Written on February 15th, 2006 at 06:02 am by Darren Rowse

Choosing a Blog Platform

Blogging Tools and Services 267 comments

This post talks readers through some of the issues that they need to think through regarding choosing a blog platform.

‘Which Blog Platform Should I use?’
‘Should I use a free Blogger.com blog or get my own hosted blog on my own Domain? Which Blog Platform is best?’
‘What are the Pros and Cons of going with Typepad instead of WordPress as a blog platform?’
‘Should I start out on a free Blogging Platform and Upgrade later?’

These are just some of the typical questions that I get asked each day from bloggers starting out and attempting to make a decision on which blogging platform or tool they should choose.

I’m not going to tell you which blog platform you should use because, as you will see, there are good reasons for choosing most of the available platforms depending upon the goals of your blog.

In fact as I look at some of the most successful blogs there are examples of most of the platforms mentioned in this post – that’s the great thing about blogging, success is not reliant upon the tool you use – it’s about how you use it!

What follows is my attempt to flesh out some of the factors a new bloggers might like to consider in deciding on a blog platform. It is probably impacted by own experience of blogging over the last three years and the preferences I’ve accumulated in this time. I invite readers to add to this post in comments below with their own ideas and experiences so we can have a more balanced and useful collection of tips for readers considering such a choice.

Some Questions to Ponder Before Deciding on a Blog Platform

As with making any important decision it is worthwhile to take your time with this decision. There are MANY competing blog platforms on the market (check out the results of a poll I did on the platforms ProBlogger readers use to see just some of them). While you can change your blog platform at a later time (many of them have ways of importing and exporting your content later) there are usually some costs associated with such transfers (and I’m not just talking money – ie changing from a free hosted blog service to a self hosted one means changing your domain which has implications on Search Engine traffic etc). I guess all I’m saying is that it’s best not to rush into the first option you find – take your time, do your research and you might find a blog platform that will last you for a long time. Start by answering some of the following questions and you’ll have every chance of getting on the right track:

What are Your Goals – Probably the most important thing to do when starting the process of choosing a blog platform is to consider your aspirations for your blog. Of course complete first timers might struggle a little with seeing the future of their blogging, but to the best of your ability attempt to answer some of these questions:

Is blogging something I see myself doing long term?
What will the main purpose of my blog be?
Is my blogging more of a hobby or does it have some professional application?
Do I foresee putting ads on my blog?

Of course there are many other questions you’ll want to ask (I’ve written a series of posts on thinking through blog strategy here) but the answers to these sorts of questions are worth keeping mind as you research blog platforms as some platforms are much more suited to the hobby blogger and others to more professional blogging applications.

A Note about Wordpress.com – if you’re going to use Wordpress.com (note again, it’s different to wordpress.org) you need to know that at the point of writing this they don’t allow you to monetize your blog. If your goal is to make money, don’t choose WP.com. They do allow some of their bigger blogs to run advertising and affiliate programs but not smaller blogs. They say they may allow this in the future, but there are no guarantees and you should probably consider another option.

What is Your Budget? – As with most things in life, blog platforms come with a variety of price points ranging from free through to more expensive options. There are three main things that you might pay for:

The blog platform itself
Hosting for your blog
Domain Name

Different blogging platforms offer different levels of service. Some like Blogger.com and WordPress.com offer both the platform, domain name and hosting for free. Others like Wordpress.org (note this is different to WordPress.com) offer the platform for free but you then need to find and pay for your own hosting and domain name. Others still, like MovableType charge for a license for the platform (depending how many blogs you have and whether they will have a commercial, personal, educational or not-for-profit use – they do also have a free version) and then you need to arrange and pay for your own domain name and hosting.

Other costs you might like to factor in at an early stage include:

design – all platforms come with free templates (some more professional looking than others) but if you want a more individual look you’ll either need to have some design skills, know someone who does or be willing to pay for a design.
blog tools/metrics – there are any number of tools you can pay for to help you in your blogging. These might include stats packages (again you can get free ones but can also pay for more features), offline blog posting tools etc. If you’re a beginner you might not need any of these – but down the track you might find them useful.

How Technologically able are you? – This is a crucial factor to consider when choosing a blog platform. If you’ve never had any experience in creating a blog or website before and are not a technologically minded person then there are some blog platforms and set ups that will be much more suited to your needs than if you know a few of the basics, or at least are willing to learn them.

The other option of course is to find someone who is a techie to help you out (either paid or as a friend). One of the great things about blogging and most of the platforms out there is that there is a wonderful communal knowledge out there and many forums dedicated to helping people get the most out of their chosen platforms.

What Blog Platforms are Others Using? – While I am always advising bloggers to make their blog their own – when it comes to choosing a platform it might be worth finding out what others are into. Over the last few years different platforms have come and gone and I suspect they will in the years ahead also. My recent poll on the topic might be helpful to get a handle on recent trends – but as this post gets a little older you might like to do some research of your own.

Hosted vs Stand Alone Blogging Platforms

With the above questions in mind it’s time to consider your options and ask yourself one of the key questions that you’ll ask in this process.

Will you go with a Hosted Platform or a Stand Alone Platform?

I’ve already mentioned above when talking about budgets that there are a few options with what platforms offer but there are two main camps of blog platforms (and a few that offer a combination of the two – just to make things confusing).

Hosted Blog Platforms

This is the type of blog that many bloggers start out with, simply because they are easy and usually quite cheap (if not free). Probably the most popular of these systems is Blogger.com – but there are others like WordPress.com and MSN Spaces. TypePad also runs hosted blogs – although have the option to go with a type of standalone option also through remote hosting..

These systems are ‘hosted’ blog platforms because they ‘host’ your blog on their own domain. After what is usually a pretty easy set up process they will give you a web address (URL) that will usually be some combination of their own URL and the name of your blog. For example a popular WordPress.com blog is AtariBoy – who’s web address is www.atariboy.wordpress.com. You can see the structure of that address has two elements, his blog’s name first and then the wordpress.com extension. This means that this blog is being ‘hosted’ by WordPress as opposed to the blogger having to organize and pay for that himself.

Pros and Cons of Hosted Blog Platforms

Pros:

Cheap or Free to run – most hosted options are free (of the four I mentioned above, only TypePad charges).
Relatively easy to set up - most of these types of blogs can be set up with a basic default template within minutes. The set up is usually just a matter of filling in a few fields with your options and choosing a template design.They are ideal if you know nothing or very little about the technological side of blogging.
Simple to Run – Once you’re through the easy set up process hosted blogs are usually pretty simple to run. You will obviously need to learn some basics, but these days most blog platforms come with very user friendly features. Posting is as simple as filling in a few fields and hitting publish.
Updated Automatically – if the blog platform updates it will automatically do so for you. Instead of having to upload new software onto a server, these updates happen much more seamlessly.
Indexed in Search Engines Quickly – one of the advantages of many hosted blog platforms is that they are put onto domains that have good page ranks already. While your blog won’t be indexed in search engines when you start, most bloggers notice that their blogs get picked up and ranked pretty quickly. In the long run they probably don’t rank much higher than other blogs on stand alone hosting – but they are a quick way to get into SE’s.

Cons:

Less Configurable – My first blog was on a Blogger.com blog – the reason I moved from it within months was that it was so limited in terms of features and ability to design a professional running blog. Of course this was 3 years ago and Blogger.com has improved significantly – but one of the biggest frustrations with hosted blog owners are their limited options for customization. This does vary from platform to platform within the hosted options. For example WordPress.com has quite limited design options (for instance you can’t ad ads to templates making it a poor choice to make money with), Blogger.com doesn’t give the option for categories and TypePad has different options depending upon which level you buy in at.
Default Design Limitations – While this can be true for standalone blogging systems also I find that many hosted blogs end up looking very similar to one another. This is because the default templates get used over and over again and if you’re a beginner they can be difficult to adapt. For instance with Blogger.com to make changes (and you can make your blog look quite unique) you need to know CSS and HTML to edit your templates (something you need to know with other platforms also it’s worth mentioning).
Less Control – Another common complaint I hear regularly from hosted blog owners is that they are frustrated by not having ultimate control over their blog. While they do own the content, the URL is not technically their own and they are somewhat at the mercy of their platform in terms of whether their blog is working or not. For example there have been times in the last few months when TypePad bloggers have been frustrated by their blogs being down for periods of time (something Blogger.com struggles with from time to time also). To be fair on TypePad – they did compensate their bloggers for this down time.
Generic URL – having your own URL can give a sense of professionalism and memorability to a blog that hosted options might well go without. While there are some very successful blogs on hosted platforms some bloggers believe that having your own URL is much more professional if you are using your blog in a professional way.
Upgrading to Standalone can be Tricky - Probably the question worth asking before you go with a hosted option is what you’ll do if your blog gets big or you get the blogging bug in a way that won’t let you go? One of the issues of starting out with a hosted platform is that if there comes a day when you want to go with a standalone one that you have some work cut out for you in retaining any traffic that you’ve built up. I’m not saying it’s impossible to do (I’ve done it myself) but there are implications of changing domains later in terms of taking regular readers with you, having to climb the search engine rankings all over again and redirecting traffic from one blog to another.

Who would use Hosted Blog Platforms?

If you just want a blog and don’t care much about having your own unique domain, are not too interested in tweaking your blog or getting all the latest and greatest features then hosted options are a completely valid choice. In fact it’s worth keeping in mind that while some may scoff at hosted blog platforms and say that serious bloggers don’t use them – there are some popular bloggers who use them very successfully. For example one of my daily reads is Robert Scoble has a WordPress.com blog, Post Secret is on a Blogspot blog (blogger.com) and Hack MSN Spaces is obviously an MSN spaces blog (all of these and others are highly ranked blogs in the Top 500 at Feedster).

Stand Alone Blog Platforms

The other type of blog platform is that which is hosted under your own steam on your own domain/URL. This is what I do with all of my blogs these days (apart from one or two which I started just to see how the hosted platforms work). So you’ll see that ProBlogger is hosted at ProBlogger.net and is powered by WordPress.org. I also use MovableType, for a number of my blogs. Other Stand alone blog platforms that many use include PMachine, Greymatter, B2Evolution, TextPattern and Expression Engine (to name just a few).

Pros and Cons of Stand Alone Blog Platforms

Pros:

Full Control of Design – Depending upon your ability with web design standalone blogs generally are very adaptable. I am not strong in this area personally but am constantly amazed by some of my colleague’s abilities to create incredibly diverse and clever designs. Of course those bloggers with little ability in this area may either need to use default templates (with the same limitations as default templates of hosted blogs) or get others to help with this.
Adaptability – One of the things I enjoy about WordPress here at ProBlogger is the vast array of developers who are coming up with all manner of ‘plugins’ which extend the ability of the basic WP installation. Similarly many of the other standalone platforms have communities of developers producing similar arrays of plugins (check out the plugins that ProBlogger readers use here for some examples of what is being developed).
Free Platforms – while you end up paying for your domain name and hosting systems like these are usually free to run. Some do have license fees if you’re having multiple blogs or using them for commercial purposes – but many are open source.
URL – Having your own domain name is great for many reasons. For one it’s easier to remember, secondly it’s more professional and hirdly it is more easily brand-able.

Cons:

Complicated Set Up – once again this depends upon your technical abilities and web savvy but when you move into stand alone platforms the complexity of set up tends to increase. It often involves arranging hosting, setting up databases and then downloading the platform onto you own computer and then uploading it via ftp onto your web hosting server. There are good tutorials around for most of the platforms to help with this process but for many it is a daunting thing. Once again it’s not my strength so I generally get by blogs set up and designed by a professional designer (although recently have been learning to do it a little more myself). NB: one way around this is to find a web host that will install your blog platform for you. This is becoming increasingly popular. Some platforms even recommend hosts that will do it for you (eg see MT’s recommendations and WP’s recommendations).
Cost – While the blog platform itself might be free you need to factor in the ongoing costs of having your own domain name (a yearly fee plus a one off registration fee) and hosting fees (again yearly). There are many great deals out on these so it need not cost the world – although if your blog gets a lot of traffic the costs do go up and you might want to consider going onto a more professional and expensive plan.
Updates – Most blog platforms go through different and versions over time. Updating from one to another can be complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Hosting Issues – I mentioned in the cons of the hosted platforms that you have ‘less control’ over your blog and are at the whims of your platform’s hosting being up or down. Of course this is also true for any hosting as from time to time different hosting solutions can have their own problems. Whether you use a hosted solution or a stand alone solution it’s important to back up and be aware that from time to time things do go down. Choose a reputable host if you go the stand alone route to ensure maximum uptime.

Who would use Stand Alone Blog Platforms?

Stand alone blog platforms are ideal if you want a little more control or flexibility with your blogging. They can be configured to look and run very professionally and to be adapted into configurations that are limited only by your imagination. Of course just because you go with a stand alone blog doesn’t ensure you will have the perfect professionally looking blog. In fact if you don’t have the ability to set these blogs up correctly (or know someone who can) standalone blogs can be messy and non-professional looking blogs.

Examples of these types of blogs are many – The vast majority of the top 50 or so blogs at Feedster are stand alone blogs.

A Word About Remote Hosting Options

Some blog platforms allow a combination of hosted and stand alone blogs via remote hosting. TypePad and Blogger.com are two examples of this. They allow you to run your blog on your own domain and hosting but still using their system to publish your blog. I’m not too familiar with how Blogger.com does it but have seen it used effectively with TypePad. The beauty of doing this with TypePad is that if you are a beginner blogger and are not too confident with running your blog it gives you the ability to set up a blog without too much trouble but on your own domain name from the very beginning. This will make swapping platforms later a lot easier.

Summing it all up

This has been a fairly long post and I hope I haven’t lost or bored you along the way but it’s an important topic for new bloggers to think through.

To sum it all up I generally advise this….. If you’re wanting to develop serious blog and have aspirations for it to be used on a professional sort of level (whether as a business or corporate blog, as a blog to build your own profile or a blog to earn income from advertising) I’d recommend you go in the direction of a stand alone blog. Even if you are not highly skilled in this area it’s worth spending a little money to get it set up with a designer or even better still, to learn how to do it yourself.

If you just want a blog for fun and to keep a record of your life for your friends and family and you don’t have the time, money or patience to put into it then a hosted option might work well for you too. They are instant (it’ll take 5-10 minutes to set up) and while they might not have quite the same level of features, in effect they may well suit you every need. Of course many hobbyists also go the stand alone option because tweaking their blog is part of their interest.

Do keep in mind though that as I mentioned above there are no rules. There’s been many successful blogs over the years which have not been on their own domain or hosting!

What next?

267 Responses to “Choosing a Blog Platform” - Add Yours

Robb D

February 15th, 2006 6:47 am

Good post Darren, but, I would like to add something to the cons of a hosted blog platform. My guess is the the overwhelming number of people reading these tips are interested in making money from blogging. That being the case, just get a stand alone blogging platform unless you can register your own domain name with the hosted platform. Believe me when I tell you that the cons of a stand-alone blogging platform are nothing compared to nightmare of moving from a subdomain to your own domain name if your blog ever becomes popular.
Liam Daly

February 15th, 2006 6:48 am

Eric Ward over at the hugely successful URLwire actually uses hosted blog platforms and gives some strategic reasons for so doing including:

1) It gets each post circulating in the blog community faster than if he hosted the URLwire blog at URLwire.com

2) It makes it quicker to get your post into all the key blog search engines

Given that he’s in the website announcement business he is however coming at it from the viewpoint of a linking expert.
Larson

February 15th, 2006 6:57 am

Wish I’d had this article in my back pocket when I started…. very valuable for those firing up a blog right now.

I began on a hosted platform and very quickly realized that I needed (see: wanted) more. I recently switched everything over to a stand alone situation running Wordpress… and I’d never go back.

I’m essentially an idiot with technical matters. I know it’s cliche, but if I can do this stuff, almost anyone can.
Marti

February 15th, 2006 7:22 am

Just wanted to say Happy Valentine’s Day!
Veridicus

February 15th, 2006 7:23 am

Good article. I highly recommend looking at Drupal. It can be a simple blog or let you grow into a full-featured CMS. Very adaptable as your blog grows.
Markus

February 15th, 2006 7:42 am

keep away from MovableType!

for my private blogs I use wordpress. It’s great. While blogging for a network I have to use MT and it’s that bad. Every 5 posts I get a error 500, posting is slow.

My advice: cheap (free) webspace with PHP&MySQL + Wordpress. And you are done. Hosting will be paid within a month with adsense. You are done.

BTW: Great article ( again *g* )
Matthew Price

February 15th, 2006 8:25 am

I’ve got a blog on blogger.com and it is receiving a ton of traffic. Its a great return on investment (free, ha!) but I am fearful of what could happen. I’m afraid that one day blogger will decide that its not okay to put ads on their blogs or that one day they might black list my blog or any one of a number of dreadful scenarios

On the other hand, I wonder if my blog is experiencing such great traffic because it is on blogger.com. After all, blogger.com is a Google service and I assume it is indexed more often and more efficiently than my stand alone blog. The vast majority of the traffic to the blog comes from Google. Also, I get some good traffic from the “next blog” link that blogger puts at the top of each blog which links to a random blog.

The prospect of moving my blog to a stand alone platform such as wordpress sounds about as fun as a root canal. It would have a very negative impact on the site’s traffic. It’d be better to just start another blog on the same topic and publish new content to it.
DavidC

February 15th, 2006 8:34 am

Great post, Darren. I think the important point here is that if you’re serious about being a professional blogger then you should probably go the stand alone blog route, for all of the reasons you mention. I agree that a CMS that is based on PHP and MySQL will probably provide the best cost/benefit/ability-to-customize-and-grow ratio. I also use Drupal, but even though I’m fairly technically proficient I think that the learning curve for tweaking the themes and modules is pretty steep. I have to admit, though, that as much as I personally ‘need’ a unique design, it is not the most important aspect of your blog. A few minutes looking through a site like Steve Pavlina’s (http://www.stevepavlina.com/) proves that a simple, clean design with quality content is what really counts.
HalloMarkus

February 15th, 2006 8:57 am

It is not only the above mentioned nightmare when moving from a subdomain to your own domain name but also when exporting or exporting all the stories / postings. There is no general exchange format especially not if you have a members and a permissions system.

So better think and compare twice! A good site for comparisons is: http://www.opensourcecms.com
http://www.cmsmatrix.org

And do not only look for blogs as blog technology is rather outdated. Have a look at small CMS / portals like Mambo, Geeklog, PHP-fusion, PHP-nuke (and forks) which can be downgraded to work and look exactely like blogs but they also offer a wide range of additional functions a normal blog can only dream of.

There is a big danger to fall for popular blog software and not see what is really on the market.However I agree that having ones own webspace and software and design is not as easy as a free hosted option.
pcunix

February 15th, 2006 9:09 am

Although certainly not an option for everyone, and fraught with its own perils, you forgot to mention this:

Don’t use any platform. Write your own code to manage posts, comments and so on.

The bad side is that you have to write the code, and unless you are real good at that, some features may be out of your reach forever. The good side is that you get EXACTLY what you want and you don’t have to worry about somebody else’s security screw-up (just your own).

That’s the road I took, though when I started it was really the only choice. If I were to start over today, I might be tempted by things like Drupal.. but with so much investment in my own stuff, I’m not going to switch now.
Chris

February 15th, 2006 9:24 am

Dude! use WritingUp.com. You get paid when your friends blog and you don’t have to deal with stupid software – its freaking awesome!
Robert

February 15th, 2006 9:35 am

you’ve got to be kidding Chris. Did you read what Darren wrote above about having your blog hosted by someone else? You lose control of your blog with writingup.com.

its a scam. Get your own blog and keep control and all the money you earn.
JLP at AllThingsFinancial

February 15th, 2006 9:55 am

Darren,

Great advice. I wish I would have seen it when I first got started.

I started out with blogger because it was free and I really didn’t want to spend any money until I figured out whether or not I liked blogging. However, in hindsight, I should have at least registered my own domain name and had it redirected to my blogger account. When I moved from blogger to my current site in August of last year, I lost quite a bit of traffic.
TLG

February 15th, 2006 10:31 am

Blogs being the same as anything you’d invest your time or money on, I’d always advise to go for the cheapest (free) option while you’re finding your feet. Make your mistakes without incurring costs for the first few weeks/months at least and then upgrade to something better once you realise what the benefits are.

Thanks for another great article Darren ;o)
Kingsley Tagbo

February 15th, 2006 12:45 pm

I wrote 2 articles about blog comparison:
How to Compare and Choose a Blog Software (Community Server Blogs 2.0, WordPress 2.0, TypePad, Squarespace, Quick Blog 1.0 and Blogger) Part 1 & Part 2

http://www.kdkeys.org/blogs/2006/02/04/how-to-compare-and-choose-a-blog-software-community-server-blogs-20-wordpress-20-typepad-squarespace-quick-blog-10-and-blogger-part-1/

http://www.kdkeys.org/blogs/2006/02/04/how-to-compare-and-choose-a-blog-software-community-server-blogs-20-wordpress-20-typepad-squarespace-quick-blog-10-and-blogger-part-2/
WordPress Help Tutorials: ProBlogger Blog Tips

February 15th, 2006 1:15 pm

[...] Choosing a Blog Platform [...]
Michael Martine

February 15th, 2006 2:35 pm

Now that Blogger has image uploading, you can customize your Blogger template to your heart’s content. Simply upload images in a post window and then copy the image URL. Paste that image URL into your template code where you want it (obviously, this only works well if you’re familiar with xhtml/css, but you should be for greater customization and flexibility).

There are plenty of hacks and cool things you can do to increase functionality for blogger/blogspot-hosted blogs, like a bookmarklet that helps you create technorati tags or using some great firefox extensions like Performancing or the web developer toolbar.

I’ve seen some fantastic blogs hosted on blogspot. Everyone has their tool prefs, of course. I have a WordPress blog and several blogger blogs, so I have experience with each. WordPress.com is still a bit limited in functionality, right now. Blogger’s dead easy, and yet the more you know the more you can do with it.
Chris

February 15th, 2006 2:47 pm

Robert:

Most bloggers know nothing about SEO. They need companies like writingup.com to help them get traffic. If their on to something, they can always go with a paid option later. however, I prefer to have them manage all the technology and drive traffic. I’m making great adsense dollars on my writingup blog.
Darren Rowse

February 15th, 2006 3:10 pm

Chris, I’m not familiar with writingup, or at least not in great detail.

To me they look quite like a lot of the blog networks going around (there will be a post on this later in this beginner series).

I think networks can be great for bloggers wanting to find an income stream for their blogging BUT they have to take into consideration the costs.

Things to check out include who owns the copyright (in this case the blogger does if I read the terms and conditions right) and who owns the domain name and who gets the money (split 50/50 in this case by the looks of things).

The main cost I see with this and many other networks is that you don’t own your own domain and that the domain of your blog is not a unique one. ie all posts seem to be on a writingup.com domain name.

This has both pros and cons with SEO and how professional it looks.

My other first impression of it is that all the pages look the same so it seems you can’t put your own touch on your blog in terms of look and feel and can’t make it run like you want it to run in terms of features and plugins.

I’m sure it’s a useful option for some though, especially people that just want to write and don’t mind somone else controlling how everything looks and run. As I’ve said – I don’t know this sytem well but I’m sure many users of it love it as you seem to.
HostingDiary

February 15th, 2006 4:14 pm

I’m a Typepad fan and I use the domain mapping feature to solve the subdomain domain problem.

Andrew
John Dilbeck

February 16th, 2006 12:27 am

I started out with, and continue to manage, several static websites. I started using blogs to make it easier to add updates, and continue to use this approach.

I’ve used Coranto, the successor to NewsPro, on a few sites, such as JohnDilbeck.com, and I’m happy with the results.

My first blog was at johndilbeck.editthispage.com, and I’m in the process of renewing hosting for that blog, powered by Manila.

I’ve played around with blogging on Bravenet.com, 360.Yahoo.com, MSNspaces, johndilbeck.powerfulintentions.com, and several others. I’ve used PHP-nuke on DilbeckCommunications.com, Mambo on ResidualIncomeGazette.com, and a variety of others.

For some time, my main blog was at johndilbeck.blogspot.com, but I started thinking about segmenting into multiple niche-oriented blogs and created several other blogs there. At one time, I had two dozen blogs at blogger/blogspot.

Big mistake!

Back in October, 2005, I started a new blog there, and in a couple of weeks, my account was blocked. I could never get a straight answer. One person would whitelist my account and another would block it, again. After three or four weeks of this, I’d had more than enough.

I created a new site at BlogFeedSyndication.com and archived all my blogger blogs to subdomains there.

I spent three months creating new blogs using WordPress on my own domains and started johndilbeck.wordpress.com to test WordPress version 2.

I’m now testing multiple niche blogs (and feeds) at ISucceedByHelpingYouSucceed.com powered by Radio Userland, the program I use to manage most of my static sites.

If you wonder why I’ve tried all of these, it’s because I’ve been testing various things to see how they work and what I like best.

Eventually, based on the results of my testing, I’ll focus on a few of these and let the rest fall aside.

I know one thing now. I’ll never again trust any revenue streams to free sites. I’ll have more control over my business.

Blogger’s TOS gives you exactly one recourse if you aren’t happy with the service — leave. That’s what I did, after a couple of hundred hours of work migrating away.

It didn’t cost me just time, however, my visitor traffic plummeted and will take months to recover. But, it will be worth it in the long run.

Now, I can add what I want to SyndicateYourAd.com and not have to answer to anyone.

It was a hard lesson to learn.

Act on your dream!

JD
: ProBlogger Blog Tips

February 16th, 2006 12:31 am

[...] Choosing a Blog Platform [...]
Blogging for Beginners: ProBlogger Blog Tips

February 16th, 2006 9:13 am

[...] Choosing a Blog Platform [...]
Brenda

February 18th, 2006 3:47 am

You could also check out http://bloggerparty.com – a hosted blogging platform that allows people to start blogs for free, have their own subdomain, choose their own theme, and for a 50/50 split in AdSense earnings, do a lot of the marketing of your blog for you.

This is a great solution for those that don’t want to have to bother with the nitty gritty, SEO, learning the ways to market a blog, etc., but who are just interested in actually writing and getting their blog read.

Plus, Blogger Party is more of a “community” blog rather than a stand alone personal blog, which many people are not interested in for the mere fact that it’s not that easy getting people to read your blogs.

Great tips, Darren. I think it’s awesome you’re putting this beginner’s guide together.
vitaly

March 18th, 2006 9:41 am

You could also check out http://www.bidinoff.com – free hosted “word press” blog engine. No ads, no popups. Plugins and Themes by request. Do it for fun.
Standing Here Beside Myself » Blog Archive » Choosing a Blog Platform

March 22nd, 2006 11:56 am

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March 22nd, 2006 12:04 pm

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Marcy

March 24th, 2006 12:24 pm

Here’s a suggestion: I don’t know if this is a good idea or bad in the long run — I’m pretty new to blogging — but I wanted my own domain name from the start, so I bought http://www.baddminton.com and used the free forwarding service that came along with it. I write my blog through Friendster, but you can get there through my straightforward domain name. I’m planning to switch to wordpress, and when I do, I won’t have to switch domain names. I’ve never seen this idea mentioned anywhere, and I’m clueless about SEO and all that, but I don’t think it’s such a bad idea if you want to start small and build your way up, as I’m doing.
kurokuroatbp » Happy Month-niversary to My Blog!

April 23rd, 2006 7:12 pm

[...] 2. BLOGGING SINNER – In his article Seven Deadly Sins of Blogging, Yuga said that the first deadly sin of blogging is using free blog hosting services. He even gave Blog Spot as an example. I was horrified! What? Me? A sinner? But I’ve always been a goodie-goodie! A manang even! How could I be a blogging sinner? So I checked out ProBlogger Darren Rowse. It so happens that Mr. Rowse said in his post Choosing a Blogger Platform that one of the advantages of using hosted blog platforms is that they’re cheap, if not free. I also checked out the weblogs.about.com article on Weblogs Ethics and Etiquette and it doesn’t say anything about forbidding free hosting services. In fact, the site even has an article about Top Free Blog Software/Hosting for Bloggers in which Blogger is number 2. Still, I have to admit that I feel guilty for being such a freeloader. But I don’t know what to do either. I’ve never bought anything on the Internet. Heck! I don’t even have a credit card in Cambodia! Isn’t that necessary for buying stuff on the Internet? Haaaaay! [...]
Anirban

May 3rd, 2006 3:55 am

I just started blogging recently and reading stuff out there to get a hang of it. After reding this post i am left with two quesions.

1) If i have my blog on blogger.com can i buy third party templet( a CSS & HTML based) and use it on my free blog on blgger.com?
2)On a long run will my free blog on blogger.com, be difficult to climb the search engine index?

Anirban
Passionnee du Web2.0 :: Claire Bernier » Choisir votre plateforme de blog: connaissez vous WordPress?

May 15th, 2006 10:58 pm

[...] Quand j'ai voulu demarrer mon blog, j'avais quelques questions: utilisabilite pour une neophyte, aspect, elegance, completude, cout…. J'ai trouve toutes mes reponses dans ce blog problogger.net en anglais. Il presente les plateformes principales: Blogger, MNS space, Typepad et WordPress. Vous trouverez ici une liste longue d'hebergeurs de blogs. [...]
redtor.com Thai Blog event » Blog Tools

May 18th, 2006 11:24 pm

[...] Please note that I�ve decided not to add �hosting packages� to this list and am attempting to keep it to products that directly help bloggers blogs improve rather than more general organizational/business products. Lastly I�m not including actual blogging platforms – if you�re interested in these and how to choose between them you might like my Choosing a Blog Platform post. [...]
Enthousiasmeren » Blog Archive » Les in bloggen

June 4th, 2006 2:52 am

[...] Choosing a Blog Platform [...]
Blog Marketing, Blog Promotion for Newbies » Blog Archive » Back To Basics

June 13th, 2006 12:34 am

[...] – What is a Blog? – 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers – Is a Blog Right for You? – How to Choose a Niche Topic for Your Blog – Choosing a Blog Platform – Choosing a Domain Name for your Blog – Blog Tools [...]
MaRisa

June 20th, 2006 8:06 pm

Just want to thank you very much for this information.
It’s just what I was searching for!
rr

June 21st, 2006 8:57 am

Nice post, thanks Darren. But I’ve got to say that after reading it and all of the comments, I’m still a little mystified as to which way to go. I’m currently in the design/development phase right now, organizing a little network of five blogs. I own three domain names, and was planning on using the root domains as well as two subdomains to house the blogs and the rest of the site content.

On a lark (and mostly because I saw a friend do it soooo easily) I created all five blogs on blogger.com, and had them redirected to my urls / ftp account. As far as users know, aside from the “I Power Blogger” graphic, the blog is totally my own. From what I can tell (and from what Blogger says), I’m free to change the template in any way I want, and can even replace it entirely . .. so there really is no loss of creative control. The “hat” is removable, as is the blogger logo.

So, I’m having a hard time understanding where the loss of control is . . . the content is on my site, and it’s entirely my design. Am I missing something? Is using their online publishing tool a risk — or any more of a risk that I wouldn’t incur with my own host/database? I did here somewhere that they *could* decide to yank your blog at any time without notice, but what are the chances of that?

Please understand, I’m at a point where I could still install another system, like WordPress, but from what I hear the options for managing multiple blogs from a single interface are somewhat limited . . . and Blogger makes it sooooo easy.

Please enlighten me . . . and thanks again for the great post and invaluable site.

Cheers,

==rr
rr

June 21st, 2006 9:47 am

oops . . . just reread your original post, and the bit about remote hosting options . . . so it looks like you had my question covered! feel free to delete my first comment (and this one!)

cheers,

==rr
blog中文翻译 » 选择合适的Blog平台

July 10th, 2006 10:07 pm

[...] 原文地址 | 中文翻译：iyee [...]
闵杰的Blog

July 11th, 2006 12:17 pm

[...] 原文地址 | 中文翻译：iyee [...]
Vijay shankar ganesh K » Blog Archives » Solving navigation link problem in Wordpress (index.phpIndex.php)

July 17th, 2006 3:43 pm

[...] http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/15/choosing-a-blog-platform/ [...]
Nick

July 19th, 2006 11:26 am

Is there still earning/advertising potential with hosted blog platforms?
ournewbusiness.com » Blog Archive » Entrepeneurs - practice “Good Practice” from the start

July 21st, 2006 1:38 am

[...] For this blog we could have jumped straight in without considering our options and gone for the easiest, quickest and cheapest option – a hosted blog. But instead we chose to host our own blog under our own domain name, as in future we might want to migrate onto our own blog platform – something which would have been major hassle if we had just taken the first option. Thanks to problogger.net for the advice. [...]
LearningNerd » Before the Blog Part 5: Choose Your Host

August 16th, 2006 11:44 am

[...] Being the newbie I am, I’m not willing to spend money on my blog yet. I’d love to have my own domain name, but for now, a free blog host will do. If you’re not sure which way to go, read Darren Rowse’s article on Choosing a Blog Platform. [...]
ournewbusiness.com » How to advise on a blog itself

August 21st, 2006 6:23 pm

[...] Choosing a blog platform and hosting option – if a company already has a website hosted and especially if their existing domain name is going to be used then they are likely to consider hosting the blog on their own server – in which case they just need to choose a (standalone) platform. In other cases more options are open, i’m not going to explain here, instead i’ll direct you to Darren Rowse’s comprehensive post on the subject. [...]
Niklas Skoglund

September 18th, 2006 10:47 pm

I use blogger but on my own domaine. it´s works fine to me. I can´t use PHP&MySQL on the server. I have tried to make the blog melt in to my homepage. But of course there are limits with the blogger templates. So I made my homepage to look like blooger design instead. /Niklas
Andrew

December 2nd, 2006 12:18 am

what is the best blogging platform to use? -i use blogger too-and am new to blogging.
The “Blogging for Nonprofits” Course » G) WHERE: The Blogging Platforms

December 14th, 2006 10:47 am

[...] ProBlogger’s “Choosing a Blogging Platform” [...]
Adsense Templates

December 30th, 2006 6:05 am

Hey Darren – this is an excellent post!

From my own experience, it is a good option to start off from Hosted Platform blog for the first few weeks, and then migrate to the own hosting pltaform.

By then a ‘newbie’ woould have learnt almost all the things that he needs to learn about blogging.

And like what you said, that saves him time too…

Colin
http://www.bestadsensetemplates.com/main/

ps: Sorry did not check the spelling before submitting
TRANSPARENT REAL ESTATE

January 1st, 2007 7:14 am

Links for those who are now considering entering the Blogosphere…

As mentioned before, I’m now persuading my network of real estate professionals to consider developing blogs for their business. I promised more than a few of those contacts that I would provide a basic introduction to why they should blog, how they s…
Little Money

January 9th, 2007 7:15 am

Thanks for the useful information! I’m glad i chose wordpress :)
Project Millionaire - Project : Can I change careers and make a living online? » How to Start Blogging: 2. Hosting

January 13th, 2007 8:19 am

[...] Make sure your host meets up to the requirements of the platform you are going to use. I won’t be giving any advice on what platform to use. I took wordpress for 2 reasons. First it is free, and that is the best price for anything. Second, it was very easy to set up on my host. There is a 1 click install button for Wordpress on my host. All I needed to do was add plugins and customise to my taste. ProBlogger also has a post dedicated to this. check it out [...]
Jackie R.

January 26th, 2007 3:02 am

Thanks for this great post. It’s the most comprehensive analysis i have read. What you said is very true. I am using wordpress platform and I am already quite bored with the same few designs. I hope wordpress can add in more though in the future.

Other than this, the cons of the hosted platform you mention exactly manifest what I am experiencing now. I feel like trapped in a box. By the way, Darren, my blog is at PR4 now, how high PR do you think it can reach if I continue to use the hosted wordpress platform and build good links into it?

Thanks for your advice,
Jackie R.
Which of the bloggig platforms to use at Guide4Blogging.com

February 3rd, 2007 12:11 am

[...] Recommended links: What Blogging Tool Do You Use and Why? – user poll about choosing a blogging platform Choosing a Blog Platform – very detailed article about choosing a blog platform Blog software comparison chart [...]
nukemdomis

February 3rd, 2007 7:53 pm

My first experiences with a “paid for” blogging application have been excellent so far. I use Quickblog and it’s not bad for $6.00 per month. While the amount of add-ons and plugins are somewhat slim, it’s ease of use and overall features win in the end.

ACD – site blog: Why this web site uses Godaddy’s Quickblog application
Make Easy Money » Blog Archive » Which Blogging Platform Do You Use and Why? - Open Mike

February 8th, 2007 9:53 am

[...] I get a lot of questions from people just getting into blogging about which blog platform to choose. I have my own preferences and opinions but try to be objective with my answer. I usually point people to my blogging for beginners post on blog platforms for starters – but I’m aware that even that is skewed by my own experiences of blogging. [...]
JMT

February 10th, 2007 12:01 pm

I run a hip-hop blog that me and few friends started a few months ago (our first blog) and we are experiencing terrible CTR’s, while my blog is seeing nearly 1000 iompressions a day, and I read all your tips to try to increase this and all I can really do is change the color scheme, because it is my understanding typepad only alows you to have ads along your side collums so I have three questions:
1. Is this true that with Typepad you can only have ads along the collums or is there away to get adsense as a banner across the top or in between posts
2. Is there any way to do this(if it is possible without knowing CSS
3. Is there other software that someone could recomend that would allow me more freedom for adsense placement, but is still as easy as typepad. Also it still has to be easy to use daily, set up, and be written to from multiple people all over the world.

Any Help is GREATLY appreciated I’m still a pretty big rookie… Thanks
10 Useful Tips to Beginner Bloggers | Bohemian Journey

February 13th, 2007 8:56 pm

[...] Blogging platforms – Shop around for blogging platform and choose one which fits your needs. After all you will have to work with this software for a long time to come. [...]
dude

February 17th, 2007 1:21 pm

Why do u say to use wordpress when they don’t allow u to put ads on ur blog?
The Blog Works - How to build a successful blog. » Your First Blog

February 19th, 2007 11:35 am

[...] Darren Rowse, the well known Problogger, has a good article on choosing a blog platform. [...]
Daw - Web Hosting Blog » Blog Archive » Blog Software - Paid Web Hosting Platforms Or Free Ones?

February 21st, 2007 4:16 am

[...] A good ”How To…” article about blogging can be found in ProBlogger. [...]
Blogging for business course part 2 - Blogging platforms : The Blog Consultant

March 12th, 2007 4:23 pm

[...] Problogger.net [...]
» Comparison of top blogging platforms– Wordpress, Typepad, Movable Type, Blogger. | Bethesda,Maryland website designer design company

March 17th, 2007 2:28 pm

[...] Darren Rowse doesn’t give a review but he does help you define your blogging goals before selecting a blogging platform. There is alot to think about when you read through it. [...]
praveen

March 17th, 2007 5:37 pm

hi it is nice and info matic. i think blogger is great idea if you are a starter . i started a simple blog in blogger http://www.sinduram.blogspot.com. it is ok for limited but if u want to unlimited it is better to hosted blog.
Carrie

March 20th, 2007 9:37 pm

Thanks for putting all this great info out there. Which free hosted platforms allow you to put ads on your blog? I started a blog on wordpress.com only to find out they don’t allow that. I have plenty of great content to blog but I also want to see if I can make a little cash before actually spending any on hosting and licences.
Matt Wardman

March 22nd, 2007 8:19 pm

Darren

Thanks for the info here – I used you for a supporting reference in the first article of a series on Political Blogging at mattwardman.com.

Rgds

Matt
Matt Wardman

March 22nd, 2007 8:23 pm

Thanks for the info here.

A heads up that I am attempting some more rigorous analysis using Google/Technorati data as part of a series on political blogging at mattwardman.com.

Rgds

Matt
Kavoir Magazine » Blogger, WordPress and MovableType Compared

April 3rd, 2007 10:23 pm

[...] Choosing a Blog Platform by Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger.net gives no review but urges bloggers to define their own goals choosing a blogging system. You may also enjoy his Blogging for Beginners. [...]
HostingNiche » Blog Software - Paid Web Hosting Platforms Or Free Ones?

April 7th, 2007 6:40 pm

[...] A good ”How To…” article about blogging can be found in ProBlogger. [...]
The Lonely Marketer - a discussion for the small business marketing manager » Business Blogging: Important First Steps to Consider

April 17th, 2007 9:07 pm

[...] with paying for a blogging platform with less features than the FREE Wordpress. (problogger has a very in-depth post on choosing blogging platforms) So, we’re leaning towards a subdomain – http://www.blog.oursite.com [...]
ascreamingwriter

April 18th, 2007 4:18 pm

I use Blogger b/c there are no limits to what I can do w/ it. You mentioned you moved to wordpress (a place I recently left for a few reasons but didn’t blog there for long anyway).

Blogger allows me complete control and customization of the template, plus I can still add widgets, there’s a lot of those available (i.e. SongSpot). When I was on wordpress, I had no control to change my template as I saw fit; if I wanted to I had to pay to do that (i.e. xhtml, css).

I’m able to ‘advance’ Blogger as technology changes and add tools to it, and whatever I like pretty much, by adding code and it does not stop me from learning (i.e. I don’t have to pay for it). The fact that I’ve been given the choice to learn html, css, etc is fantastic for someone like me who loves research and information and information and more information. I feed on information. Useful, knowledgeable and efficient information of course.

I found in wordpress I was only allowed to throw in a widget that they had available. I couldn’t add my own code and use another source, I was forced to use whatever they were promoting I suppose. When I’m not “allowed” to learn or make my own choices I get very turned off by that.

I’ve tested quite a few other blog platforms, but I still love Blogger the best.
Hosted or Standalone Blogging Platforms - Which is Best?

April 22nd, 2007 1:16 am

[...] talked previously about some of the Pros and Cons of Hosted and Standalone blog platforms – but thought it might make an interesting open mic discussion (or [...]
Majic

April 23rd, 2007 2:36 am

I currently host my blog on wordpress – it’s free and easy. In addition for a small fee you can register a domain name and have all the traffic pointed at that. The plan for me is to eventually move off once the added costs of domain hosting can be covered from ad income. Until I build up a reader base, I’m going to stay where I am to keep costs down.
Bihar

April 23rd, 2007 8:57 am

best thing is try free and then move to your own domain.
mIRC

April 27th, 2007 7:19 am

Plus, Blogger Party is more of a “community” blog rather than a stand alone personal blog, which many people are not interested in for the mere fact that it’s not that easy getting people to read your blogs.
yonja

April 28th, 2007 11:55 pm

Plus, Blogger Party is more of a “community” blog rather than a stand alone personal blog, which many people are not interested in for the mere fact
Yonja

April 28th, 2007 11:58 pm

thanks free Blogger allows me complete control and customization of the template, plus I can still add widgets
Andy Mahoney

May 3rd, 2007 2:21 am

Well I have read manyposts with interest but the main interest I have in Blogging is generating income via Google Adsense.

My website http://www.homebrewpower.co.uk is aimed at educating people in Green Renewable Energy Production.

Does anyone out there have any tips on how I would intergrate Adsense further into my website or other tips to make surfers stay around a little longer?

I Host the site myself and have 20 Gigs of space available plus unlimited traffic allowed plus I use Blogger as my Blogging platform

Andy
http://www.homebrewpower.co.uk
How can I setup my own blog?

May 5th, 2007 2:40 am

[...] we will refer to this Problogger’s blog He has a great article Choosing a Blog Platform that explains this top [...]
Blogging Tips for Novice Bloggers « Michael Sync

May 30th, 2007 8:35 pm

[...] Chossing a blog platform : This article is written by the owner of problogger.net. It will give nice idea about which blog platform is right for you. [...]
bob

June 8th, 2007 4:15 am

Personally I use blogger and I am pretty pleased with it – I have learned a lot since I started to blog.
Christine

June 15th, 2007 10:09 am

Has anyone heard of weebly.com? You can basically create content, layout and template with drag and drop features. I’m not sure if this is considered a “blog” tool per se.
7 Essential Tools for Business Blogs |

June 18th, 2007 5:04 am

[...] made the commitment to writing your own blog, here are seven essential tools—beyond the blogging platform itself (Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, Moveable Type, etc.)—to help promote your business blog and [...]
Christine

June 19th, 2007 8:22 am

Hi – I’m going to try to install wordpress again! Does anyone know what are the pros and cons of doing a manual install or using Fantastico to do it?
mortgage training wiki » Blog Archive » Introduction - Build your own mortgage blog

June 22nd, 2007 8:49 am

[...] next step is to choose a platform for blogging. this is the software that enables to blog. Once everything is set up, you’ll be able to add [...]
sam

June 27th, 2007 7:31 pm

even joomla is a good CMS..and a blog software too
Miss E

July 9th, 2007 3:33 pm

I also want to know what the deal is about WordPress — they forbid any kind of advertising. What would I do if I got my own domain name but wanted to use WordPress to maintain the blog? I think a lot of us would like to find out which hosted service allows AdSense and affiliate advertising. Thanks for a great post.
Blog Hosting, Domains and Blogging Platforms - What We Wish We Knew

July 10th, 2007 3:00 am

[...] more on choosing a blogging platform and selecting a name and domain name for your [...]
Zach

July 10th, 2007 6:03 am

I fit the category of “new blogger” and bought my domain but have it hosted at blogger.com so that i could use their templates. I’m frustrated that I can’t add a left and a right sidebar for ads, links, picture etc. and also still don’t have a google page rank (not sure if this has anything to do with the fact blogger hosts it). Is it possible to use wordpress or something like it to set up my layout, and still use blogger.com to host? is there another host i could move to with better customizable layouts? and would moving there hurt my rankings if i kept the same domain name (since i own it)?

Thanks – what i have read here has definitely been helpful.
mp3 indir

July 15th, 2007 1:42 am

It will give good idea about which blog platform is right fr you..
Asako

July 30th, 2007 3:21 pm

One month ago when I decided to start a blogsite, I was such a beginner. I came to this “blogging for beginners” – almost the first blog site I have ever visited in my life as well (funny, I decided to start a blog, without even having visited one). Per your suggestion, in the end, I decided to just use WordPress provided by my hosting company. I just chose whatever domain name to see what happens. Now, I think I got it, at least how the blog platform works and what you can do in the blogging world. I just want to thank you for your very helpful guidance!!
Thomas Fisher

August 1st, 2007 3:58 am

I want to point you to the fact that blogger.com lets you use your own domain name.

Thomas
Doug M

August 1st, 2007 5:41 am

Darren I would just like to thank you for all the help this site has provided me with. I’ve been coming back to this site fairly often to read your new posts as well as read through the “beginner’s” section thoroughly. I am new to the blogging world and after rushing and making a few blogs I think I have found what I was looking for in not only a blog platform, but as a topic for my blog. Again i wanted to say thank you for your insight and this amazing site.
April

September 12th, 2007 8:27 am

Darren,

I’m interested in starting a blog, but my blog idea requires me to be able to use photographs, as well as video and text. Is there any platform that you know of that will allow me to do this?

I have found your information and links very useful in my blog research, most especially the beginners section! Thank you so very much!
Dave Keays

October 1st, 2007 11:37 am

Unless you want something really simple or already have PHP and MySQL skills I would stay away from Drupal. The documentation is spotty so you need to be able to read the core modules and sometimes create SQL tables yourself.

This blog mentions the problems with trying to use Drupal in the wrong situations:
http://tinyurl.com/2sskh2

Like the article said, Drupal CAN BE dangerous.
Healthy Life

October 1st, 2007 12:01 pm

I love Wordpress a lot. It has a great support and plugins from the society
Manele

October 6th, 2007 9:04 pm

my favorite is wordpress but when i have a lot of traffic my server is very very busy :( i will try other platforms.
Ann

October 9th, 2007 1:40 am

Interesting and useful post. What about VOX owned by Six Apart? Also, please, if you haven’t, explore the issue of ‘accessible’ blogging sites. My husband is blind, uses JAWS, and he would like to blog. We would like to know what blogging sites are most accessible to his screen reading software. I use VOX but it is not accessible to him; we tried.
stag

October 9th, 2007 6:54 am

Hi

I already have a website but i want to incorporate a blog, is it possible to use the blogging platforms as part of your website or not? If so, which ones would be recommended regardless of cost?

Cheers
Mike Dammann

October 13th, 2007 3:33 am

What would you guys recommend for starting a blog network?
Saturn

October 16th, 2007 5:41 am

I really enjoyed your page.
It’s vonderful.
Sipboy

October 28th, 2007 1:55 am

I really like your post! I also want to point out that blogger.com has an excellent feature that allows you to use their platform along with your own domain. It is working good for me so far. I have the ability to change at any time while still maintaining my url. Check it out at http://www.MyCiti.us if interested. Thanks!
mirc

November 19th, 2007 10:51 am

I have found your information and links very useful in my blog research, most especially the beginners section! Thank you so very much!
Zaidimai

November 23rd, 2007 1:00 am

I like Wordpress m It has a fantastic structure with good support
exinco

November 24th, 2007 4:11 pm

i start using blogger.com. i like blogger because easy integrate with google adsense. wordpress cannot do in subdomain. for the new blog i use wordpress as a platform and still learn to it
Laura Benjamin

November 25th, 2007 1:33 am

Excellent article! I’m one of those who began a blog in Jan 2006 as a fun experiment and a publishing outlet. It was easy to start with Wordpress and fun to upload my own photographs as customized headers.

However, I run a small business and eventually decided it would be smart to move the blog over to my website. I ran into all the issues you mentioned in your post:

- how to get my increasing numbers of readers to follow me over
- how to get the deed done, considering my tekkie skills are limited
- whether or not to consider advertising (I plan to do this quite soon)
- the frustration of going from a “turn key” application where I could do most of what I wanted at will to now relying on some limited technical support (can ya tell I’m not a patient person? grin)

So thank you for the in-depth treatment of this subject. I plan to post a link to this article somewhere (my ezine, blogpost, etc.) and definitely will send it on to my clients who are in the process of starting their blogs!

Laura
Veronica

November 26th, 2007 7:06 pm

thanks so much for this post. it just about covered all my questions concerning blogging. :)
exinco

November 27th, 2007 6:34 am

some blogging tips available on my site. my own experience.
experience is always right
Jan

November 28th, 2007 7:33 pm

Lots of great info. I started out at wordpress.com and found out that I liked blogging so much that I decided to take a stab at making money while doing it. The wordpress.com free hosting does not allow any advertising what so ever, if they find any they close your blog without any notice, so I looked else where for my next blog host. It is now at blogger/blogspot and I love the freedom. I can do what I want with it without fear of big hosting company watching my every move.

A word of wisdom to all that will listen – if you plan on puting any advertising on your blog even if it is a link to your own website, read the TOS of the blog host BEFORE you sign up with them. It will save you some grief later.
chloe

November 30th, 2007 12:44 pm

well, for me i still like Wordpress
Mike

November 30th, 2007 4:29 pm

Great info. Out of all the sites/blogs reviewed I chose wordpress. It was the easiest to use by far and had more options than moveable type, typepad, and blogger. Hope this helps future bloggers.
Andrew

December 18th, 2007 7:56 am

For a commercial project (or at least if I hope it to bring some profit one day) I would and have chosen a snad alone platform using Wordpress.

However, I juts recently thought that if I die it will die too (unpaid domain and hosting). So I plan to use a Blogger for my personal blog that I am going to start soon. At least it may stay longer…
肺癌

December 22nd, 2007 3:14 pm

thanks so much for this post. it just about covered all my questions concerning blogging. :)
chris usti

December 25th, 2007 5:16 am

This is a great post. I enjoyed the read!

I also love wordpress … please visit my blog and leave your comments. I plan on having TONS of interesting blogging info on here. I look forward to seeing you there.
Budhi

December 27th, 2007 5:52 pm

Fantastic elaboration, you’ve just brought my knowledge to the next level. Thanks.
Garg the Unzola

January 8th, 2008 12:24 pm

That’s quite a comprehensive guide, thanks.
I started recently on blogspot just to test the waters. It serves my purpose, although my blog looks like crap in my opinion.

Once I get over my aversion for design, I will get my own hosting and do a proper design job.
Manele gratis

January 10th, 2008 3:47 am

i have a website and i wanna have a plog platform… but i don`t know how to have it!
Buddy

January 18th, 2008 10:42 am

I have been using blogger.com. It has been working out great. WidgetBucks and Google Adsense are both reviewing my application and hopefully I will start making a little income off of what just used to be a hobby!
Airsoft Maniac

January 20th, 2008 10:54 am

Blogger.com does work great considering that you don’t have to pay a dime.
Buddy

January 21st, 2008 8:50 am

I agree with Airsoft Maniac in that blogger does much more than you expect from a free bloghosting website.
rubu

January 22nd, 2008 9:29 am

http://retirementoutlook.com/
rubu

January 22nd, 2008 9:41 am

Lots of great info. I started out at wordpress.com and found out that I liked blogging so much that I decided to take a stab at making money while doing it.
Buddy

January 22nd, 2008 12:02 pm

BLOGGER.COM is great for the low price; FREE!
Chris

January 23rd, 2008 8:00 am

After a year with blogger.com I am leaning towards buying my own domain and starting from scratch. Although blogger was great I think I have found a niche that could actually be pursuitable by readers. WidgetBucks is paying great through #of clicks.
rubu

January 23rd, 2008 8:52 am

Does anyone out there have any tips on how I would intergrate Adsense further into my website or other tips to make surfers stay around a little longer?
proinvestorsblog

January 25th, 2008 3:51 pm

I used bluehost with built in wordpress w/ my own domain. This made it setup much easier, and yet I have a name that people can remember, and I can use any template I want with out problems. I love having full control of my blog.

Thanks,
Chad
ASE

January 29th, 2008 8:21 am

Wordpress offers free domain mapping redirection, which saves you the inconvenience in traffic when you switch domains. (i.e., All links to a post are automatically redirected to your new domain.)
Timothy Andrew

January 31st, 2008 12:21 am

Thank you. I quite accidentally stumbled on this blog. I’m definitely going to regularly visit here now though. This article has been very helpful. Answered many questions. Just to add, there’s this new blog platform called tumblr (which i use), and its a different FORM of blogging itself. That is the main page, albeit the only page on my blog now, but i plan to use that as a secondary scrapbook of sorts, and expand into a wordpress.org installation for my original content.
Jeba

February 3rd, 2008 12:31 am

It has to be wordpress any time of the day :D
indir

February 3rd, 2008 10:30 am

If you have questions about the moderation policies here, please read this post. Short version: treat other posters with respect.
Webdesigner

February 4th, 2008 4:40 pm

Thanks for sharing! I’m sure this is the best article about choosing right blog platform.
I think stand alone blogs rule.
Nico

February 9th, 2008 12:57 pm

I chose Joomla 1.5 for my blog. It’s a new release and there’s not many plugins available yet. Joomla has many possibilities, but also some limitations.

I still can’t find some kind of plugin that automaticly pings other sites when I update and search engine friendly url’s are still not possible…

If my little blog project crashes because of my CMS, I hope it’ s soon… don’t keep me waiting

Either way, I like this blog a lot.
Jack

February 12th, 2008 12:41 pm

What about squarespace?

Is there anything wrong with that platform? Because I’ve been using Wordpress and am sick of not being able to change anything like the layout by myself, even though i paid for the domain and extra CSS.

Any way, i’ve been looking at Squares Space and was wondering what you think about it??
john long

February 14th, 2008 3:28 am

My strategy is using free blogger first..when you has established probably you might consider to host it somewhere with your own domain.
Wordpress is good in term of google search rather than blogspot but wordpress not support for ads, I mean for free wordpress hosting.
jim

February 17th, 2008 1:10 am

One of the things I like about using wordpress is that my posts are indexable on Google in 10 minutes. http://www.speechrep.com Having a “professional blog” adds a lot of value for the person who is positioning themselves as an expert and a thought leader like Darren. Great post thank you.
chvnx

February 20th, 2008 2:00 pm

tumblr.com is great.
SEO South Africa

February 26th, 2008 4:46 am

Thanks Darren

This is a topic I have been wondering about for a while now,you summed it up superbly and comprehensively!

Great work
Jaseem Umer

February 28th, 2008 1:19 pm

I was using Blogger before. Now blogging comfortably with Wordpress.
jocuri barbie

March 2nd, 2008 7:48 pm

I really enjoyed your page.
It’s vonderful.
mirc

March 3rd, 2008 2:08 am

I want to learn somebody can help me ?
Vedic Astrologer

March 24th, 2008 2:48 pm

Since you are going to be working hard towards making your blog popular, trust me, once it does get popular, you will yearn to get away from a generic name and try to find a hosting site for yourself. The next problem will be trying to shift the blogging platform. Moving from blogger to wordpress is easy, but the other way around is almost impossible.

Blogger hosting is good, but no where as configurable as a wordpress blog – especially with folks writing their own plugins and sharing with the rest of the world.
Ken

March 31st, 2008 12:54 pm

Yahoo offers webhosting as well as domain names. Has anyone experience of Yahoo’s services? Are they suitable if you eventually want to make money through advertising on the blog?

I am new to blogging.
DOTMEDOMAINS

April 1st, 2008 8:26 am

Hi Darren,

On the cons of free hosted blogging, I don’t think design limitations and being less configurable is a big turn off these days.

For example, I have 5 free hosted blogs on blogspot but I have 4 of them with their own domain names. I use a WP-theme converted Blogger template which makes my blogs look like wordpress on the front-end but the back-end is totally blogger. I chose this because I’m more comfortable with blogger’s back-end. When I started blogging, I didn’t know much about html. Even now, I couldn’t say I understand everything about HTML. But I learned and with a little patience, I’m able to tweak, twist and turn my blogs like I’m using WP.

There are tons of blogger designs and WP-theme converted blogger templates blogspot users can download instead of using the old generics. I, for one, don;t use and dread those generic designs.

As for the free hosting, I’ve been on the free blogger hosting for about 9 months now and I haven’t experienced the so-called problem of not having total control of the blog so I’m sticking with what I have.

There are lots of work arounds out there to overcome the so called limitations of free hosted blogs. It only takes a little patience and searching.

Here’s my blogs to show you the blog designs I have:
http://www.buymedomains.com
http://www.callcenterblogger.com

Feel free to delete the links after reading this. Thanks.
prefabrike

April 7th, 2008 10:33 pm

While the amount of add-ons and plugins are somewhat slim, it’s ease of use and overall features win in the end.
Dale

May 4th, 2008 7:38 am

Lots of good input about what the best blog platform but one thing people are not talking about is ease of use. Wordpress is a bit too complicated and blogger is pretty limited. check out http://www.moguling.com
Ryan McLean

May 4th, 2008 11:59 pm

I am using wordpress for my financial blog
Just wish I knew more about it so I could make my front page and blog layout awesome.
Yours is pretty cool
Thanks for all the tips. I went for a hosted blog (where I pay for hosting) because it allowed me more freedom than the free ones…and freedom is really what I wanted.
I want to provide the best blog possible, not a second rate blog.
Vanessa

May 12th, 2008 3:18 am

This is a great article Darren. I will place a link to it in a future article. One of the things I would want to have some security about is whether a hosted platform has any long term staying power. Some have gone out of business since I started blogging in 2003. A well established blog host platform should be on the list.

On a personal level I’ve blogged on hosted platforms beginning in 2003 until I found Blogger.com worked best for me. I wanted to learn HTML and have some control over the look and feel. But it was mostly for learning HTML and no other host allowed such freedom.

I secured my domain name in February and am having my son create and design my website in the near future. But I am going to keep my blog and start fresh with the new website under the same name as the blog.

Blogger.com gave me the time I needed to find my field of interest and experiment with numerous things and kept the traffic coming while I was finding my way. My blog is nine months old this month. I gave myself a year to experiment and learn etc.

One of the unique advantages of Blogger.com is being able to experiment and learn about SEO using your blog to see what works. The greatest benefit by far is access to your code to learn HTML. I think it helps a lot to learn as much as you can.

One of the things I am most concerned with as far as having my own site are things like bandwith, hosting costs along with the other expenses involved with a stand alone. In January 2008 I added AdSense and wish I had done it when I started my blog in July 2007. I waited around six months. Wish I hadn’t.

But I do have PR3 now and in January I had PR0. Increased Page rank ups the quality of the ads a bit and traffic. I’m still learning and having fun doing it. Great research article, thanks Darren.
chriss

May 29th, 2008 11:23 am

blogger.com is the best free platform for “youngest bloggers” !
HELLODELLO

June 10th, 2008 8:46 am

The first thing every blogging beginner should know is to have his own website name or Domain name. It is heartbreaking to see so many good blogs using blogspot subdomains and losing flexibility to monetize their blogs. That was the best advice I got from Darren.
Arul

June 20th, 2008 8:21 pm

Great source for beginners….

Thank you problogger team….
Uncle Che

June 27th, 2008 2:31 am

To me, stand alone blogs rule. There is no way that remote hosted blogs can ever be able to complete. All the serious bloggers are using stand alone platforms. Many people who use wordpress.com or blogspot.com end up using wordpress.org. It is better to start standalone now that start changing in the future.
arthritisguy

June 28th, 2008 12:33 pm

i really like wordpress compared to blogspot. wordpress is simple yet more user friendly.
Joomla Adsense Search

June 29th, 2008 10:03 pm

Good site I \”Stumbledupon\” it today and gave it a stumble for you.. looking forward to seeing what else you have..later
ocface

June 30th, 2008 8:58 am

don’t forget about ning :)
Student

July 1st, 2008 7:50 pm

I think that was not present better blog platform than Wordpress
Sylvia

July 3rd, 2008 6:41 am

Just follow up your instinct and people will believe you.
Alex Wilson

July 7th, 2008 12:49 pm

I just stick to wordpress, its so simple – so visually easy – yet templates that are free can be so professional!

I love it and will never change my mind!
Max

July 15th, 2008 4:21 am

ing a Blog Platform is a quite interesting post but quite difficult to understand for me .
Whonami

July 18th, 2008 11:53 am

I like wordpress. It is more friendly with search engines
Gonefishing

July 20th, 2008 11:05 pm

Hello there..
I tried both joomla and also mambo..although they seem like twin brothers..Mambo suits me well..
GONEFISHING
charles

July 23rd, 2008 11:50 pm

How about blogger.com? And i just want to ask which is better. wordpress or blogger.com?

Most of your posts are definitely high quality posts.

Thank you
Money Making and Blogging Tips
Charles
http://www.resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com
moneymanager

July 27th, 2008 12:09 am

quite a thought provoking article,
darren you are “numero uno” not without reason.
though i just started blogin on blogger platform and i am an absolute novice and big time idiot when it comes to technical things like html, format ,etc etc but still now i will go for a stand alone one.
one question though, i recently checked with bigdaddy and the charges for domain names are as low as 10 dollars yearly, well is it just that much or there is more to it? and also at the cost of sounding an idiot , i wanted to ask is stand alone means unique domain name for you? and if lets say i get one say from bigdaddy who is responsible for maintaining it?thats a lots of questions, if you could help. thanks
http://getrich-moneymanager.blogspot.com/
John O

August 5th, 2008 2:23 am

I am just looking into starting a blog for our site and this has come in very handy. I was unsure before now it make much more sense for us to use a hosted platform to begin with.
mars

August 5th, 2008 7:22 pm

As a person who’s tried Blogger, LJ, Diaryland, Vox, Lycos, Jugem, fc2, Wordpress and Tumblr, I’d have to say Tumblr is the best.

I keep both my wordpress and Tumblr because they are very different and I like them both equally but if you want to have ease of use, then Tumblr is your chose. There’s also Posterous now. It’s fairly new and you can’t do anything about customization yet but the idea of blogging from email is very attractive and interesting.

yours truly,
love Tumblr and WP.
John Sylvester

August 19th, 2008 10:19 pm

For commercial perspective, blogging using blogger.com doesn’t really work. For it to be useful it needs to be a seamless extension to a website. For this I always use WordPress, preferably with three introductions to the stories linked from the home page and links to it from the whole site. This, I believe, is the most effective use of blogging from a business perspective.
Armil Velos

August 27th, 2008 7:00 pm

Thank You! I could highly recommend this blog post my my friends who are newbies in blogging. It’s a well crafted guidelines for them to consider.
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August 30th, 2008 1:27 pm

I wanna buy my own domain next year because i have mo budget yet. I am using blogsome now for my bloghost. I like wordpress but i have not yet money,
maeva

September 7th, 2008 3:35 pm

Just follow up your instinct and people will believe you.
The Serrano Boy

September 10th, 2008 10:52 pm

for me, wordpress is the best blog platform. Some of my blogs are wordpress.
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September 12th, 2008 2:09 am

I don’t quite understand what ing a Blog Platform is…
Mike

September 13th, 2008 12:21 am

I think your chart would be more useful if you separated the blog software packages from the blog services. The first choice anyone makes is whether is to whether to have their own server account. Then after that they think about the platform.
German Romance

September 13th, 2008 6:22 pm

Thanks for the long post. I was not sure what blogging platform to use, because I am a newbie I will choose TypePad. Thanks!
partner

September 30th, 2008 4:18 am

thanks for the long post. I was not sure what blogging platform to use, because I am a newbie I will choose
Max

October 2nd, 2008 9:18 pm

Please keep these excellent posts coming.
Codrut Turcanu @ best blogging platform

October 5th, 2008 10:28 am

I did not read your blog when it first come out. It’s just my 4th month with problogger though :)

And I wonder — did you start with WP from the beginning?

The way is looking right now it shows you’ve started blogging for business from the beginning!
Naveed Razaq

October 17th, 2008 4:24 am

what i think, word press is going up, there are many users which are creating accounts in word press, and you will find good themes.

My site:http://www.beyondweblogs.com is on dotnetblogengine. very good for seo, but there is no so much enhancement as in word press blog platform so i personally believe that word press is better then every other.

Naveed Razaq | http://www.beyondweblogs.com
Teens Can Make Money Online

October 17th, 2008 11:05 am

I started out with blogger because it is easy and simple to use but now i wish i had used Wordpress.

My blogger blog is losing PR and SERP fast and i am getting less and less traffic.

Wordpress is just the best option out there.

http://onlinemoneyforteens.blogspot.com
Rory
maeva

October 21st, 2008 1:35 am

Why do you think things have always to go that way?
maeva

October 21st, 2008 6:36 am

Once things start going right, you could be asked to bring some proof.
Taylor

October 23rd, 2008 8:08 am

Thanks for the tips. After reading your platform suggetions I signed up with Wordpress and love it. I have started a blog but I am having difficulty finding good ways to get it known. What are some good ways I can expand my network and get more people to visit my site?

http://www.precision21.com

Taylor
Joel Lucks

October 25th, 2008 1:27 am

I’m also a newbie to blogging. I do have a business and I do want to use a blog to generate traffic and additional income. However, after reading quite a few comments on hosted blogs vs. standalone blogs, I am totally overwhelmed by all the technology and support tools out there.
While my webmaster was well-intentioned by recommending Blogger, and not realizing how critical a decision it was, I jumped onto Blogger.com. It seemed OK to get things going and, hopefully, increase traffic to my website. Now, I’m “shaking” by some of comments people have shared!
I see some benefit to hosted blogs and, now, the pitfalls. Although my blog has not been out there very long, it probably isn’t too late to design a standalone platform.
Where would I find a blog designer and what might I expect to have to pay for it?
Anyone’s thoughts?
Joel
GaryJay

October 26th, 2008 2:46 am

at the tender age of 71, just started to blog—chose Blogger.com——was posting my stuff in minutes, and as they say the rest is history—–.http://threescoreplusten.blogspot.com/
klugsang

October 28th, 2008 2:16 pm

I start with blogger.com it easy but you can not modifly myblog easy.Now i want to my own host and own blog.Thank you for article for decision.
Social Bookmarks Demon

November 2nd, 2008 6:04 pm

Social Bookmarks Demon is enormously powerful, 100% automatic social bookmarking software which will build UNLIMITED number of top quality backlinks, send first-class traffic in minutes, increase your affiliate sales, AdSense income and site revenue as much as never. Social Bookmarks Demon combines features of ALL social bookmarking tools available in the market for price of single tool.
mirc

November 4th, 2008 11:11 pm

I think your chart would be more useful if you separated the blog software packages from the blog services. The first choice anyone makes is whether is to whether to have their own server account. Then after that they think about the platform.
Daniel Hunt

November 7th, 2008 5:54 am

Thats a useful analysis, still holds true when choosing a blogging platform.. I started with Wordpress on a self-hosted option, and am now considering moving to Drupal 6.x.. If any of your readers are interested they can look through my experience of blogging to date which contains lots of tutorials on how to get started, including some of the myths about making money online… hope it’s ok to post a link to the site here or you can click on my name…

http://technicalarticles.co.uk/index.php/my-top-10-must-read-blogging-articles-for-beginners/
anouar

November 9th, 2008 11:55 pm

I try both of blogger and wordpress.
so really there is no comparison between wp and blogger.

thanks for sharing knowledge about other platforms
Joel

November 10th, 2008 7:16 am

OK, it seems the consensus for selecting platforms is to build your own. Do I understand correctly that WordPress is one of the best, BUT you have to pay for it?

Joel
Darren Rowse

November 10th, 2008 9:01 am

Joel – wordpress.org is free to download. However there are some costs. For one you need to buy a domain (you can pick these up for less than $10) and then you have to pay for hosting (hosting costs range depending who you go with but at it’s cheapest you can go with a service like GoDaddy for less than $10 a month). GoDaddy (and many other hosts) will also set up a WordPress blog for you automagically.

The downside with WordPress.org is that you need to configure your blog and know how to upload files to servers etc if you want to change the default look of the blog.

As a result if you want something more professional looking you either need to learn how to do it or pay someone to set it up for you – again another cost.

So while WP.org is free to get – there are costs involved.
Burun

November 14th, 2008 11:04 am

Traditional media outlets need to embrace blogging and the power of the 2.0 web marketing avenues. It really is the long tail of journalism
maeva

November 24th, 2008 7:36 am

That\’s the only reason why people don\’t talk about it.
Dennis Bay

November 26th, 2008 1:03 am

I am all for stand alone blogs and personally i’m using wordpress hosted on my own hosting service. It’s much more configurable since i am blogging for profit, configuration for posting ads and other widget codes etc is very important to me.

However, for beginners and people who really don’t even want to learn about html, a hosted solution like wordpress.org or blogger is really the fastest way to start.
maeva

November 26th, 2008 4:35 pm

I\’ve heard of people talking such a discussion around in the city although.
maeva

November 27th, 2008 12:36 pm

I don\’t feel like entering in such a consideration.
slym

November 28th, 2008 4:09 pm

Hi darren, really good article and important as well. It’s very important to choose right platform in the begining in line with objectives and goals.
Any wrong decision have long term impact on waste all the efforts. http://www.knowtheworldaround.com
maeva

November 29th, 2008 7:36 am

How could we verify the effectiveness of such a possibility?
estetik ameliyat

December 6th, 2008 9:23 pm

All the serious bloggers are using stand alone platforms. Many people who use wordpress.com or blogspot.com end up using wordpress.org. It is better to start standalone now that start changing in the future.
estetik ameliyat

December 9th, 2008 9:01 pm

I think networks can be great for bloggers wanting to find an income stream for their blogging BUT they have to take into consideration the costs.
Alan Hocking

December 15th, 2008 10:58 pm

I use both. I have my Professional Sales Training Blog “Timeshare Sales And Marketing Techniques” on my website with Wordpress.org and my personal blog “In Between The Tapas And Tantrums” with Blogger.com and I find each platform suites each blog for different reasons.
oto muzik

December 19th, 2008 2:06 pm

Thinking of upgrading to WP 2.7
Are there any issues with this in that version.
Great plugin. Thanks!
liseli kizlar

December 20th, 2008 6:50 am

think networks can be great for bloggers wanting to find an income stream for their blogging BUT they have to take into consideration the costs.
korikkar

December 25th, 2008 4:50 am

Hi,

Thanks for the information. I’m currently on Blogger. I may switch to word press with a custom domain.

Thanks
Korikkar
Haziq Ikhwan

December 30th, 2008 12:57 pm

I using blogger right now… great platform but less configurable… thinking to use wordpress in future.

Haziq Ikhwan
http://iphoneipodcases.blogspot.com
estetik fiyatları

December 31st, 2008 12:09 pm

Thinking of upgrading to WP 2.7
Are there any issues with this in that version.
Great plugin. Thanks!
http://www.fhmtr.com
Shop

January 7th, 2009 2:40 am

using blogger right now… great platform but less configurable… thinking to use wordpress in future.
analogstuff

January 14th, 2009 1:53 am

By far the best post on your blog, which simply talks about everything what i wanted to know.

Thanks darren.
garantipartner

January 16th, 2009 7:53 am

using blogger right now… great platform but less configurable… thinking to use wordpress in future.
platform bed phil

January 20th, 2009 1:05 pm

I started using blog apps like wordpress and blogger. Now I’m getting into the more stand alone custom blogging software that you seem to be used by different circles. I think everyone has their own preference for blog apps. You just have to find the one with the features you like and want.
~Phil
araba resimleri

January 21st, 2009 9:20 am

think networks can be great for bloggers wanting to find an income stream for their blogging BUT they have to take into consideration the costs.
emo forum

January 28th, 2009 5:12 pm

Thinking of upgrading to WP 2.7
Are there any issues with this in that version.
Great plugin. Thanks!
büyütücü

February 1st, 2009 3:07 am

think networks can be great for bloggers wanting to find an income stream for their blogging BUT they have to take into consideration the costs.
amosis

February 1st, 2009 11:51 pm

Self hosted wordpress is best i think..
though google cache blogger pages very fast
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tamilthrill

February 10th, 2009 9:49 am

Blogger is the best blog platform where even a new one can learn easily and quickly
sinema bursa

February 11th, 2009 7:10 pm

All the serious bloggers are using stand alone platforms. Many people who use wordpress.com or blogspot.com end up using wordpress.org.
andika

February 12th, 2009 5:52 am

this is a useful article. i use wordpress and quite happy about it.
estetik

February 15th, 2009 2:08 am

Blogger is the best blog platform where even a new one can learn easily and quickly
şifalı bitkiler

February 15th, 2009 2:08 am

Although certainly not an option for everyone, and fraught with its own perils, you forgot to mention this:

Don’t use any platform. Write your own code to manage posts, comments and so on.
AllWorld Biz

February 20th, 2009 1:50 pm

WP just rule! Nothing compare with WP :)

*just my oppinion*

Have fun blogging!
Sevensquare

February 21st, 2009 1:09 am

I recommend Blogspot. Comparative to WP you can customize it very easy.
trendy

February 21st, 2009 7:32 am

if you think that free blog cannot make money, then you are wrong. we can still monetize our free blog. be creative!
manisa

February 21st, 2009 10:52 pm

Blogger is the best blog platform where even a new one can learn easily and quickly

——-

Yes i agree this. Thanks
estetik

February 24th, 2009 7:40 pm

I took wordpress for two reasons. First it is free, and that is the best price for anything. Second, it was very easy to set up on my host.
http://www.poker.sinard.net

February 25th, 2009 11:48 pm

Go with wordpress, it’s free and good, and has many plugins.
JPark

February 26th, 2009 3:42 am

Blogspot would be perfect if only one could divide articles into customized categories..
Aaron Smth

February 26th, 2009 9:04 pm

Im currently using Blogspot.com from Google. Its free and easy to setup, but if you are a web developer you will soon find out thats its free for a reason. Its produces more crap in the html than websites built using dreamweaver 7 years ago. You cant actually change much.
sshah

February 26th, 2009 9:30 pm

good advicefor people like mewho want to start blogging

and want to make a career out of it.
Jaehun Lim

March 1st, 2009 5:48 pm

very useful information. Stand Alone Platform is little burden to me for long-run. Moreover, Hosted Platform has enough services I think!
Lisa Ashurst

March 12th, 2009 2:40 pm

Okay, I’m really new to blogging (yet to set up actually) but I know a bit more about what’s involved now, having read this article. I’m a freelance writer and a columnist (humour) and now I’m determined to get very informed about blogging. Thanks muchly for the info.
Richard Metcalfe

March 13th, 2009 4:33 am

Wordpress has become the most popular blogging platform in is category. They are hundreds of articles on the internet about wordpress and blogging, but i have to say this is by far the best one to sum up the whole blogging concept.

Regards,
Richard
şişme bebek

March 16th, 2009 5:56 pm

Blogspot would be perfect if only one could divide articles into customized categories
Mikes

March 17th, 2009 6:21 pm

I use blogger. why? it’s the first one i saw when i first decided to blog. i may have chosen the wrong one (i think) but let me stick with it and try to improve it for now. Besides i don’t have any money to pay for a domain or a unique URL. My reason for blogging is maybe first hobby and maybe to also earn from it. hopefully.
estetik

March 19th, 2009 9:54 pm

wordpress ideal platform and nice themes… thanks..
estetik

March 21st, 2009 7:16 pm

Wordpress has become the most popular blogging platform in is category. They are hundreds of articles on the internet about wordpress and blogging, but i have to say this is by far the best one to sum up the whole blogging concept.

Thanks
Estetik

March 24th, 2009 10:11 pm

Wordpress has become the most popular blogging platform in is category. They are hundreds of articles on the internet about wordpress and blogging, but i have to say this is by far the best one to sum up the whole blogging concept.

tHANKS
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March 28th, 2009 9:46 pm

Good post. In my opinion, I think if you are an genuinely honest person with a social well-rounded aspect to yourself, things will fall into place as these characteristics will show in your posts. Being social helps in any circumstance. It is important to always be open to meeting new people and learning from them. This applies to life in general and not just your blog
How To Blog

March 29th, 2009 3:05 am

WordPress is now, without doubt, the most popular blogging platform.

The advantages of WordPress are that a) it is flexible; b) there are now thousands of free themes (design templates) to choose from so you can easily make your blog look impressive and c) there are many other WordPress bloggers out there with whom you can exchange links and posts and make connections.

When you start out, as Darren has said, you have to decide between wordpress.com (hosted) and wordpress.org (self-hosted).

One of the biggest advantages I can offer about starting with the self-hosted, wordpress.org, option is that you get your blog and your domain indexed and into the search engines. You can get inbound links and start building page rank and then people can more easily find your blog.

If you seriously want to create a blog it’s because you have something to say. And you want to get traffic. Otherwise you’re blogging to yourself.

IMHO, the only way to build a successful blog is by creating a self-hosted WordPress blog on your own domain.

Sarah McHarry
Estetik klinikleri

March 30th, 2009 7:04 pm

I think which blogger program question is not a true question. All kind of blogger program needs attention. Every people faces what they want in that bloggers. May be it needs a kind of classification.
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burun estetigi

April 1st, 2009 8:07 am

What is Your Budget? – As with most things in life, blog platforms come with a variety of price points ranging from free through to more expensive options. There are three main things that you might pay for: thank you …
Estetik

April 4th, 2009 1:57 am

This is the one that allows the “freemium” business model, where 90% of the users get the basic product for free and 10% chose to pay for a premium version. In economics this is called “versioning”..
estetik

April 7th, 2009 10:02 pm

your domain indexed and into the search engines. You can get inbound links and start building page rank and then people can more easily find your blog.
estetik

April 7th, 2009 10:22 pm

A Note about Wordpress.com – if you’re going to use Wordpress.com (note again, it’s different to wordpress.org) you need to know that at the point of writing this they don’t allow you to monetize your blog. If your goal is to make money, don’t choose WP.com. They do allow some of their bigger blogs to run advertising and affiliate programs but not smaller blogs. They say they may allow this in the future, but there are no guarantees and you should probably consider another option.
Candy

April 11th, 2009 5:49 am

I currently host my blog on wordpress – it’s free and easy. In addition for a small fee you can register a domain name and have all the traffic pointed at that. I believe it takes time and a lot of backlinks to get rolling .. advertisers don’t like people just starting out you need to get a little bit of authority to actually get better montezation. Time and work.. like anything in life.
list my home in los angeles

April 11th, 2009 1:30 pm

Blogs being the same as anything you’d invest your time or money on, I’d always advise to go for the cheapest (free) option while you’re finding your feet. Make your mistakes without incurring costs for the first few weeks/months at least and then upgrade to something better once you realise what the benefits are.
flowers Moscow

April 11th, 2009 10:46 pm

WP just rule! Nothing compare with WP, if you think a free blog cannot make money , you are wrong, if you can monetize the blog properly you can make money
sac ekimi

April 13th, 2009 6:03 pm

I’m not going to tell you which blog platform you should use because, as you will see, there are good reasons for choosing most of the available platforms depending upon the goals of your blog.
cam balkon

April 19th, 2009 7:35 am

As with most things in life, blog platforms come with a variety of price points ranging from free through to more expensive options. There are three main things that you might pay for cam balkon
Andy

April 24th, 2009 8:58 pm

Dear Darren,

Thank you so much for sharing such a great post of blogging tools. I find them always very resourceful and a great read!

I read in this page that when deciding to monetize your blog, you advised people not to use Wordpress as Wordpress does not allow it. But that was less than 3 years ago. Surely, it’s changed, isn’t it?

I hope so. Because I worked so hard on my drafter personal blog using Wordpress and I’m thinking of having it ‘go-live’ by next week. And I’d be pretty annoyed that I couldn’t take any monetization advantages if what you said above is true.

Thanks
Burun Estetigi

April 25th, 2009 8:21 am

IMHO, the only way to build a successful blog is by creating a self-hosted WordPress blog on your own domain.
sac ekimi

April 27th, 2009 8:55 pm

Thank you so much for sharing such a great post of blogging tools. I find them always very resourceful and a great read!
estetik cerrahi

April 29th, 2009 5:35 am

I’m not going to tell you which blog platform you should use because, as you will see, there are good reasons for choosing most of the available platforms depending upon the goals of your blog.
ezFreeSamples.com

May 1st, 2009 12:11 pm

Wordpress all the way for me.

I use WP for any site, whether it is a blog or not.

I even am using Wordpress to tell people about freebies and free samples each day at my new freebies blog:

http://www.ezfreesamples.com
bigmen

May 2nd, 2009 12:13 am

I thin’k that Joomla is the one of the best.
But with good html code changing in Joomla, every one can made a desired view
WomenLive

May 3rd, 2009 8:48 am

very useful information. Stand Alone Platform is little burden to me for long-run. Moreover, Hosted Platform has enough services I think!
kız oyunları

May 12th, 2009 2:44 am

this is a useful article. i use wordpress and quite happy about it.
A Dawn

May 12th, 2009 10:31 pm

This is another great article. The list of pros and cons is a good list of factors to consider whether go on free or paid hosting.

Personally, I recommend using a free platform but when website traffic increases, I advise to shift to hosted blog.
film izle

May 18th, 2009 6:19 pm

her great article. The list of pros and cons is a good list of factors to cool
Web Design

May 25th, 2009 5:49 pm

Blogging platforms like Blogger.com are not seen as “integrated” with your website and therefore do not offer the same levels of service as WordPress.com, which is. Both platforms are free but it depends on whether you want a stand-alone solution or not. WordPress also provides an RSS option. You have to pay for MovableType, so this option falls foul with me.
Renzai Rizumu

May 26th, 2009 12:44 am

Great article, from my experience, WordPress.com can still be monetized. I’m making money off of it, but you have to be smart about how you do it. For me to keep my blog up, I have to focus on my niche, and make it seem like I’m not blatantly advertising something. Self-Hosted blogs, I have more control over, but I hear it’s harder for those to get indexed.
Cheap Laptops

May 26th, 2009 2:52 pm

Excellent article for all the beginner bloggers out there. I started mine with wordpress.com free blog, but later on when it grown bigger i had to expand it and i moved towards paid hosting with wordpres.org setup and since then it working like charm.
netlog

May 31st, 2009 7:29 am

bigger i had to expand it and i moved towards paid hosting with wordpres.org setup and since then it working like charm.
mirc

May 31st, 2009 8:17 pm

Excellent article for all the beginner bloggers out there. I started mine with wordpress.com free blog,
Seoblog

June 3rd, 2009 8:12 pm

Thanks for sharing! I’m sure this is the best article about choosing right blog platform.
I think stand alone blogs rule.
Social Networking Lifestyle

June 4th, 2009 2:17 pm

I think you left one blogging platform out of your review. It’s the one I run my blog SocialNetworkingLifestyle.com on…it’s Blogi360.

It runs on a Wordpress platform, but it has many features and benefits that you either can’t find or need a professional to do the installation for you.

@TimothyCarter
Fotoguru

June 4th, 2009 4:19 pm

I prefer to use wp for simplicity and ability to use many extensions.
göğüs büyütücü

June 4th, 2009 11:41 pm

blog popular, trust me, once it does get popular, you will yearn to get away from a generic name and try to find a hosting site for yourself. The next problem will be trying to shift the blogging platform. Moving from blogger to wordpress is easy, but the other way around is almost
göğüs büyütücü

June 5th, 2009 12:53 am

same levels of service as WordPress.com, which is. Both platforms are free but it depends on whether you want a stand-alone solution or not. WordPress also provides an RSS option. You have to pay for MovableType, so this option falls foul with me.
aBlogz

June 18th, 2009 11:52 am

I love WordPress Blog Platform

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Written on February 15th, 2006 at 06:02 am by Darren Rowse

Choosing a Blog Platform