When you are ready to begin choosing your blogging platform, there are some questions you can ask yourself to help you decide what you need from a blogging platform.
For example:
1. Do you need something that will be easy to set up and use?
2. Are you new to blogging and new to internet platforms?
3. What is your technical skill level?
4. Are you going to want to change the look of the templates and other
customization?
5. Do you need to have little, moderate or a lot of control over the interface?
6. Will you require spam control features, such as captchas and comment
moderation?
7. Does the platform you are considering offer support and assistance?
8. Do you need to be able to have more than one person able to post the
blog?
These are just some of the questions you might ask. You have to consider your individual situation. Will you need pages on your site that are non-blog pages? What kind of features are important to you? These are all questions to help you choose the right blogging platform for your needs.
Popular blogging programs
You may already know that within each type of blog hosting, there are several different popular blogging programs or platforms, you have probably heard of some of them already and may have even tried some of them already.
Blogger
Blogger is a free hosted blogging tool by Google that has been around for a long time and is very easy to use. Many people make personal blogs on this site and it only takes about 10 minutes to set up your first blog. They have a nice selection of templates but Blogger doesn't allow for a lot of customization.
LiveJournal
LiveJournal allows you to set up online journals quickly and easily. It is a collaboration and networking tool that is great for individuals but makes customization difficult. Again, it depends on what you are trying to do with your blog but if you hope to make money, this might not be your best option.
Textpattern
Textpattern is a free self-hosted tool which works best for those that are good with technology. It is much more customizable that the aforementioned options and it has wizard based interface to make this easier for you. It also uses custom formatting.
Typepad (hosted)/ Moveable Type (self-hosted)
Typepad was created by SixApart and is the hosted version of their popular MoveableType platform. These are both options for you to consider depending on your specific needs. Typepad is a paid blogging platform but it is still relatively affordable. There are different levels of access that will affect the price ranging from Basic to Pro.
Wordpress
Wordpress is both hosted and self hosted, depending on what your needs are. Wordpress is free and is easy to setup and use. There are hundreds of plugins to extend functionality in different areas. This is by far one of the most popular options around today.
Here is a list of some popular blogging platforms which bloggers can install on
their own servers:
- b2evolution
- bBlog
- blosxom
- ExpressionEngine
- Drupa
- Greymatter
- LifeType
- Movable Type
- Nucleus CMS
- Radio UserLand
- Roller Weblogger
- Serendipity
- Subtext
- Textpattern
- Windows Live Writer
- WordPress
Here is a list of some popular blogging services, which bloggers can use with no
installation.
- Blog.com
- Blogger
- LiveJournal
- Open Diary
- TypePad
- Windows Live Spaces
- Wordpress.com
- Xanga
You have to decide for yourself which platform you think will meet all of your needs the best. So what should you look for while selecting a platform?
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