Blogging services

Blogging services comparison chart for 2024

Blogging services explained

Blogs are appealing for many reasons. In a world where everyone wants their own "five minutes of fame", it's nice to know that there is a way to express yourself. Once you get a good readership, there is always somebody to bounce ideas off. Even when you only have a few followers, or are just getting started, it helps to get your thoughts out there. While many people use their blog to express opinions, they are useful for both business and personal communication. In fact, blogs are popular with all types of public figures, including celebrities, politicians and musicians.

Its easy to get started

Getting started with a blog is easy. In fact, by making use of the various templates available, even the most green blogger can be on board in minutes. There are various blog designs or you can easily create your own. In addition, it's easy to track who is visiting your blog by using the the statistics packages that most services provide. This gives you inside information about your web traffic that many bloggers find invaluable. To keep things visually appealing, you can integrate photo sharing sites, such as Flickr. You can even share your favorite videos via YouTube, if you would like.

We've delved into the world of online blogging to uncover the best blogging services. We've put together a side–by–side comparison chart of the blogs we looked at so you can see which features they offer. We've also put together our own in-depth reviews to help you make an informed decision. Don't forget to checkout our FAQs and Jargon Buster if there is something you don't quite understand. Happy blogging!

What to look for in blogging services

Templates

Your blog will need a design template and you should choose one with a look and feel that reflects your website. Most blog services will provide you with a set of templates that you can browse through and apply to your blog. If you have some HTML skills and want to make use of them, make sure you pick a blog service that will allow you to edit the templates they provide.

Features

The basic concept of a blog is very simple - type your latest set of thoughts and publish them for everyone to see. But then, it can get a bit more sophistciated than that. You might want you readers to respond to your blog, with a comments field. However, you might not if you fear someone might write something offensive. You might want to set up a poll that allows everyone to vote a topic. Blogs now come packed with different features, so think about what you might want from your blog.

Advertising

Adverts that make them money - You should pick a blog that doesn't overload your blog with advertising. This is how the blog services make their money. It won't be alot, but it will be enough to cover the hosting costs and allow them to continue developing the software. Several blogging services will allow you to remove the adverts for a small fee.

Adverts that make you money - Some blog services allow you to insert your own adverts. Its not only adverts that can make you money, affiliate networks such as Amazon can also help you to make money.

Website statistics

It's important that you know where your visitors are coming from and what keywords/phrases they're using to find you. If your found of your Google Analytics some services allow you to integrate it free of charge.

FAQs

Q. What is a blog?

A. A blog is a website that is regularly updated, and is usually maintained by an individual writer. The word “blog” is a combination of “web” and “log” which gives you an idea of how the blog was born—as sort of an online journal. Blogs may feature text, videos, pictures, and audio. Readers can usually comment on blogs or subscribe to blogs. Today, there are millions of blogs, ranging from individuals discussing their personal experiences to companies promoting their products. Because it is free, interactive, entertaining, and easy, the blog is one of the most popular means of communication.

Q. Why are most blogs free?

A. Many companies offer free blogs as a way of earning revenue from other sources related to the blog. For example, some free blog companies offer blog hosting services, which come at an additional fee. Although the blog itself may be free, upgrading to premium accounts, purchasing spam blockers, earning ad revenue, and other features cost money.

Q. Is blogging safe?

A. Yes. Sharing your identity and personal information on the blog is not advisable or safe. Although hackers occasionally access websites, most blogging services provide protection and a level of safety for your blog. As long as you are careful, you can blog freely without danger.

Q. Can I make money from my blog?

A. Using ad services and affiliate marketing techniques, you can make your blog profitable. The process of earning money from your blog is called “monetizing,” and as a blog grows in popularity and usefulness, the earnings from revenue, mostly through ads, begin to grow. Many professional bloggers are now earning millions of dollars through ad revenue and ad hosting. It all depends on your creativity, hard work, and web presence.

Q. Do I really need a blog?

A. Having a blog is not as important as having food, air, and water. However, not having a blog or microblog is like having no web identity. Blogs are free. Blogs are easy. Blogs are fun. Blogs are today’s mode of communication. Any web professional, or online worker would be ill-advised not to have a blog.

Jargon explained

Bookmarklets

A bookmarklet is a combination of the words "bookmark" and "applet." It is a tiny program stored in a URL. You can store a bookmarklet the same way that you would store any other webpage. They can perform a variety of different tasks, including modifying the current webpage, extracting data from a webpage, or submitting the webpage to a translation service. Since they are so small, bookmarklets are generally safer than downloads.

Comment spam

Comment spam is the random, meaningless, or off topic comments that are posted on many websites. Usually, these comments come with a link to their own website to get traffic and increase their search engine ratings. These can be posted by humans or usually computer bots. The bot will troll the internet looking for open comments. When one is found, it will connect and start leaving spam.

Hosting

Hosting is commonly referred to as web hosting. It is the housing, serving, and maintaining the files needed to run a website. Individuals or businesses use web hosting services to get their sites up and running. Some small, personal websites can be made by free web hosting sites. Larger more complicated websites usually need to purchase a web hosting package, which has more space and features than free web hosting.

News aggregation

A news aggregation is a collection of headlines. On a news aggregation website, the owner or manager usually searches the web and collects the information. Some software can subscribe you to a news feed where you will be able to receive the latest headlines. They can be set to check at regular intervals for any kind of headline that interests you.

Pings

A ping is a tool that will send a request to another computer on the internet. A small packet of information is sent, and then the sending computer waits for a response. This is used to determine if that computer is there and actually exists.

Widgets and plugins

Widgets are small chunks of code. A widget can be embedded into a third party website, and it can do a number of different things. Desktop widgets and web widgets are quite popular, but mobile widgets are catching up. Plugins are tiny computer programs that are used to extend the capabilities of a larger program. They are commonly used to play games, view pictures or watch videos online.

RSS & atom feeds

RSS and atom feeds can connect you to the people interested in your site. RSS is a really simple way for you to share your blog posts and stories. In fact, RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." With atom and RSS feeds, your information is put into the XML specification RSS, and your readers have instant access.