The world is so dynamic nowadays, that often you have no time to share some thoughts and ideas even with your friends. Starting a blog is a good way to do it. Moreover, you can share what you think with the whole world. Also, it’s good to start a blog if you’re an expert in some sphere. People often search for reliable reviews of various products on the web, so your blog can become not only popular, but also beneficial.
How to Start an Online Blog?
In our world web technologies develop so fast that even impossible things become available or even free. Blogging has become popular quite many years ago, and today it’s not hard at all to start your own blog. There are two most popular ways to do this. The first of them is creating your own site using, for example, a CMS platform. The other way is to use existing online blogging platforms, and start you page in there.
Creating your own website takes quite a lot of efforts and requires additional costs — for hosting, domain, etc. It’s always better to start blogging on a popular online platform. Later, if your blog will become really popular, you can easily shift to your own website, and get even more opportunities to develop. However, if you’re an amateur so far, you can try free and easy to use online blogging sites.
Best Free Online Platforms for Your Blog
There are many features that can vary at this or that blogging website. For instance, many of them suggest you to choose a special theme. This makes your posts more attractive visually. All-in-all, different platforms can offer free domains, free photo, music and video sharing, traffic stats, so on and so forth.
So, how can you to choose the platform that will be best for sharing your ideas? Well, there are several platforms that are good for multi-purpose use. We have prepared a Top 10 list of best online blogging sites. They will certainly help you make a nice blog.
1. WordPress.com
This is probably the most popular blogging platform. They have both a CMS, and a website, where you can host your free blog. The popularity of WordPress is bound with many nice features. First of all, you get a lot of interesting themes, tested and ready to use. Also, you can improve your posts by using numerous widgets and plugins. SEO, spam filters, traffic stats — all this you can easily get at WordPress.
2. Blogger
This service is powered by Google, and this already means a lot. For instance, at Blogger you can use the Template Designer to create the appearance of your blog yourself. Also, this platform is rather user-friendly, which is important for beginners. You can manage your blog without any problem, and for free. Absence of fees for many important services is a big advantage of Blogger.
3. Blog.com
Another great online blogging platform. It is powered by WordPress, however the project itself is quite independent from the host. You’ll get a nice set of interesting features if you choose Blog.com. First of all, many plugins available in their free accounts are normally used for self-hosted blogs, so you’ll get really advanced functions. Moreover, free 2 GB of disk space will allow you you to share not only texts, but also loads of interesting files with your readers.
4. Tumblr
Tumblr offers you a lot of popular features in microblog format. The biggest advantage of this online platform is its nice and trendy design. At Tumblr you can choose several post formats, and easily share your photos, podcasts, music, videos, texts, etc. All-in-all, this platform is really out-of-the-way (that’s why hipsters admire it), so if you want to share exciting content, try Tumblr.com.
5. Live Journal
Despite being of the first popular blogging platforms, Live Journal (aka LJ) is still in trend. Along with basic set of free features, you will get a really convenient interface and a great community. LJ hosts blogs of many famous persons, and it’s really socializing. Here you will get in good contact with your readers, and use many important functions a good blog should have.
6. Jux
In many points, this platform is similar to Tumblr. However, this microblogging host has many interesting features that make it unique. Jux also targets stylish people. This is a platform to share rather exciting content than some experts opinions. The platform suggests to share a quote, a slideshow, a photo in full size, a video, or a photo-countdown. Apart from many good functions, you’ll certainly like the sophisticated style and air of Jux-hosted blogs.
7. Posterous Spaces
And here we have another microblogging platform. Well, Posterous Spaces have some really great features to suggest. You can choose from dozens of exciting themes, improve privacy settings, choose a custom domain, and a lot more. Another good thing is you can use several ways to post — a convenient mobile app, email, and even autopost. Long story short, Posterous is really worth trying.
8. Weebly
With over 12 millions of users, Weebly is quite an interesting way to share your thoughts with the world. Their features include great hosting, a convenient iPhone app and over 100 themes. Moreover, with Weebly you can manage the markup of your blog and posts really easily. The thing is, this platform has convenient Drag & Drop tools that let you organize the design of your blog easily and with fun.
9. Blogetery
Here’s another WordPress-powered platform with a decent set of basic features. Its main options are custom domains, approximately 140 interesting themes and round 40 useful plugins. At Blogetery adds will be displayed on all pages of your free blog. However, at quite a low price of $3.50 per month you can get a paid account with no adds, more themes, plugins, disk space, etc.
10. Penzu
Finally, a platform that can substitute your personal diary. They put special stress on privacy and even suggest to protect your posts with a password. Another interesting option of this platform is Penzu Classroom — a blog and content sharing system for teachers. All-in-all, Penzu is a great way to keep your own diary always at hand, and share some posts with others, if you want.
As you see, there are quite many interesting online blogging platforms. The ones we’ve listed in our Top 10 chart are free, and have really important and useful features. Try to start your own blog, and you’ll see how exciting it is!