Starting your blog is exciting and a lot of fun. Most people have read a friend’s blog or maybe a business blog while online. Then eventually the thought comes… “I think I want to start a blog“. After a few weeks or months you eventually get around to starting it and then you think to yourself, “How do you start a blog”?
You start a blog with a blog platform. More advanced bloggers call these blogging platforms – content management systems (cms). The purpose of cms is to help you create and organize your blog. There are many available systems for users which we will explore throughout this post.
Blog Platforms
Putting together this list has been both fun and surprising. There are so many options for your blogging needs that new bloggers (and veterans) can find what works best for them. Let’s get started:
1. Wordpress.org
Hands down the best CMS – Blog platform around. If you want your blog to be professional, stylish and easily customized then Wordpress is the only real option. With constant updates to make your version more secure there is no safer way to blog. The software is completely free too. For easy customization and excellent support for if you get stuck, choose Wordpress.org.
2. Blogger
Perhaps the most popular blog platform is Blogger. Owned by Google, this blog platform is simple and free. Offering some very easy adaptions with other Google products Blogger is a very nice choice for anyone looking to start a blog. The major drawbacks… little customization, little updating, and almost no protection for your content (it could be taken down at any time). So although a popular choice, not the #1 recommendation for anyone looking to blog long term.
3. Wordpress.com
Using Wordpress.org’s easy blogging platform for maximum customization and security updates the .com version also offers free hosting. The only downside to this instead of the .org… you don’t have an original domain name (web address/url). Great functionality though.
4. Joomla
Used by Harvard University and an MTV affiliate, Joomla is nothing to toss out! With easy start-ups and one click downloading you can get your blog off the ground in no time. Just look for Joomla’s features and compare them with other blog platforms to find out that it is one of the contenders.
5. Typepad
Quality blogging system with lots of templates to choose from. My problem with them… the most basic package is $5 and to get your own domain name you pay almost $9 a month. Why Typepad? Simple interface, seo friendly blog design.
6. Movable Type
Another option for blogging is Movable Type. Their resume includes Brittney Spears and Barack Obama. So they have some reputable clients, what features stick out? The best feature they have is the ability to easily build an interactive forum on your blog. Wordpress also does this, but with Movable Type, it is built in.
7. Drupal
The Drupal project is similar to many of the other Blog platforms. Being open-sourced the coding for the platform is shared so that the community can make improvements to its features and functionality. Drupal
8. LiveJournal
Often abbreviated LJ, users can easily make their blog into a personal diary or journal. With over 21.7 million blogs created since 1999 they have a pretty long track record for the internet. LiveJournal
9. Expression Engine
A paid CMS, Expression Engine offers a free copy only to those wishing to create a “personal” blog about themselves or family. It also comes with no support, unless you upgrade to the $99 personal version (which still does not allow commercial use). To get commercial use blog software you have to fork out $249, and that only gets you a year of updates and support! Not to mention that popular plug-ins on Wordpress cost almost $50 in EE. Avoid at all costs!
10. Weebly
Using a super-easy interface any body online can create a blog. With drag and drop options, layout and theme set-up is quick and easy. Adding content is even easier. Drawbacks, they take a percentage of your Ad revenue and only allow simple customizations. Great for someone with zero experience. It is also pretty fun to play around with. Look to this Blog Platform to have some pretty cool features in the future. Weebly
11. SquareSpace
Costing $8 a month you get hosting and a pretty good design service. None of the features are outstanding but the service is amiable and the opportunity for future features is pretty good.
12. Tumblr
Dubbed the easiest way to blog, Tumblr is less like a blog and more like a mix between twitter and blogging. Most of the blogging offers no real information like a normal blog post, but a little more features, like images, than twitter.
13. Xanga
More of a social network of blogs then just a software system, Xanga looks like a party online. With blog colors, popluar posts, and lots of interaction between fellow Xanga members this cms is ideal for the casual blogger. The basic functions offer the ability to post, but no real professional applications are available.
14. Windows Live Spaces
Based on simplicity and familiarity, Windows Live Spaces offers a very comfortable way to blog. Similar in feeling to the other Microsoft products, Live Spaces offers average users average functionality.
15. Vox
Simple, sexy, smart. Everything you want in a blog. That’s the slogan of Vox, a smaller blog platform company. It is design to work for the personal blogger who is looking to share more about life and get pictures and current events online.
16. Skyrock
Skyrock used largely for blogs about music, this blog is young and so are the users. Get to know this blogging platform if you are looking to meet other music people and start a simple blog about something you love.
17. Open Diary
Known as OD, this online diary community is dramatic and young. The oldest blogging community online, Open Diary offers free and paid services. The users are generally young and a majority are female. Worth seeing a piece of history.
18. Blogge.rs
A free blogging service with basic service. It is incredibly small with little to no interaction or future. Currently there are only 217 blogs total using this system. Another good statistic to show you not to go here is that the most recent update from all of those blogs was over 17 hours ago!!! Nothing is alive over there… stay away!
19. Radiant
If you are savvy with Ruby on Rails then try it out and see how you like it. If you don’t know what that means then avoid this cms. Focusing on basic features like pages and snippets, Radiant instantly alienates the rest of the blogging world by calling everything something else. Like I said, if you are not a programmer that is familiar with RoR, then don’t even bother.
20. Injader
Claim to fame for Injader is that it has no need for dozens of plug-ins because it offers a hand-built core software system in which the features on plug-ins are already included in the core. Seems simple enough. Worth a try, but just know that not a lot of bloggers use Injader, so updates will be less frequent then Wordpress.
Conclusion
Wordpress is still the best after looking extensively at 19 other Blog platforms. It not only looks the best in the admin panel, but also offers the most functionality for FREE. So do yourself a favor, if you have another blog or are about to start blogging and go with Wordpress.org
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Nice article, Seth! I can tell you did your research. I contacted Alex earlier this summer because I was using Joomla and this blog encouraged me to switch to WordPress. I wish I had this list when I first started…
Also, great use of div’s in this post!
Nick Tart | JuniorBiz´s last blog ..Top 5 Most Effective Commercial Series on TV
Thanks Nick! Alex is great for all of that information. I wrote the post and Alex is the one who inserted the images and the div’s. That is the real beauty of partnerships! He has so many talents that I don’t, and hopefully it works the other way too!
I don’t think that you should write of expression engine so quickly. EE is awesome. Perhaps not the best option for a personal blog but if you are planning something big which will eventually become feature rich then EE is an excellent choice.
Regard Joomla, it isn’t very user friendly, the admin interface is clunky and the plugins are a bit hit and miss when it comes to quality.
The latest version of Wordpress has been very flawed when it came to security. You mention numerous security updates ensure ‘there is no safer way to blog’. To be honest, these security issues which they are fixing should of been corrected during testing. Instead, due to the rapid development speed they have been missed. It is worrying that the latest version of Wordpress has had 4 security updates..
Despite the recent security let downs by Wordpress, it is one of the best blogging platforms about. I recommend it frequently to people starting up a blog.
Jason Stanley´s last blog ..Small Observation
Well I guess I will definitely have to look at EE again to discover some of their other features.
About Wordpress… I think although they are continually updating for security measures, I find it comforting that they also update for features so often. I understand that open source is going to be different. I am just glad that they are so willing and proficient and quickly fixing any problems found.
I love wordpress and think it is the best. There’s no other cms like it.
So do I! It is extremely functional and gives so many options to the user.
It’s truly amazing how many blog plattforms there are today. Personally I prefer to use Wordpress and have done so ever since I abandoned my own CMS after using Drupal and Joomla.
Stefan´s last blog ..How to Research Valuable Keywords
I have both wordpress and weebly blogs. WP is MUCH harder to use for old (I’m 49!!) non-techie types. To be fair, I got a domain name for use with WP but stuck with .weebly.com for my older mostly for practice website. For people who are setting up a personal site just for family and friends I would recommend weebly by far.
steve weaver´s last blog ..Non-conformity and Me
Weebly is a fun cms to work with. I started a weebly blog a long time ago and had a blast using the blog and website functions. For clients looking to just have a good time, and with no technological background, I sometimes recommend Weebly.
weebly is very good for begginers , you can create your blog like playing a game ,, so easy !
personally the best platform for me is Wordpress of course either if its on their free blog account or independent one ( hosted ) , followed by blogger .. you can get traffic like magic , before 4 years i started a blog on blogger , i wrote some rubbish content .. i admit lol , i was total noob , but what i got is page rank 3 … i deleted the blog LOL … Oh me !
Bader Alrayyes´s last blog ..5 FREE RSS Feed Directories for more blog traffic
That really is too bad! Yeah I find Weebly really fun to play with and easy for beginners.
Seth´s last blog ..From Planning to Earning – A New Guide Proving it’s Never Too Late to Earn Money Blogging
No Posterous? http://posterous.com
This is really taking off and acts as not only a simple yet stylish blogging platform, but a great social hub as well, with integration with numerous other social networks, sites and platforms.
Though I’m still a WP.org guy myself
Danny Brown´s last blog ..Why It’s All About Community
Wow, this is alot of blogging platforms Seth on your post. All I know before was of course WP, blogger, joomla, typepad…
elmot l PinoySoundingBoard´s last blog ..Too Cocky With The Party-List System. PoOf!
I had no idea there were so much blogging platforms out there.
However, I am totally satisfied with wordpress.
Igor
Igor Helps You Succeed´s last blog ..Have Your Twitter Followers Already Informed You That You’re Annoying?
Great post. I certainly agree with the Wordpress conclusion. I have been blogging for a little over two months now. Currently I am using Blogger, and I like it. I have a set system of goals that I laid out for myself and that’s why I started with a free application. I didn’t want to invest any money without knowing if blogging was something I would like or be good at. I decided that if I could get my Blogger blog to the point that I had 1000 unique hits every day for 7 days then I would get my own domain name and paid hosting and start a Wordpress blog. I think that makes sense. I am at about 250-300 unique hits per day. This post opened my eyes to some other platforms, but I still think I’ll try Wordpress. They seem to be about the best. Thanks.
Chris Mollo´s last blog ..Obama Takes Another Vacation
Good luck on your project to find major success! I think you would have a much easier time reaching your goal if it were with WP, but you seem to be doing well so far!
Well I am officially blown away. I knew there were a few blogging platforms but only thought there were 5 or 6.
I have only used a couple myself and seemed to stick with Wordpress as it does all I need and has so many themes and plugins.
Now I am very curious about the other platforms I will have to go and check them out individually. Glad it’s a rainy day, still a little left over from hurricane Bill.
It will give me some time to see what they are all about. Great article.
James Mann´s last blog ..The Man Behind Site Build It Review
Thanks for including Windows Live Spaces in your list. I’m glad to hear you think it’s “a very comfortable way to blog.” Cheers–
–Rob
I have to disagree with your point that Blogger doesn’t offer customization. It’s probably the most customizable free blogging platform. You can change every aspect of your theme, use your own advertising, and much more!
I will say this, though, customizing Blogger themes is a lot more difficult than Wordpress themes, IMO.
Jeremiah@The Future of Blog´s last blog ..Mobilize Your Blog Theme With WPtouch
I’m amazed that there are so many competent blogging platforms, but also relieved to see what you believe WordPress is the best, so I don’t have to stay up all night thinking whether or not I should move to a differerent platform
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..How Do You Decide Which Charity To Donate to? Childrens, Animals, Cancer, or…?
Wordpress.org is definitely the way to go! It was very interesting to see many of the other blogging platforms though; I am surprised at how many of them there are.
Jake | Web Journey´s last blog ..Forget Search Engines for a Bit
Just because using Wordpress.org doesn’t mean you can named Blgospot. I tell you what, Amanda Fazani are using blogspot and she’s success and many blogger with blogspot platform are success too. Platform isn’t important, the important thing is content.
Reza Winandar´s last blog ..How People Make Money Online?
I agree about the content, it is the overall most important thing, but the blog platform makes a huge difference in how easy it is to produce, promote and manage all of the content you work so hard to create.
Nice blog. You make a really very nice and helpful post.
chandan saud´s last blog ..Social bookmark versus search engine [del.icio.us]
Wow Cool List.
Saw many of the Blogging Platforms I didn’t even knew they existed, haha !
Enk.´s last blog ..101+ Killer Typographic Logos (Fresh Collection)
OMG, 20 types of blogging platform? I just knew some of them, haha.
Jacob Yap´s last blog ..A Review of the Godlike Thesis Wordpress Theme
There is no doubt WP is the best blogging platform. And I’m not sure it makes sense to compare to full on site systems. But if anyone is looking for a comprehensive CMS, my vote would always go to e107.
BLOGERCISE´s last blog ..The Adsense SEO Guide
Well, the beauty of wordpress is now it really does allow you the full functionality of a comprehensive CMS. You just need a few plug-ins to add forums, microblogging, web pages, and anything else you could want. I do like e107, but WP is so comprehensive!
Seth´s last blog ..From Planning to Earning – A New Guide Proving it’s Never Too Late to Earn Money Blogging
Didn’t realize there were so many…I suppose there are probably a few more miniscule networks out there.
Wordpress is obviously without a doubt the way to go.
Adam Baird´s last blog ..Twitter Ready Blogs: Use Social Proof to Gain More Followers
wordpress is the best blogging platform as it had good featues than others
crazy blogger´s last blog ..How Does WordPress Make Money Online?
My first blog ever was on Xanga back in 2002/2003. Then I moved to Blogger. Then Typepad and Wordpress.
Today, my choices are: 1.) Wordpress.org (though I suggest wordpress.com to the blogger newbie), and 2.) Typepad. I’m not exactly fond of the other choices… But that’s just me.
Ricardo Bueno´s last blog ..Social Media Addiction Rap + 6 Social Media Productivity Tips
I never knew there were so many options! I started on blogger then changed to wordpress.com because I heard the stats were better. Now I have my own domain name too. There’s still lots to learn and I’m lucky my husband’s a computer boffin so he’s helped me set up things like google analytics. I know I could have done it myself but it would have taken me four times as long!
Hey, thanks for the offer to review my site. I’d love that or any advice you can give me on getting more readers.
Also I have a question about condron.us and alphainventions.com I wonder if your other readers have heard of or visit these sites? What do you think of them as a way of getting readers? Worthwhile submitting to five times a day or better off not?
Thanks for all your handy hints!
Yes… There are even more options that I did not list. Regarding the traffic exchanges I would not use them. The traffic coming from their only inflates your stats but offers no real value to your blog. 99% of Traffic exchanges are never seen so it would be a waste to spend time filling up your server with useless traffic. It is always tempting though to see the stats rise!
Great post! Out of all, i still love word press, WordPress is amazing, you can do so much with such simplicity!
Wordpress with all in one SEO plugin with a site map plug in with plus tags with pings make it better from an SEO perspective.
Web Address´s last blog ..Hello world!
I definitely have to say – a paid, self-hosted blog is the way to go. It is always annoying having to tell your friends “yea, my blog is at …blogspot.com or …wordpress.com”. It really isn’t that impressive if you can’t OWN your blog.
I have setup well over 30 blogs by now and have gone through the technical setup process so many times I could do it in my sleep : ). If you would like me to set it up for ya, I do it for free.
Happy Blogging!
– John
How to Start a Blog´s last blog ..How To Start A Blog
Very good list, here. Good rundown.
I’m a WordPress.org fan. Love them and use the CMS on all my sites — even the nonblog sites now. Great organizational tool.
Alison Moore Smith´s last blog ..Start a New Blog in 1 Week
It was a good read, my favorite is wordpress…i have also written a post about
how to start a blog that is about creating a self hosted blog.