Blogging is a great way to talk about the things you’re passionate about. Whether it is your hobby, or you’re trying to build a start-up, blogging can help build up your brand. It has been around since the start of the Internet and has developed a lot.
With software that helps you build a website without having the knowledge of coding, web blogging has become even more popular for people to share their thoughts. You can share your ideas in texts, images, audio, video with just your creativity and a drag-and-drop website builder.
If you’re looking to start a book blog, one question you might ask is, What are the best blogging platforms?
Well, there are several platforms out there – both free and paid, that can help you build a blog in the convenient way possible. Here I’ve listed some popular platforms for blogging that you could try for yourself and then choose the one that fits you.
If you haven’t worked on a website before, I recommend using a free platform to understand how things work and then invest in a website.
Popular Blogging Platforms
WordPress.com is a brilliant choice for a beginner. It provides you with a free website and hosting, but the URL address would be forevershereads.wordpress.com and not forevershereads.com.
I have used it when I first started out with my blogging journey and it is an easy-to-use website builder. You get a free simple theme for the website and limited plugins. You cannot use analytics or any advanced features.
Since they provide the website free of cost, you cannot monetize your site, customize your theme, or add your own plugins. You can always upgrade your website with their existing plans or migrate to a new hosting service and use WordPress.org.
So I recommend WordPress.com if you’re just starting out or aren’t keen on investing in a domain yet.
WordPress.org is one of the best website platforms. It is open-source software that you can upload to your hosting website.
You’ll need to first get a domain and hosting to use the platform. There are several you can choose from. I use Hostinger and I quite like their services. They have WordPress specific hosting as well, so you can opt for that.
With WordPress, you can add powerful plugins and themes to your website for free. You have complete control over the design of your website.
There are page builders such as Elementor or Beaver Builder that have a drag-and-drop feature for convenient designing. Although you don’t really need to learn to code, it’s better to spend some time learning how to make a website using WordPress and try out some plugins.
Note that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are different.
Yes, they are Social Media Platforms, but you must have noticed many influencers don’t really have a website? They just post content on Instagram or YouTube, focused on their chosen niche, and make it work.
That’s how I started out. As my Bookstagram page gained more followers, I realized I could build my brand on different platforms.
Instagram and Facebook can be a great way to blog in a visual format. Especially if your niche is visual-based – for example, DIYs or Baking.
YouTube is another way you can blog – although it’s called ‘vlog’ or video blog. If you make videos, IGTV, YouTube and Facebook are great ways to share your content.
Tumblr is a microblogging site that has features of a Social Media Platform like Facebook. You can share your posts in text, images, video formats, share other people’s posts, follow them and so on.
I had heard of Tumblr but never tried it for myself till I started this website. Tumblr is a great way for you to share your posts with a link to your site and generate traffic. It is a great way to do some SEO for your site.
You can create your own theme, design your page with some limited colour and design options. They also have some premium themes you can buy.
Instagram/Facebook/YouTube
Yes, they are Social Media Platforms, but you must have noticed many influencers don’t really have a website? They just post content on Instagram or YouTube, focused on their chosen niche, and make it work.
That’s how I started out. As my Bookstagram page gained more followers, I realized I could build my brand on different platforms.
Instagram and Facebook can be a great way to blog in a visual format. Especially if your niche is visual-based – for example, DIYs or Baking.
YouTube is another way you can blog – although it would be more of a video blog. If you make videos, IGTV, YouTube and Facebook are great ways to share your content.
Medium is a free blogging platform that has become a community of writers from many niches. If your primary focus is developing as a writer or sharing your views on something, Medium.com is a great way to do that.
Similar to WordPress.com and Tumblr, you get your own URL with a medium.com domain. You can design your page with their limited designing features – but it’s more focused on content and not the design. It is a great way to build your own writing portfolio for free.
During my research on blogging platforms, I found some common websites mentioned that I haven’t tried myself. You can check them out.
Weebly seems more like an e-commerce website builder. It has a drag-and-drop design function, so it is easy for you to customize your website. It has both paid and free versions.
It has a blog feature, but it isn’t as powerful as other blogging platforms.
Squarespace is a website builder with free templates to build your business, an e-commerce store, or a blog. They have a drag-and-drop feature so you don’t need to learn to code. With their built-in SEO and Analytics tools, you can improve the performance of your site.
Squarespace doesn’t have any free plans. They offer a 14-day free trial and they don’t ask for credit card details. So you can try out the features and decide if it’s worth the price.
Ghost is available as open-source software that you can download and use on your server, similar to WordPress.org. They also provide hosting services.
It is developed mainly as a publishing platform – for writing and blogging. Ghost has its own dashboard, similar to WordPress, and has limited themes and plugins.
You get a 14-day free trial of Ghost Pro and all of its features.
Wix.com is another popular blogging platform. Similar to WordPress.com, you can create a free website with the wixsite.com domain.
Wix has its own website builder with a drag-and-drop feature, so you don’t need any coding experience. Their themes and plugins are limited, but you can still work around it. If you want a custom domain, they have a plan for just that one feature as well.
With most of the popular blogging platforms providing drag-and-drop tools, creating your own website has become easier.
So which is the best platform to start a blog?
I prefer WordPress because I’m used to the dashboard. It’s easy to use and you can find video tutorials if you face any problems. There are many free and premium plugins and themes available that you can use to improve your UX.
If you’ve never worked on a website before, you can always experiment with all the platforms and then select one.
Every service has its pros and cons. You just have to work around it.
Hope you found this blog useful!
You can check out my Blogging Resources section if you have more questions about building your own blog.