Top 5 Free Blogging Sites

Blogging is by far the most widely used kind of web presence these days. A problem a lot of new bloggers face is finding the right platform to satisfy their needs. There are actually 2 very distinctive kinds of blogging services – the ones you host yourself and pay a web hosting service fee for, as well as cost-free blogging sites, including Posterous, Blogger and WordPress.

This short article will detail the 5 most favored free blogging platforms and provide information into what is good and bad pertaining to them, to I hope empower individuals with information to help pick a free blogging platform.

Blogger

Google’s free blogging site, Blogger is a pick of quite a few who are starting out inside the blogosphere. The clean user interface makes it a huge hit with individuals who are focused on creating articles. This feature is exactly what makes Blogger one of the best blogging sites.

Blogger offers the operator a wide range of eye-catching layouts throughout the signup procedure and provides a drag-and-drop resource to move components within your sidebar. Widgets to add readers and maintain track of statistics are handy and useful for individuals who do not wish to touch program code. Settings are very clear and simple to find, plus the writing space is a good size and free from distractions. A customized domain name may be incorporated at no extra fee.

The major drawback to Googles Blogger is a lack of a direct link to social websites. Each posting has to be manually tweeted and uploaded to Facebook, which could be monotonous for the people who post content a lot.

WordPress

WP is offered in the form of a managed platform like Blogger or as a self-hosted alternative utilizing a hosting service provider of the users choice. For example, my blog uses the WP platform which is free, but I pay a webhost a monthly service charge to ensure I have more freedom and flexibility with my blogs design and features. The managed solution is better for those who are new to blogging.

WP is definitely one of the very best blogging sites as a consequence of its fast, no-fuss sign-up procedure. Much like Blogger, a brand new user can be blogging within a couple of minutes, with quite a few attractive styles to pick from. Where systems vary is in the total amount of tinkering which can be performed in the backend. WordPress restricts the modifying of design templates and CSS to people who spend an extra $30 annually. Customized domains add anywhere from $13 to $18 per year towards the cost of the site. Some users find out migrating to self-hosted WordPress to be a more affordable alternative.

Although WordPress is not really the least expensive of blogging platforms available, it really is a great place to start for small business owners or other people wishing to make a name for themselves. The software provides outstanding SEO features and fresh blogs are usually found within a few days due to WordPress extremely high Pagerank (PR9), which is certainly why it is one of the very best blogging platforms.

Tumblr

Tumblr rose from a trendy upstart to a name brand in a little over five years. It today features even more active sites than WordPress and it has attracted the likes of celebrities, CEOs and professional photographers. It is usually considered to be one of the best blogging platforms for arts and crafts and online digital multimedia.

Tumblr provides a zippy sign-up procedure that only needs an email address and contains a lot of stunning cost-free themes. This platforms key attraction is the posting formats, that provide simplicity when posting links, pictures, video clips, chats and quotations. Tumblr is natively integrated with Twitter and Facebook, plus it will auto-magically send out updates with each fresh post. Users can have several weblogs.

The only real downside to Tumblr is its reliability. They have suffered extended downtimes and are also typically overcapacity, which could take it off the list of best blogging sites for a lot of people.

Posterous

Posterous is really a hybrid between a conventional weblog and Tumblr. Clients can join with an e-mail address and are provided with a very simple blog layout that can easily be edited through the backend. It is known as one of the top blogging sites due to the ability to update from anywhere. Similar to Tumblr, it is very well-integrated with social media marketing.

One major disadvantage of Posterous is an abscence of clearness regarding the creation of new blogs and it is often challenging to remove them later on. The platform was a short while ago bought by Twitter and is undergoing transition.

LiveJournal

LiveJournal is considered the oldest blogging platform on the web and has now seen a great decrease in the user base ever since WP came along. Its still considered to be among the best starter blogging platforms.

While LiveJournal remains very much in use and is more community-based than any other platforms, its lack of designs and social media attributes as well as typical clunkiness ensure it is one of the less-appealing blogging sites. Its one strong edge is the commenting feature is restricted to community members, which decreases spammy posts and trolling. Most new bloggers will most likely prefer to begin with something nicer, like Blogger or WordPress.

Free Blogging Sites Conclusion

The blogging sites highlighted above are a great starting point for anybody looking to build their very first blog. Something to remember, these sites are all free, so if you still cannot decide which blogging platform to begin with based upon the above information, sign up an account at each and give each of them a test run!

As a side note, many experienced web marketing experts maintain multiple blogging sites and “inter-link” these to enhance their web presence within the search engine listings by what is well known as a “Link Wheel” – but this is a whole different topic we shall leave for another day!

Stephanie Tully is a published author and internet marketing specialist. Stephanie has assisted numerous clientele in findinding the best blogging sites most suitable to their preferences. Stephanie is also the co-webmaster of www.howtobeginawebsite.com – a site that has assisted numerous people produce successful websites.