Planning to start your blog, but not sure how to choose the best blogging platform? I agree it's not an easy job to pick one among many blogging platforms.
Want to skip reading? The best blogging platform for the majority is undoubtedly Wordpress.org with Bluehost.
To help you choose the best blogging platform as per your needs, I've also included the pros and cons of each platform in this article.
Pay attention! Be clear about what type of blog you want, you need a ready-made template or want to design it by yourself.
It will be difficult and time taking to shift on any other platform in future.
Here's the list of some popular blogging platforms I will be talking about in this article:
- WordPress
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Blogger
- Medium
The Best Blogging Platform in 2021
WordPress
No question WordPress is one of the most popular blogging software. Trusted by millions of bloggers out there.
According to W3Techs, WordPress powers 40% of all the websites on the Internet.
Note: I'm talking about Wordpress.org. It is easy to get confused between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org.
Wordpress.org is a free website builder that powers you to build your blog or website.
WordPress allows you full customisation and the control is in your hands.
It provides you to add new features like forums, an online store, and paid subscription plan.
Eventually making it the best blogging platform to make money.
Want to start a travel blog?
Want to share financial ideas and tips?
Want to start an online store?
You name it, WordPress can do it.
WordPress is a self-hosted platform and free to use. It means you will need a hosting provider and domain name.
There are many hosting providers available but I recommend you to go with Bluehost.
Bluehost is one of the oldest hosting providers and is officially recommended by WordPress.
It also provides a free domain name for the first year.
Pros
1. WordPress provides you with great customization features.
2. Provides you free themes to make your blog more visible to the crowd.
3. You are the owner of your content.
4. With its 58,000 free plugins, maintaining a blog becomes easy and systematic.
5. It also includes SEO plugins that help your blog to rank on Google.
6. WordPress has a large community. You will find lots of articles and videos about WordPress. So it will help you to step up your blog.
Cons
1. Unlike Wix, you need to start from zero and customize your blog.
Check out the step by step tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog.
Wix
The fastest and easiest way to start a blog is Wix.
Want to start a blog on food, travel, finance, gaming or an online store?
Wix provides hundreds of templates for any kinds of blog.
Just choose your favourite template and your blog will be ready.
To give it a personal touch, change the font, colours, and logo of the chosen template.
Want the process faster and automatic?
Go with Wix's Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI). Simply answer few questions and Wix ADI will automatically set up your blog.
However, you can also customize your blog on your own. Wix ADI will help you to choose the best layout that fits your needs.
No coding required!
Just drag and drop to add new features to your blog.
The bonus feature is Wix automatic email subscription. It helps you to build your email list with less effort.
If you want to start a blog just for passion Wix has a lifetime-free plan. However, you won't be able to add a custom domain with the free plan.
Compared to WordPress, Wix has certain limitations. I will mention them in cons sections.
Pros
1. Fast and simple interface
2. Wix ADI
3. Drag and drop feature helps in the customization of the blog
4. Wide range of ready to use templates
Cons
1. Wix ads and branding with the free plan
2. Limited flexibility (third party apps)
Squarespace
Squarespace is an all in one website builder started in 2003.
It is the best option if want to start a blog together with an e-commerce store.
From one place you can handle your blog and store at the same time.
Further, Squarespace's drag and drop tool makes everything easy.
Create beautiful pages and a vibrant online store without any coding skills.
Squarespace is not flexible as WordPress and you won't get thousands of plugins.
It has four plans you can choose from-Personal ($12 per month), Business ($18 per month), Basic Commerce($26 per month), Advanced Commerce($40 per month).
Pros
1. Simple & easy to use
2. Free professional designed templates
3. 24/7 customer support
4. SEO and social media tools
Cons
1. To unlock more features business plan is a bit costly.
Blogger
Blogger is one of the oldest blogging platforms started in 1999.
It is free to use and hosted by Google.
Blogger is the most secure platform as it is managed by Google itself.
Your blog's domain will look like this: https://xyz.blogspot.com
You can also add your custom domain name.
Customize your blog with blogger's templates or with other custom website templates.
Blogger comes with all basic features like add images, audio, inbound & outbound links, and more.
Google account is required to start a blog on blogger.
If you want to start a free blog and make money online with Google Adsense and Affiliate Marketing, Blogger is the best option.
One of the major drawbacks is you are not the owner of your blog or content. Google can anytime pull-down or suspend your blog. Unlike WordPress, Blogger lacks flexibility and plugins.
Pros
1. Free to use
2. Most secure and reliable platform
3. Easy and simple interface
4. Free SSL certificate
Cons
1. Outdated Templates
2. Limited features
3. Blogger is not updated frequently.
4. Blogger is owned by Google and it can be closed down anytime. And they have already done this with Feedburner.
I would advise you to start with Blogger and once your blog starts growing shift to WordPress.
Medium
Want to focus on writing with no efforts for maintenance and hosting, Medium is the best blogging platform for you.
Bonus
No one likes to read a content with grammatical mistakes, do you? Use Grammarly a free to use brilliant writing assistant to check your writing, spelling, and grammar.
Started in 2012, Medium is now a large community of writers, bloggers, journalists and readers.
Unlike other blogging platforms, Medium has an audience of 60+ million readers waiting for your content.
With such a huge audience, you don't need to worry about traffic. Just give value and people will follow your content.
Medium also has its partner program which enables you to earn money if readers read your content.
You can also go with affiliate marketing to make money from your medium blog.
Unlike other blogging platforms, monetization options are limited with Medium.
You won't get your own domain name which is crucial if want to build your brand.
Pros
1. Free to use
2. No stress of hosting and maintaining the blog
3. Already established audience
Cons
1. Limited customization features
2. Your audience is not directly with you
3. You cannot run ads to monetize your blog
Click here to start your blog on Medium for free.
FAQs Related To Blogging Platforms
1. What things should I check before choosing a blogging platform?
The common points you should consider is security, customer support experience, price, and is the interface easy to use.
2. Name of some of the best blogging platforms in 2021?
WordPress, Wix, Medium, Squarespace, and Blogger.
3. Can I go with a free blogging platform?
Yes, you can.
However, they have certain limitations.
But if you don't want to make Blogging your full time and keep it a passion you can start with a free blogging platform.
Conclusion
Firstly, thanks for reading till the last.
Still confused about which platform to choose, listen.
If you want to make a blog and run it like a successful business to make money online, definitely go with WordPress.
WordPress provides thousands of customization options that will help you to grow.
You can my step by step tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog?
But if want to start a blog and your main motto is not to make money online, start with medium or blogger.
Hope you found this article useful.
Comment down below.
Which blogging platform you liked the most and Why?
See you soon, have a great day!
- Nilesh
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