<\/a>. The main difference between the two is that the WordPress.com sites are hosted on WordPress\u2019 server while WordPress.org sites are hosted on an external server.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not interested in a ton of customization options, WordPress.com is the way to go. You won\u2019t be able to add plugins, install custom themes or edit your HTML, but you will get a basic blogging platform that\u2019s free and easy to use. If you ever want those options, it\u2019s also very easy to switch over to WordPress.org.\u00a0If you want to dive deep into the differences between the two, WP Beginner has\u00a0an awesome infographic<\/a>\u00a0to break it down for you.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d suggest using this platform if you are just testing the blogging waters and aren\u2019t ready to commit to investing time and money into a website.<\/p>\n

Blogger<\/a><\/h3>\n

Price: Free<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Blogger-Logo\"<\/p>\n

Even though it was my first blogging platform, I\u2019m not a huge fan of Blogger. The site is deceiving at first. It\u2019s easy to navigate and I love that it\u2019s integrated with all my Google Apps, but if you want to customize your site, you have to be okay with tweaking HTML. As a beginner blogger, I was not prepared to do that (if you want to start learning HTML, we\u2019ve got a handy guide here<\/a>). Blogger does have widgets available to keep you from touching code, but it is mostly centered on adding Google products to your blog.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, if you want a very simple set-up, Blogger could work for you. It’s easy to edit and publish posts and it has a ton of tools built it. Be warned though, as you grow your blog, other blogging platforms will have more options available to make your life easier.<\/p>\n

Tumblr<\/a><\/h3>\n

Price: Free<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"tumblr<\/p>\n

Now owned by Yahoo<\/a>, Tumblr is an interesting platform to consider. Like the earlier content management systems, Tumblr is really easy to get set up and start blogging. As far as specific blogging customization options, it doesn\u2019t have much over Blogger or WordPress.com, but one of its top selling points is its culture and community.<\/p>\n

Tumblr blogs usually contain images, gifs<\/a> or videos\u2014not necessarily long form text. The Tumblr community is also very comfortable with reposting other people\u2019s content because of Tumblr\u2019s \u201creblog\u201d function. While other platforms do have some of those capabilities, that type of culture and community is what makes Tumblr special. If this seems like your style, definitely check it out!<\/p>\n

Medium<\/a><\/h3>\n

Price: Free\"Medium\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Developed by Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams, \u00a0Medium simplifies blogging by giving you a clean canvas to publish meaningful stories. With the tagline, “Everyone\u2019s stories and ideas,” Medium aims to make it easy for anyone — with a Twitter account — to write, share and analyze their posts. A few neat features include built-in analytics (which displays view counts, “read ratios” and “recommendations”), in-line comments, and the ability to share drafts with friends.<\/p>\n

One drawback to Medium, which I think is actually one of its biggest benefits, is its standardized template. You can’t customize your Medium column the way you can with almost all of the other platforms. But that’s the beauty of the site: its simplicity. Readers know what to expect and understand how to best consume your content.<\/p>\n

Medium also hosts all user-generated-content on the Medium.com domain, so you aren’t able to easily develop a “following” the way you would with your own site. That being said, Medium offers plenty of opportunities for distribution via it’s Popular on Medium sections<\/a>, which features the most read stories, and its weekly newsletter, handcrafted by editors who surface posts they love, which all users receive. Medium also offers “Letters,”<\/a> which enables you to create a kind of mailing list for your readers, sending certain posts directly to their inboxes.<\/p>\n

Honestly, Medium is most ideal for users who want to publish stories they’ve been dying to write but want to avoid the hassle of creating an account with any other CMSs and setting up, designing and hosting their own site.<\/p>\n

WordPress.org<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"wordpress-logo-stacked-rgb\"<\/p>\n

Price: Platform is free, ~$5 per month and up for hosting costs<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to go ahead and admit it\u2014I love WordPress.org. Not only do we use it here at Shareaholic, but I also use it for my personal blog. Though there is a bit of a learning curve initially, it\u2019s one of the most flexible blogging platforms out there. If you\u2019re dying to delve into your blog\u2019s code, you can. If you\u2019re not, you can use plugins<\/a> and themes<\/a> that make sure you hardly ever have to touch a piece of code. It\u2019s also a well-loved platform by the developer community, which means there will always be fresh tools and themes available for you to use.<\/p>\n

I do want to emphasize that getting started on WordPress can be a challenge, especially if you don\u2019t have some technical knowledge already. You\u2019ll have to worry about downloading an FTP client<\/a> and grabbing a web host right off the bat (we have a guide that can help<\/a>\u00a0choose one). This can be intimidating for a newbie blogger. Still, if you bite the technical bullet and go with WordPress, it\u2019s well worth the investment!<\/p>\n

Squarespace<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"squarespace-logo\"<\/p>\n

Price: $8-$16 per month<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest\u2014I\u2019ve never hosted my blog on Squarespace. That being said, after taking it for a spin I am VERY tempted to jump ship from WordPress. (Kidding! No more switching for me.) It is a terrific<\/strong><\/em> option for those of us who want to customize a blog but don\u2019t have the coding chops yet. It\u2019s intuitive to use with built in analytics and drag and drop page templates.<\/p>\n

This is also a great platform for those of us who eventually want to expand our blogs into a business. Whether you want to launch a simple landing page or an ecommerce website<\/a>, it would be incredibly easy to do it all through Squarespace.<\/p>\n

Though it is super easy to use, it doesn\u2019t have all the plugin and theme support that WordPress does\u2014you\u2019ll have to manually insert code in your blog to get the same tools.<\/p>\n

Typepad<\/a><\/h3>\n

Price: $9-$30 per month<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"typepadlogo\"<\/p>\n

If you think that WordPress.com is too simple and WordPress.org is too complex, Typepad is the perfect compromise. Like WordPress.com, Typepad blogs are all hosted on their server, but you have a lot of customization options available. It\u2019s still fairly hard to edit their code, but it offers more extensive themes and blog plugins than WordPress.com. If you\u2019re looking for a semi-robust platform that’s a middle step between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Typepad might be a good option for you.<\/p>\n

Weebly<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"weebly\"<\/a>Price: Free to start, upgrade available (~$5 a month for additional features and $35 a year for a custom domain)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weebly is a very easy-to-use tool to create websites and blogs. It\u2019s one of the easiest in the bunch to navigate with excellent SEO capabilities wired in, but it didn\u2019t strike me as the best blogging<\/em> platform. It was much harder for me to put together a post compared to the previous options. It might be a good option if you have a main website and happen to blog as well, but if you\u2019re a full-time blogger, it is probably overkill.<\/p>\n

I also really liked its drag-and-drop features, but be warned that editing the HTML and CSS of your site is pretty tricky. Since it\u2019s not particularly cheaper or better designed than any of the previous options, I\u2019m a little lukewarm on Weebly.<\/p>\n

Drupal<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"drupal-logo\"<\/a>Price: Free, then $12 – $80 per month<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drupal is more of a content management system<\/a> than a blogging platform. While you can use it to create a blog, it\u2019s also made to create things like corporate websites, forums and ecommerce sites, so it\u2019s not that intuitive to use as a blogger. Like with WordPress, you\u2019ll need to get your own host to use Drupal, but the actual software is pretty difficult to navigate.<\/p>\n

That being said, there are some tools out there like Drupal Gardens<\/a> that make it much less intense to use. Drupal Gardens creates an interface that makes it easy to create and publish your content. Even with Drupal Gardens in your holster, I\u2019d recommend using a simpler platform for your blog\u00a0unless you are a technology-savvy pro blogger with solid plans to create a business.<\/p>\n

Joomla<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"joomla_logo_vert_color1\"<\/a>Price: Free for a month, then prices go up from $20-$100 for premium plans<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Drupal, Joomla is a content management system aimed at corporate websites rather than the average blogger. When playing around with it, I thought it was a very robust platform that really helps you create any website you\u2019d ever want. For most bloggers though, it’s probably overkill. It\u2019s also more expensive than any of the other platforms listed here, which may be a deal breaker if you\u2019re just starting out. If you\u2019re looking to learn more about Joomla or Drupal, here\u2019s a great article to read<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, picking a blogging platform is a personal decision\u2014what works for someone else may not work for you. If you\u2019ve already picked your blogging platform, I\u2019d love to hear from you in the comments. Which platform are you using? What do you love or hate about it?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

p.s.\u00a0be sure to get our\u00a0free tools to make your new blog extra awesome<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Shareaholic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you’re ready to step up your blogging game, get our free suite of tools. Our share buttons, social analytics and related content tool will… 
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