The Top 3 Blogging Platforms

This hub explores three of the most popular blogging platforms available. It compares them in terms of ease of use, search engine optimisation, and customisation. If you're thinking about starting a blog, this will give you an idea of which platform is the right one for you.

Blogging can be a rewarding experience – both personally and financially – but it is very important to choose the best platform for your blog. And that’s where this hub should come in handy. Have a read, pick a platform, and happy blogging.

Well, I have to include this one. I mean, it’s called Blogger for crying out loud. Anyway, this is a rather good platform from our dear friend Google. It’s got a nice, simple UI and it’s easy to customise the look of your blog. As you might expect, it’s super easy to integrate Google AdSense ads with Blogger. All you have to do is click a couple of boxes to indicate where you want the ads and then customise their size and appearance as you like.

Blogger blogs don’t seem to rank too highly in the search engine results, which is a little odd considering it’s owned by Google. Sadly, that's not the only problem with Blogger.

This option works pretty much “out of the box” – you don’t need to mess around with HTML or CSS or web-hosting. (That said, you can if you want, which is always nice).This makes it pretty well suited to those who are not technically minded. If you are one of those people, you might want to skip over our next option: WordPress.

First up, there are 2 different versions of WordPress. There’s the free option: the shared-hosting version from wordpress.com. This is the easier one to set up; like Blogger, you can do it in a few minutes. The second version is the self-hosted version which is available as a download at wordpress.org. This option requires you to purchase your own web hosting. I wouldn't recommend that option if you're just dipping your toe into the world of blogging.

WordPress blogs seem to rank a lot higher than Blogger in the search results, so if SEO is what you’re after, you’d be better off with WordPress than Blogger.

WordPress blogs are the last word in customisability, especially if you choose the self-hosted option. There is very little you can't do with a WordPress blog. Of course, it does mean that a little knowledge of HTML is advisable. So if you're not particularly tech-savvy, WordPress might not be for you.

I hesitate to call Tumblr a blogging platform, but it ticks all the boxes. It also has a social media aspect to it though, and this is why it has gained such a massive user-base. If you ever doubt the popularity and power of Tumblr, you might want to remember it was purchased by Yahoo for a cool $1 billion. (Who'd have thought they had that kinda money kicking about, huh?)

This is a mixed media platform. Tumblr is absolutely fine for serious blogging, though the site leans towards more casual, creative blogs. It’s great for blogging about your life, cats, or your favorite books/shows/music.

If you're looking to create a photoblog, Tumblr is probably the best option for you. You can set up your blog in a few minutes and photos will be displayed beautifully.

Furthermore, Tumblr is probably the easiest platform on which to quickly gain popularity. This is partly due to its efficient tag system, as well as the site's sheer popularity, especially with people who are creative and artistic.

Blogs (Tumblogs) are pretty customizable - there's a great array of free themes to choose from, as well as many paid ones. On top of that, you can edit your theme's HTML directly and add CSS.Tumblogs actually do alright in search results, though it depends on the topic. This site is very popular with hipsters; make of that what you will

Thank you for taking the time to read this hub. I hope you found it useful. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below.