Almost everyone has a blog of some form these days, whether it’s a micro-blog in the form of Twitter, or a dedicated WordPress or Blogger page. In the eyes of many employers, if you don’t have a blogging presence, you may as well not exist. The same goes for businesses too. Blogs offer an easy way to add a human face to your company. You can use your blog to make announcements, share good news, and offer an insight into the personalities behind your company.
Getting started with blogging is easy. There are lots of free services such as WordPress.com, Blogger.com and Livejournal that make it easy for individuals to set up a nice-looking blog. However, if you’re a business owner you should stay away from the free services and choose a more professional looking solution. Here is a quick look at some of the most popular business blogging solutions.
WordPress
WordPress is by far the most popular blogging platform in the world. As of August 2013, more than 18 percent of the top 10 million websites are powered by some form of WordPress. The WordPress.com service offers free hosting, as well as paid services with extra customization options. Self-hosted WordPress options are available from WordPress.org.
The self-hosted WordPress service is generally accepted to be the easiest self-hosted blogging platform to set up and customize. There are thousands of free plugins and themes available, so you can do almost anything with a WordPress blog. In addition, because the blogging platform is so popular, you will have no difficulty finding employees who have experience in managing blogs based on the platform.
Moveable Type
Moveable Type is another self-hosted blogging solution. Unlike WordPress, which is powered by PHP, Moveable Type is based on Perl. Moveable Type is a high performance blogging solution which is ideal for websites which get a lot of traffic. Many people find that it is harder to get Moveable Type working, out-of-the box, than it is to set up WordPress, but once it’s running it is a sleek and stable blogging platform.
Moveable Type’s licensing structure can be confusing. They have an open source license, a blogger license (which is free for individuals, even if they make money from their blog), and a business license, with tiered pricing depending on the number of users you want a license for. This licensing structure is something which puts some open source advocates off using Movable Type.
TypePad
TypePad is a premium service for hosting professional looking blogs. TypePad is a great option for people who want to use a powerful, unique-looking blogging platform, and do not want to have to worry about installing and maintaining their blogs. TypePad offers easy integration with Google Analytics, ready-made monetization options, and a wide range of choices for customizing your blog.
The main downside to TypePad is the price. Even the lowest level Plus account with TypePad costs a similar amount to a basic account with a standard hosting provider, but you can’t use the account for anything other than a blog. If you want more flexibility, you’ll need to use a self-hosted solution.
CWCS have kindly written this post on blogging platforms. CWCS provide a wide range of hosting options for business and personal use, with 100% uptime guaranteed and 24/7 customer service. Follow CWCS on twitter for more info.
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