With many people making money online through blogging. It comes as no surprise that there are lots of blogging platforms available to the public. With so many choices, it can be difficult to figure out how to choose the best blogging platform.
From the top of my head, there are 8 blogging platforms, so how do you know which one is the best fit for you? In this article, I will provide you with enough information to help you choose the best blogging platform. Without further ado, let’s get started!
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform
Before we continue, I want to talk about the importance of choosing the right blogging platform. As a beginner, you don’t want a platform that is hard to build on. It should be easy to set up and shouldn’t require any coding skills.
Also, how flexible is the blogging platform if you decide to change designs, add features, etc. Is it a scalable platform? You don’t want to switch platforms after investing thousands of hours already.
#1. WordPress.org
WordPress is currently the most popular blogging software available. It is a free open source which means you don’t have to pay anything to use this platform.
Note: When I first started, I was confused by WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Just so you don’t get confused, WordPress.org is the platform and WordPress.com is a blog hosting service.
The Pros of WordPress
- WordPress is search engine friendly. (SEO).
- Access to thousands of both free and paid plugins to add new features to your website.
- WordPress gives you full control over your website.
- Access to thousands of free and premium themes to give your website a unique look.
The Cons of WordPress
- Not as simple as some drag-n-drop builders available.
- Because it is a free open source, you have to manage your own backups and security.
The Pricing For WordPress
WordPress is free, but you’ll still need to get your own domain name (roughly $15.00/year) plus website hosting (roughly $3.00/month). However, as a beginner, I recommend that you sign up for my #1 recommended platform. ????
It is absolutely free if you want to stay as a free member to learn about making money online. It also comes with 2 free sub-domain WordPress websites to get your feet wet.
Or if you don’t need any additional support, you can simply sign up for HostGator, another one of my recommended website hosting service provider.
#2 Wix.com
Wix is a website hosting platform that also allows you to build websites. It’s extremely easy to use for small businesses because it comes with a drag-and-drop building tool. If you want to blog on your Wix website, all you need to do is add the Wix Blog app.
The Pros of Wix
- Easy drag-and-drop tool for building your website.
- Lots of third-party apps and templates.
- Easy to set up, my girlfriend was able to build a website with no skills.
The Cons of Wix
- Templates cannot be changed (this bothers me quite a bit).
- Lots of features are limited to paid plans.
- Not as flexible as platforms like WordPress.
The Pricing For Wix
You can create a basic Wix website for free and but if you want to use a custom domain name, you’ll have to upgrade to their paid plans which starts at $5.00/month up to $30.00/month.
#3. Blogger.com
Blogger also known as blogspot.com is a free blog hosting service. It was acquired by Google back in 2003 and it allows anyone to create a blog without having to spend a dime. I’ve used this in the past, but I wasn’t serious about blogging back then.
The Pros of Blogger
- Absolutely free to use!
- Owned by Google, so you can assure by its reliability as well as security.
- Extremely simple to use.
The Cons of Blogger
- Limited blogging tools which makes it hard to grow your blog.
- Limited and low quality design options making it unpleasant to look at.
- You don’t own your blog, so Google can shut you down if they feel like it.
- Limited Updates because there’s not much to update.
Although, Blogger.com is free to use. Most bloggers end up transitioning over to platforms like WordPress to have full control over their blog with more features to select. That’s why they say, you get what you paid for… especially if it’s completely free.
#4. Medium.com
Medium is a community of writers, journalists, bloggers, experts. It’s a free for all blogging platform with limited features. It’s a great place to get your know out there, but it’s not a great way to build your own brand because you don’t own the readers.
The Pros of Medium
- No coding required, quite easy to use!
- Allows you to get known in an existing online community.
- No need to worry about the design because you don’t own the website. Leaving you with the focus of blogging.
The Cons of Medium
- You don’t own your readers, so you can’t build your own customer base.
- You cannot run your own ads to make money online.,
- You have little control over your blog.
The Pricing For Medium
Medium is absolutely free to use! I would use it as a platform to get known, but it wouldn’t be my primary blogging platform. I don’t like the idea of blogging on a platform that you have no control over. What happens if you get banned? What happens if they decide to delete your blog? No thanks!
#5. Squarespace.com
Squarespace is an all-in-one website building platform. It allows you to create beautiful websites using drag-and-drop tools. It seems many developers are using drag-and-drop tools now because most people can’t bother learning how to code.
It’s focus is to help small business owners who are looking to create an online presence without the need to hire developers to create their websites for them.
The Pros of Squarespace
- Offers domain name with SSL and eCommerce.
- Available professionally designed templates.
- Easy to build on with their simple drag-and-drop tool.
The Cons of Squarespace
- Limited Integration, so it’s hard to use certain services and tools.
- Limited to the features built into their platform.
The Pricing for Squarespace
There is currently a 14-day free trial, so you can try it out first before committing to their platform. Afterwards, you can choose from their pricing plans.
Their personal plan starts at $16.00/month, or $12.00/month if you were to pay for a year in advance. They also have a business plan which starts at $26.00/month, or $18/month if you were to pay for a year in advance.
#6. Ghost.org
Ghost is a professional publishing platform with features focused on writing blog posts. Ghost comes with an available hosted platform as well as a software that allows you to host on your own.
The Pros of Ghost
- Clean and easy to use interface.
- Super fast because it’s written in JavaScript.
- Blogging and writing focused.
- No set up required if you use the hosted version.
The Cons of Ghost
- Can be quite complicated if you were to install it on your own.
- Limited themes to customize the appearance of your blog.
The Pricing of Ghost
If you choose the basic plan, which cost $36.00/month, or $29.00/month if you were to pay for a year in advance.
Once your blog grows bigger, you might want to upgrade to the standard plan, which cost $99.00/month, or $79.00/month if you were to pay for a year in advance.
Lastly, their most expensive business plan, will you $249.00/month, or $199.00/month if you were to pa for a year in advance.
#7. Joomla.org
Joomla is an award-winning content management system that allows you to create websites and powerful online applications. It’s an open source self-hosted software just like WordPress.org. Since it’s a self-hosted software, you’ll need to pay for a domain name as well as web hosting.
The Pros of Joomla
- There are extensions (apps) available to add features.
- There are available templates for you to customize your website’s design.
The Cons of Joomla
- Joomla is not as widely used as WordPress which means fewer themes and extensions.
- Limited community support unlike WordPress.
- You have to manage your own security, updates, and backups.
The Pricing for Joomla
Joomla is a free open source, but you will still need to pay for the cost of a domain name as well as web hosting service. Again, you can create a WordPress website with my #1 recommended platform. Or you can host Joomla on HostGator.
#8. Weebly.com
Weebly is another drag-and-drop website builder that comes with dozens of themes to help you customize your websites design.
The Pros of Weebly
- Free to try before making a decision.
- Easy to use drag-and-drop website building tool.
- Weebly will host your website for you.
The Cons of Weebly
- Difficult to export your website if you decide to use a different platform.
- Limited features and you can’t add new features.
- Limited third party integration.
The Pricing for Weebly
The paid plan starts from $8.00/month up to $49.00/month! Personally, with the limited features, I would go with something else.
In Conclusion
Out of all the options for blogging, my personal favorite is still WordPress. It definitely outperforms all the other platforms in terms of usability, features, integration, flexibility, and more.
If you are ready to start a blog, I would highly recommend using WordPress over all the other platforms. Please share your feedback by leaving a comment down below! Cheers.
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