Choosing the Right Blog Platform

Here’s a newsflash for you:

Not all blog platforms are created equal! There are really many right ways to blog.

How can you be sure you’ve picked the right one with so many solutions available? Each type of blog service has its own advantages and disadvantages, and each type of business has its own distinct needs.

In short, there are three basic types of blog platforms; hosted weblog providers (e.g., WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad), stand-alone weblog software (e.g., WordPress, Moveable Type, Grey Matter), and remote-hosted weblog software (e.g., Blogger).

Here are some helpful suggestions to get you started with choosing the right blog platform for you:

Hosted Blogs

Generally speaking, these are the easiest types of blog platform services to handle when you’re starting up your own blog.

To use a hosted blog, it’s really just as easy as setting up an email account, which you’ve surely done several times by now. Just enter your information and click on “submit.” It’s that simple.

You don’t need to download or install any special software, and the services are typically free.

While this is a quick, easy way to get started, you may eventually require more services and flexibility as you gain technical knowledge and know-how and you may need to switch your host.

Some consider that point to be one possible downside to this platform.

Stand-Alone Blogs

This type of blog platform will require you to download and install software and scripts into your account.

This is a very popular and user-friendly type of blog platform, and it allows you more control than a hosted blog platform. Host the blog right on your own domain, which will give you instantly more Internet recognition.

Customize the templates to reflect your favorite looks, themes, and styles.

One of the potential downsides to using a stand-alone blog platform is that it takes a little bit more work than a hosted blog platform, but if you’re up to the task and have some technical skills that you will need to be able to modify and customize it, you can get a lot more out of it.

Remotely-Hosted Blog

In the blogging world, this can be considered to be the “best of both worlds.” This blog platform solution combines some of the best features of hosted blogs and stand-alone blogs. You use your own domain, but write and manage your posts with the blog website.

This solution does require some technical skills, but if you have them then you will really benefit from the incredible flexibility that this technological combination has to offer.

Think about what your needs are for your business’s blog.

Take into consideration your own experience, your technical skills and know-how, how much time and effort you have available for managing your blog, and you’ll figure out how to choose the right blog platform for your business.