Blogging platforms

This page contains links to all posts on Top Blogs on blogging platforms. You will find discussion on free blogging platforms and other options (and comparisons) for proper understanding.

Indian Top Blogs has published a number of articles on the best blogging platforms, free as well as paid. For very new bloggers, let me explain that blogging platform is the blogging site that allows you to publish your blog on it. It can be free or may charge you for opening a blog. It may allow you some or more options to make changes in the looks and functionality of the blog, or it may not allow any changes. 

Depending upon your blogging goal, you should decide your blogging budget, and then decide whether you want to go for a free blogging platform or make an independent blog (for which you have to pay: more details in the section on making money from blogging). 

Let me answer the common queries here. Please visit the given links for further details:

Should I go for a free blogging platform?

If you want a hobby blog or a personal blog, a free blogging platform should be your choice. If you want to open a blog for your own branding, branding of your products or to make money blogging, go for an independent blog or self-hosted blog.

Free blogging platforms give space, etc enough for a blogger or a small businessman, but the blog looks like a blog under a big website. You also have to abide by the platform's policies. You cannot do many changes on the blog. Free blogging platforms other than Blogger do not allow putting advertisements on the blog, so making money directly from ads is not possible.

The independent or self-hosted blog is not on a particular blogging platform. You make the blog using a software called CMS. Then you have to host the blog on a server of a web hosting company - this costs money. You also have to pay for the domain name (web address) of the blog. 

Advantages of having an independent blog are discussed in many articles relating to making money from blogging.

Wordpress is the most popular CMS.

Please do not get confused between Wordpress free blogging platform (wordpress.com) and Wordpress CMS (wordpress.org).

Which is the best free blogging platform?

Wordpress and Blogger are the best free blogging platforms, considering their simplicity and what they offer to the blogger. There are also many other free blog sites,e.g. Tumblr, Live Journal and Medium.

As said above, Wordpress free blogging platform and Wordpress CMS are two different entities. The first one is for opening a free blog and the second one is a software, which is free, for designing and running the blog after you have purchased a web address and web hosting.

New bloggers also get confused when they hear about blogger blogs, blogspot blogs and Google blogs. They all are the same. The platform is owned by Google and it is called Blogger. However, the blogs that you open using this blogging platform have .blogspot.com (not .blogger.com) ending.

On ITB, you can visit these posts for detailed discussion and tips on this subject:

Comparison between Wordpress and Blogger free platforms

While Wordpress and Blogger are the two best blogging platforms on which one can open many blogs for free, they have their own advantages and disadvantages. In short, Wordpress blogs look clean and modern, while Blogger's in-built designs are more traditional. But on Blogger blogs, you can make numerous design changes and also put advertisements to earn money. 

Wordpress versus Blogger patforms

How good is Medium blogging platform?

Medium is a blogging platform on which serious articles are written, so it is popular among those wanting to read good articles. But you cannot make any design changes or put widgets etc. on the Medium blog.

More details on Medium platform compared to Blogger 

Features of Blogger blogging platform

The following posts give features of Blogger in detail:

Which are the best paid blogging sites?

As said above, independent blogs are made using a CMS. You must buy the domain name for the blog and host it on the web. Among the CMSc, Wordpress is the most popular and feature-rich.

There are some paid blogging platforms/ website builders (e.g. Squarespace, Ghost, Typepad, Wix). These sites allow you to open a blog on their platform and also give you an independent identity like a self-hosted blog. So, these paid blogging sites are all-in-on service providers for making blogs (and other websites).

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