If you start your blog on the wrong platform, you are asking for trouble. Think about this: if your start your blog the wrong way, you could lose all of your search rankings and many of your readers when you try to change gears. Don't let this happen to you! Start the right way, right from the start.
So "Which blogging platform is best?" I hear you asking. The answer is simple. After years of blogging and using platforms inside and out, it all comes down to WordPress being the hands-down winner. Here are a few reasons why. WordPress has an extensive theme directory. Themes are used to change the look and feel of your blog. You don't need to know how to design or code a thing. There are thousands of free, premium, and specialty themes to choose from.
WordPress has an extensive plug-in directory. Plug-ins enable you to add interesting functionality to your blog. How about a map of your recent readers? Adding a contact form to your about page? Showcasing affiliate products? You can choose third-party plug-ins or even create your own. WordPress offers complete administrative control over your blog. There are very few things that you can't do with your WordPress blog if you're self-hosting. My stock answer when anyone asks: "Can I do _____ with WordPress?" is "You can do ANYTHING with WordPress." It won't make you coffee in the morning, but it'll handle most everything else.
WordPress has excellent user management, using a role-based security model that supports multiple levels of access. For example, authors can write articles, editors can publish those articles after approval, administrators can change the design of the blog. This is incredibly convenient if you want to allow multiple authors to write posts for a blog, or perhaps set up a membership site. Forget about hiring a developer; just use WordPress's built-in user registration functions.
WordPress has an active and enthusiastic contributing developer community. This means that software updates are frequent, bugs are fixed regularly, the software is mature, and requested features are actually added to the product by people who care about and use the product. The WordPress community is a reason why WordPress is such a powerful and easy-to-use product.
WordPress has an easy-to-use page editor. With pages, you can really blur the lines between what is a web site and what is a blog. Pages allow you to store static content (i.e. content that isn't regularly updated).
It's free! There are other free blogging packages out there, but none offer the same combination of power and simplicity that WordPress offers. Here's an interesting exercise: Google "moving to WordPress" and see how many results are returned. People are switching to WordPress software for a reason.
In a nutshell, if you're blogging, you need to be using WordPress. It's that simple. WordPress has built a fanatical community and support base for a reason: they're the best.
Jared helps new and aspiring bloggers learn how to blog professionally and profitably. You can learn more about one of the leading blogging programs available today by downloading the FREE guide on how to blog for money at Jared's site. |
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