1 – WordPress Review — The Best for Creating a Unique Blog
WordPress is the most popular blogging platform in the world. It’s free to use and the potential to create is boundless.
You can blog for free at WordPress.com. The company hosts your site and gives you a subdomain. The downside is that it’s supported by running its own ads unless you upgrade your plan.
2 – Wix Review — The Best for Launching a Beautiful Blog Right Now
If you are looking for the shortest distance between you and a working blog, go with Wix.
There are other great options on my list, but nothing is as easy to get started with.
It’s an excellent choice for beginners interested in creating a full-fledged website with a blog included.
Getting things set up is as simple as using the drag-and-drop editor to design your site. There’s no code necessary.
Wix is highly template-driven, but there are an astonishing range of options available. You’ll be able to find something that fits with your brand and tweak it to match the vision in your head.
Alternatively, you can use Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI). Just answer a few questions about who you are and the purpose of your blog, and Wix ADI will create a website for you.
3 – Squarespace Review — The Best for Bold Branding Without a Web Designer
Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder, like Wix. However, it’s famous for aesthetically pleasing templates, making it perfect for visual-based businesses like photographers, designers, and artists.
Looking at the clean, beautiful brand presentation on Squarespace blogs, you might think that everyone hired a designer to get there. In reality, it might be that person’s first website ever.
Don’t get me wrong. Graphic design gurus can take Squarespace to amazing places, but I think the draw of the platform is that non-technical folks can spin up an striking site themselves.
For the entrepreneur or small business looking to build their online presence, Squarespace is a phenomenal choice. They can get the sleek blog they want without having to hire a web designer or developer.
4 – Medium Review — The Best for Reaching Readers with Minimal Effort
One thing most blogging platforms don’t include is a built in audience. Medium does.
In order to read a lot of the premium content on Medium, you need to pay a monthly membership fee. Some of that money goes to sustain the site, but some goes to the writers whose stories are being read.
So, if you write on Medium and join the Partner Program (which is free, and you don’t have to be a paying Medium member to join it), there’s a chance you could earn money if people spend time reading your blog posts.
For any topic you can think of, there is a Medium audience waiting to read more. You can share your posts easily, and check out what other bloggers in your space are doing. People who read similar types of posts to yours will see your posts if you join the Partner Program.
This is a potentially monster avenue for targeted outreach within your niche. And a way to gain clout quickly by publishing alongside some bigger name in your topic of choice.
Now it’s not entirely clear just how Medium curates your posts for other readers, which can be a little frustrating for bloggers who can’t find traction on the platform. That said, Medium does provide helpful stats about your visitors so you can get a sense of how traffic is arriving.
You also can’t make a million dollars on Medium, like you can with a website builder that has more ways to monetize your content.
5 – Blogger Review – The Best for Sharing Your Story
Blogger is a great platform for the casual blogger, individuals advocating for a cause, or potentially companies who want nothing more than a traditional blog.
It’s owned by Google, and offers the same level of dependability and intuitive navigation as Chrome and Gmail. If you can write an email, you can write a post on Blogger.
It’s also entirely free, forever, and includes your own subdomain. Your web address will be at example.blogspot.com. Set up takes minutes, and you never have to worry about hosting, storing your files, or keeping your site speed fast.
If you are trying to create an on-brand blog, and you want to get rid of the blogspot subdomain, simply purchase your own custom domain through one of the best domain registrars. It’s very easy to set everything up, especially if you use Google Domains.
I like it best for personal use as the platform is limited in some ways that can hamstring a blog built for business purposes. You have options to tweak the blog presentation, but you can’t change too much to make it your own.
There are gadgets to add functionality to your blog, but nothing remotely close to the power and diversity of WordPress plugins. You also have no ecommerce options, as you would with other website builders.
That said, you can monetize your Blogger page very easily using Google Adsense. Fill out a quick form with your payment information, and Blogger will put relevant ads on your site, bringing you income based on how many people visit.
Now this isn’t your ticket to a full time salary, but a little revenue coming in the door from your blog can’t hurt. All of the essentials you need to get started are included, like:
- Image storage with Google Photos
- Integrated ad campaigns
- Simple text editor
- A free SSL certificate and free domain mapping
- Google integrations
Think of Blogger as a low-stress, near-zero maintenance blogging platform. It works well for people that have a story to share, but aren’t willing to invest significant time and resources into their blog.
Your story could be about your life, your product, your community, whatever you want. Blogger gives you a venue to broadcast your message, and Google handles all the technical legwork. You don’t have to worry about backing up your site or getting hacked.
If you aren’t super worried about aesthetics, Blogger is a good choice. The template selection is relatively sparse and you have to know HTML in order to customize beyond the basics.
In other words, you are not going to be able to create a really unique experience for your readers with interactive content and dynamic pages as easily as you can with a website builder like Wix.
The Blogger templates are repeated everywhere on the web. If that doesn’t bother you, Blogger is going to be one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get your blog off the ground.
Choose Blogger if what you want is a traditional blog. With minimal effort and oversight, you’ll be able to get a readable blog off the ground.
Source : neilpatel.com