Blogging is the best way to create online presence for any business. In the same way, one can make money by creating a well-optimized site. Apart from this, it is a good idea to start a portfolio site with free blogging sites.
One doesn’t need to have to be a professional marketer and doesn’t need any special skills for blogging. This is the major reason many people are coming up with their own blog sites. Anyone who is willing to put some hard work and consistent in efforts can make money from free blogging sites.
Types Of Blogging Sites
Generally, blogging sites are of two kinds: Free and Self-hosted. Both of them have their own pros and cons:
- Free Blog Sites: Free blogging sites are free to use and one won’t have full control over the websites
- Self-hosted Blogs: These are self-hosted sites where one has to pay money for domain and hosting to run your sites and will have full control
For the starters, it would be best to use free blogs. One of the main reasons for this recommendation is cost. Also, since an individual is starting with blogging career, it’s a great idea to get used to the blogging first and how to work on blogs. Once you get habitual to blogging and had working knowledge, one can move to a self-hosted blog.
What would be the address used in free blogging sites?
Before start blogging, one should be giving top priority in choosing a good name for the sites. Getting a domain is also free when using free platforms. Free blogging sites will provide a sub-domain in the web address. For example, if I choose cooking recipes as my sub-domain, then my URL on WordPress will be cookingrecipes.wordpress.com.
The same thing applies when you create sites with other free blogging platforms like blogger.com, tumblr.com and wix.com, etc.
How is Blogging helpful for SEO?
Blogging is the best way to rank your website. A lot of measures are to be taken while performing on page SEO. There is a particular way in which blogs are used. When a content is posted on reliable as well as on the blogging site with quality backlinks then it’s just a win win situation for a SEO expert. Along with this adding of proper keywords just do wonders with the content.
Here are some ways to add in order to use blog for SEO:
- Firstly, look for proper content.
- Wisely add the keywords as they play a vital role in performing this task.
- Add images with proper alt text this provides crawlers to search of the content easily and is also helpful in providing accessibility to the website.
- Write relevant material and not an unnecessary one so that the reader is eager to search for more content by clicking on the links.
- Adding of proper links where you want quality backlinks.
Get more effective content writing tips to write SEO friendly content for a website.
Tips that one can follow before starting a blog
- Take all your efforts to find a relevant as well as hot topics.
- You are not going to be famous and start earning in overnight, every good thing needs time and patience.
- Starting writing in a particular genre such that people find it interesting to read.
- Start with small and useful stuff.
- You need to have knowledge of SEO especially on-page.
- Do not copy anyone’s style.
10 Free Blogging Sites/Platforms
1. Blogger
It is most user-friendly free blog sites to start a blog. It is owned by Google and was formerly known as BlogSpot.
Pros:
- Recommended for basic, easy and simple blogging.
- No setup is required, provides free hosting and sub-domain.
- Security features enhanced by Google.
- It is easy to use platform.
- It has amazing themes.
- Money can be earned via Google AdSense.
Cons:
- Availability of limited templates.
- There are no options to upgrade in case site grows.
- No complete authority over your blogs and it can be suspended anytime.
- No availability of updates.
2. WordPress
If you are reading about blogging site then you must be known with WordPress.com.
WordPress.com is being used widely in all over the globe. Working with WordPress is simple and people find it easy to customise. It is reliable and can be used for both blogging and creating portfolios. It was introduced by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little in the year 2003.
Pros
- Provides free hosting and subdomain. No setup is required
- Easy to use, beginner-friendly
- Security checked by WordPress.com – Jetpack essential features
- Hundreds of free themes
Cons
- Cannot install themes or plugins that are not in WordPress official directory
- Monetize programs like google AdSense etc. can’t be added in the blogs, therefore cannot add ads and earn money
- No ownership and site can be suspended anytime if terms are violated
3. Tumblr
Next in the queue is Tumblr, very well-known website having more than 450 million visitors. It is a kind of micro blogging website where you can post your views using GIF animations, media, videos, etc. Majority of content is found in GIF here.
It is recommended for creating free blogs if the site is more about the visuals. Its founding year was 2007 when David Karp got an idea to launch a site named with Tumblr. It has its headquarter in New York, USA.
Pros
- Hundreds of themes available
- Anything can be post on the blog directly from the Email
- High-resolution images can be added
- Tracking of the readers can be done through Google Analytics
- Updates can be published to Facebook and Twitter account
- Scheduling of the posts and creating own theme is possible
Cons
- It’s a blogging platform so people can write anything, and anyone who sees it can respond to it
- Not ideal for professional portfolios
4. Live Journal
Live Journal comes with both free and paid versions. Some of its cool features that make it one of the popular blogging platforms are:
- Polls and calendars
- Multiple author blogs
- Free commenting on other’s blog
- Social media features, etc.
Live Journal was introduced and created by Brad Fitzpatrick in the year of 1999. Its origin land is Russia. It is also known by the name Zhe Zhe.
Pros
- Available in various languages German, French, Dutch etc.
- Bloggers are not restricted to provide their personal information and one can blog anonymously on this blogging platform.
Cons
- Many Ads in free version
- Doesn’t provide professional templates
5. Weebly
Weebly is a well-known platform for creating web blogs free of cost. It is easy to learn and coming with lots of customization options. Apart from the site creation, you can also take advantages from their hosting services. Approx 12 million+ people have been taken hosting from Weebly. David Rusenko, Chris Fanini and Dan Vettri are the 3 pillars who stood this platform.
Pros
- It offers both Weebly sub-domain or custom domain options
- It is completely editable; you can use it like a dragger and dropper. It lets you create pages, navigation, items, etc. quickly.
Cons
- Migrating the content and redirecting your URLs will be a difficult process.
- Display of Weebly ads on free accounts.
- Comparing to Blogger and WordPress, it doesn’t enough options for optimizing the site for the SEO.
6. Wix
Now, Wix has become very popular for building websites as well as for blogging purpose. It is a cloud-based platform. It is perfect for beginners. It always helps you to build a space for your blog without even touching a line of code. it is just built with a drag and drop feature. It has amazing templates to work with. 500 MB of storage is initially free. It is founded by Avishai Abrahami in the year 2006.
Pros
- Enthralling templates.
- Has drag and drop feature.
- Enormous features are there to extend the functionality.
- Amazing help as well as support system is there.
Cons
- It is paid after 500MB.
- High level features are not free.
- You cannot transfer your website to any other platform.
- Premium plans are available for single websites only.
7. Joomla
Joomla is CMS that stands for Content Management System which has become popular among bloggers. This is because it flexible as well as powerful. In this you can build both your website as well as blogging site. It offers responsive design as it is based on Bootstrap.
It’s a self-hosted platform that has hosting features similar to that of WordPress. Aleksander is the founding father of Joomla. It is used by big brands such as IKEA, Holiday Inn, Lipton Ice Tea etc.
Pros
- It is flexible.
- It forms responsive designs.
- Can fully customise you site.
- Very much easy to install.
- There are various extensions that are available in it.
Cons
- Fewer themes.
- Fewer supporters than that of WordPress.
- It is slightly complex than other blogging sites.
- It has some compatibility issues.
- Adjustment options are not too much in the website.
8. Yola
Yola is also an amazing platform but only for the ones who do not have grand plans. In this free plan it just allows you to form 2 sites and 3 webpages. If you want to expand it further then you have to pay. But it has good free storage capacity of 1GB. It was introduced by LA Phil in the year 2007.
Pros
- Easy to start with, so good for beginners.
- Have amazing customizable templates.
- It has flexible layouts.
- No Ads.
- You can also add the content through HTML code.
Cons
- Have to pay after 1GB usable.
- To edit CSS, you need to have those skills.
- No provision to convert the content into multi lingual one.
- Need extensions such as Tumblr to use it as a blogging site.
- There is no chat feature to get instant response of the queries.
9. Hubpages
If you are a creative person and a blogger then this is for you. It has a special column for artists. There they can share their stories. This helps in expanding the connections with others of same or different field. Also, its UI is too interactive and pleasant. It is introduced by Paul Edmonson in the year 2006 and is owned by TheMaven, Inc. Along with blogging one can also earn through ads that are there on this platform.
Pros
- It is user or blogger friendly.
- Lenient towards controversial topics.
- Bloggers can earn more.
- To can start blogging with investing a penny.
Cons
- It’s not easy to get followers.
- It follows the 60-40 payment methodology.
- It is not a versatile as well as secure site.
- Management of pages takes a lot of time in this.
- The numbers of posts that you can upload are limited.
10. Medium
Medium a blogging platform launched by twitter, is an amazing platform. It follows a minimalistic approach in its design so that the reader can have more and peaceful place to write. This amazing platform was developed by Evan William in the year 2012 and currently maintained by A Medium Corporation.
Pros
- Quality of content is great.
- User experience is amazing.
- It has wide spread audience support.
- The best for professionals.
Cons
- It is not that much favourable to you if you are a beginner.
- You cannot customise your page’s UI.
- It involves third party publishing.
- There is no control over recommendations.
- Your content is not yours its there’s.
- No hold on Metatags as well as Metadata
Keep reading and stay updated!
There are a lot of free blogging platforms are available. It’s really not a child game to select the best site. Moreover you can’t just try all of them at once. It’s actually not feasible.
The best way to choose the most suitable blogging platform is first get to know about your blogging requirements. Once you know what you want from the particular platform then it would become easier to select the right one.
For instance, in case you want to post more images than text or videos, Tumblr works really great. If you have small business, WordPress is the perfect choice as apart from giving full control over the sites. It will help you increase your website visibility in search engines too. Try Blogger, if you interested in creating business from your blog.
Which site you would recommend? Let us know in the comment below.
It would be great if you could share your experience and your favourite from this list in the comments section.
If you want to know more about SEO skills such as blogging and more then join the best SEO institute in Delhi i.e. ADMEC Multimedia Institute. For any further information feel free to contact us.
Very informative. Thanks