There are many different blogging platforms available, including SquareSpace, Blogger, Blogspot, WordPress, Tumblr, Blog, TypePad Micro, Jux, Posterous Spaces, Blogetery, Weebly, and LiveJournal.
I’ll be discussing a few of these platforms in the paragraphs below and I recommend that you search for more information on the ones that I’m not discussing at this time.
Free Blogging Platforms
Blogger is owned by Google and is free to use.
The benefits of using Blogger (in addition to it being free) are that it is easy to use and can be set up almost instantly.
Blogger is web-based and supports up to 100 users, so it’s easy to add more editors if your blog needs them.
Tumblr is also web-based and free, but it is more of a cross between a Twitter feed and a blog. The style of blogging used on Tumblr is longer than your average Twitter post (which is limited to 140 characters) but usually shorter than blog posts used on other platforms.
The appeal of Tumblr is the easiness of setting it up and the ability to be more informal than you can with other blog platforms.
WordPress is an open-source blog platform that is easy to set up. You can either create a WordPress hosted blog at WordPress.com or WordPress blog set up on your own server .
This platform is also free and web-based; one of the major benefits of WordPress is that it has a huge community of developers and followers.
These developers and followers have contributed literally hundreds of themes, plugins, and gadgets. WordPress is not as easy to set up as some of the other online blogging platforms but it’s not that difficult either. And once you get your WordPress blog set up, you can add an almost limitless array of plugins and gadgets to it.
Posterous is web-based and free. Posterous’s claim to fame is ease of use. For example, if you want to set up a blog using this platform, all you need to do is email them (from any email account) and they will set up an account.
You also can update your blog using email, and there is no limit on the length of posts.
Jux is a free microblogging platform that allows you to share your own content. Jux is best for visual content such as images.
Paid Blogging Platforms
SquareSpace is web-based and starts at $8.00 per month. Their pricing schedule is based on volume, so even if you’re just starting out you can get most if not all of the goodies that an established blogger gets.
Blog.com is a WordPress-powered blog platform that is quite popular because its free version offers many premium themes. The downside is that Blog.com displays many more ads than WordPress does. It also offers less storage (2 GB) than the WordPress blogging platform does (3 GB).
TypePad Micro has both free and paid versions; the free versions have no additional themes or technical support. This option is good for those who know what they’re doing when setting up or maintaining a blog unless spending $8.95 a month strikes your fancy.
