How To Choose the Right Blogging Platform: Starting a blog is one of the most accessible ways to make money

online. If you are starting your first blog, you are being confronted with

many choices about how to set up your blog, including selecting your

blogging platform. A blogging platform is the software that will help you

turn your writing into a website that can be easily navigated and

accessed by visitors from around the world.

There are two basic platforms to choose from when it comes to

successful blogging: WordPress and Blogger. Both of these options

have advantages and disadvantages. Before you make your decision,

you should read through the pros and cons of each and think about

which will be best for your needs.

Blogger has several advantages. It’s very easy for new bloggers to use.

Setting up a blog with Blogger is as simple as following a few prompts.

There is nothing to install. Some of the other advantages include:

Price: Blogger is totally free to use. You don’t have to purchase a

domain name as the system will give you an address based on the

name of your blog.

Ease of use: Posting to your blog is easy. You can also change the look

of your blog very easily. This is all done through Blogger’s dashboard. If

you have more than one blog with Blogger, you can access all of the

blogs from the same dashboard.

However, Blogger does have some major disadvantages when it

comes to creating money making blogs.

Lack of flexibility: Compared to other options out there, the design and

function of a Blogger blog is very limited. You can download and install

custom themes for the blog, but most look very similar. This means your

blog won’t stand out as well in your niche.

Domain name: You will get a free domain name with your Blogger

blog, but the domain name will be “xxxxxxxxxx.blogsport.com” instead of “yourblogname.com

Ownership: You will never truly own your Blogger blog because the files

and content are hosted on Blogger’s server.

WordPress is the other popular platform for blogging. There is a free

option that functions similarly to Blogger. However, there is also a free

option that allows you to have your own website name. You install

WordPress on you website hosting and hook it up to a domain name

that you own. If you don’t know how to do this, your hosting company

should be able to walk you through the process.

Other advantages include:

Customization: WordPress themes are diverse and plentiful. Some

themes will even make your blog look like an online newspaper.

Features: WordPress users have created tons of “plugins” that will

increase the functionality of your blog and help you make the most out

of your site.

However, WordPress is not without its problems. It is not as user

friendly as Blogger, which can make it intimidating for newbies. You will

also have to spend money to get your domain name and your website

hosting.

Despite these disadvantages, most professional bloggers go with the

WordPress option because they maintain ownership of their blogs and

can customize them to their heart’s content, but ultimately the choice is

up to you and what will fit your needs the best.

That’s it for today’s lesson. In your next lesson we will talk about

brainstorming and generating good topic ideas to write about on your

new blog.

Cheers