Content marketing is turning every business into a media enterprise, promising big returns for prolific publishers. For businesses looking to get in on the ground floor of this burgeoning movement, evaluating available options can be an overwhelming prospect. Fortunately, new and experienced writers need not break the bank or a sweat deciding which platform to use. With so many options to choose from, selecting the best option simply takes a little knowledge and an understanding of your skills and needs.
WordPress
Largely considered to be the standard of free blogging platforms, it’s hard to argue with the success, versatility, and community that WordPress boasts. The ubiquitous CMS is the driving force behind the websites of Variety, Anderson Cooper, and Van Heusen, capable of operating as a standalone blog, an ecommerce site, or a personal portfolio. Its development and support communities are among the most prolific on the Internet, meaning that whether you’re a beginning or experienced blogger, testing the waters or expanding your scope, the tools and tricks are available to guide your efforts.
While the downsides of the platform are few, what stands out as an issue is the possibility for new users to feel overwhelmed by its extensiveness. The multi-faceted interface, laundry list of options, in-depth customization, and robust plugin library can leave the less tech-savvy feeling inundated with details. However, this initial challenge is a small price to pay for the power and scalability that WordPress delivers.
Tumblr
For some businesses, particular those in the B2C sector, blogging is little more than a social activity, eschewing lengthy case studies for pleasing visuals that resonate with their target audience. For these organizations, Tumblr is a viable option. Built on so-called “micro blogging”, the popular platform’s simple interface allows for easy setup and quick sharing of short pieces, videos, and photos. This means less time spent managing publishing permissions, and more time actually publishing.
The glaring issue with this Tumblr’s user-friendly concept is its inherent limitation. As businesses and their blogs scale, Tumblr’s capabilities remain static, offering no plugin compatibility, limited visual customization, and content formatting that may pigeonhole sites looking to delve deeper in their writing. Despite this, the esoteric concept offers an easy outlet for lifestyle brands looking to resonate with their customers, and a shallow learning curve that will get you writing sooner.
Google+
The inclusion of Google’s nascent social network on a list of blogging platforms is, admittedly, debatable. However, content marketing and writing professionals agree that the myriad benefits of Google+ make it a prime candidate for businesses looking to blog effectively.
Google+ has been referred to as “Google 2.0”. The reason for this lies in the way Google’s search index treats posts on Plus. All items published from a page or profile inherit the search ranking of the parent entity. In addition, any +1’s on publisher content appears help bolster rankings of past and future content. This means that every interaction resulting in digital kudos potentially boosts your posts’ visibility in search results. In addition, simple markup language and generous length restrictions allow individuals to, effectively, write formatted blog posts within the platform.
The drawback to this approach stems from the design of Google+ itself. In truth, the social network was never intended to be a blogging replacement, and for that reason, formatting, page design, and typographic options are drastically limited by comparison. Despite this, achieving the same page rankings on a traditional blog requires a great deal more effort than on Plus, making it a reasonable, if limited, alternative.
Medium
Design has taken a front seat in publications, products, and websites. The modern Internet is riddled with entities competing for user attention, rendering a pleasing experience combined with SEO optimization the new kingmaker of content.
It’s with this consideration that Medium was conceived. From a design standpoint, the default rendering of written content on the platform is second to none, featuring large headings, beautiful typography, and an un-cluttered reading experience that few other sites have captured. In addition, the platform fully supports Google Authorship, SEO, and effortless publication, distilling the chores of blogging down to their essence and alleviating publisher burdens in the process.
Much like Tumblr, however, the disadvantage of a Medium blog lies in its inherent limitation. Aside from large-format visuals, the platform offers next to nothing in the way of visual customization. Furthermore, a blog feed on Medium is little more than that, providing neither customization of site structure nor formation of static pages. The upside is that, until your site requires more than a blog feed and great SEO, Medium is a perfect, hands-off blogging platform.
Ghost
From the ultimate hands-off solution to the ultimate hands-on solution, Ghost is a fully customizable, open source platform that’s made a name for itself as the CMS for developers. Completely free, from stable builds down to the source code, this intensive blogging platform is everything a strong coder needs it to be.
The trade-off, of course, is ease of use. It currently appears to only work on VPS or dedicated servers, so one need to be technically proficient to be able to manage it. Software development is a booming industry, largely because the knowledge needed to make code work however the user needs comes at a premium. For the uninitiated, tackling the nuances of coding will likely be a deal-breaker, but for those with the right knowledge, it’s a match made in heaven.
In a way, free blogging platforms are like apples: each one is a fruit, but the flavors and subtleties of each vary widely. From the carefree to the DIY, choosing the right blogging platform for your site will help spread your work, build your readership, and develop your skills. Not bad for a piece of software.