It used to be said that everyone has a book in them. These days, it
might be more appropriate to argue everyone has infinite tweets, snarly
Facebook updates, and semi-random comments in them. But plenty of people
retain a thirst for more thoughtful writing, and also a desire to share
it as widely as possible – and these are the best blogging platforms to
go about doing that.
Blogs might have fallen out of fashion a
touch, due to the onslaught of social networks, but there's something
about having a space that's properly yours, potentially free from the
distractions of a billion adverts and countless competing status
updates. And the best thing is, there are a load of free blogs out there
to get you started. In this round-up, we explore 10 of the best
blogging platforms for newcomers who want to get a free blog up and
running. And not a LOLcat in sight!
01. WordPress
WordPress is the most popular free blogging platformIf
the folks over at WordPress are to be believed (and they seem suitably
trustworthy sorts), it now 'powers' over a fifth of the internet. It's easy to see why: on WordPress.com,
you can rapidly create a new blog entirely for free, with a reasonable
amount of customization; alternatively, most web hosts provide WordPress
as a free single-click install, and more info on what's possible there
can be found at WordPress.org. Newcomers
might find WordPress a touch bewildering initially, but it's the best
free option for anyone wanting a great mix of power, customization and
usability.
02. Tumblr
Tumblr is one of the easiest free blogging platforms to useTo
some extent, Tumblr feels a bit like a half-way house between WordPress
and Twitter. It offers more scope than the latter, but tends to favor
rather more succinct output than the former. Decent mobile apps
make it easy to submit content to a Tumblr blog from anywhere, though,
and it's reasonably easy to customize your theme to make it your own. Tumblr
also has a strong social undercurrent, via a following model combined
with notes and favorites. Although be mindful that the service has
quite a few porn bots lumbering about, which may give the faint-of-heart
a bit of a shock should they check every favorite off of their posts.
03. Blogger
Blogger is one of the longest running free blogging platforms on the webYou'd
hope with a name like 'Blogger' that Blogger would be a decent free
service for blogging. Fortunately, it is. Sign in with your Google ID,
and you can have a blog up and running in seconds, which can then be customized with new themes. It is, however, a Google service, and so be a
touch wary, given how abruptly that company sometimes shuts things down
that millions of people were happily using.
04. Medium
Medium is a free blogging platform set up by Twitter's foundersMedium
is the brainchild of Twitter's founders, and appears to be their
attempt to do for 'long reads' what they once did for micro blogging. The
result is a socially-oriented place that emphasizes writing, although
within an extremely locked-down set-up. It's a place to blog if you want
your words to be taken seriously, and if you favor a polished,
streamlined experience. But if you're big on customization and control,
look elsewhere.
05. Subtle
Subtle is a stripped-back free blogging platform for long form writingDescribing
itself as a "blogging platform designed to help you think", Subtle is
fairly similar to Medium in approach. It again strips everything right
back, resulting in a bold, stylish experience that pushes words to the
fore. It could easily become your favorite blogging platform for the
act of writing, but it again relies on you also wanting something
extremely simple and not caring a jot about customization.
06. LiveJournal
LiveJournal combines blog and social networkingOne
of the veterans of this list, LiveJournal (like Blogger) started life
in 1999. Perhaps because of its age, it rather blurs the lines (the site
says "willfully") between blogging and social networking. The result is more of a community that affords you your own space, but that also very much encourages communal interaction. It is
possible to fashion something more private, but to get the most out of
LiveJournal, you need to be prepared to delve into discussion as much as
writing.
07. Weebly
Weebly is a website creation tool that includes free blogging templatesWeebly
bills itself more as a website-creation system than something for
solely creating a blog. It's based around drag-and-drop components,
which enable you to quickly create new pages. However, blogging is
also part of the system, and you get access to customisable layouts, a
bunch of free themes, and the usual sharing features you'd expect, to
spread your words far and wide.
08. Postach.io
Postach.io is a free blogging platform from the creators of EvernotePostach.io
claims it's the "easiest way to blog". It's from the people behind
Evernote, and, naturally, is deeply integrated into their system. Essentially, you just connect a notebook to Postach.io and then tag notes as 'published' to make them public. However,
you get some customisation, too, including a bunch of themes, the means
to embed content from other sites, Disqus commenting, and the option to
instead use Dropbox for storing content.
09. Pen.io
Pen.Io is one of the only free blogging platforms you don't need a loin forPen.Io's
approach is also rather different from its contemporaries. Unusually,
it doesn't require a loin — instead, you define a URL for a post and
set a password. Images can be dragged into place, and you can create multi-page posts using a tag. And that's about it. Really,
it's a stretch to call Pen.Io a blog in the traditional sense, but it's
a decent option for banging out the odd sporadic post, especially if
you don't want any personal info stored.
10. Ghost
Open source platform Ghost is free if you install it on your own systemSomething
slightly different for our final entry. Unlike the others on this list,
Ghost is only free if you download and install it yourself; use the
Ghost site and you pay on the basis of traffic. However, this
system differentiates itself in other important ways: it's entirely open
source, and while writing you get a live preview of how your post will
end up. You need to be technically minded for this one, then, but
it's a worthy alternative to WordPress if you're happy to get your hands
dirty and have your own web space that's awaiting a blog.
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