How to choose the best Blogging Platform in 2019

Sometimes, making the right choice out of numerous option could be tough.

Every day a large percentage of newbies in the blogging industry are faced with the challenge of choosing the best blogging platform for their blog as there are several blogging platforms. In fact, each day I get questions with people asking me which blogging platform is best to use to start a blog.

After some research, surveys and questions, I realised that most newbies faced with this challenge, turn out choosing the wrong blogging platform as a result of lack of knowledge. That is why in this guide I will be helping you choose the best blogging platform by going through the pros and cons of the most popular blogging platforms.

Before we dive into choosing the best blogging platform, let’s see what a wrong blogging platform is.

What is a wrong blogging platform?

According to Harsh Agrawal, owner of shoutmeloud.com, A wrong blogging platform is the one that limits blog growth. When choosing a blogging platform, it is best you choose a platform that is easy to set up and flexible, what I mean is, you need to find a platform that is search engine friendly, lets you personalise the look of your blog to suit your taste, let you add favicon, allow you to add a custom domain (This is very crucial), allows your blog post to be shared on social networks, allows you to put Google AdSense codes so you can make money, allows you to add push notifications, permits you to add media, lets in for social media optimisation and so forth. These are just some few features out of the numerous ones, but as soon as time goes on you will begin to see other features. Once a platform doesn’t have those features that isn’t the best blogging platform.

Now we know what the wrong blogging platform is, let’s choose the best blogging platform for our blog by doing a blog platforms comparison among 7 popular blogging platforms

WordPress.org

WordPress.org also known as the real WordPress is a self-hosted powerful and flexible content management system that powers over 30% of all sites on the web It is an open source software that allows you to build your website or blog on your own with no knowledge of code. This blogging platform allows you to adjust your blog to suite your taste. With WordPress.org you are in charge because of this most experts says it is the best blogging platform. If you will use WordPress.org, all you need is a domain name and a web host. I recommend you use Bluehost as is the best hosting service and the official WordPress recommended hosting provider.

Pros

• It is easy to set up.
• It allows you to generate revenue from ads.
• WordPress. org gives you control over every aspect of your blog (in terms of looks, content, layout etc.)
• It is search engine friendly.
• WordPress.org has a large community which contains a lot of themes, add-ons and support.
• It has a lot of free and paid theme that gives your blog appearance a unique look.

Cons

• It cost money: WordPress.org is free but you will need to buy a domain name and a hosting plan. This cost about $50 per year for a basic plan (Domain and hosting inclusive).
• You are responsible for site maintenance, backup and security.

You can see our guide on how to set up a blog using Word press.org for detailed step-by-step instruction.

Joomla

Just like WordPress. org Joomla is self-hosted open source content management system that allows you to build your blog on your own with no knowledge of code. Joomla is a powerful, because it allows you to customise blog to suite your taste, because of this most experts says it is the best blogging platform after WordPress.org. If you will build on Joomla, all you need is a domain name and a web host.

Pros

• Joomla is powerful and flexible, and can build any kind of blog.
• It has hundreds of templates that gives your blog appearance a unique design.
• Extensions are available to add more features to your blog.

Cons

• The Joomla community is much smaller than WordPress community, so there are fewer themes and add-ons than WordPress.
• You are responsible for site maintenance, backup and security.
• Limited support options.

Blogger

Blogger is another popular blogging platform that offers a quick and easy way to create a blog with no knowledge of coding. Developed by Pyra Labs and bought by Google in 2003 and by 2006 Google hosted every blogger account on their server. The good thing with blogger is that it contains a feature Most newbie bloggers love which is “A free blog hosting service”. It is a feature bloggers with no experience would prefer as most newbie bloggers will want to go for platforms with minimal cost. Blogger comes with a free domain “The blogspot domain” which is ok even though it is advisable you use a custom domain. You can get a custom domain from Google Domains. If you are new into blogging, you want to gain experience and you are looking for a platform with minimalistic cost, I suggest you try blogger.

Pros

• Blogger is free.
• It requires no installation.
• Management is easy as it requires no technical skills.
• Since blogger is a Google product, it comes with this high level of security and reliability.

Cons

• It limits design options, with only fewer templates available.
• Blogger doesn’t do a frequent update to their platform
• With the rate at which Google is abandoning projects the only fear is blogger being cancelled.

You can go through our short tutorial on how to set up a blog with blogger.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is also a blog hosting service offered by automatic, a company created by WordPress.org Co-founder Matt Mullenberg. Although WordPress.org is like WordPress.com, WordPress.com offers a basic blog hosting service at no cost, a free sub domain.” WordPress.com” and require no site maintenance.

Pros

• No setup required
• Easy to use and manage

Cons

• You can’t run an advertisement on your blog hence you can’t make money.
• WordPress.com basic account can’t use Google Analytics unless you upgrade to a premium plan.
• The free WordPress.com account contains WordPress.com ads and branding.
• The free WordPress.com plan limits your website storage space to 3GB.
• You don’t have full control of your blog and can be suspended anytime if you violate their policy.
• The basic WordPress.com limits account customisation features.

Wix

Wix is another popular blogging platform used to create blog sites. Wix is a free and premium cloud based website building platform that contains drag-and-drop features which doesn’t require any technical programming skills. Anyone with the basic knowledge of a computer can use it to build a blog site. Just like WordPress.com Wix also offers its own web hosting.

Pros

• Setup is quick and easy.
• Wix allows you to customise your blog site using third party apps and templates
• Wix contains drag-and-drop tools which make blogs easy to personalise without coding

Cons

• Once you choose a template, you can’t change it.
• The free account is limited and shows Wix branding and ads on your site.
• E-commerce features are limited.
• Wix is not perfect for large blog sites because the nav bar can’t accommodate complex sub structures.
• You can’t implement your own design.
• The free version is limited.
• Your blog site data can't be exported except it is done manually.

Tumblr

Tumblr quite a unique blogging platform. It is a social network website founded by David Karp. Tumblr is a micro blogging platform with social networking features including following other blogs, re-blogging, sharing tools and more

Pros

• Tumblr is easy to use.
• It integrates social media networking.

Cons

• Backing up your blog content on Tumblr is difficult.
• Exporting and importing your blog content is difficult making migrating to other platform is tough.
• Tumblr comes with a limited set of features which limits blog growth.

Medium

Medium was founded in 2012 by Twitter founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone. Since its launch, Medium has grown into a community of writers, bloggers, and journalist. It is an easy to use blogging platform with limited social networking platform.

Pros

• Medium is easy to use and requires no setup and coding skills needed.

Cons

• You can’t run an advertisement on your blog hence you can’t make money.
• Design options are limited.
• Lack of control. 

What really is the best blogging platform?

I personally believe WordPress.org outperforms other blogging platform because its flexibility

Wrapping up

Choosing the best blogging platform for blog depends on the kind of blog you want to create. For someone who will like to start a successful career in blogging, WordPress.org is the best blogging platform for you. But for someone (hobbyist, students etc.) who just want to create an online presence at a low cost or even gain experience in blogging, I suggest you try Blogger or WordPress.com.

In fact, most newbies start with blogger or WordPress.com to gain experience before migrating to WordPress.org (That’s the trend)

We hope this guide helped you choose the best blogging platform for your blog.

We would like to know which blogging platform you chose and why you chose it.

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