What Is the Free Simple Top Best Blogging Platform To Use in 2013?
So you have been wondering about what could be a Free, Simple to use & the Best Blogging Platform would be. Well, no questions any more as I am going to cover just that in this article. I am going to share some of the available free & top blogging platforms and my review on them so that you can read through them to get an idea and then decide about the blogging platform that you think, would fulfill your needs.
Free, Simple & Best Blogging Platform.. Hmmm. What could it be?
Free Simple Top Best Blogging Platform
Blogging is a great way to start & propagate your online presence. It gives you a very good medium that you can use to support others and build your relationships. A blog is nothing but online representation of your voice and your ideas. And you want to be able to convey your points to your audience in the most meaningful and the most effective way possible, without taking too much effort to do just that. So how is this possible? Well, there are different blogging platforms in the market today, some are paid and some are free. So I am going to list only the chosen top free blogging platforms in the market today, so that it’s easier for you to decide. So here we go:
1. WordPress
WordPress is by far, the most famous and the most used blogging platform available in the market today. You can get started within minutes of installing/uploading it on your website. It offers tons of customization options and you can modify anything and everything you want, as per your liking. You can change the menus, add/customize widgets, change themes, etc. in seconds. It’s so good that you can start blogging using WordPress for Free, as long as you have your sources for hosting the blog.
The official plugin from WordPress called “JetPack” will add loads of other functionality such as stats, etc. that you can use to get an insight into your blog usage and your visitors. The best part of WordPress is that you have two options to choose from to get started. If you have your own web hosting, all you have to do is simply upload files to your website and start using it. This is called Self Hosted WordPress blog.
The advantage of Self Hosted WordPress blog is that you can customize it endlessly. The only downside is that you have to maintain it manually and you get no external help, unless you hire someone. You can also add custom widgets, plugin etc. as you need and perform your own testing. So you can use it to develop custom plugin for your clients. So if you are (especially) a Web Developer, you will find this option immensely useful.
If not, you can choose to pay for your blog to be hosted by the guys at WordPress.com. This is called WordPress.com hosted solution. In this solution, although they limit the customization ability and such, much of the technical work is taken care of you. So if you are not technically sound and would not mind spending few extra bucks for the added convenience, then this option is right for you.
2. Blogger
Blogger is the second best blogging platform in the world. It’s owned b y Google. All you have to do is sign up for a free blogger account and you are on your way to blogging for free. Also it offers rich customization options such as free themes to choose from, monetizing your blog for free by adding Google AdSense, stat trackers, etc. If you have multiple authors, you can even create a team blog.
Blogger also makes it easy for you by showing your blog stats conveniently and you by using the tracking feature they provide, you can also add the blogs that you would want to track the updates for and they will be shown on your dashboard. Blogger shares common features with WordPress in terms of having Search functionality, layout customizations, RSS Feed support and moderating user comments. The “widgets” of WordPress are replaced with “gadgets” in Blogger.
The most appealing thing for choosing Blogger as your blogging platform is that as your blogger account is directly connected with your Google ID and so, you can create as many blogs as you want, very easily.
3. Tumblr
Tumblr is another famous blogging platform very widely used. It’s more of micro-blogging. It offers you a variety of customization options and lets you share videos, images, text, etc. from any device that you may be using (phone, email, desktop, etc.). You can also add “Apps” that provide you with more functionality.
Tumblr is more content oriented, so offers very little scope for upgrading the visual looks by means of themes. So if someone likes your content they can simply “reblog” or “favorite” it and this action will show a snippet of your content on their page. This will include a link back to you, so you get additional traffic for all the favorite content.
Another specialty of Tumblr lies in the fact that you can either import and existing blog from elsewhere and/or export your blog outside, if you choose to go with a different blogging platform. Tumblr is a free service, so you can get started fairly quickly.
Conclusion:
Because of the various functionalities offered, the level of customization, be it just from a design perspective or usage, WordPress is clearly the most famous and the best top blogging platform available in the world today. So what are you waiting for? Get started with WordPress today.
Note:
1. If you would like to read more about WordPress in great detail, visit our article on What is WordPress? Why WordPress is used? How to use WordPress?
2. If you would like a new custom WordPress theme designed for your blog, contact me today for a free quote.
Your Turn!
Do you know of any other free blogging platforms available in the market today (as of March 2013)? Feel free to share by commenting below.