When I first heard the term make money by blogging, I couldn’t believe it.
Why all go to jobs if one can make money while blogging. Right? With the same thought in mind, I straight away went to google and started searching more about it.
My questions were
- how to start a free blog?
- Where I can start blogging?
- which platform is best for blogging?
- how I can make money through blogging?
- can I earn through free blogs etc?
We all love searching for answers in Google right.
Fortunately, Google doesn’t shout at us for asking so many questions.
Well, if you came here with any of these questions or anything about where to start blogging, then this piece of information will help you.
After making my hands dirty on various blogging platforms, I am writing this guide to help you to choose the right one according to your needs.
Let me ask you a few questions.
Do you have any experience in blogging?
Have you tried blogging on any of the free blogging platforms before?
Are you good at writing?
Do you know how to write content that gets the reader’s attention?
If you said yes to these questions, you can directly jump here. This is what you need.
If you are a newbie to blogging, then let’s go step by step looking at some of the blogging platforms, and then decide which one is best for you.
Starting a blog on free blogging platforms is like building your home on someone else’s property. I recommend the self-hosted blog, where it is like building your home on your own property.
But if you are beginning this blogging journey and want to have an experience of working on blogging platforms it’s ok to start free.
You can write your blog posts on these platforms, add your favorite images which are available for free on free image-providing sites, add links and do much more experiments.
Let’s begin and see
What are all the free blogging platforms and Why you should not start a free blog in 2022
1. Blogger.com
It is one of the earliest blogging platforms. Started in 1999 and later in 2003 acquired and redesigned by google. It is a free blogging service where you can start your blogging journey without spending a dime.
Blogger is one of the simple platforms to use, You can set up your blog in minutes. All you need is a google account.
You can add images and widgets to write your article and publish. That’s it.
If you are looking for only this much, then without a second thought you can go for this.
Let me tell you why you shouldn’t choose this.
- You have limited tools if your blog grows you can’t add new features.
- You have very limited design options and limited templates.
- If you want to edit your blog look or logo you have to enter into the coding section of the particular template. It is not everyone’s cup. One mistake and your blog will be gone.
- There is no option for optimizing your blog with SEO.
- Your blog name will be a subdomain name. Example- https://yourblogname.blogspot.com because it’s free.
- To use a custom domain like- https://yourblogname.com- you need to buy it from a third-party domain registrar.
Almost all the bloggers who started here and got some growth moved to self-hosted blogs later on.
2. WordPress.com
Most often people get confused with WordPress.com and WordPress.org
Let me tell you this, these are 2 different platforms.
Will have a look at WordPress.com now.
WordPress is one of the most popular online blogging platforms that power 36% of the websites in the world.
Basic blog hosting is service-free in WordPress.com. It has easy-to-use features and you don’t have to worry about the setup. It offers a large number of both free and paid themes to enhance your blog’s look, along with good basic functionality.
If you are someone who doesn’t want to spend and make money out of your blog, this is an excellent option you can go for.
Let’s see what are all the limitations.
- You cannot use premium themes from third-party theme providers. Your freedom is limited to the use of WordPress themes only.
- Your domain name will be subdomain name and you have to be happy with that for a free account. Example- https://yourblogname.wordpress.com To get a custom domain name of your choice you have to upgrade your services.
- You cannot install premium plugins in the free plan. It is those plugins that make your blog look professional, and it allows you to add some amazing features as well. Here you have restrictions to use WordPress themes only.
- WordPress is very strict on their terms and conditions. If your blog content doesn’t follow their guidelines, you may not find your website again.
- You cannot run advertisements on your blog. Instead, wordpress.com will show their ads on your website. To advertise on your site you need a premium account.
Because of the similar name, newbies often begin with wordpress.com. But after knowing about the limitations, they switch to self-hosted wordpress.org to get more features and controls.
3. Medium.com
Founded by Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, Medium launched in August 2012. It has seen a surge of users recently.
Medium is more like a social media platform for blogging. It’s easy to use because of the simple design.
Let’s see the limitations of this platform.
- There is no designing work for your blog. Everyone’s profile looks the same.
- You cannot use your domain name. Your blog will appear like https//:medium.com/yourname.
- You cannot run ads on this platform.
- You are writing here to the audience of Medium not yours.
4. Tumblr.com
This is one of the easy-to-use and unique platforms that serve as a social media network. You will have an option to choose between a lot of free and paid themes. For the custom domain name, you have to pay.
You will find a lot of younger audiences here who focus on sharing short blogs, images, GIFs, and short videos.
If you want to start a blog as a hobby blogger then this platform is a good choice.
5. WordPress.org
WordPress.org is the world’s most popular blogging software. Ask any successful blogger, they will recommend this platform.
It’s an open-source blogging platform that allows you to build your website or blog with ease.
WordPress is a self-hosted solution that means you will have to sign up with a hosting provider by paying some amount to use server space. Then you have to buy a custom domain name from the name-providing companies.
With an investment of around 5000 INR per year, you have your own website. When you install WordPress with one click installation this becomes your self-hosted WordPress blog or website.
In this platform, you have the freedom to build your website however you like.
No matter how big your blog grows, this can handle it with ease.
This is exactly like you buy a piece of land and build your home in it as you wish and design as you please.
LET’S SEE WHY YOU NEED A SELF HOSTED BLOG?
- When you are the owner of this server, you don’t have to follow someone’s guidelines. You can design your website the way you want with the tons of free plugins and themes by WordPress.
- You can monetize your site by signing in to Google AdSense, or writing reviews, or doing an affiliate marketing.
- The major reason why most of the bloggers are in WordPress is SEO(search engine optimization). When you search your query on Google, it will show you related information. Almost all of us click the links or websites which are on the first page.
Now out of thousands and lakhs of bloggers are out there sharing their content, how you can take your site to the first page of search.
Here SEO comes to your help. Optimizing your article with the help of various free as well as paid SEO plugins becomes easy and it will help your blog to rank high on google search results.
- You cannot sell your Blogspot or Medium or any other blogs but You can sell your self-hosted WordPress blog and make money.
- Unlimited access. When you are signing up for a hosting service you can pay little extra and get an unlimited website option. That means you can add as many websites as you want in your hosting account without any extra expenses.
Also, you get unlimited storage, automatic backup of your data, and full access to your server.
The only negative I can say about this platform is you have to constantly learn things like using various plugins, themes, its functions, etc.
If you are the one who is ready to learn and upgrade yourself always, then this is absolutely positive for you.
To Conclude
I don’t recommend a free blog for you. Get started with the self-hosted WordPress blog and free yourself from the hassles of transferring your blogs from other platforms to WordPress. It may cost you some money. But you will open up to a new world of earning opportunities later on.
If you just want to test your idea of blogging then free blogging platform is a choice you can go for.
Now you have all the details you need to start your blog. Which platform you are going to choose?
Also, check this article to know about the best google fonts for blogging.