The 16 Best Blogging Platforms for 2024 (And How to Choose One)

I wrote my first blog about 10 years ago. I started on the Blogger platform and tried (and failed) to blog for years. Now I manage my own successful blog on the WordPress platform and I love blogging. As an SEO consultant, I also manage my clients' blogs and use many platforms.

Honestly, the best blogging platform is the one that works for you.

There are a lot of them, and in this article I summarize the 16 best blogging platforms, including pro tips from people who use the blogging platform to help you choose the best blogging platform.

Blogging is powerful and I want you to find one that inspires you to write.

The HubSpot blog generates leads for HubSpot, and 90% of leads come from older blog posts, including those published years ago.

Publishing blog content offers many benefits besides attracting leads.

Blogging can help you build authority in an industry. It can increase brand awareness, spread company news, and better convert website traffic into leads.

But the wrong platform can also limit your returns. It can limit your ability to collect leads, improve SEO, monetize your blog, and more.

There are many great options for blogs that require little to no cost and have a ton of valuable features that can bring you results for your efforts. To find the best platform for your new blog, read on or skip to the section you’re looking for.

Table of contents

Best Blogging Platforms

1. Content Hub
2. WordPress
3. Squarespace
4. Wix
5. Pixpa
6. Create a CMS
7. Satisfied
8. Joomla
9. Hostinger
10. By the way
11. Drupal
12. LinkedIn
13. Write.as
14. Bloggers
15. medium
16. Tumblr

1. Content Hub

Best suited for: Content marketers

Blog Software Cost: Free, with premium options

Content Hub Ideal Users

I love Content Hub. In my opinion, what really sets it apart from other blogging platforms is that it integrates seamlessly with the rest of HubSpot’s CRM platform, making it ideal for business bloggers.

It has the tools, technology, and workflows you need to create and distribute your blog content. At the same time, it offers a great user experience with easy access to features that increase conversions.

Additionally, Content Hub has AI capabilities built directly into the platform. I like using HubSpots free blog idea generator to collect ideas, and you can use them too Free AI Blog Writer to create blog posts.

Benefits of the Content Hub

In my opinion, the biggest advantage of this free blogging software is that it is powerful yet easy to use. You can start by choosing a pre-built theme or create your own custom theme with Drag and drop website builder.

Content Hub includes free web hosting and it’s easy to connect one custom domain.

You can then use HubSpot’s blog editor and built-in SEO tools to create blog posts with CTAs, forms, and other interactive elements.

You can even create multilingual variations of your blog posts and run A/B tests on them to reach a global audience. Before publishing, you can preview how your posts and pages will look on different types of devices.

Once you’re ready to start promoting, you can connect your blog to your social media accounts. This allows you to automatically share new blog posts to your social networks in the same place where you wrote them.

As you publish more content, you can analyze your blog’s performance. This can help you understand what topics and types of content resonate with your readers. That’s why Content Hub is part of HubSpot’s CRM platform.

Disadvantages of Content Hub

Since Content Hub is an all-in-one solution for marketers and developers, it has many rich features and a lot of attractive themes. This is a good thing for most bloggers and G2 HubSpot a rating of 4.5/5 from over 1,500 reviews.

However, if you are an individual or small business just starting out with blogging, you may not have the time or expertise to take advantage of Content Hub’s full power. In this case, you may be better off starting with a simpler alternative.

As I said in the introduction, I started on the Blogger platform and later switched. I think the key is not to overwhelm yourself. It’s easy to switch to Content Hub later if you wish.

Example of a content hub website

You can take a look at this company below feature-rich blog Based on Content Hub.

Pro tip: A big plus of Content Hub for me is the AI ​​content functions. Use AI to generate ideas (no more staring at a blank page). The AI ​​will undoubtedly save you time too. If your website serves multiple locations, AI Translator can also be helpful.

Key insights about the Content Hub

• Meets the needs of developers and marketers.
• Fully integrated CRM to optimize sales and marketing processes.
• AI tools to support ideation and content creation.
• Built-in multilingual support, SEO recommendations and more.

2. WordPress

Best suited for: Themes and plugins

Blog Software Cost: Free, with premium options

Ideal WordPress users

Creating and managing a blog on WordPress may require more maintenance than other platforms, but offers the extensibility and content management features that publishers and other businesses need to create a complex blog.

I now use WordPress for my blog and love how much I can customize it to my needs and vision.

WordPress professionals

WordPress was originally developed as a blogging platform and has a 4.4/5 Rated on G2 with over 8,000 reviews. Although it has evolved into a versatile content management system, it still has many features and themes for blogging.

WordPress not only allows you to purchase a custom domain and download one of over 3,500 themes designed specifically for blogs, but you can also add social media buttons, forms, affiliate links, and other features with plugins.

I love that the customization options are virtually endless with over 60,000 free plugins available.

Disadvantages of WordPress

You need to make sure your theme and plugins are compatible and up to date. Otherwise, they may impact user experience or damage your website.

Other maintenance tasks such as finding and fixing broken links, updating core software, and optimizing your database are also your responsibility. This can be difficult for website owners who don’t have the time or technical expertise to regularly maintain their websites.

Example of a WordPress blog

Tech crunchone of the largest and most popular technology news blogs, is powered by WordPress. Check out this WordPress website example below.

Pro tip: WordPress is open source. So, when you work with a WordPress developer, you can customize your blog and its functionality in every possible way. My blog is customized to somewhat automate repetitive tasks.

For example, when an FAQ is added to my blog, I can use my custom FAQ module, which automatically adds code to the site so I don’t have to re-add it every time. Another good example is content blocks. You can create blocks that you can easily add to the blog.

Important insights about WordPress

• Ideal for publishers and others who want to extend the platform with plugins.
• Over 3,500 free blogging themes.
• Maintaining a website can be time-consuming.

3. Squarespace

Best suited for: design

Blog Software Cost: Paid, with plans ranging from $16-$65 per month

Ideal Squarespace users

I’ve used Squarespace for two different client sites and had no problems with it at all.

Squarespace is an ideal blogging platform for businesses and individuals creating image-rich content. It also has a rating of 4.4 G2. Squarespace’s award-winning designer templates and integrations with Getty Images, Unsplash, and Google AMP help you create visual content that’s engaging and shareable.

While this likely applies to many platforms, my experience with Squarespace as an SEO was great! I worked with two small clients and both had no problem writing little (but very good and detailed) content and they ranked in no time.

Squarespace Pros

Although Squarespace only offers around 140 templates, they are all mobile-friendly and fully customizable so you can create a blog this looks the way you want it to. Once you’ve designed your pages, you can use Squarespace’s blogging and SEO tools to create and optimize your content.

Finally, after publishing your blog posts, you can link your social media accounts to easily promote them. Then use the built-in analytics tool to learn where your traffic is coming from, what your visitors are searching for, and how they interact with your content.

Cons of Squarespace

Squarespace offers even more featuresfrom audio file support to newsletter signup forms, but ultimately the functionality is limited. That’s because around 30 extensions are supported, so you’re mostly limited to the features that Squarespace offers out of the box.

Because they lack some features that bloggers need – such as an auto-save feature – Squarespace isn’t the ideal platform for everyone.

Squarespace blog example

Squarespace allows some bloggers to create beautiful websites such as: Lifestyle Blog below.

Squarespace’s key takeaways

• Best for individuals and brands who want to customize a blog to suit their personal style.
• Small but high quality selection of templates.
• Limited to the features and few extensions that Squarespace offers.

4. Wix

Best suited for: beginner

Blog Software Cost: Paid, with plans ranging from $16-$59 per month

Ideal Wix users

Wix is ​​a popular blogging platform for beginners who want hosting and blogging tools in one place and who prioritize speed and design over functionality.

Wix professionals

Wix has a 4.2 G2 rating and gives you two ways to create your blog in the Wix editor.

To start, you can choose from over 800 pre-built templates that any blogger can use, whether you own a retail business or run a food review website.

You can also use Wix ADI by filling out a short questionnaire to have a blog created for you.

You can then start writing and editing posts on desktop or mobile, embedding Wix photos and videos or your own media, and organizing them by topic.

Once you’re done writing, you can configure your SEO settings to increase your organic reach, forward your content to your subscribers using Wix’s email tool, and share it across your social media accounts. I like that you can further foster a sense of community among your readers by turning them into members.

Disadvantages of Wix

While Wix is ​​more versatile than other hosted website builders, it lacks customization options and content management features, especially in comparison Wix versus WordPress or another CMS.

For example, to add advanced elements such as music or maps to the page, you need to add HTML code. This process can be intimidating for beginners.

Wix blog example

Check this out Website of the blogger Wix Below is an example of a stylish but relatively simple blog.

Pro tip: My friend Crystal Waddell uses Wix for their podcast website, Simple and smart SEO. She loves the blogging feature because it has features she’s used to in Google Docs or Word.

Better yet, says Waddell: “(Wix) also lets you insert GIFs (as in this blog) and pretty much everything else without having to worry about the code.

When you’re done, it has a ton of SEO prompts to make sure everything is taken care of. You can “monetize” posts. So if you want to have a blog for website members only, you can put it behind a paywall. Very cool.”

Key takeaways from Wix

• Ideal for bloggers who value speed and design over functionality.
• Can use pre-made templates or start from scratch.
• The editor lacks drag-and-drop functionality.

5. Pixpa

Best suited for: Bloggers, designers and creatives

Blog Software Cost: Paid, with plans ranging from $6 to $25 per month

Pixpa Ideal Users

Pixpa is a great option for bloggers in creative fields who want to showcase their work and share their ideas through attractive and professionally designed blogs.

The platform offers a user-friendly interface and a wide range of templates, allowing bloggers to customize their blogs to suit their own style and branding.

Pixpa Pros

Pixpa’s built-in blogging feature provides bloggers with a convenient and easy-to-use platform to create, manage and optimize their blogs.

With Pixpa’s wide range of 150+ professionally designed templates, bloggers can easily customize their blog layouts, colors, fonts, and more to create a unique and engaging online presence.

Pixpa offers essential features for content organization, customization, SEO optimization, and social sharing, making it a comprehensive solution for bloggers.

Pixpa’s eCommerce integration and over 100 built-in apps allow bloggers to optimize their blog, website and online store – all in one place.

Disadvantages of Pixpa

While Pixpa offers easy-to-use, out-of-the-box blogging features, it may not offer the advanced customizations and features available in dedicated blogging platforms like WordPress.

No built-in traffic analytics are available. You must use Google Analytics or another similar tool to measure traffic analytics.

Example of a Pixpa template

Pixpa offers a diverse selection of blog templates to suit different blogging styles and aesthetics. Whether bloggers prefer a minimalist and clean design or a bold and vibrant look, Pixpa’s collection of blog templates offers options to suit different preferences.

Pro tip: If you’re interested in giving Pixpa a try, you can try it for free and speed up your website by importing another website template from your existing website.

Pixpa Key Takeaways

• User-friendly interface for easy blog creation and management.
• Customizable templates to match the blogger’s unique style.
• Responsive design for optimal viewing on different devices.
• SEO friendly features to improve search engine visibility.
• Integration with social media for easy content sharing.
• Limited third-party integrations compared to other platforms.
• Limitations may apply to advanced encoding customization.

6. Create a CMS

Best suited for: Adjustment

Blog Software Cost: Free, with premium options

Create ideal CMS users

Craft CMS is a blogging platform for developers, designers and web professionals.

Craft CMS Pros

I love that Craft’s personalized content modeling, powerful templates, and option to edit your source code give you complete control over your site’s appearance and functionality – if you have the experience.

Craft CMS also offers an image editor, collaboration tools, and a localization feature that allows you to translate your content into specific languages. You can now also manage multiple blogs within a single Craft installation.

To analyze your content performance, you can integrate Craft CMS dashboard with Google Analytics and get familiar with it too Create a CMS hosting. This blog platform has a 4.2 G2 rating.

Craft CMS blog example

If you have the web development experience to take full advantage of the power of Craft CMS, you can create a complex blog with custom post types like this one Travel blog below.

Pro tip: Within Craft CMS you can integrate Google Analytics, which gives you all your data in the CMS.

Jonathan Longnecker, who transferred his blog to Craft CMS, says:

“(Analytics integration) comes with dashboard widgets. This allows you to create custom reports for your dashboard using your analytics data. We have already used it to determine how our traffic increases for each article we publish and which pages we visit the most.”

Craft CMS Key Takeaways

• Advanced functionality, including personalized content modeling and localization functionality.
• Free version for individual administrator accounts.
• Requires some web development experience.

7. Satisfied

Best suited for: Pursue

Blog Software Cost: Paid, with offer-based pricing

Satisfied ideal users

Contently is a powerful blogging platform ideal for companies with large budgets but few internal editorial resources. It has a 4.6/5 G2 rating with just over 80 reviews.

Satisfied Benefits

Contently allows you to manage your entire content creation process in one place. You can create and visualize your editorial strategy with the customizable production calendar tool or organize your blog posts with the tagging tool.

It can also help you collaborate effectively with your team on projects by leveraging the advanced workflow tools. You can even pay to have Contently’s vetted freelancers write some of this content for you.

Before you publish your content, Contently’s intelligent content review tools ensure your content is aligned with your brand, optimized for search, and legally compliant.

Finally, to refine your content strategy, Contently allows you to compare your content’s performance against industry benchmarks, quantify its ROI, and measure its performance by topic, format, and sources directly in your dashboard.

Satisfied Cons

The biggest downside to Contently is that it is beyond the budget of many small businesses and individuals. Contently can be expensive and may be more suitable for large companies.

They offer quote-based pricing that is different for each customer. Their costs include editing, strategy and help from their content creators, as well as visual resources.

Contently blog example

Royal Bank of Canada, one of North America’s largest banks, uses Contently to streamline content creation across 14 marketing departments. Check it out Blog below.

Satisfied key takeaways

• Can manage the entire content creation process.
• In-depth analysis.
• Pricing is primarily aimed at large companies.

8. Joomla

Best suited for: Community building

Blog Software Cost: Paid, with plans ranging from $8-$33 per month

Ideal Joomla users

Joomla is an open source CMS with advanced content and user management features built directly into the platform. I think this makes it an excellent choice for creating community-centered blogs.

Joomla professionals

Joomla offers extensive built-in features and thousands of extensions. For example, Joomla allows you to instantly create custom post types, manage hundreds of users, and publish content in multiple languages.

It also offers some great extensions for blogging. EasyBlog by StackIdeasfor example, has a much cleaner drag-and-drop editor than Joomla’s built-in editor.

This extension also allows you to enable star ratings on your blog and automatically publish posts to your social media platforms. Joomla’s G2 rating is 4/5.

Disadvantages of Joomla

Due to its robust built-in functionality, Joomla requires a steeper learning curve than a CMS, so it takes more time to set up. It also offers a smaller selection of themes and extensions, which may limit your customization options.

Joomla blog example

Below is an example of one Joomla blog created with EasyBlog.

Joomla Key Takeaways

• Advanced content management features.
• Steep learning curve due to robust built-in functionality.
• A blogging extension may be required.

9. Hostinger Website Builder

Best suited for: AI-powered website creation

Blog Software Cost: Paid, with a single plan costing $2.99 ​​per month

Hostinger Website Builder Ideal Users

Hostinger Website Builder is an intuitive drag-and-drop builder for various purposes including blogs. It is suitable for both first-time website owners and established bloggers. It has one G2 Rating of 4.4 from over 500 reviews.

Advantages of Hostinger Website Builder

With a user-friendly interface, Hostinger Website Builder ensures a smooth and intuitive experience. The standout feature of the platform is the AI ​​Builder. A fully functional website can only be created immediately if you answer three questions about the blog you want to create.

You can also choose to create a website using pre-built templates. With 20 blog-related templates available, you can easily choose the blog template that best suits your brand.

Because it’s a complete solution for building websites with built-in SEO and eCommerce features, most users won’t need to install any additional plugins or integrations.

Since it is a scalable platform, you can easily upgrade your hosting plan to support your blog’s growth with the resources you need.

Disadvantages of Hostinger Website Builder

Currently the builder does not have a blog search function. This feature is under development and will be available to users soon.

Example of a Hostinger Website Builder website

Below is a Blog Example built with Hostinger Website Builder that features a clean background and simple layout.

Pro tip: Danilo MirandaManaging Director at Currently, uses widgets to engage readers.

He says, “(Using Hostinger’s custom widgets) I can get (readers) to stop on my site and engage with what they’re reading, rather than just reading, getting a response, and then moving on to the next recommendation “You free yourself from the shackles of a blog feed, a blog layout, or a blog page and start creating a destination for your customers.”

Key Takeaways About Hostinger Website Builder

• 20 fully customizable and responsive blog templates.
• Expandable web hosting plans.
• 24/7 customer support via live chat and email.

10. By the way

Best suited for: Minimalist, personal blogs

Blog Software Cost: Free, with premium options

By the way, ideal users

By the way, it is a minimalist blogging platform that is ideal for personal blogs with a focus on writing. Additionally, because it is open source, it is popular among technologists and product people.

By the way: advantages

I love the clean, minimalist editor that inspires you to write. By the way, it also has a writing assistant that helps you identify the readability of your content and simplify it if necessary. It highlights unnecessary adverbs and hard-to-read/monotonous sentences to help you write.

You can also view your analytics on a dedicated analytics dashboard to understand who is reading your content, how much time they spend there, and which countries your readers come from.

By the way, disadvantages

By the way, the focus is on writing. By the way, if you want to create a portfolio or blog with lots of images, it may not be the best choice for you.

By the way: blog example

Check out an example personal blog By the way, built below.

By the way: important insights

• Best for creating a minimalist personal blog.
• Open source.
• Free to use, no ads.

11. Drupal

Best suited for: Advanced bloggers

Blog Software Cost: Free open source software

Drupal Ideal Users

Drupal is a highly flexible open source CMS that is best suited for advanced users as well as businesses with complex blogging needs looking for a self-hosted solution. It has a G2 rating of 3.8.

Drupal professionals

Drupal has hundreds of out-of-the-box features and modules. If you know how to use it or have time to learn, Drupal will give you more power than other open source platforms.

In particular, Drupal supports a wide range of content types, page templates, blocks, and more for creating and managing content. It also has advanced user permissions so you can give site administrators, content editors, and other stakeholders personalized access to specific content.

This – along with the multilingual features, layout builder and other modules – allows you to create and manage large, complex blogs.

Disadvantages of Drupal

If you don’t know how to use Drupal’s out-of-the-box features and modules and don’t have the time to learn, they can be confusing and hinder your blogging efforts. In this case, a simpler platform may be better for you.

Drupal blog example

Below is a Drupal blog which contains add-ons and modules.

Drupal keys to take with you

• Best suited for technical users with complex blogging needs.
• Powerful content management features.
• Advanced user permissions.

12. LinkedIn

Best suited for: Thought leadership

Blog Software Cost: Free

Ideal LinkedIn users

LinkedIn allows users to share blog posts directly, thereby reaching some of the posts 1 billion People on the platform. This provides companies with new blogs with an audience for thought leadership and increasing website traffic.

In my opinion, every single B2B professional should be on LinkedIn. In fact, I would even say that many professionals should have a blog on LinkedIn in addition to their website.

LinkedIn Pros

LinkedIn is an excellent choice for blogging to increase brand awareness and increase website traffic. It is also a valuable tool for developing thought leadership. The built-in audience on LinkedIn can help generate conversations about your content, which can drive growth.

It’s also an excellent choice to complement a local blog. Creating a LinkedIn blog allows you to create insightful content specifically for niche users. This can increase awareness of your brand and products in the industry. It can also help your blog generate more authority.

Disadvantages of LinkedIn

Because LinkedIn blogs run on their platform, you don’t get the SEO benefits of an on-site blog. Therefore, I think it is important to optimize your blogs for both search on your platform and search engines. Without this investment, it’s possible that only your current contacts will see your content.

You may also want to look for a different platform if you are blogging for lead generation. Blogs are a great way to collect new contacts for your newsletter and sales team. However, blogging on LinkedIn can mean a longer journey to your lead generation forms, which can result in lower conversions.

Example of a LinkedIn blog

These blog examples are from the COO of L’Oréal and the Chief Customer and Commercial Officer at Coca-Cola. They show how this platform can increase awareness and engagement for brand initiatives.

Pro tip: I love LinkedIn; I’m there every day. When you start writing articles on LinkedIn, invite people to follow you there so they can get updates! As an SEO, I am often asked about LinkedIn blogs, website blogs and duplicate content.

I think you should blog on both platforms and have a different blog strategy for each platform. If you don’t want that, I’ll post content to your website and then use it for LinkedIn.

Key insights from LinkedIn

• A good choice for new thought leaders.
• User-friendly interface.
• Offers potential access to a large and immediate audience.

13. Write. as

Best suited for: Privacy

Blog Software Cost: Free, with premium options

Write as ideal users

Write.as is a lightweight blogging platform ideal for people who want to create simple blogs with minimal design. It is popular among its user base, with a 4.4 rating and almost 30 reviews of G2.

Write.as Pros

Write.as offers a stripped-down editor with just an auto-save feature, providing the experience of writing in a virtual diary. This makes it one of the best blogging platforms for writers. Using Write.as is also free and does not support advertising.

teams can also use it like Google Docs to share updates, suggestions, and work in progress (for a monthly subscription).

Write.as Cons

Write.as requires you to do this Use Markdowna syntax that uses special characters to format text. For example, you enter asterisks to create bullet points, hashtags to create headers, and (link) to add a link.

The syntax is not difficult to learn, but may require some practice. If you’d rather just click a button to create bulleted lists or add hyperlinks, then I think you’d be better served with another blogging platform.

Write.as blog example

Check out an example Write a blog below.

Key insights from Write.as

• Best for people who want a minimalist interface and design.
• Requires you to learn and use Markdown syntax.
• The free version is ad-free.

14. Bloggers

Best suited for: Lifestyle blogger

Blog Software Cost: Free

Ideal blogger users

My very first blog was on Blogger, and back then I had no experience with SEO, blogging, or to be honest, any kind of digital software. If I could create a blog on Blogger, you could too!

Blogger is a free platform for newbie bloggers. It is a great platform if you are starting a blog. However, Blogger lacks many content management features, but it is more feature-rich than most free blogging platforms. This is why Blogger is perfect for people who want to create blogs as a hobby.

Blogger professionals

In my opinion, the biggest advantage of Blogger is how easy it is to create and customize a relatively simple blog.

To get started, all you need to do is create an account with Google, choose a template, and start publishing.

You can purchase a custom domain, tweak your SEO settings, connect your blog to Google Analytics, optimize your posts with Adsense, and even edit your site’s HTML and CSS – but there’s not much you can do beyond that.

Blogger Cons

To get a better idea of ​​the platform’s limitations, you can compare Blogger with WordPress or another CMS.

Blogger doesn’t allow you to install plugins to extend the functionality of your website. You cannot create different content types, e.g. B. Portfolio pages. And you can’t change the default display of your content from reverse chronological order to, say, your most popular posts.

In short: If you need the content management features and customization options of a CMS, then check out alternatives to Blogger.

Blogger blog example

Check this out personal blog Below is an example.

Key insights

• Best for lifestyle bloggers.
• More comprehensive than other free blogging platforms.
• You cannot create custom post types or change how posts are displayed.

15. medium

Best suited for: writer

Blog Software Cost: Free, with premium options

Medium ideal users

Medium is often referred to as the best blogging platform for writers. It gives companies the opportunity to create a blog and engage with a wide range of industry-specific users.

Storytelling is popular on Medium and many companies use this to their advantage to build a blog audience.

Medium benefits

This blogging platform is easy to use for publishing content.

Another advantage is Medium’s readership. The site also has a reader recommendation engine that can generate an audience for new blogs.

Since on-site blogs often take six months or longer to generate traffic, a site like Medium can be an attractive alternative.

Medium also has community publishing. Each user of the platform can create up to seven publications. Users can also submit blogs to Medium publications to build a larger audience. For example this Towards data science The publication has over 645,000 followers.

If you’re just starting out, Medium publications can help drive attention and followers to your new blog. This blogging platform can also complement a website blog, and some companies here republish their blog content on the website without worrying about penalties.

Medium disadvantages

Like LinkedIn, a Medium blog won’t help you reap the SEO benefits of an on-site blog. There is also a large community that may favor trends or long-time members over newbies. While you can use Medium to generate traffic for an on-site blog, this can pose a risk of duplicate content if you don’t set up your website correctly.

Medium blog example

Both Pursue And Government agencies Use Medium to promote your branded content.

Pro tip: Medium is a bit like LinkedIn in that companies sometimes publish on their own blog and on Medium. In this case, you need to pay attention to duplicate content. I would try to bring the SEO-heavy parts to your site first and then repurpose them for Medium or possibly pursue a Medium strategy.

Medium sized takeaways

• Ideal for authors and others looking to connect with an existing audience.
• Clean and simple user interface.
• It is less likely to provide the SEO and lead generation benefits of an on-site blog.

16. Tumblr

Best suited for: multimedia

Blog Software Cost: Free

Ideal users

Tumblr appeals to both personal bloggers and brands. While bloggers may use this as their only platform, brands tend to use it as one platform among many to show off their personality.

Tumblr Pros

Tumblr combines the power of blogging and social networking into a highly visual publishing platform.

Tumblr has everything you need to create a professional-looking website. You can choose from hundreds of free and premium themes and add multiple pages, sidebars, social sharing buttons, comment sections, and more.

You can also purchase a custom domain name from a domain name registrar instead of using the free subdomain: yourusername.tumblr.com. If you have HTML coding knowledge, you can further customize your website.

Once you’re happy with your website’s design, you can start creating and publishing multimedia post types. Incorporating photos, GIFs, links, chat dialogs, audio files, and videos into your content makes it more engaging, memorable, and shareable.

Because other users can like, reply, and reblog your posts on their Tumblr as well as their other social accounts right from their dashboard, this is a great platform to engage and foster an online community.

Tumblr Cons

There are limitations on the site that can frustrate users. For example, you can only schedule (or queue) 50 posts per day, which may limit your ability to plan and execute a long-term content strategy.

Additionally, you can only upload videos under 500MB and only track 20 tags at a time.

Additionally, your website may be suspended at any time if you are found to be in violation of the following Tumblr Community Guidelines.

Tumblr blog example

fashion has a highly visual and multimedia site on Tumblr. Check it out below.

Key insights

• Ideal for publishing multimedia posts.
• Restrictions on what you post, when, and how often.
• Ideal for individuals and brands to connect with followers.

What is the best blogging platform for you?

Build a blog takes time and dedication. It’s a long-term investment, and that includes the platform you use to create it.

This means that no matter how great a blog platform is, it has to be right for you. It is challenging to move a blog to a new website after launching. So the more preparation you do before you start blogging, the more likely you are to achieve lasting results.

So before I get into the most popular options, let’s talk about what you need in a platform for your blog.

If you’re just starting out, you need a platform that’s easy to set up and use. If you don’t have any coding experience, it’s important to find a platform for your blog that doesn’t require coding. Developing a blog is not easy and you will have more than enough to do without adding new skills to your to-do list.

Next, you should think broadly about the type of blog you want to create. This means taking inspiration from the blogs you admire. It’s a good idea to make a list of layouts and features that you like and note the blogging tools you might need as your blog grows.

Below are some questions to ask yourself to prepare:

• Are you planning to monetize your blog with a newsletter now or in the future?
• Is a multimedia experience with lots of images and videos your goal?
• Are you starting a blog to build SEO for your small business website?
• Or do you hope it can boost your reputation as a thought leader?
• What skills do you need to learn to create your blog?
• How many of these skills can a blogging platform help with?

Once you have a clear plan for your blog, you can choose the best blogging platform for you.

How to choose a blogging platform

For many, choosing a blogging platform starts with cost. Some of the best blogging software is free. So check what plans each provider offers and how many tiers there are. Then look at their key and unique features.

I recommend paying particular attention to the value that out-of-the-box features provide compared to add-ons.

Start blogging with HubSpot’s content management system.

But what you are willing and able to pay is just the first of many important decisions. I will introduce some more features that you may need for your blog. This can help you compare different blogging platforms.

Themes and templates

Themes and templates make it quick and easy to customize a blog. When looking at different blogging platforms, look at their selection of themes and templates.

Ask yourself:

• Are there many templates specifically for blogging?
• Are there a variety of free and premium templates and themes?
• Can you edit the themes and templates to give your website a truly customized look?
• Do you want to create your blog from scratch instead of using a pre-built theme?

These are just a few questions that can help you choose a platform with the design and customization options you need.

There is also a big chance that you will fall in love with a blog topic and want to start building your blog right away. But blogging for your business is about more than just aesthetics.

Content editor

The content editor is the heart of every blogging platform. As a blogger, you may work with this editor every day. So make sure you choose a platform with an editor that you like.

Think about ease of use. You want to be able to quickly set up a blog and add content. And you should be able to get an idea of ​​the functionality and flexibility of the tool.

To test this, I recommend creating a complex blog design. Be sure to add internal links, videos, and various images. Everything you think you want to include in your final blog should be ready for testing on each platform.

When you start comparing platforms, you get stuck on certain details. It can be helpful to divide your list of desired features into “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves.”

For example, your editor may need to have a drag-and-drop feature and an auto-save feature. However, it would be nice if you had the option to preview your post on different devices.

Finding the best blogging platform for SEO

As a passionate SEO, I would say this – but it’s not biased – that SEO is another really important factor in your blogging journey. You want your blogging platform’s SEO features to meet your goals and needs.

For example, if you want to improve your visibility in the SERPs but are not very SEO savvy, you need a platform with built-in SEO tools.

Optimizing your content for search is crucial to driving traffic to your blog.

According to a Backlinko study, websites are listed on the first SERP on Google 27% of all clicks for a keyword or phrase.

It is well known that blogging can improve SEO if it is a useful resource for your customers. But SEO takes time to learn when you’re just starting your content marketing journey.

On-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO are important strategies that take time and effort to learn.

SEO features and tools

To get to the first page, you ideally need a platform with built-in tools to help you optimize your content.

Many blogging platforms offer plugins or add-ons to assist with SEO. However, which features are most useful to you depends on your current expertise.

For example, some platforms can help you create a sitemap or manage your blog URLs.

Many SEO techniques are repetitive processes full of details. Therefore, it is also ideal to have a platform for your blog that reminds you to optimize for search as you create each blog.

For example, HubSpot SEO The software offers on-page tips, such as reminding you to add alt text to blog images.

If a platform doesn’t have this type of advanced functionality, see if you can install a third-party SEO tool. Otherwise, you need to learn about best SEO practices and make sure to incorporate them into your blog.

Extensions and integrations

In my experience, no blogging platform can immediately provide every single feature that every single blogger wants. Additionally, your blogging needs and goals will likely change over time as your audience grows or your strategy changes.

This is why it is important to choose a blogging platform that offers extensions or integrations with third-party tools. Platforms with an ecosystem of apps can scale with you over time. This ensures that you do not have to switch to a more flexible alternative in the future.

Start blogging

Once you figure out your blogging goals and needs, you can choose the right blogging platform. With a little focus, you can find a tool with the functionality and flexibility you’re looking for.

I enjoyed hearing pro tips from brilliant companies and bloggers using some of the best blogging platforms. It shows that if you choose one platform and stick with it, you can create a great and meaningful blog.

Whatever platform you choose, it should combine ease of use and performance to drive your business forward. So, make your choice and start blogging to reap the SEO and traffic benefits.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for completeness.