Which blogging platform will you choose?

Which blogging platform will you choose?

This is the final part of 11 things to consider before you start blogging and in this last chapter I am going to talk about what choices you have when choosing a blogging platform to use for your Blog.

What is a Blogging Platform?

I just want to establish what a blogging platform is first for those that may be a little confused. A blogging platform also known as a publishing platform is a peice of software which is used to create a blog. For example WordPress and Blogger.

What selection of Blogging Platforms are there?

There is a large selection of blogging platforms to choose from and depending upon the goals you have insight for your blog you will need to research each one.

WordPress – This is the most popular blogging platform used today and as you may be able to tell this blog is also no different. I run this blog using wordpress.org software with my own unique theme. WordPress is very flexbile in a way where you can customise basically everything. There are hundreds if not thousands of plugins to add to your blog, thanks to the wordpress team and various other plug in developers.

Note: When I mention WordPress above I am talking about WordPress.org.

Blogger – The Google owned Blogger is another very popular blogging platform similiar to WordPress however with limited flexibility Blogger don’t offer the vast variety of plugins you can get with WordPress.

TypePad – A blogging service which primarily targets businesses and services for professionals. I have never used TypePad however if you were setting up a blog among this line of business I would advise you to take a look at them.

Moveable Type - An open source blogging platform which allows you to modify, distribute and use Moveable type for any thing you want. This has great flexibility and because of it being open source there are a lot of modifications among the Internet, some good some bad.

LiveJournal - Live Journal focus on more personal blogs instead of blogs like this one however that is not to say you couldn’t set up a blog like this on Live Journal. However I think if you are looking for a blogging platform for your personal blog then this is a good choice to make.

There are plenty more blogging platforms to choose from however I would say this gives you a good start when you start looking in to which blogging platform to choose.

It is important to note that you should take as much time as you need making your choice here. Although many blogging platforms ensure you are able to move your blog from one platform to another, it is not always an easy task, some companies make you pay and moving from a blog that is hosted on their site to hosting it on your own domain will surely effect your search engine traffic.

This brings me swiftly on to my next section, hosted versus stand alone blogging platforms.

Hosted versus stand alone blogging platforms

A good question which may confuse a lot of new faces in the blogging industry is whether you should opt for a hosted blog or a stand alone blog. Firstly lets establish what the difference is here;

Hosted Blog

This is a blog that is hosted through the blogging platforms own servers, they can be very easy to set up and you can have an established blog within minutes of registering to their website. Popular blogging platforms that focus on this are Blogger and WordPress.com.

Stand alone Blog

A stand alone blog will use the blogging platform software however they will host the blog on their own server with their own registered domain name.

There are advantages and disadvantages to choosing each of these types of blogging platform and I shall list some of these below.

Hosted Blog – Pros and Cons

Pros:

1. Sometimes free if not generally cheap to set up and manage.
2. The interfaces used are generally user friendly and very simple to learn.
3. The blogging platform updates automatically. No messing around with your FTP and backing up your blog.
4. Generally blogs on hosted blogging platforms are indexed in the search engines relatively quickly.

Cons:

1. You don’t have as much control as you would have with a stand alone blog. They are less customisable and therefore you may have trouble making your blog stand out among the other 150 million or so.
2. To readers they may appear less professional. I think this depends on what market you are targeting for example if they were Internet marketers then they may judge your blog because its not a stand alone blog.
3. Sub-Domain limitiations. With hosting your blog on their blogging platform unless you purchase your own domain name you may have limited domains to choose from because others may have already been registered.
4. Blog branding is made extremely hard because of the lack of customisation in both the design and features. As well as this most blogging platforms brand their companies throughout your blog or at least in one space so readers may become confused as to who’s brand to follow.
5. Lastly, if you do decided to make the move to a stand alone blog as I mentioned before it can be difficult to do. It may cost you money, time and traffic.

Although hosted blogs offer a relatively cheap and quick way of blogging I would not recommend this for anyone who is planning on building a career from their blog. As I mentioned earlier branding will be near enough impossible, monetization can also become a problem due to their terms and conditions as well as having limited customisation abilities it can be extremely hard.

Stand alone blogs – Pros and Cons

Pros:

1. From first appearances your blog can look much more professional.
2. You have full control of your blog from the design to the features and the overall flow of your blog.
3. Your own domain name. If your plannning on building a business out of your blog you have the domain name as an asset to sell with your blog.
4. Flexibility similiar to having full control over your blog you are flexibile to do as you wish. Although there may be terms and conditions that apply to things within your blog you generally have the ability to make all the choices on your blog.
5. Brand awareness. You have no one else stealing your spotlight all the eyes are on you and your brand so make it look good.

Cons:

1. Costs. Obviously with having a stand alone blog there will probably be costs involved however unless you use a paid blogging platform software the only costs you may have to incur are yearly domain costs and hosting costs, you can pick these up for under $10 a month.
2. Blogging Platform Updates. Although some blogging platforms now give you the option to automatically update your software it can be quite hard to do. It usually results in you having to back up your blog before you update then downloading the files and overwriting your old files.
3. Complex set up procedures. For first time bloggers setting up your own stand alone blog can seem quite complicated. You may need to set up your own Mysql database, change namesevers and upload files to your server. However there are many guides throughout the internet to help you with this.

I personally feel that the stand alone blogging platforms are a smarter choice however I guess it is down to your own personal goals for your blog. If you are just blogging about your personal life then perhaps a hosted blog would not effect your long term growth however if your considering using blogging as a way of making money or to build a future from then I would definitely recommend going straight for stand alone blogs.

If you choose to use WordPress then this is a great selection of WordPress tutorials, everything you need to get started. WordPress Codex

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