Which blog for me?
Today everyone has a blog. I have a blog - this is a blog. If you don’t have a blog – then you are working hard at getting one. Everyone tells you how great blogs are. They tell you it’s a great marketing tool and how you need a blog to jump into a social media marketing arena.
Well some of that is true. Some of it is some what true. Blogs are great marketing tools but the catch is you have to be good at blogging. Not everyone can be a blogger. Even I am not the greatest at blogging but I am working on it. The best thing to do is try it out. I wrote an article awhile ago about why you would need business blog. If you have a business and want to use your new found weblog, it’s worth reading.
Now that you’ve decided that you need a blog, you’ve got to find a blog that works for you. There are a few options are there for you.
Blogger
Blogger is one of the easiest to get up and running and is best for new bloggers. There are two options with Blogger. You can have the blog publish to your domain or you can create a blog on a subdomain on blogger.com. Blogger is completely free and easy to set up. How easy is it to get started with Blogger, you ask.
All you need is a Google account. Sign up for a blog at Blogger.com create a name for you blog, decide where you want you blog to publish (your server or at blogger.com), pick a template, set up your settings and then you are ready to start blogging.
Wordpress
Wordpress is another option. Wordpress is also free and it’s easy to customize. Wordpress also has the ooption of hosting the blog on your own domain. Both Wordpress and Blogger are easy to use and have a very friendly admin interface. Both also have great support forums for help. The difference is, that if you are installing Wordpress on your server you need to download the software and upload the files to your web server (some hosts provide this free). Where Blogger on the other hand there is no software to install and all you have to do is fill out a short form to publish your blog on your own domain. The downfall of Wordpress is that you need a MySQL database installed for it to work – and with blogger no database is needed.
Moveable Type
Moveable Type is a more advanced blog authoring tool. They call it “professional”. MT (Moveable Type) is free for personal use and a business licenses start at $235.95. MT does also offer a hosted solution which is Type Pad created by Six Apart. Hosted solutions start at $89.95. The benefit is that MT has many more options then the free blogs, including community blogs, forums, and custom fields. Another benefit is that MT has a dedicated support team, for when things don’t go well.
Good Luck and Happy Blogging!
Additional articles on choosing the right type of blog:
Choosing a niche for your blog
What Do You Think?