I felt it necessary to dedicate an entire post for the
top three blogging platforms which is used by most bloggers.
If you are serious & passionate about blogging, I must
tell you that your name is going to be a brand in the near future.
Blogging can make you famous, wealthy, and independent. I am not joking.
It’s a fact. If you read the story of any pro-blogger, you will find that
they had no idea where they were headed to. But, they stayed focused on
their job & achieved something which they never would have thought
of. Are you ready to plunge into the sea of blogging? I would like
to share the list of the most popular blogging platforms which
you can use to get started with your blog.
WordPress
Before explaining WordPress, I must clarify that there are
two WordPress services–WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The difference
between the two is – WordPress.com is a hosted service and WordPress.org is a
self-hosted service. To be specific, WordPress.com will host your blog
for free and WordPress.org provides you with free blogging software with a
content management system that you can use to host your blog on your own
domain. WordPress is a priceless Content Management Software that gives
you a range of options to choose from including a variety of themes, plugins,
widgets, gadgets, etc. which can be used even by people who don’t have any
knowledge of web designing.
Features of WordPress.com:
- Start
your blog within minutes for free.
- 3 GB
Storage Limit for your blog.
- Your
website URL will look like (mywebsitename.wordpress.com). You can upgrade
to your own domain by paying the prescribed charges.
- More
than 100 themes to choose for your blog
- It has
an integrated stats system
- You
will get high-quality spam protection.
- You
don’t have to back up your data
- To
know more about other features, visit WordPress.com
Features of WordPress.org
- WordPress
is open-source software that enables you to customize the software as you
like it.
- You
install the software on your own domain & web server which gives you
total control over your blog. You will have to spend money on the
domain & the web hosting charges.
- Installation
of WordPress is extremely easy.
- Web-Designing
skills are not required.
- You
can use the plethora of free & premium themes available online or
design a theme yourself.
- WordPress
is SEO-friendly software.
- You
have the choice of using a variety of plugins and widgets for your blog.
- You
can add or remove any features you like or don’t like. You are the boss.
- Several
other features which you can find at http://wordpress.org
Blogger
Blogger.com is the oldest blogging platform now owned by
Google. You can start your blog within a few minutes of signing up for
Blogger.com and if you have a Google Account, you don’t even need to sign
up. You can log in to Blogger.com with your Google Account. Blogs on
Blogger.com are hosted by Google and your URL will be like
“mydomainname.blogspot.com”.
Features of Blogger
- It
takes only a few minutes to start a blog.
- It
offers many templates to choose from and also allows you to customize the
templates as required by you.
- Easy-to-Use
Interface.
- Your
blog URL will be like “mydomainname.blogspot.com”. You can even use
your existing domain for your blog.
- Several
other features which you can find on Blogger.com
Tumblr
Tumblr is a combination of blogging & social media
services. Like Blogger and WordPress, you can set it up in minutes. It
has all the features of Blogger.com and WordPress.com, but 50% of the Tumblr
blogs are photoblogs. As I said earlier, Tumblr is more of a social media
site like Twitter where you can write short posts, upload photos, videos and
share them with those who are following you. It also allows you to repost
other Tumblr users’ content on your blog. It’s based on the new concept of
micro-blogging and is the best option for those who are not willing to dedicate
their full time to blogging.
Features of Tumbler:
- Tumblr
is Free.
- It’s
not a traditional blogging platform.
- Choice
of a variety of themes
- Your
blog URL will be “mydomainname.tumblr.com”. You can use your
existing domain for your blog.
- Tumblr
is an SEO-friendly platform
- You
can add third-party apps to add features and functionality to your blog.
- You
can integrate Twitter, Facebook & Feedburner easily.
- You
can publish text, photos, videos, links, etc. from email & mobile
phones.
- Several
other features which you can find on Tumblr.com
There are many other blogging platforms like TypePad,
LiveJournal, SquareSpace, Posterous, etc. which are all good blogging platforms
having their own place in the blogging fraternity. I rank them above
three services to be the best blogging platforms which are available online.