Blog•Insider

Blogs are commonplace in today’s world. The Internet’s invention and popularity has broken down walls between people, countries, and the world’s possibilities through global exposure. Consequently, blogs are an important means of communication. You can do everything from market your products to talking about current events to participating in online communities among other things. It’s because of the blog’s worldwide popularity and influence that it’s become incredibly important in investing in the right blogging software for you and your blog’s needs.

First of all, you need to think about your blog’s purpose. This will help you choose the right kind of blogging software you need. Consider why you are blogging and if it will just be you doing the blogging or if a number of people will be participating. Also think about whether or not you are using this blog to make money. Lastly, consider your computer skills: Do you want something that is easy-to-use or do you want software with a number of options, some of which might be quite technical?

Now you’ll need to decide if you want a blog that is hosted by a third party or if you want to install and manage the blog yourself. If you decide you want a self-hosted blog, know that this involves purchasing a host account and installing blogging software yourself. These blogs are usually the sort that are professional in nature, and are great if you want to own and manage the blogging software yourself. This kind of approach gives you more ownership, but it will have more costs and may require you dealing with or hiring a consultant (i.e. if you don’t have all of the technical skills needed).

Movable Type (MT) software comes in an open source option, a commercial option, and a personal version. The open source option allows people to change the codes to their specifications; the commercial option only allows people to use custom fields. The commercial option is great for people who have specific goals they’d like to accomplish (i.e. solutions to business practices) and have guides for business blogging. This option can offer some things that open source cannot, though the commercial option can be pricey.

WordPress is also open source, and is quite popular (it was recently the only self-hosted, open source blogging platform be on the Webware Top 100 list). WordPress offers users themes to help layout their blog: some are free while others are not. WordPress is easy to customize, as the code structure allows for this, and the administration is also customizable so you can adjust the way your dashboard looks and make it easier to manage.

TypePad software is also designed for people who are not experts in the technical world of blogging. It’s based off of Moveable Type, but it has less options for customization. TypePad is great for people who want a blog that is simple to set up and use. This blog service is paid and is hosted for you. Some people may balk at the price, but it does offer some customization and a great deal of technical support.

Remotely hosted blogs are hosted for you. Blogger is a free blogging platform that is hosted for you by Google. However, there is little that can be customized with Blogger, but it’s easy-to-use, especially for people new to blogging. Since Blogger is free, it’s a great way to experiment with your blog to see where you want it to go and if blogging is right for you. If you’re okay with a basic template and using monetization items like AdSense and affiliates, then this may be the way to start blogging.
Use the internet to check out different blogs that use the various blog software. If blogs are catching your attention try to find out what kind of software was used. These bogs will give you a good idea of what the possibilities are with each type of software.