Blogging doesn’t need any approval for publication many people utilize blogging platforms to write about various topics. In the beginning, these platforms were a space for making personal diary style entries, but today businesses have begun using them to start a blog and market their products/services. To create and publish effective blogs, businesses can rely on an outsourcing SEO company that provides content writing services.
Blogging Platforms
Let’s take a look at some popular blogging platforms.
1) WIX
Wix is a free online website design platform that supports blogs. Today, almost 190 countries with 150 million people use this software. It is the best option for beginners or people with less technical knowledge. The aim of the creators of WIX is to empower people who want to create their own website with zero technical and coding knowledge, and design skills. It has a drag and drops element that allows you to manipulate text, images, videos, apps and so on. It has both paid as well as free plans. The features of the free version include:
- Up to 500MB storage and bandwidth
- Customer friendly approach
Pros:
- Can view the outcome of your blog before clicking ‘publish’ button
- Can made changes on your page
- Easy to handle
- Over 800 in-build templates for blogging
- Embedded with stock photos and videos
- Can write and edit in mobile phones as well
Cons:
- Wix branding and ads on your website
- No monetization
- Limited blogging function
- No changes can made in templates
- Lack of customization options
- Limited number of images and text
2) Squarespace
Squarespace is ideal for visual based business like photographers, designers and artists. It allows businesses to create blogging sites with high perfection even without hiring a graphic designer. However, the site builders have to pay a small amount on a monthly basis. It offers more freedom for customization than WIX but less than WordPress. It is easier to handle than WordPress.
Squarespace has a set of elegant templates which gives a beautiful face to your blog. Another advantage is that the users can control the color palette as well as layouts.
The features of Squarespace include:
- Free blogging templates
- Build-in post scheduler
- In-depth analytics
- SEO and social media tools
- Mobile app
- Email marketing tools
- Integrated with Getty images, Unsplash and Google AMP
Pros:
- Highly responsive 24*7 customer service system
- No maintenance require
- All add-ons and third party extensions are in-build
- Easy e-commerce functionality
- Over 150 layouts with mobile friendly and fully customizable.
- Designer friendly fonts and stickers.
- You can connect to other social media platforms after posting the content on it.
- In-built analytics tool for analyzing incoming traffic to the website and also their interaction with the content.
Cons:
- Limited functionality
- Lack features like auto saving
- Limited features and functionality
3) Blogger
Owned by Google, this is a great option for people who have flair for writing and want to take up blogging as a hobby. It offers the same level of dependability and navigation as Chrome and Gmail. It is free software where you can include your own sub-domain. You can use a custom domain name when setting up your blog on Blogger, including as a subdomain of your website.
Though it has limitations for business purposes, it is an ideal option for personal use.
It takes only very little time to set up your account. Google takes care of hosting, storing your files, or your site’s speed.
The features of Blogger include:
- Images can store in Google photos
- Has integrated Ad campaigns
- Has simple and easy text editor
- Has free SSL certification and free domain mapping
- Integrated with Google
- You can view your blog presentation before posting.
- It doesn’t have vendor ads.
- Multiple options for customizing blog
- Has a number of fonts
- Can upload pictures and videos
- Can add HTML code for greater customization
- Can design your own templates
- Can integrate with Google analytics
Pros:
- Free
- Has a monetization option
- Create and customize easily
- Only need a Google account for setting up a blog
- Can be optimized with Adsense
Cons:
- You don’t own your content as Google owns Blogger
- Not as user friendly as other options
- Has limited options for customization
- Outdated interface
- Less content management features
- Can’t install plugins
- Can’t change the default settings
- Can’t change the display of the content
4) Weebly
It is another popular option for blogging platforms. It is a really nice option for people who want to work with a free website builder. This user friendly platform has features like drag and drops similar to WIX. It is a perfect option for a person who wants everything under one umbrella as it has building tools, templates and hosting.
Weebly ensures easy handling of e-commerce blogs. Through this blogging platform, people have the option to sell items physically and digitally. However, the free version does not support monetization.
The features of Weebly include:
- Free SSL security
- 500MB storage capacity
- Chat and e-mail support
- Community forum
Pros:
- Can create complex layouts
- Completely free for a free version
- No charges for domain or hosting for a free version
- Easy to handle
- Can optimize in devices like mobile
- More features and customization options than WIX
- Can include more sub-levels for navigation menus. Thus, can arrange larger content in a well-organized manner.
- Can change themes easily
- Has e-commerce options
- Has lots of themes that can edit with page builder
Cons:
- The URL may have Weebly branding
- Weebly ads on your site
- Limited customization options compared to WordPress
- Has more basic functionalities
- Can’t access source code
- The premier plan is costlier than WordPress.
5) Tumblr
This micro-blogging site is a blend of blog and social media channels with in-built tools like sharing, reblogging and following. Tumblr currently hosts 476 million blogs. Tumblr has been purchased by WordPress owned company Automatic.
As it has the essence of the social media channels, this platform offers interesting ways to share the content, making it popular among the younger generation. It has the option for following people as well as reblogging the content like sharing on Facebook and retweeting on Twitter. It acts as a bridge between conventional blogging and social media platforms.
The platform describes itself as the place where you can get everything you need. It is a great choice for people who want to produce relatively quick and short content without any kind of setback. However, it is not ideal for people who want to own a blogging site for themselves.
This platform is also not as e-commerce friendly as Weebly. At the same time, you can use this platform for personal purposes completely free.
Pros:
- Can add multiple pages, sidebar, social media sharing button, comment section and so on.
- Has hundreds of free as well as premium themes
- A vibrant place to exhibit creativity
- No payments for posts
- All features are free except for a few
- Offers a number of ways including Google Adsense for generating money
- Can create and publish photos, GIFs, links, chat dialogue boxes, audio-video files and so forth.
- No word restrictions
Cons:
- Has no control over changes
- Only get access to certain features only if you turn to ‘Subscriber content’
- People who reblog your content have the option to edit it in their own way.
- Limit options for customization
- There are certain limitations like a number in per day post.
- Can only upload videos under 100MB in MP4 format
- Can only track about 20 tracks at a time
6) WordPress
WordPress is considered the ‘King’ of blogging platforms. It is a simple platform for creating blogs and websites. About 43% of the total websites are powered by WordPress. It has an open-source content management system. The main advantage of WordPress is that anyone can modify WordPress software for free. Also, anyone can create a website on this platform even if the person has no technical knowledge.
Initially, it started as a platform for creating blogs. However, later it updated the core code and became an ecosystem for a large number of plugins and themes.
It is also a popular option for creating e-commerce platforms. With WordPress, people can create business websites, e-commerce stores, blogs, portfolios, resumes, forums and so on.
Pros:
- Easy handling
- Unlimited options for pages, posts and so on
- Flexibility in post scheduling
- Can restore deleted pages
- Can add additional website editor easily
- Managed website security system
- Updated core code and plugins
- Automatic backups
Cons:
- Need a lot of plugins for accessing additional features
- Had to make payments for accessing some features and plugins
- Frequently updating in themes and plugins
- Page speeds are often slow
- Low SEO ranking
- Frequently outdating plugins
- Limited SEO optimization options
- High chance for hacking and spamming
- Security plugins are not enough to protect the website
There are two versions of WordPress: WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
- wordpress.com
The above is the first version of WordPress, which is suitable for people who want to make blogging a hobby and don’t attach importance to monetization.
- wordpress.org
WordPress.org is a self-hosted version of WordPress. You have to find a host and do backups and maintenance on your own.
Here are the key differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org:
| WordPress.com | WordPress.org |
| Hosted version | Self-hosted version |
| Limited support to themes | Full support to themes |
| Plugins are not allowed | All plugins are allowed |
| Free to use | Had to pay monthly basis for getting access to certain features |
| No option for customization | Can customize according to the idea of users |
| Limited or no monetization options | Have options for monetization |
| Had to make payments or remove WordPress branding from the domain | Can customize domain accordingly without using WordPress branding |
| Limited SEO features | Incorporated SEO features |
| Had limitations in analytics | Had powerful analytics |
| No e-commerce option | Can set up an e-commerce store |
| No maintenance available | Had maintenance option |
Blogging platforms are favorite spot on the internet for those with a flair for writing. Blogging platforms allow people to exhibit their writing skills while promoting their business. In fact, many business firms are marking their presence in online blogging platforms, especially since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. These platforms now come with improved features to serve e-commerce needs. Working with an experienced outsourcing SEO service provider is the ideal option to create top quality content to promote your products/services on blogging platforms.
