Which Blogging Software is Best?

It’s one of the most common questions I’m asked by businesses who are interested in getting into blogging to help build more traffic to their business site. And it’s a fair question because there are a range of options available.

Blogging software option 1 – Free blogs that are hosted by other companies.

Sites like Blogger.com or WordPress.com allow you to setup your own website using their system. Basically you just sign up and you’re live and ready to get going. This is an easy way to get started and learn more about how a blog works but it is NOT a good option for a business. Why? Because you don’t own the site and if they want to close it down, you lose everything. As they say, “Google also reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you.”

I like this one the best:

“Google may, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account.”

On the positive side, you get to play, learn, build and generally get to know all the ins and outs of a blog. If you’re travelling it is easy to access from an internet cafe, looks neat and tidy. Blogger or WordPress.com will keep your site running and up to date and all you need to do is login and type. You also get a web address like mrwebmarketing.blogger.com

Whilst it’s the easy option, I think that setting up your own blog on your own hosting makes more business sense.

Blogging Software option 2 – Hosting your own WordPress Blog

It isn’t that difficult to setup your own blog using hosting at HostGator and installing using the Fantastico control panel. I know that this might sound daunting to someone who has no knowledge of the technical stuff but you can easily find a web designer or outsourcer through odesk. Personally, I like odesk as you can pay by the hour (will probably cost you less than $50) and also see what work people are doing because it takes screenshots when they are working.

Having your blog on your own domain name means that you can backup your content, promote it to build visitors and know that your site is safe as long as you pay your yearly hosting and domain registration fees which should only total about $100 all up. Not much to pay to have full control of your site!

This also gives you options to add any plugin you choose, upload custom templates and basically go to town on your site. I love this because if I want to try a plugin to add a newsletter or to show video better, I can just install it in one click and play. On Blogger, I won’t have all this ‘power’.

The Final Word on Blogging Software

Both styles of blogging software have their advantages and disadvantages but I personally like to have my own blog domain that I can tell people so when they ask me where to read my posts, I can say “Just go to Dotcomaholic.com.”

Please add your comments to the post or my Facebook Fan Page and I will do my best to respond. And try out blogging software to choose your favourite!