Millions of bloggers recommend WordPress over other blogging platforms and for good reason. WordPress is not only user friendly and easy to set up, even for those who are not very tech savvy, but it offers a lot of plug-ins that can maximize the effectiveness of your blog. While WordPress is free to use, they also offer a paid upgrade option so this might be something to take into consideration, especially if you want to include ads, such as Google AdSense ads on your blog.

If you’re interested in setting up a blog rather quickly though, you can’t go wrong with WordPress. They also have a wide assortment of themes, so you won’t have to worry about your blog looking like everyone else’s. Some of the WordPress themes will let you include an image or photo in the header bar so your blog is easy to personalise. You can also categorise your posts, which is helpful if you write about different subjects within your niche. You don’t want your visitors to have to sift through a month’s worth of blog post to find the one article they are searching for so this is a big plus. You’ll also have a lot of fun with all the widgets WordPress offers. Some of these you can change or personalise and some you can’t.

TypePad is another increasingly popular blogging platform. There is a subscription fee to use TypePad but they do offer a free trial so you can try it out first. Some people feel that TypePad is easier to use than WordPress if you’re not very tech savvy, especially because the widgets are easier to use. TypePad may be the right blogging platform for you if you are interested in your blog showing up in the search engines and if you are an Internet marketer, this is most likely the case.

So what if you just can’t afford to pay for blog hosting right now? If that’s the case, then you should still consider blogging, both for the experience and the exposure. Just because you pay for blog hosting doesn’t necessarily mean your blog will be discovered by customers hungry to spend their money on your product or service and if you don’t pay for blog hosting, it doesn’t mean your blog won’t do you any good either.

Whichever blogging platform you choose, remember to post interesting, relevant content and update often, at least once a day if possible. As you grow your business, you will develop a clientele that will most likely find your blog interesting and will start to look at it as a relevant source of information so take it very seriously, whether or not you pay for it.

Saluti,

Ian