There are literally hundreds of blog platforms out there. There are free hosts and paid hosts. Which is best for the newbie blogger? While I don’t intend to review every single host out there, I intend to deal with the “biggies.”
Blogger and WordPress are the two most used blogging platforms out there. I have used Blogger since day one and I remain loyal to the platform for several reasons.
First of all, I am used to it and I have all my blogs hosted on Blogger. To change now would require moving everything over to another host and that’s not something I have the time or patience for. I can point custom domains to my Blogger sites and, best of all, the hosting is free.
Blogger’s interface is easy to use too, particularly for a newbie. I have learned many Blogger Tips and Tricks over the years to “tweak” my sites, but even without learning how to manipulate code, you can have a pretty snazzy looking site that’s ready to go in a few minutes. Over the years, Blogger has made many enhancements to their platform to make it easier to use. They also have new template styles that make a blog look more professional (guess where this blog is hosted).
Another great thing about Blogger is you can easily put Adsense ads on your site with one click. We’ll talk more about Adsense later…
Word press is the other “biggie” out there in the blogging world. When I first started out, I tried WordPress. I didn’t like it. It took too long to set up, I couldn’t host on their site for free, Adsense wasn’t allowed (it is now), and I needed to use a “.wordpress” address (unless I wanted to pay to host my blog elsewhere). There were just too many added steps for my tastes. There are many millions of Worpress enthusiasts out there and if WordPress works for them, that’s great. The important thing is to use what works for you.
Blogger works for me, so here I am!
For a good comparison of the Blogger vs. Worpress features, this article on Pulsed says it better than I ever could.
Good luck setting up your blog!