Blogging platforms are a great way to share your knowledge with the rest of the world. Early in 2002, when we only had print media to share our knowledge, sharing was only limited for commercial purposes. Giving ads in newspaper or advertising on television or on radio station really costs big bucks. But as the internet industry grown more and more content sharing platforms came, of which blogging platforms proved revolutionary and it just boomed the internet industry. A person can sit at his comfort from his PC and throw up content on the internet and big giants like Google will really make it possible for your contents to get delivered to the right audience. Blogging Platforms are the only reason for the growth of Internet. People would never spend their time online if there were no contents to be found. Blogging platforms have made people to blog on what ever topic they love and this had made internet industry a living place. I don't find a topic on internet where people have not blogged on.
As more and more people get interested in using blogging platforms, this had made internet a constantly refreshing and expanding place. One very often and most desirable reason for people getting interested in Blogging platforms, is the ability to earn money out of blogging. So people lets review every thing about blogging platforms in details.
Since Internet is vast, not even Google can exactly say how many Blogging platforms are out there on the internet, but in this post I will be talking about the best top 10 blogging platforms.
1. Blogspot :
Blogspot also known as the blogger, is the most popular and trusted blogging platform. It is easy to use and maintain and It is one of the products of "Google". Like you own and use free gmail for emailing similarly Blogger.com is free to use and supports 100 authors. If you use Gmail then your blog will automatically created if you are logged in to your Gmail and then type "blogger.com"on a new tab.
You can see that this post which you are reading now is powered by "blogger.com" and it is a sub domain of "blogspot.com".
Why I prefer using Blogspot as my Blogging Platform?
Blogspot is owned by manged by Industries most expert and experienced engineers. Yes Google engineers.
If you can trust gmail for keeping your private files then you can definitely trust Blogger.com as well.
When it comes to creating the blog, it's just as easy as abc.
Blogger is the Blogging platform which cares for both new and advanced users.
The best of all is that Google has a separate "Google for blog" search engine which definitely helps new blogs to gain traffic much easily. Great huh!
2. WordPress:
WordPress is a great Blogging Platform. Though it's not an easy blogging platform if you are a newbie but if spend a little bit of your time you will definitely find WordPress great. WordPress brings two blogging platform for a blogger. Either you go to "WordPress.com" or "WordPress.org".
WordPress.com : Here you can start your own blog or website for free or paid.
If you choose to go for a free blog, then you gonna get your desired WordPress sub domain and you can start blogging without paying anything.
If you choose to go for paid, then you gonna get features like no ad serving, domain mapping facility, 10 GB of disk space, custom designing option for editing css and video hosting services and much more.
Note: When you decide to go for free version WordPress is gonna server advertisement on your blog so it's always a good option to start with free and then switch over to paid if your blog starts getting traffic which you can monetize.
Wordpress.org : This is the place for WordPress organization. WordPress team brings frequent updates on their Blogging platform and you can download it from here for completely free. The most important thing which I didn't tell you is that you can download their blogging platform script and upload it on your server and you are ready to start building your blog and your audience.
WordPress.org is like a showcase of their blogging platform. Here you learn about different plugins, their use, themes and much more. 3. HubPages:
Hubpages is not a designing platform but it is definitely a great blogging platform. At Hubpages you can blog almost about any topic. The blogging topic could be from any niche but it must be your own copyright. You can either share an article, video or create a recipe. The best part about Hubpages that if you are a passionate blogger then you can also earn money from your posts. Ya, you are allowed to sign for different advertising and monetizing programs on your hub. One of the most important thing to note here is that unlike blogger and WordPress, Hubpages has many active user and every time you post a page it gets viewed by most of the hubbers and it's easily found and indexed by Google and other popular search engines.
Copy and paste this in your browser to visit the Blogging platform: www.hubpages.com
4. Squidoo :
Squidoo is another blogging platform just similar to hubpages, but the only difference between hubpage and Squidoo platform is that at hubpages you can sign up for monetizing programs like adsense and eBay but at Squidoo you do earn a part of earning which Squidoo ads earn on your pages. Squidoo is again a very great free Blogging platform and your content gets seen by search engines very easily.
Both squidoo and hubpages are a great blogging platform indeed and you can earn money on both. I would recommend you to try both of them and see which one out of the two blogging platform works best for you.
Copy and paste this in your browser to visit the Blogging platform: www.Squidoo.com
5. Weebly
Weebly is just an amazing and very simple to use blogging as well as designer platforms on Internet. For designers weebly offers a highly professional looking templates which are all drag and drop and it supports html5 and Css3. For bloggers, weebly can help you share your contents with the world in just minutes. Even if you do not know the ABC of programming but still you can develop your own professional looking blog with contact us and form filling features. Weebly also offers you to earn money online just by applying for adsense program from your blog. Weebly like other Blogging platforms display advertisement on your free blog and if you upgrade to their premium, then their ad displaying on your blog.
Copy and paste this in your browser to visit the Blogging platform: www.weebly.com
Here i am going to review the blogging platforms and give you a good comparison between different blogging platforms so that it can help you decide the right blogging platform which suits your needs.
www.Blogger.com
www.wordpress.com
www.Squidoo.com
www.weebly.com
1. Best blogging platform for both simple and advanced bloggers
1. Best blogging platform for experienced bloggers and best for designers
1.Best blogging platform only
1. Best blogging and designer platform for both fresh and experienced users
2. Custom domain can be added
1. Custom domain can only be added for premium users
2.No Custom domain can be added
2. Custom domain can be added only when you go premium
3.Look and feel of the blog can be fully optimized
3. There are some limitations and need upgrades.
3. Though it Can be optimized but it does not look very professional
3. Look and feel can be optimized to sum degree but for full optimization requires to be premkum
4.Absolutely free
4. Free but in some cases the services are chargible.
4. No body knows when their privacy policy changes
4. Chargible in most of the cases.
Blogging platforms market share
Lets review, how much the market share a blogging platform occupies? and what is the most important reason for holding that market share. This market share reviews of blogging platforms is only for blogging not for designing
1. Blogger: holds 30% of blogging share in the internet industry.
Reasons:
Better SEO standing
Absolutely free
Can be monetized
2. Wordpress: holds 10% of blogging share
Reasons:
Better SEO standing
Free
3. Weebly: holds 1% of blogging share
Reasons:
Free
Designing and look aspect
4. Others including Squidoo and many more not known and unspecified : holds the rest of the blogging market share
Best blogging platforms to make money:
No doubt blogger is the best blogging platform to make money. If you wanna make money by blogging then Google Adsense ad inventory is best for you and since Blogger is the property of Google, it becomes much easier to get approved for Adsense program.
Best blogging platforms for photographers:
For photographers I wold recommend to give WordPress a try. Though blogger and weebly can also be your best option but since for weebly you need to go premium for photographing website and blogger look and feel is not that great. So ya, WordPress should be your best blogging platform as a photographer.
Blogging as we all know is one of the best things you can do in free time. Also you can learn a lot from it rather that doing useless things on social networking sites. But many people who are new to blogging are not at all connected with blogging thinks that it is the simplest thing to be done. But they are so wrong. Blogging if done correctly can be very simple and effective but is tough to get along.
Your blog runs on the fuel that your readers provide by visiting your blog; and if you are not nice enough to your readers then be prepared for the complete destruction. Apart from providing quality content and doing hardcore promotions, there is another thing that keeps your blog running. That thing is the humbleness in you. You have to respond to your readers’ comments and queries in a way that does not hurt them. You should be totally frank in your opinion but it should be presented in a way that is acceptable and your reader comes again to your blog. So here are some 5 tips that can help you in becoming a humble blogger and making your way to success.
1. Be simple with your Writing
You have a very nice and impressive vocabulary with some great but complex words. Good for you, but don’t use them in your blog posts. What’s the point in providing articles in a language that your readers don’t understand quickly? Keep your audience in mind and provide articles in a simple but effective language. Polish your writing skills, experiment with new sentence formation, but keep the words simple and clean. By using complex words, you would only create a bad impression with your readers.
2. Reply comments kindly
Your readers are the most valuable asset for your blog. So don’t make the mistake to ignore them. If they have taken some time to read your blog and comment on the post, then it’s your duty to respond to their comments. Also if you are receiving emails from your readers then always reply to each of them. Be simple and show your love for your readers and you will get love in return.
3. Deal with Negative feedback professionally
Sometimes you will even get adverse reviews on your website by means of feedback. So do not just response to it in a way that can induce a finish war. Be as courteous as you can. See in to the issue, see whether his accusations are real or not. If real, say sorry to him and fix the problems and if incorrect, then be super-polite and try to create him comprehend. Be courteous and you will see the other visitors assisting you.
4. Respect Copyrights
Sometimes blog writers duplicate content from other weblog and publish it on their weblog introducing it like they are the writer of it. Do not ever try to make such errors. If you are satisfied with a publish and want to discuss it with your visitors with your contact in the publish, you must reword it in your exclusive way and consist of a blueprint with a weblink to the exclusive writer. This is the most essential factor. Regard other bloggers’ hardwork and your perform will be well known.
5. Be Soft-spoken
Avoid blogging in a severe terminology. You must keep from using severe terms which can damage other individuals' emotions. People like blog writers who present the fact in a courteous way. Rather than using severe terminology, you can use sarcasm; that can help.
Many awesome and beautiful templates have been designed for blogs. If the templates given by Blogger don't satisfy you then you can select any template from any site of your desire. And you'll be able to upload that template on your blog. Its quite easy. You gotta do nothing so difficult.
Now let's see how to install a template in blogger
Follow the steps given below: Step #1: Go to www.Blogger.com
Step #2: Then go to "Template" and on top right corner click on "Backup / Restore" button.
Step #3:
Then you have to save your current template.
Step #4:
Decide that "of the downloaded templates which one you wanna upload".
Step #5:
Now to do this you will have to go to "Template" and again click on "Backup/Restore" button.
Step #6:
You will find "Browse" option there. Then click on Browse button to choose the XML file of your desired template. When you have selected your template then you're supposed to click on "Upload" button.
Step #7:
Now you're done. You have successfully uploaded the template. Now you can see your blog that has been changed according to your choice.
Let's See the Pictures those also help you to find out fast.
Search engine optimization is the key to get long lasting traffic to your blogs.
No matter how great your content is, you should always be taking care of properly optimizing your blog posts for the search engines to get quality results.
This is Panda and Penguin world, so make sure you’re contents are not heavily keyword stuffed and optimized properly. Use the following tips to properly optimize your blog posts for search engines.
How to optimize your blog posts?
There are certain guidelines to properly improve your websites for the google to carry great look for visitors. There is no way you can carry immediate look for visitors to your websites. Search engine optimization visitors always needs time, the more you wait, the more chances for your websites to carry more visitors. But make sure you’re not writing duplicated content to get a hit by panda or penguin. Always write unique material to produce best look for visitors to your sites.
Without further ado.. here are few top ways to optimize your blog posts for the search engines.
Find your targeted keywords
This is the first thing to improve your websites. Always know search phrases before writing even a single word on your site. Most of the new weblog writers take it easy about this phase, they often end up with no search traffic at all.
So find your keywords and use them wisely on your blog posts.
Your headlines weigh more
Search engine optimization uses crawlers to crawl your blog posts. They give more weight when they find your targeted search phrases in the statements. So always use the search phrases in your statements to get more search traffic.
Use keywords in subheads
Use h2 or h3 tags on your sub heads and give equal importance to embed your keywords in subheads. This way you’ll be giving more chances to repeat the same keywords again and you’ll get more weight for the desired keywords when they’re used with h2 and h3 tags.
Use keywords in ALT tags of your images
If there’s ONE major use of using images on your blog posts, it is this: you can optimize your images too to bring search traffic. ALT tag plays a vital role to drive optimum traffic to your blog.
Optimize your URL’s
Don’t use long and boring URL’s. Make them short and include your targeted keywords even in your URL’s. This is the most effective way to tell crawlers and bots that you’re talking about a specific keyword.
Use your SEO plugins cleverly
Whether you are using either All in one SEO plug-in or SEO by yoast, you should be using the meta information smartly. Because when someone look for for on Search engines for a particular search phrases – your meta information is what functions like a wealthy small which can give immediate idea to the look for customers to whether or not simply just click your hyperlinks.If you are smartly using your meta information (always use search phrases in the beginning of the meta information to make it position high!), then you will certainly drive great search traffic to your websites.
Over to you:
What are the tips you’ve about optimizing blog posts for search engines?