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Blogging Platforms


So, for my course assessment I have to research and write a 2000 word blog post recommending a blogging platform for a small retail or catering business. I have decided to write a blog as part of the research; so it’ll help me decide what blogging platform I think will be the best.

First of all, there are many blogging platforms – from WordPress to Blogger to Ghost and to micro-blogging platforms such as Tumblr. There are many different types of blogging platforms, for example self-hosted and hosted sites. WordPress is both a self-hosted and hosted blogging platform as it allows you to create your own domain where you own the website (i.e. the paid version of WordPress). However, it’s the free version of WordPress (WordPress.com) which is a hosted site; as your website is hosted through a third-party website (for example, jessicaleeman.wordpress.com). Tumblr is also a popular example of a hosted site, as your website is hosted through Tumblr (i.e. your domain would be – yourblog.tumblr.com).

WordPress

Why is WordPress a good blogging platform for businesses?

  • Can be used for both your blog and your main site as a content management system  (self-hosted version).
  • You can enhance the look, design and functionality of your blog with the many themes, plugins and widgets available. You can make your blog look exactly how you want it to look and make it do what you need it to, i.e. by adding widgets. Themes are limited to users of the hosted version of WordPress, however there’s still a good range of themes, plugins and widgets available.
  • Can re-blog other peoples posts, therefore people may re-blog you and so expand your blogs reach.

Blogger

Is Blogger a good blogging platform for businesses?

  • Free hosted platform; owned by Google.
  • Possible that the more accounts with Google you have, the higher up in search rankings you’ll appear. So, as Blogger is a ‘product’ of Google it doesn’t hurt to set up and account on Blogger..
  • Can use themes which are outside of ‘Bloggers’ systems; i.e. external themes which you can import. Also, you’re able to (if you know how) to slightly modify the themes codes to suit your needs depending on what your blog is for.
  • Add-ons and widgets, i.e. sharing buttons to Twitter, Facebook etc. can also (like WordPress) be ‘added on’ to your blog. Adding different ‘add-ons’ will make your blog stand out from other blogs.

Although, there are a vast number of blogging platforms available I have summarised two just to get an idea of what different blogs can do! I will be going into much more detail about my chosen platform for my assessment.