Where to blog? As I mentioned in one of my posts last year on how to make money blogging, blogs are the oldest and perhaps the most mature form of social media. Blogs have been around since ages, well before any of the modern social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and newer players such as Google+ were born. While the blogging arena was initially limited to a few players (notably Blogspot and WordPress), it’s now a keenly contested segment with several high profile players.
So, which blogging platform do you choose? Should you go with conventional wisdom and choose a well-established platform such as WordPress? Or should you try your hand at microblogging revelations such as Tumblr. Clearly, there’s no one size fits all approach to choosing the optimal blogging platform.
Where to blog
In this post, I compare some of the most popular blogging platforms to help my readers take a well-educated decision on which blogging platform to choose.
WordPress
What Facebook is to social media, WordPress is to the world of blogging. It’s a been-there-done-that player in the blogging arena. Unlike many other blogging platforms which are publicly hosted on the Internet, WordPress offers a self-hosting mode as well. Here’s a quick run-down of WordPress pros and cons.
Advantages
- Choice of self-hosting & easy to customize
- Easy to install and a thriving developer and support community
- Tons of custom themes to choose from
- Robust Anti-spam capabilities
Disadvantages
- Irritating advertisements (free version)
- Plugins can be a tricky business
- Requires technical know-how (self-hosted version)
Blogger
Another veteran player in the blogging arena – Blogger is now owned and backed by Google. Here’s a quick run-down of Blogger pros & cons.
Advantages
- Fits well in Google Ecosystem
- Free as in beer
- Good support for customization
Disadvantages
- Poor SEO support
- No self-hosted version
Tumblr
Tumblr is widely perceived as an optimal blogging platform for micro-blogging aka quick blogging. It’s advisable to use Tumblr when you need a short form blogging that integrates social media elements – the idea is to quickly share and spread content among users.
Advantages
- Short and Sweet blogging
- Third-party tool support
- Free
- Integrates well with Google Analytics
Disadvantages
- Archiving is a pain
- No support for comments
- No support for RSS feeds
Typepad
Typepad blogging platform has gained acceptance among creatives, industry leaders and businesses.
Advantages
- Offers a domain name
- Customized designs
- Personal support
- Good integration with Facebook
Disadvantages
- Subscription is mandatory
- Fringe player
There are other several noticeable players in the blogging arena including Moveable Type, Drupal, Live Journal, Xanga – each catering to a specific niche. All in all, the answer to the crucial question – “Where to blog” should be determined by individual needs, target audience, budget and integration with other social networks.
What’s your favorite blogging platform? Please share your opinion on where to blog by leaving a comment.
Very nice!
Hey Douglas,
Good breakdown of the basic pro’s & cons of some of these platforms. For professionals looking to build a quality site, self-hosted WordPress is fantastic. The latest version – 3.3 – is a great update. A lot of people might have been disappointed in the capabilities of earlier versions’ of WP; it’s worth taking another look. [* Full Disclosure: My company builds a premium WP plugin *]
I think “ownership” should be a major factor when thinking about blogging platforms. It’s a shame when I hear stories about people having their accounts suspended or hacked in to on other services – we’ve seen services collapse from GeoCities to Piknick to Buzz to Wave etc. If you’re going to invest the time to create compelling content – why would you want to send the traffic to something other than your own domain (or a domain where you have an incentive for success)? I know a lot of people think “That service could never get turned off,” but it’s always possible. At least find a way to back-up / export the work you’ve created.
Great breakdown… I’ve been mucking around with them all over the years…. I’ve gone with blogger… and a feed for the short versions into a non self hosted WordPress and Tumlr. Ric orglearn
Excellent article, I will recommend my friends to read it.
agreed!
I’d love to see an article about what tool to use when you professionally write/blog fro multiple outlets. THis way I can compose multiple articles and then attach and send them as they are chosen by the editors.
As a programmer who likes full control of my content, I use Octopress (http://octopress.org/) to statically generate my blog.
What about Posterous and SquareSpace?
Have you played with those too Douglas?
Great summary BTW!
It is really nice..I love blogging on tumblr and ,WordPress,knol…all this are good blogging site.
Thanks for your review!
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