Blogging comes with innumerable benefits. It is actually the smartest way to promote what you do and what you offer as a professional or a business owner.
Aside from the statistics showing that 77% of those who surf the Internet read blogs, blogs have also been rated as the fifth most trustworthy source of information.
Below are the best blogging platforms to take you to a world where great possibilities exist for bloggers and content creators.
Quora
Quora is an online community where members post queries and responses on different topics. All content is well-generated, neatly organized, and vetted by users. Answers given for questions can be upvoted. However, there is more to Quora than just being a Q&A site.
This platform is not merely a means to amplify your voice and provide solutions but it also encourages the creative expression of thoughts and opinions.
The goal of blogging on Quora is to create an avenue for solutions and stimulate discussions with regard to the problems the users regularly experience. Through Quora, your opinion may reach a larger audience as you share your content since there is a possibility that popular websites will feature your Quora answers.
Create an account by registering through your Facebook account or by email. After registering, you are prompted to select at least five topics or interests that you would like to follow. Topics can range from business, politics, entertainment, art, music, fashion, and etc.
Medium
Medium, as it claims, is “where good ideas find you”. This is a user-friendly blogging platform with selected social networking features.
Medium does not require a complex setup and no coding skills are needed. Medium runs like a social networking site where you can create an account and start publishing your articles. It enables you to reach an online community that shares your interests.
The simplicity of this app limits its capacity in terms of design or branding but it is also its strength. The neatness attracts many bloggers who simply want to share their thoughts worry-free about design elements.
The biggest reason why Medium is a great resource of ideas is that you will always encounter articles written by world-famous thought leaders, writers, and professionals who share their insights on all sorts of things.
LinkedIn is all about forging strategic connections. This is a professional network on the internet that is specifically designed to cater to career and business professionals to find the right career path, job, or even apprenticeship.
It allows you to connect and empower professional relationships, and learn the skills you need to succeed in your career. LinkedIn is accessible from a desktop, mobile app, or mobile web experience.
As a blogging platform, Linkedln is quite handy as it can actually drive more readers to your blog with its more than 500 million users, 250 million of which use the platform actively on a regular basis. There is a good chance you will get a solid number of readers when you write and publish an article on the platform.
It is completely free to publish on LinkedIn and you do not even need your own domain name or pay for ads so you can have exposure. You just need to create an account and make connections then build an audience from thereon.
Wix
Wix is a hosted platform that allows users to build websites seamlessly. You can create your own stunning website with no coding skills required. Their visually impressive layouts are suitable for small businesses and even large-scale businesses.
With Wix, you can customize your site through varied templates and utilize third-party apps. This app is packed with several efficient features though the free account limits its usability. Ecommerce features are available only to paid plans.
WordPress
WordPress now powers more than 40% of the web. It is considered the leading blogging platform because of its customizability, reliability, and even scalability.
You can find flexible premium themes for various genres of blogging. Diverse plugins and customization produced are really substantial and effective for anyone to optimize their content for any social media and other eCommerce platforms.
WordPress can also be integrated with sales funnels and other apps and tools that will help you manage your visitors and even turn them into paying customers or users.
The unique features of WordPress make it the most popular Content Management System (CMS). You can download and install it for free. And because it is widely popular, it is easier to find help and resources on how you can maximize its use as a blogging platform.
Blogger
Blogger is a blogging platform that doesn’t require coding skills to create a basic blog. This blogging platform is free and the hosting space is available on Google servers since this hosting platform is owned by Google.
It is totally controlled by Google and enables Gmail users to make 100 blogs per account. So there is no need to purchase hosting space. Moreover, you can make your customized design.
Blogger is written in Python Programming Language. Using Python entails expensive hosting costs yet Blogger offers its users free account signups. Blogger is all-inclusive and as much as possible provides the tools that you can possibly think of in growing your business or website.
Though there are countless significant benefits, this app also has few disadvantages. This app has fewer plugins and widgets. Media files in Word, PDF, etc.
Squarespace
Squarespace is an American website building and hosting company based in New York City, United States. Squarespace is a website-building service that allows you to create beautiful websites using easy drag-and-drop tools. It focuses on small business owners who are looking for an easy way to create an online presence. Furthermore, it is very convenient for both tech beginners or even for people who are not very tech-savvy.
The most important aspect of this blogging platform is the editor’s usability. Now it’s possible to edit content live, without switching back and forth between the site manager and preview mode. Its web developers created custom templates for its users. Squarespace had hosted approximately one million websites as of 2016. Its developers also create templates that are sold to users.
Initially, Squarespace was made for creating and hosting blogs but now e-commerce features are available and functional. These e-commerce features integrate with Stripe (Financial and Software Service) in utilizing credit cards.
In 2014, additional business features were added to suffice its needs and improve its performance. A mobile app was also released and a logo app was introduced in partnership with icon designer Noun Project.
