THE Best Places to Blog (Updated 2014 Edition)

As I awoke squinting to the sun shining

through tiny cracks, I was comforted by

the fact I was not alone.

The phone nested deep below in a pile of

clothes and Gatorades had the answers.

Comments at the blog, emails from the

usual suspects readers, and even a few

sales.

The world was slowly waking up, but for

me the day had already begun.

A list of the best places

to blog

If you're looking to start a blog, make a

website, or launch some form of online

community – welcome. My family and

friends constantly ask where's the best

place to blog, so I figured I'd try to save

you some time.

I must say, this is a great time to blog and a

good place to get started. You guys have

been a tremendous help.

Down below, I've outlined 20+ blogging

platforms and done a cost benefit

analysis of each.

For those who wonder, my path was

WordPress.com –> Blogger –> Tumblr –>

WordPress.org, where I run 99% of my

blogs and websites now.

If you want to learn more, just ask in the

comments, or find me on Twitter.

Hope to talk to you soon…

WordPress.org

Browse at WordPress.org

About:

Setup so easy Snoop Dogg can do it with

the elegance of NYTimes, Sony

PlayStation, Wall Street Journal, Paris

Hilton and more. WordPress requires no

coding knowledge and is free software –

it's the domain name and hosting you

pay about-as-much-as-a-cup-of-coffee-

per-month for. It gives you a website like

the world's best and teaches you all

about websites, too. For countless

bloggers who do this for a living,

WordPress.org is the best place to blog.

Click here to watch our step-by-step

setup video and join the largest blogging

community on the web.

Stats:

Recommended for: Blogging and

websites

Founded: May 27th, 2003

Founder: Matt Mullenweg of Automattic

Total users: 60 million, 19% of the

internet and 1 in 5 websites as of

December 2013

Total employees: 151

Pros: Elegance and ease

Cons: You need to get a domain name

and web hosting first ("Create a

WordPress.org Blog First Try" )

Costs: Your domain name and hosting

can be bought together for about $3-6

per month. I recommend HostGator for

this, but other places are more than

willing to charge you more

My verdict: The best place to blog if

you're serious about it. Good for all types

of review websites, mommy blogs,

company sites, eCommerce sites and

more.

WordPress.com

Browse at WordPress.com

About:

WordPress.com is a free blog-hosting

site with roughly half the features

of .org. The general idea here is less

maintenance for you, but less control of

the blog. Get a .wordpress domain name

like "dearblogger.wordpress.com" or pay

to use your own domain name. Need a

niche? WordPress.com sees 100,000

posts published each day so you'll surely

find like-minded thinkers. Not a full

company website but a loyal companion

for one. Write posts, try a free theme, set

up social media buttons and learn

blogging at WordPress.com.

DISCOVER: Why Blogs Fail to Get Traffic

Stats:

Recommended for: Mass community

blogging

Released: November 21, 2005

Founder: Matt Mullenweg of Automattic

Total users: 56 million blogs

Pros: Ease to use with little you can mess

up.

Cons: Less customization and a bit fussy

with adding certain features.

Costs: Free, you can pay WordPress.com

to get a domain name without the

".wordpress" addition.

My verdict: A lovely intro to blogging

that about 1 year in takes us all to a

crossroads: stay put, or transfer to

WordPress.org.

Blogger

Browse at Blogger.com

About:

Blogger is Google's free blog-hosting site.

More popular at the turn of the

millenium, Blogger still offers a great

service but the designs are a bit

elementary. Login and publish your first

post for free with only a Gmail account.

Try Adsense "monetization", design a

new layout and even edit your first piece

of code.

SEE ALSO: 10 Things to Do After You

Launch a Blog

Stats:

Recommended for: Blogging

Founded: August 2013, 1999

Notable events: Bought by Google in

February, 2003

Founder: Evan Williams of Pyra Labs

Total users:

Pros: Publish anywhere, huge

community, images, video, edit HTML/

CSS, template designer, track traffic stats

in Blogger, Adsense at no charge

Cons: While Blogger is where many

writers (including Dear Blogger) started

publishing, it's designs appear a bit

childish today. Google owns your blog –

they axed Reader – so acknowledge a bit

less control upfront.

Costs: Pay $10/year for a domain name

without the ".blogspot" extension –

otherwise totally free.

Future predictions: May merge with

Google+.

My verdict: Everything blogging should

be and more – Blogger was the sandbox

for names now headlining in tech. The

only real negative comes from

outgrowing Blogger, at which point

many (like myself) transfer to

WordPress. Less popular today – even

Google's PR Mogul Matt Cutts runs a

WordPress site.

Tumblr

Browse at Tumblr.com

Introduction to Tumblr:

At a time when WordPress and Blogger

were neck-and-neck for new users,

Tumblr showed up as the 3rd guy to the

party. They received lots of sign-ups

from users wanting a totally refreshing

take on blogging, and have grown ever

since. Tumblr was recently bought by

Yahoo, who has interesting plans for the

whole blog advertising thing.

NOW WATCH: Step-By-Step Guide to

Installing WordPress on Self-Hosting

Stats:

Founded: February 2007

Founder: David Karp

Total users: 152 million

Pros: Ease of use and ability to share

your friends' work through re-blogging.

Cons: Less customization, just a shade

less professional and not ideal for

conducting business.

Costs: Free, pay Tumblr to get your own

domain name without the ".tumblr"

addition

My verdict: Great for photography and

other forms of art. Super-simplistic

designs and a whimsical vibe make

Tubmlr a great choice for any new

blogger.

SquareSpace

Browse at SquareSpace.com

About:

All over television with beautiful and

encouraging ads, SquareSpace offers a

nice solution for the business owner in

need of a web presence. Get online

quickly with a free trial, setup a cool

design and start attracting clients – that's

the motto. If a more complex blogging

platform were snowboarding,

Squarespace would be skiing, in the pie

wedge stance

Stats:

Recommended for: Individual and

business blogs and websites

Founded: January 2004

Founder: Anthony Casalena

Total users: ?

Pros: Elegant designs setup with a couple

of clicks.

Cons: Less customization – you'll pay for

things that may come free at a place like

WordPress

Costs: 14-day free trial with plans from

$8 and up afterwards

My verdict: Less hands-on than

WordPress but arguably better

advertising and accessibility –

Squarespace gets your business site up

quickly. A good quick solution.

Google+

Browse at Plus.Google.com

About:

If you need a guide on how to use Google

Plus we've got you covered, because

we've been trying to dominate it for a

year now. Fun features like the badge

make getting followers easier. Google

Plus brings you instant community +

audience – two things any blogger wants

more of. Make sure to share publicly if

you want to build any sort of following.

RELEVANT: How to Make a Niche Review

Site that Earns $1000/Month

Stats:

Recommended for: Social networking

("social layer")

Released: June 28, 2011

Founder: Google Developers

Total users: 540 million per month

Pros: Google circles, photography (1.5

billion uploaded each week), "hangout"

feature, multi-language, authorship, can

increase a publisher's search rankings,

Gmail integration, chat, mobile chat,

mobile publishing,

Cons: None, start using it today.

Costs: Free

My verdict: Absolutely necessary for

anyone who wants to be considered an

expert in anyt field. Fun. Challenging. If

you're curious, I've also written on how

to master Google Plus over at Social

Media Explorer.

✩ ♨ Alternative

Communities ♨ ✩

Medium

Browse at Medium.com

Founded: 2012

Founder: Evan Williams (Twitter,

Blogger) and Biz Stone (Twitter)

Total users: ?

Pros: Story telling feel, goal to improve

content quality

Cons: Still low usership

Costs: Free

My verdict: Probably won't reach the

development status of WordPress.org but

definitely chomping at the heels of

Blogger, Tumblr and even Twitter as it

borrows several of their services, like

topic searches and nostalgic photo shares

from the founders themselves.

Hubpages

Browse at HubPages.com

About:

Hubpages started as an article network,

the kind of place where you were

rewarded for publishing lots of articles

on any one topic like cooking, travel or

home-improvement. Today, it boasts

millions of informative articles and

guides. However, a by-product of mass

publishing is slightly lesser quality. You

may find articles at Hubpages you'd

wonder why anyone would ever publish.

Or, you may find the best home for your

blogging and writing needs.

Stats:

Recommended for: Social networking

("social layer")

Launched: August 6th, 2006

Founder: Paul Edmondson

Total users: 74,000

Pros: Not going out of business soon.

Cons: Less ownership of your work.

Costs: Free

My verdict: A solid place to start writing

and learn from other experts. Tightly-

knit. Fun for everyone involved.

Joomla

Browse at Joomla.com

About:

Joomla is an advanced CMS used by

developers to publish some of the

websites we visits each day. Written in

PHP, it uses many of the same structures

as a WordPress site does. For whatever

reason, developers have flocked

elsewhere, but Joomla remains one of the

web's oldest and savviest places to run a

blog or website.

Stats:

Recommended for: Content Management,

Web Content

Released: August 17th, 2005

Founders: The Joomla Project

Total users: 35 million downloads

Pros: over 6000 free extensions,

estimated as the second most used

content management system (CMS) after

WordPress

Cons: Smaller community, help out

articles you find may be out of date.

Costs: ?

My verdict: Only really for a Joomla

developer or website manager. Not an

easy access point for a beginner.

Live Journal

Browse at LiveJournal.com

Recommended for: Blogging, journaling,

writing a diary

Founded: April 15th, 1999

Founder: Brad Fitzpatrick

Total users: 39.6 million accounts, 1.7

million active accounts

Pros: friend others to read their entries

and leave comments, avatars, user info

pages, to-do lists

Cons: moved design to Russia in 2009,

basic plan users see advertisements

Premium features: express lane for

quicker load times, call from your phone

to a LiveJoural number and post voice

recording to your journal

Costs: Premium version, not sure of the

costs here. Anyone know?

My verdict: In mother Russia, blog write

on you.

Quora

Browse at Quora.com

Recommended for: Question and answer

based websites

Released: June 21st, 2010

Founder: ?

Total users: 500,000 reported in 2011,

more now.

Pros: Collaborative feel and separate

blogging platform recently released.

Cons: Less costumization.

Costs: Free

Interesting facts: 30% of Quora users

hail from India. Founded by two former

Facebook employees.

My verdict: If you're passionate about a

topic but don't have the time to maintain

a blog, submitting questions and answers

to Quora discussions is a great

compromise.

Typepad

Browse at Typepad.com

Founded October 2003:

Founder: Say Media

Total users: ?

Pros: Ease of use

Cons: Less costumization

Costs: Free

My verdict: Just love the news? If so,

know that ABC, BBC, CBS, MSNBC and

more use Typepad to maintain blogs.

Weebly

Browse at Weebly.com

Founded: 2006

Founder: David Rusenko

Total users: hosts 15 million websites

Pros: Drag and drop feature so easy a

monkey could use it.

Cons: Less control for the user

Costs: ?

My verdict: I've heard a lot of positive

reviews here. For a company owner who

needs a website but despises tech, it's

Weebly or Squarespace, and both are

sound choices.

Drupal

Browse at Drupal.org

Recommended for: Blogging, Content

Management, Web Applications

Founded: January 2001

Founder: Dries Buytaert

Total users: 1 million users and 30K

developers

Pros: 22,900 free add-ons, free and

premium themes via the Drupal Theme

Garden

Cons: Quite involved, not ideal for

beginners

Costs: ?

My verdict: Fun for developers and

bloggers with a real interest in building

code.

Squidoo

Browse at Squidoo.com

Founded: 2005

Founder: Seth Godin

Total users: 1.5 million

Pros: Lenses and points systems to level

up are only part of the fun.

Cons: Like Hubpages, you might not feel

an ownership of your work.

Costs: Free

My verdict: A classy place to meet others

before you get more serious about

blogging.

✩ ♨ New Releases ♨ ✩

Postach.io

Browse at Postach.io

Recommended for: On-the-go bloggers,

note-taking

Founded: 2013

Founder: Evernote

Total users: 20,000

Pros: Supports popular comment plugin

Disqus, lighter feel, easy to use.

Cons: Less costumization

Costs: Free

My verdict: Too soon to form a verdict

here!

Facebook Notes

Browse at Facebook.com/notes

Recommended for: Social media

integrated blogging

Founded: 2013

Founder: Facebook Developers

Total users: Well, 1.1 billion already on

Facebook…

Pros: Simple to share images, links and

quotes – useful if you've got a large,

Facebook-centric audience already.

Cons: Limited design and that blue

Facebook-y feel we all should just escape

every now and then.

Costs: Free

My verdict: Not much different from a

Facebook page – I predict this to be a

feature Facebook tries, directs

advertisers to, then slowly wanders

away from.

Svbtle

Browse at Svbtle.com

Founded: 2013

Founder: Dustin Curtis

Total users: ?

Pros: New, different; aren't we all?

Cons: Must apply for a membership and

no commenting feature as of yet.

Costs: Free

My verdict: They are a "network of great

people who want to make it easier for

people to share and discover new ideas".

Excited to see where Svbtle goes in the

next few months.

Sett

Coming soon!

Ghost

Coming soon!

Posthaven

Coming soon!

Posterous

Deprecated.

✩ ♨ Almost Extinct ♨ ✩

Blog.com

Browse at Blog.com

Recommended for: Blogging

Founded: 2004

Founders: ?

Total users: 2 million

Pros: Free themes, multi-author blogging,

social media widgets, video

Cons: Less customization

Premium features: Your own domain

name, advertising network

Costs: ?

My verdict: You'd hope a domain name

as strong as blog.com would produce a

winner…

Zoomshare

Browse at ZoomShare.com

Founded: ?

Founder: ?

Total users: < 50K

Pros: Still has a community

Cons: Shifting 100% of users to paid

version

Costs: "As of May 22, 2013 our free

website service has been discontinued. If

you would like to convert to the paid

service click here and upgrade for the

low cost of $6.95 a month."

My verdict: Not enough information to

form a verdict.

Xanga

Browse at Xanga.com

Founded: ?

Founder: ?

Total users: < 50K

Pros: Resembles WordPress

Cons: Unclear timeframe of new

software releases

Costs: ?

My verdict: Not enough information to

form a verdict.

The End?

Hardly! But now it's your turn. If you've

got anything to add, drop it in the

comments below.

Lastly, I want you to know I've worked

for literally weeks making this article as

insanely helpful and informative as I

could. If you could take a couple seconds

to share it, that'd be awesome!

Thanks and cheers!

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You will also get members-only tips on increasing

blog traffic, improving your writing, and earning

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Filed in: start blogging | disclaimer | G+ | Twitter

| comments are closed on this post

48 comments, add some

wisdom...

Kovid

I want to write on many subjects like astrology,

health, ayurveda etc., is it better to have a

personal website or which platform comfortable?

Also with revenue sharing? Suggest please!

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Dear Kovid,

A personal website on WordPress.org is your best

bet. Everyone needs one, because it teaches you a

lot about the web and is easy to use. Nearly all

big brands we know of are going WordPress. On

topics, start niche narrow, meaning specific. You

have to establish yourself as an expert in one

field (which isn't easy, but can be done thru

guest posting) then blend in your other interests.

It's the best way if you want to build a loyal

audience. Revenue, and your ability to make

money with a website, will come once your

audience is there. People are looking to blogs

more than ever for product recommendations but

you can't do this too soon. Overall, go with a

topic you can write a LOT on, because it's a roller

coaster, this blogging thing.

Thanks for commenting,

Greg

Add to this thought

Nikole

Hey Greg, as someone just deciding to start a

blog… I ran across this article. Very informative. I

literally know nothing about blogging. I link to a

few from fb but I fb all the time. I'm trying to get

away from fb everything to blogging. Anyway, I

want to set up a blog where I can give advice on

a certain subject but also have a question and

answer forum. I noticed you said one was better

for Q & A format. Whis is that? Would

wordpress.org not be good for that? From what I

read WordPress.org and google+ were the way to

go…except for that comment. Ok…and now for the

question I'm sure everyone will roll their eyes at…

but what do y'all mean monetize? You are

making money on blogging? How is the heck is

that? Do you have anything else I could read on

that subject? Thanks!

Add to this thought

Jody

I tried WordPress and it's not WYSIWYG with MS

Word. I have a multi-lingual thread on my current

blog, Blogger, and I wrote posts in advance. I

tried out WordPress with those same articles and

it doesn't look right, the way it does on Blogger.

But it's a wash; Blogger has had a problem with

its templates and its graphics insertion since the

end of 2013 and none of their forums has figured

out the answer. If you know the answer, let me

know.

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Microsoft is notorious for weird formatting. You

should insert your blog posts in the Text tab in

WordPress, then insert images manually. Not

much more work really.

Add to this thought

Dheeraj Rinwa

Hey Greg your blog was helpful, thanks for the

information.

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

you're very welcome Dheeraj

Add to this thought

Marcela

Hi, I just purchased a domain on GoDaddy for a

business and want to add "/blog" to it and create

a blog. Not sure how to do this, any help is much

appreciated.

Thanks, Marcela

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=pnI8kQJz7qM you should use HostGator to

install WordPress onto http://

www.yourdomain.com/blog

Add to this thought

BuyRealLike

Recently I opened my new site about http://

www.buyreallike.com – I have to say that

blogger is easier to use comparing with

wordpress – html-editing is plus, free video

downloading (in wordpress you have to pay for

it). Minus of blogger is that blogger do not allow

to make money if your blog with adult content (so

one of great advantages of blogger is

minimazed). Minus of blogger that administation

can delete your blog without alert. In wordpress it

is harder to do)

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Thanks!

Blogger is a good intro. But like you said a

Blogger blog, or a Tumblr or WordPress.com, can

be taken down without notice. It's dangerous to

invest time making a business here even though

they are fun.

My #1 recommendation is WordPress.org because

you can set it up without any coding and its a

good investment for any blogs future.

Add to this thought

Stacy

Wow, Xanga is still mention worthy? maybe it is

time to dust off the old blog and give it another

go around. Ive been missing the writing. Not that

I have much of interest to say, but still! I'm just

over the whole social networking platforms and

have no one to talk to but myself!

Glad I found your article… giving it some thought!

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Hey Stacy! You can find people to talk to here!

Glad you're diving back into blogging…

Add to this thought

Dennis

wow so much detail (your smart) This guy can

blog. I know next to nothing about blogging so

this was a great read. Keep up the good work.

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Nahh Thanks Dennis, hope to see ya back!

Add to this thought

Shiv Sharma

Nice post. very helpful to the readers. Blogger

and WordPress are the top free web hosting sites

available today and WordPress is a clear winner

with more plugins and SEO friendly design.

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Thanks, Shiv! Good points!

Add to this thought

Teachmatters

Can we transfer our content from blogger to

wordpress.com while moving from one to

another ?

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Sure can. Are you doing that now?

Add to this thought

bidede.com

I'll be using blogger. Best…

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Good choice! Drop a note if you need any help.

Add to this thought

Kia

I want to to thank you for this fantastic read!! I

definitely enjoyed every bit

of it. I have you saved as a favorite to check out

new things you post…

Have a look at my weblog Kia

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

You're very welcome, Kia!

Add to this thought

Obat Bius

I love you for this article and in my opinion

anyway, how can we take care of the website that

we manage it that much good, if wordpres or

blogger so the same if we are not able to take

care of and maintain as possible, the same

bullshit ya not boss??? regards

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Totally different features on WordPress and

Blogger…

Add to this thought

fablike

Greg what do you thing about new blogging

platform donook? Im happy from begining, it's

user friendly and give you tools to make it

successful. My fashion blog under nick name

Fablike.

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Hey…looks cool. Is it a platform or a sharing

network? Can you monetize and do code?

Add to this thought

Rosemary

I use wordpress but not for blogging.

I found that the interactions of the plugins could

crash my site easily and it too time consuming to

maintain.

I did however love the customisation. I now use

Empower Network. Yes you lose the

customisation, but now I can blog from my phone

app and it's easy to monetize.

Good insights with the other platforms Greg.

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Hi Rosemary,

That's so cool you've moved around!

Plugins can slow things down in abundance –

which ones were problematic?

When I Google "empower network" I get lots of

scam reviews…what's the deal there?

Add to this thought

Linda

Hello greg… Just found your site, and liking your

advice. I am working on an Ipad 2, and just

wondering why the page keeps flickering…

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Hi Linda! Welcome to the blog. That's odd indeed

but I haven't fully UX tested on Ipad 2 yet.

Anything else strange or unexpected? Thanks for

the feedback.

Add to this thought

Thalia

It's flickering on my iPad too.

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Must be the stupid #sidebar:a hover I have going.

Will fix

Add to this thought

Castro

Hello, I am mom who is interested in starting a

mommy blog. I want to buy a domain, but have

no idea what platform to use. I am so confused

on what are the steps that I need to take. Should

I go with blogger or wordpress? I want to make

my blog look pretty and add icons and stuff. Can

someone help me?

Add to this thought

Greg Narayan

Hi Castro!

Welcome. There are lots of options for sure

If you want to earn, grow, blog for a huge

audience someday, I recommend WordPress.org.

To use is it you need to register a domain name

and hosting then install your blog (easy).

Then you can start making it pretty.

It's easiest to get a domain and webhosting

(space where your blog lives) from the same

place, like HostGator.

Check this out: http://www.dearblogger.org/

where-to-blog (make sure to read the

comments!)

I'll post more soon Running to an event now!

Cheers,

Blogger

Add to this thought

Lucy

Hey Greg!

I'm doing the same that Castro (Mommy Blog),

but I love the Squarespace one because looks

easy and beautiful, I want to grow one day as a

business so I'm confused if I should use

WordPress or Squarespace. What do you think?

and also in squarespace the 8$ one says it let

you use just 20 pages, do you have a idea what

that means? like 20 pages forever and thats it?

THANK YOU!

Add t