Blogging Platforms

Part 2 of What Is A Blog?

Blogs don’t have to use a dedicated blog publishing platform – but it certainly helps! The first “blog” I ever tried to run was written by hand-crafting hard-coded HTML. It didn’t last long before the hassle of manually updating all the links became too much for me.

Today just about every blog out there uses some form of blogging system – Blogduction is running on WordPress. These systems take care of ensuring your latest post is on the front page, maintaining archives, handling categories and tags, etc. There are many options available, which is best for you? Well it depends on your level of experience, how comfortable you are with technical matters and what you want to achieve from blogging.

Broadly speaking modern blogging systems fall into two categories: provider hosted and self-hosted. Here’s a quick run down of the pros and cons of each.

Provider Hosted Blogs

The most famous and probably largest hosted blog provider is Blogger, now owned by Google. Many others also exist such as LiveJournal or wordpress.com. Some are free, some charge a fee, some are free but charge for extra features.

The advantage of these systems is that you don’t have to do anything except write. You don’t need to worry about installing software, owning a domain, paying for web hosting or anything technical. You just use a simple form on your browser and shazam! Your blog post is live on the web for all to see.

Some systems also have support for features such as community building – LiveJournal is particularly strong at this. If you’re looking to create a personal blog for socialising then these features could be very useful.

The downside of these systems is that everyone recognises them: they practically shout “amateur”. If you just want to chat with friends then a blog on blogspot.com might be fine – but if you want to look professional or do business then it won’t cut it.

You might also lose control of your blog – some systems let you backup your content to your PC, others don’t. In addition each service will have its own terms of use and definitions of acceptable content.

Self Hosted Blogs

Hosting your own blog is a lot simpler and cheaper than it used to be, but still requires you to be comfortable with the technical side of things. To host your own blog you will usually choose and register your own domain name then sign up for web hosting and install a blog publishing package such as WordPress (free open source).

Simply having your own domain makes your blog look more professional and gives you more flexibility. You also have far more control in terms of content, backing up the data, modifying your template, etc.

Of course all this means more work for you and will involve getting your hands dirty to at least some degree. You may have to do the installation and upgrades, fiddle with html and php files, do your own backups, etc.

How much technical stuff you need to do will depend largely on your web hosting provider. Some provide fully automated installs of WordPress etc – I’m using Dreamhost which does this. Others provide all the facilities to support installation but leave the work to you. Some don’t provide the necessary features (php, mysql database, etc) unless you pay for a premium account. Do your research first, see what others are saying before you choose your hosting provider.

Hybrid Blogs

Having said there are two options I now introduce the third way! Some blog providers allow you to use their system completely but have your blog appear to be hosted via your own domain, either via ftp publishing or by remapping the domain. This allows you the advantages of provider hosting without the “amateur” status implied by a shared domain such as blogspot.

Some people love these systems, personally I find them an uncomfortable mix. If I’m going to go to the effort of owning my own domain I’d rather go the whole way and install Wordpress.

Decisions, Decisions

So, which is best? Well, if you’re totally new to blogging then I’d suggest starting with a free blog on Blogger. Think about making this a throwaway rather than something you want to keep forever. Treat it as a playground to get the feel for blogging and the terminology used.

Once you’re comfortable with the basics then the choice for your main blog really depends on your motives. If you’re running a commercial blog, want to make money blogging or want to be respected as an expert in your field then you definitely need your own domain name which probably means a self-hosted blog. Wordpress is very popular but there are others such as Movable Type.

Don’t forget to check that your hosting provider supports the system requirements – as I said, I’ve had success using Wordpress on Dreamhost.

Next: Blog timelines