Best Blogging Platforms and Sites You Should Consider Using
انتشار: خرداد 26، 1401
بروزرسانی: 27 اردیبهشت 1404

Best Blogging Platforms and Sites You Should Consider Using

It could be readers, customers, fellow enthusiasts—whatever your blog audience, you can build it bigger with these solutions.

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.\xa0

And if something does go wrong, Squarespace has highly-responsive customer service available 24/7. The relatively small monthly fee for the sitebuilder is probably a lot less than keeping a professional designer on retainer.\xa0

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.

And if you are an on-the-go person, don’t worry. The Wix mobile app lets you design and blog right from your phone.

Is your blog part of your brand? This is important when looking at blogging platforms, as some of your free options are going to limit the branding control you have.

In terms of getting a great looking blog off the ground quickly—with zero web development experience—Wix should be a top choice.

Wix will even let you start editing a sample blog right on their site, to get a feel for how the designer works. If you like it, you can begin working on your own Wix blog immediately.

Website builders can do a whole lot more, though they aren’t free like the traditional platforms.\xa0

All of this through your own blog, which you don’t have to pay for or maintain.

Blogger and Medium, on the other hand, don’t run ads. So if you want a free blog to promote your business, I’d start with one of those two.

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.\xa0

Start using Medium today for free, and who knows, maybe you can generate a little cash on the side.

#5 – Blogger Review – The Best for Sharing Your Story

Blogger splash page for Best Blogging Platforms

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.

You can get plugins and themes to take your site wherever it needs to go, and if you can’t, there is probably someone working on a solution right now.

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.

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Plans start at $16 per month for Combo, which is good for personal use, and range up to $45 per month for the VIP plan, which has a lot more storage space and tools to grow your brand. This price includes web hosting, which normally costs around $10 per month. Really, Wix includes everything you need as part of the premium package.

The Business plan lets you accept secure online payments and further customize your site with premium integrations. Take reservations, book appointments, or sell products and services. Choose the features you want and leave the maintenance to Squarespace.

If you start building out a really complex site with a lot of plugins, sure, it’s going to be more work to maintain, but you’ll also have a blog that’s much more unique than what you could assemble on Wix.

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.

Squarespace is a fantastic option that keeps improving. The company is constantly adding features and upgrading the interface.\xa0

In terms of free blogs, I highly recommend Medium to people looking to broaden their audience without investing too much time. The built-in readership is unlike any other platform and offers a great way to connect without spending more money.

This is a potentially monster avenue for targeted outreach within your niche. And a way to gain clout quickly by publishing alongside some bigger names in your topic of choice.

If you are just starting off, this isn’t too much of a concern. But performance can suffer once you start to see a lot of traffic or add a lot of features to your site. No one reads blogs that take a long time to load.

Branding Your Blog Your Way

For some bloggers, turning a profit isn’t the main focus. If they can make a little extra cash on the side, it’s a bonus, but they’re not depending on blog income to live.

Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top pick? The best blogging platform for most people is WordPress with Hostinger hosting.

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.

WordPress is my top choice if you are trying to deliver a unique blog experience for your readers. There are no limits to what you can create, and if you pick a reputable cheap web hosting option like Hostinger, it may cost you less than the all-in-one website builders.

Everything looks crisp with very little configuration on your end. Your final product is going to make a professional impression, whether visitors are on a laptop or mobile phone.

Blogger also integrates with popular email marketing services, which turn your blog into a newsletter.

It’s one of the reasons that Squarespace is the website builder of choice for many artists, architects, photographers, and the like.

You don’t have a techie bone in your body to start drafting, editing, and embedding your own pictures or third-party media.

Since WordPress is open-source and ridiculously popular, there is an active community that is constantly building new features for today’s challenges. These are just some of the reasons more people choose WordPress for their blog:

  • 55,000+ plugins to extend the functionality of your site
  • Thousands of free and premium themes
  • The Gutenburg block editor
  • Advanced user roles and permissions
  • Powerful media management
  • A massive community of experts
  • Infinite design control

Is your blog going to have videos, plugins, or other resource-intensive features?\xa0

WordPress lets you broadcast your message and engage your audience along any conceivable vector. Use plugins to turn your website into an SEO powerhouse or double your blog’s traffic. There are thousands of plugins and a giant community of users building new solutions every day.

The premium blogging platforms give you a lot more control and design flexibility, allowing you to build a complete website and brand around your blog.

You also want to get your own domain name to build your brand. Free blogs give you a subdomain with their company name in your web address. On blogger, your URL would be yourusername.blogspot.com.

Premium Wix plans are broken down into three groups: Websites, Business and Ecommerce, and Enterprise.\xa0

Medium lets you connect with a curated audience for free, and gives you the ability to share posts across social media with ease.

What you’ll find, though, is that hosting your own WordPress site often winds up being cheaper than getting everything bundled.\xa0

Get everything you need in one place and let Hostinger take over some of the basic maintenance.

Tools for Growing Your Audience

To add more functionality to your blog, there are tens of thousands of WordPress plugins you can use. These will help with SEO, site security, setting up newsletter subscriptions, and so much more. Lots of useful plugins are free.

WordPress plugins for Best Blogging Platforms

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.\xa0

But WordPress.org is completely free forever. It’s just about keeping in mind the associated costs.

Alternatively, you can download the platform for free at WordPress.org and use it on a site you host yourself. Hosting isn’t free, but if you go with a high-quality WordPress host like Hostinger, the whole thing winds up being less expensive than going with a similar website builder.

Business and ecommerce plans start at $27 per month and allow you to accept payments online and sell products and services directly from your blog. Even for more complex sites, the Wix set up process will still be very user-friendly.

This is why I recommend that people starting their first WordPress blog use Hostinger. For less than $4 per month, you can get WordPress hosting that comes with automated WordPress updates and a free domain name for the first year.

Getting things set up is as simple as using the drag-and-drop editor to design your site. There’s no code necessary.

How does it look? They are using their own platform, likely pushing it to the edge of possibility in order to show off new features.

While the Squarespace interface isn’t as intuitive as Wix, it’s not hard to get the hang of it. And once you do, you’ll find that you have more control over what you can do with the color palette and layout.\xa0

Most blogging platforms offer templates, themes, and designs that you simply have to add to the blog on the backend (in the CMS).

Conclusion

A free Wix account keeps things simple and still gives you access to the world-class site building tools. But your site will have wixsite.com in the web address, and you’re limited to 500GB bandwidth, which basically means it only works for small sites without too much traffic.

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.\xa0

This is huge, because you’re not having to pay anyone to create your site or having to scramble to find assistance when something breaks.

If this is a concern, I’d just go with WordPress, which can grow as big as you need. That said, Wix offers custom solutions for enterprise clients that start at $500 per month.

Squarespace is another excellent choice for those without a ton of web design or development resources. It’s not quite as easy as Wix, but it does provide more artistic freedom. Along with the top-notch customer service, Squarespace can help you handle all of your website and blogging needs without having to hire someone.

Within a week or two, anyone can become a Squarespace master even if they are starting from scratch. It’s the perfect platform for an individual or small company that wants a professional-looking blog without hiring a professional to get it.

Wix and Squarespace include a free domain name for the first year, so you can get that custom web address without anyone else’s brand involved.\xa0

Medium has a built-in audience of paying readers. Once you join the Partner Program, Medium will curate your content for readers who are interested in similar blog posts.\xa0

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.

Plus, using WordPress.org and paying a hosting provider for web hosting tends to be a more cost-effective option than paying for a WordPress.com plan.

Those who want a hands-off blog experience are going to be very happy with Medium and Blogger. You don’t have to worry about hosting, or updates, or really anything besides publishing your posts.

Either route you choose, it starts with choosing your WordPress theme. Think of it like a template that formats your whole site as opposed to just one page.\xa0There are a ton of amazing free themes to promote your content. These will keep your blog on brand and help you curate posts for your readers.

Below, you’ll find the five best tools for starting your blog today. Some of them I’ve used myself and like a lot–others are really good for bloggers with different needs and goals than my own.

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.

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.

I’ve been making a good living as a blogger for over a decade. This is an area of the internet I know really well.

Think of Squarespace as a middle-of-the-road option between Wix and WordPress—it’s got a little more freedom to customize than Wix, though not as much as WordPress. But it’s going to be easier to use on day one than WordPress.

For the non-technical user, building a custom blog that’s rich with images and videos is incredibly easy. Gutenberg can even help you cut down on the number of plugins you need, which can start to cause conflicts if you are using too many.

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.

If you upgrade, Wix removes the ads and gives you a custom domain name free for the first year. Your blog is fully yours, which I think is more than worth it.

Out of the box, you get:

  • Free blogging templates to help you get started
  • Categories, tags, and featured posts
  • Built-in post scheduler
  • Contributor permissions
  • In-depth analytics
  • SEO and social media tools
  • Email marketing tools
  • Expert customer service
  • Mobile app

And those are just the free options. If you go with a premium platform, the quality and variety of your growth features increases tremendously.\xa0

WordPress, on the other hand, is free to download, but you have to pay for hosting. Wix and Squarespace take care of the hosting and lump the cost in the total package.

If you are using the platform for a business or want to make serious money blogging, I’ll steer you toward Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress. These options aren’t free, but there is a ton of value in what they provide.

The other big one is hosting, which you’re on the hook for with WordPress.org. Fret not, though, because you can find a great deal on hosting that costs significantly less per month than any of WordPress.com’s paid plans.

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.

Squarespace plans start at $14 per month for a website, and as low as $23 per month to add ecommerce functionality:

Squarespace pricing page for Best Blogging Platforms

If you are still having trouble deciding about which blogging platform to choose, I suggest checking out the vendors sites and reading their blog.

This will give you a really strong sense of what you can do with each platform. Follow these links to visit my top recommendations:

  1. WordPress – Best for creating a unique blog
  2. Wix – Best for launching a beautiful blog right now
  3. Squarespace – Best for bold branding without a designer
  4. Medium – Best for reaching readers with minimal effort
  5. Blogger – Best for sharing your story

WordPress is at the top of the heap in terms of design freedom. There is little you can’t do, but there is a bit of a learning curve. It’s certainly manageable, just a little harder in the first hours than Wix.

And if you came to this post to find a free and simple way to share your story with the world, Blogger will suit you just fine. It’s a no frills platform that’s supported by Google. What more could you want?

To decide between the paid platforms, look at how they offer services, as one may have a better pricing set up for your needs.

Consider security, ease of use, price, customer support, and if they offer features you need for your specific website.

What are some of the best blogging platforms?

No matter what plan you choose, you get access to Squarespace’s customer service any time of day. For companies looking to get by without a web designer, the always-available assistance is a huge relief.

With the website builders, you get a lot more freedom to create your site your way. It’s easier to align your blog with your brand when you have more control.

Design Freedom

The Personal plan is more than enough to power your website with a very good looking blog. You get the rich design and editing features I’ve described, as well as access to basic website metrics and the Squarespace extensions, which can expand your site with third-party features and content.

Now you won’t have total control to customize, as you do with the thousands of plugins offered by WordPress. That said, all of the add-ons and third-party extensions in Squarespace are built into the platform—this means no maintenance or updates for you.

The other drawback of the free-forever plan is the Wix ads, which enable the company to offer the free version. If you are running your blog as part of your business, do you really want another company’s advertisements?

WordPress editor for Best Blogging Platforms

Blogger and Medium offer simple tools to create, organize, and share posts. There’s not a ton you can do with the layout, but it’s always going to look sharp.

If you are looking for a low maintenance venue to share stories with the world or advocate for a cause, traditional blogging platforms are perfect. They can also work as a simple portfolio for businesses that want to share wins and finished work.

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.

This is going to be less work than managing WordPress plugins and themes.

These two traditional blogging platforms are free forever. You don’t have to pay for hosting, web design, or worry about the site staying online. These providers handle all of that.

Try Squarespace free for 14 days and give your company the on-brand blog you’ve always wanted.

#4 – Medium Review — The Best for Reaching Readers with Minimal Effort

Medium splash for Best Blogging Platforms

You can even add affiliate links to your Medium posts to generate your own source of revenue. Some free platforms don’t let you do this.

WordPress.com lets you start completely for free, but there are several paid plans that allow you to do more. For example, for just $4 per month, you can remove WordPress ads and receive a custom domain free for one year. These plans scale all the way up to $45 per month for an ecommerce-focused package.