Blogging platforms have long been one of the most popular means of disseminating information on the Internet, and blogs are quite successfully competing with established information channels such as the media. Many Internet users who bear the title of "bloggers" have gained a very wide popularity and managed to earn good money on this "craft". In this review, Dear Reader will receive answers to the following questions: what is a blogging platform in principle, what popular blogging platforms exist, and which blogging service is preferable to choose. Who knows, maybe soon, thanks to the Internet browser Netobsever.ru, a “new star” will shine in the blogosphere 🙂. So, let's begin.
Blogs. background
The prerequisites for the creation of the term "blog" appeared in the Internet environment in 1997, at the suggestion of Jorn Barger, an American programmer, one of those who stood at the origins of "web logging" (from the English "web" - network, "logging" - logging). By publishing his daily entries under the name "Robot Wisdom," Barger's goal was to "gain an audience that could see the connections between his interests." Being, apparently, a creative person, he did not want to call his activity the already established concept of “Web publishing”, and gave this process the name “Weblog”. Two years later, in 1999, a playful use of the term appeared on Peterme.com: Peter Merholz introduced the spelling "we blog". This playful “game with letters” was very liked by a number of advanced people in the IT field, for example, a programmer and IT entrepreneur E. Williams (he was directly involved in the creation of Blogger.com and Twitter), and rather quickly the word “Blog” came into circulation. Now, 17 years later, the concept of "Blog" and the process - blogging, are so firmly woven into Internet life, Internet culture that many people use it as a matter of course, without burdening themselves with the question "Where did this word come from" 🙂 .
The main distinguishing characteristics of a blog are the chronological order of entries and publicity. The second aspect is especially important, since blogging is usually very closely related to the “audience”: responses and comments are perhaps the main indicator that the reader is interested in the activities of the author-blogger.
BLOG PLATFORMS
Blog placement options depend on the preferences of the author himself. If there is a desire to give your blog an individual look, to have a transformable interface in any way and functionality customizable to the taste of the author, then in this case the blog is created in the form of a personal site. If it is the convenience of posting and managing your publications that is important to the author, then in this case the choice falls on specialized sites that provide all the tools necessary for convenient and easy blogging. Such sites are called blog platforms", or, in other words, blogging services.
The blogging platform has the following user-friendly features:
- convenience of “deployment”: since blogging services are “mass distribution” tools, the main component on which the blog will work, the so-called “engine”, is made, which is called “turnkey”. Those. it is the same for all users of a particular blogging platform, and does not require any modifications;
- because no modifications are required, then the user does not need to understand programming and refine the “engine”;
- the main labor costs come down to mastering the work with the blogging service, which is obviously much easier than developing and setting up your own platform.
However, of course, blogging services have their drawbacks:
- lack of “flexibility”: setting up the service is possible only within the framework of its functionality;
- some blogging services sometimes do not go smoothly with respect to user-generated content: in some cases, the information posted by a blogger on a particular blogging platform legally belongs to the owners of the resource, and not to the author of the content.
These nuances are usually reflected in the “User Agreement”, therefore, when choosing a blog platform, it is important to read this document, and not thoughtlessly “agree with everything”. Usually, such "ownership issues" result in editing or deleting information posted by the user, if this is contrary to the "Rules" of the blogging service.
Types of blog platforms
- professional blogging platforms: the blog engine when choosing such a blogging service will be individual, modified and customized according to the requirements of the blogger user. Usually a bonus is the provision of hosting for files + the ability to run scripts required by the user (although this function is often provided in a very truncated form). Usually such services are paid;
- semi-professional blogging platforms: when choosing such a service for blogging, the user rents an engine (or several engines). Such a service excludes the possibility of customization "For yourself". Files, as in the first case, can be "uploaded" to the provided hosting. Usually paid, like professional blogging platforms;
- massive blogging platforms: here the user gets only an account and uses the server resources of the selected platform. The blogger does not have direct access to either the posted data or the "innards" of the engine - all interaction is carried out strictly within the framework of the functionality provided by the blogging platform.
That's enough "theory", let's move on to the direct consideration of blog platforms.
The following services are most in demand in the Internet environment:
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With them, we will begin a detailed review of blog services (Reader, get ready - there is a lot of text ahead).
Without a doubt, almost all more or less active Internet users have heard about this resource. Many artists, politicians, organizations and communities are registered and blogging on LiveJournal. Many blogger authors have become famous and very popular thanks to their publications on Livejournal.com
This blogging service belongs to mass blogging platforms: the user creates an account and can use the tools provided by the service. Also, a very significant feature of Livejournal is the possibility of multiple social connections of accounts and blogs: i.e., like in social networks, you can “add as friends”, follow other users for updates, leave comments, etc. Due to these features, LiveJournal is very often categorized as a social network, although blogging is, of course, the primary activity on this resource.
This massive blogging platform was formed in 1999, like many successful Internet projects, it has American roots; the founding father is an American by nationality and a programmer in life Brad Fitzpatrick. LiveJournal was originally created to entertain Brad's friends, but it turned out that such entertainment can be interesting not only for Fitzpatrick's friends, but also for friends of his friends, and so on. In general, the project, as they say, “became viral” and became mega-popular. In the course of its history, LiveJournal managed to change the owner, but not the "jurisdiction". It is paradoxical, but true: although the owner of the blog platform is the Russian company Rambler-Afisha-SUP, the resource servers are located in the United States and are subject to American laws.
Let's get back to the question of popularity. Livejournal.com boasts 150 million monthly visits and ranks 25th in popularity on the Russian Internet. The global positions of LJ-Shechka are also quite good: to break through among all projects, all Internet giants to the 241st position is worth a lot.
The main flow of visitors, as usual, falls on the CIS countries, with an overwhelming "predominance" of Russia over the rest:
And this can be called one of the most important aspects in favor of choosing LiveJournal as a platform for a blog.
Livejournal functionality is divided into free and paid. Free features are assigned to the basic account, which, according to the support service itself, is fully functional. Those. a blogger user can create their own blog page, which will have the name “ username.livejournal.com”, post your entries on this page, comment on other people's entries, add other users to “friends”, in general, be active in LiveJournal as you please. Of the inconveniences: the basic account has such limitations as the inability to upload more than 6 user pictures and the inability to subscribe to more than 25 notifications about the activity of interest to the blogger in LiveJournal.
Paid accounts also have their own gradation. Accordingly, the more expensive the account, the more “pumped” it is in terms of advanced design options, statistics analysis, filtering options, the amount of available space for uploading your own content, etc.
And, importantly, there are no forced ads in paid accounts. Alas, the owners of Jivejournal.com in 2012 had a “thirst for money” and, following the example of many competitors, they began to insert ads into free blogs.
Of the last thing worth noting are the radical changes in the interface of the 2016 sample. LiveJournal has acquired a "tiled look", like many of its foreign counterparts (Tumblr, Pinterest). Whether this will benefit the blogging platform is not yet clear.
Be that as it may, it is the Livejournal.com blogging service that has been and remains the "habitat" for most of the top Runet bloggers and the "reading room" for millions of Internet users. It is very good "friends" with search engines (they consider LiveJournal an "authoritative resource" and index it with pleasure). Therefore, novice bloggers with ambitions and far-reaching plans should pay close attention to this blogging service.
Blogger.com blogging platform
Service Blogger.com, along with LiveJournal, has become a "locomotive of popularization" of such Internet activities as blogging. Launched in March 1999, this massive blogging platform quickly became very popular due to the simplicity, convenience and, most importantly, the fact that Blogger.com blogging platform is free for its users. By the time Internet giant Google (yes, Google now owns Blogger) purchased this blogging service in 2003, it had an impressive 300 million monthly hits. Now, in order to use the described blogging platform, it is desirable to have a Google account. But since many people who are at least somehow familiar with the Internet (for example, use Google mail), or are users of Android technology, have it, all such users have the opportunity to become a blogger on Blogger.com 🙂. Although you can not be a “Google Adept” but use a blogging platform, in this case, Blogger.com “threatens” to cut features: 
The disadvantages of this blogging platform can only be attributed to the fact that this is a BLOG PLATFORM, without a touch of "sociality", as in the same LiveJournal. Here the blogger creates and develops a personal project, rather than “friends” and “comments” to attract attention, as in LiveJournal. And to the pluses - of course, much more advanced and convenient functionality. The years “under the wing” of Google did not pass just like that - the Blogger.com blogging service, like many other Google products, is an example of high technology.
By the way, no, but there is still a link to social networks - publications created on your blog can be easily “reposted” to Google Plus - a social network that is not very popular, especially in Russia (perhaps the only vivid example of Google's failures).
And now it's time for statistics from SimilarWeb: blogging service Blogger.com is expected to have high positions. 148th place among the largest Internet resources in the world, 69th in the "niche" rating.
The number of monthly visits to the blog platform in question is quite impressive and ranges from 191.5 to 242.5 million. While the graph reflects a decline in Blogger.com's popularity, this is likely a "seasonal" fluctuation. One way or another, even if we assume the continuation of such a trend, the blogging service from Google will still be a top Internet resource for a long time to come.
The distribution by country reveals as the leader the “producing country” of the blogging platform – the USA. However, in many other regions, the service is in great demand. For Russia, statistics on the blogspot.ru domain will be more accurate and correct (this is where Russian-language blogs are started). Well, 39.4 million monthly is also a very serious figure!
This means that the Blogger.com blog platform can be recommended to Runet users due to the obvious technological advantages of the service, and also because there is an opinion that the Google search engine loves its “ward” very much, indexes and ranks it well 🙂.
Blogging Platform WordPress.com
The next blogging platform that certainly deserves the attention of Internet users who have decided to start a blog is WordPress.com
This blogging service was created due to the desire of the creators of the engine of the same name (WordPress) to make their development even more accessible and easy to use. Those. If, when working with the WordPress CMS, the user needs to independently deal with its deployment and configuration, then on WordPress.com, he is spared from such, even minor difficulties. The WordPress.com development team considers optimization for “search engines” to be additional advantages of its platform (this is a very important aspect for the development and promotion of a blog), constant updates, improvements and improvements to the blog platform, etc. 
To prove that WordPress.com is one of the most convenient and effective tools for creating websites and blogging, such “inconspicuous” statistics speak: 26% of sites IN THE WORLD powered by CMS WordPress.
Almost all the functionality of the blogging platform is free. By purchasing a paid "Premium", a blogger expands his options for designing his own blog, gets increased storage for uploaded files, saves himself from obligatory advertising, etc.
Let's analyze the positions of the WordPress.com blogging platform in the Internet world. Based on the statistics provided by SimilarWeb, we get the following picture:
45th position in the global ranking, 31st place in the "profile". Solid positions, right? Which once again proves both the applicability of the WordPress.com blogging platform and its “convenience” for Internet users. For all this, blogger users, webmasters and others “vote with their feet”, visiting WordPress.com almost a billion times a month. 
The most active, of course, are those who belong to the English-speaking segment of the Internet. But in Russia, the address ru.wordpress.com is visited more than 190 thousand times a month. This means that more than one thousand Russian-speaking bloggers and webmasters have already appreciated the benefits of this blogging platform and are actively using it.
Blogging platform Tumblr.com
Next in line for analysis is another service that is more often referred to as a social network than a blogging service. The name of this service is Tumblr.com, a large mass-type blogging platform that has adopted the phrase “The easiest way to blog” as its slogan. "The easiest way to blog." 
Maybe this is the easiest way, but not everyone will like it. The fact is that lovers of "long stories", i.e. large, detailed texts, Tumblr simply does not turn around ... This blog platform is designed specifically for short, colorful and concise text content publications, divided into categories "Text", "Photo", "Gif", "Quotes", "Links" , Chats, Audio, Video, Questions.
On the other hand, remembering that now is the era of “fast information”, and people have stopped assimilating large amounts of text data, giving preference to video content, pictures or short texts, you can try to “reformat” and start creating content in accordance with user requests - bright, colorful, short 🙂 .
A little about the project itself: 2007 is considered the year of the creation of the Tumblr blogging service. The creators are 2 Americans: David Karl and Marco Arment. It quickly gained popularity on the Internet due to the proposed format and implemented versions for mobile devices. In 2015, Tumblr.com was acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion. In general, another success story of the Internet project on a global scale. And how do these Americans manage to do this over and over again?!
According to SimilarWeb statistics (and you can believe it), the Tumblr.com blogging platform is one of the most successful global Internet projects (27th place in the global Internet rating).
The resource's visit statistics should also please investors and owners of Tumblr: almost a billion visits every month is an impressive result.
If you look at the "demand map", you can see that Tumblr.com is dearly loved by the American continent and a couple of European countries, but in Russia it is not very popular yet. But not completely ignored either: in the Russian segment of Social Networks, this blogging service is ranked 25th.
In general, Tumblr.com can be recommended to bloggers who are targeting a young, active Internet audience who are not going to waste time on long "canvases" of articles.
Perhaps, this could complete the review of popular blogging platforms, because. those that have been considered are not in vain the most massive, visited and in demand. All other Internet services for blogging, to put it mildly, simply fall short of the level of LiveJournal, Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr.
But still, we will provide the Reader with a list of blog platforms, which, if desired, could be paid attention to.
Blogging Platform Weebly.com
Website Builder Weebly.com
Weebly.com is a semi-professional blogging platform, or, in other words, a website builder. This service is not intended solely for activities as a blogger - with the help of the proposed tools, you can create not only a blog, but also a business card site, the so-called landing-page, an online store and sites of other formats. In any case, this platform is quite suitable for creating your own blog. It no longer belongs to the “mass” ones - an individual approach to the requirements of the Customer prevails here. And for this, as usual, you have to pay. Tariffs at Weebly.com - for any wallet: from 8 to 25 dollars per month. There is even a free tariff, but it is greatly “cut down” in terms of options and functionality.
In 2007, the blogging service (and not only Weebly.com) was included in the "Top 50 Websites" rating, which already speaks volumes about the quality of this platform.
At the moment, the positions of this blogging platform in the global Internet ranking are as follows:
5th place in the world rating of web hosting (and hence blog hosting as well) is very serious!
In terms of incoming traffic, Weebly.com also has quite "top" indicators - 122.5 million visits every month. Those. the resource is in great demand on a global scale.
The greatest interest in the platform is in the USA, much less in other countries. In Russia, it seems that this resource is generally poorly informed.
Should bloggers look at this service? Perhaps yes: firstly, this is a world-class blog hosting, secondly, it has support for the Russian language, thirdly, it allows you to “build” a truly individual blog, and fourthly, all this is not so expensive .
Blogging platform Typepad.com
This service is popular abroad, and the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet somehow ignores it. As, however, Typepad itself ignores Russian speakers: if you want to work with this blog service, then learn English. Also, this blogging platform is not suitable for those who would like not to pay for posting their blog: on Typepad, creating it is only for money (4 tariff plans: Plus, Unlimited, Premium, Enterprise). The minimum plan costs $8.95 per month.
But for the money and the service is different: the blogger is guaranteed personal technical support, a unique design, and many other bonuses.
Otherwise, this is a paid semi-professional platform that does not require the intervention of the blogger himself in the code, but allows you to customize the interface, design and everything else in accordance with the requirements of the “Customer”.
Most of all, the Typepad.com blogging service is in demand in the United States, whose users create almost half of the resource's traffic (the total number is almost 21 million visits per month).
In general, if the Reader is fluent in English, and even more so if he is going to blog in English, while being ready to pay for the support and development of his blog, then Typepad.com blog hosting can be recommended to him.
Of the proven, truly convenient platforms that it makes sense to “cover”, perhaps, everything. Of course, there are many more projects, both foreign and Runet, that allow you to keep diaries and blogs, but they have no obvious advantages over the blog platforms already considered - rather, on the contrary, they are all less popular, less convenient and less functional.
Who was left behind:
- ghost.org: a very young (but very ambitious 🙂) blogging platform that does not have a Russian version.
Not very popular (about 700 thousand monthly visits). Judging by the reviews, it’s still quite “raw”. Although it already has its adherents. It may be of interest to those who have already tried other blogging platforms and are looking for something new.
- Blog.ru is another alternative mass blogging service.
From the pros: free; you can set up broadcasting / importing from more popular sites, such as Livejournal or WordPress. Cons: Not very popular. About 300,000 monthly visits, in the ranking of Runet resources, the positions are far from top (13,009 place among Runet sites), and you can’t really play enough with a limited number of styles. Although, maybe someone will like it.
- Blog platform yvision.kz- straight from Kazakhstan.
As stated on the site itself, Yvision is the “communication center of the Kazakh Internet”, which means that the blog created on this resource has at least 17.5 million readers (assume that everyone uses the Internet in Kazakhstan 🙂). In fact, this blogging platform is visited on average 1.7 million times a month. Which is very good for a regional platform.
- liveinternet.ru- service-heir to the ancient "Lyrushechka".
Wikipedia refers to it as "one of the largest blog platforms on the Russian Internet." Visitor statistics partially confirm this: about 44.5 million visits to LiveInternet every month. According to the "ideological" design and technical implementation - a competitor to Livejournal. Only here blogs are called canonical "diaries". This service was not included in the extended review for subjective rather than objective reasons. Despite the rather serious popularity, the LiveInternet service leaves a double impression: its interface looks complicated, and with it, user blogs-diaries. In addition, all this is abundantly “seasoned” with advertising, a myriad of menus and counters.
Maybe one of the readers will master this interface and start a successful blog here. If this happens, you simply must announce your "Success Story" in the comments to this review!
Probably, either the most patient ones, or those who write some kind of report on the topic of blogs and everything related to them, have read to the end. Thanks to both! I hope that for each of you, dear readers, at least something useful was found in the review. Best regards, Vadim (aka Netobserver).
Article Blogging Platforms: An Analysis of the Most Popular Blogging Services was modified on: December 22nd, 2016 by the author netobserver
Where to start a blog? 50 blogging places.Most often, the WordPress platform is used to create a blog. I also learned how to work with WordPress at one time, but this is not important. A Important thing is that to create your own personal blog, it is not necessary to be rich paid account, or a unique domain name. There are enough free services to start and take the first steps, especially today they are a dime a dozen. I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the selection of blog hosting sites, as I promised you last time.
Blogs on software Danga Powered
GreatestJournal.com - Powered by the same software as LiveJournal, offers free audio savings, 1GB of photo space, and 2000 custom files.
InsaneJournal.com - Another platform based on Danga, the software that runs LiveJournal, offers free and paid accounts, you can earn bonuses, but you cannot withdraw what you earn, but you can spend it on purchasing additional services of the service.
JournalFen.net - Powered by Danga, has gained wide popularity among fan clubs (eg Harry Potter, various TV shows), and is intended for users aged 18 and over.
LiveJournal.com - One of the most famous blog hosting sites. Providing several types of accounts, including paid ones. Many of today's Internet popularity began with this blog hosting. There is a Russian VERSION
Hosting for Blogs Divided by Topics.
BlogCheese.com - Video Blogging Hosting
BusyThumbs.com is a place for cell phone blogs and cell phone photos. Messages can be written to the blog using SMS.
Freevlog – Freeblog's video storage platform is TOTALLY free.
Trippert.com - Create blogs and exchange messages about your trip.
Ufem.com is a blogging platform specifically for women. There are several themes and plugins available.
WordPress Powered - blog hosting based on the WordPress platform
Blogetery.com - Offers multiple templates, anti-spam, free third level domain and more.
BlogRox.com - Powered by WordPress and offers 50MB of free web space.
Blogsome.com – Originally from Ireland, this site uses the WordPress MU platform, with a large selection of themes.
Edublogs.com - WordPress blog platform for educators.
WordPress.com – Not only can you install WordPress on your site, you can use the same software for your sites and use different plugins for different site needs and customizations.
Various platforms.
Blog.com - offers free blog hosting with unlimited storage space, with paid accounts you get more opportunities to work.
Blogger.com - The easiest way to try your hand at blogging. The platform is provided by Google. Easy to use. There is a Russian VERSION
Blogr.com - Tailored for storing videos and photos, as well as a great choice in creating podcasts.
BlogSpirit.com - European, offers a 30 day trial but offers little storage space afterwards. There is a Russian VERSION.
Blogster.com - Offers free image hosting in addition to a free blog.
BlogYx.com - the platform allows you to organize chatting with readers, a mailbox is provided.
Blocki.com - Allows you to build a blog site, and even open it up for collaboration.
Bravenet.com - Free blog hosting with RSS feed and more.
ClearBlogs.com - Free blog hosting, templates, internal friends, IP filtering and more.
Etribes.com - based in Europe, allows you to create all kinds of websites, including a blog.
Multiply.com - A mix of blogs and social media, with photo galleries and more.
Netcipia.com - Free blog and wiki for private or public display with 2GB of memory.
By opening Diary.com - you are given unlimited opportunities for maintaining your records. Low cost of additional services.
ShoutPost.com is a blogging platform with a focus on traffic generation.
SoulCast.com - something can be said, but I want to say that everything is anonymous? This could be your blog.
Squarespace.com - Allows you to build your blog with numerous themes, and you can also add other site features.
Terapad.com - Good blog hosting, provides built-in features for creating a store..
Yahoo 360 - The features of your Yahoo account allow you to maintain a personal blog.
Zoomshare.com - Free blog hosting with 250MB free space.
From the above list, a very large number of blog hostings belong to the bourgeois. I think those who have learned to make money on the bourgeoisie have long felt this topic, but for Russian bloggers, the possibilities are no less.
Russian places for blogs.
I'm not going to paint, but I'll just say that today any major free mail service provides a place for blogging, but there are others besides these services.
BlogOnline is a service for blogging in Russian.
LiveJournal - The most popular hosting in Russia where bloggers have found their place.
http://blogs.mail.ru/ - Stands second in the number of registered blogs in Yandex.
The visitor statistics system provides not only counters and mailboxes, but also a place for blogs.
Diary.ru - As the name suggests, this is a diary.
Ya.ru - blogs from Yandex
The time has come to “think with your head”, and not “master the budgets”.
Alexey Vostrov.
Do you want to start a blog? Is free? On a quality service?
At the same time, you do not have the slightest desire to master programming languages and databases?
Then blog services below are made just for you!
Oh, they will give you the opportunity start a free blog anyone who wants! These services will take care of all the technical issues! And they will provide ready-made software, so that you do not bother to study, PHP, etc.!
You will only have to write your brilliant thoughts on the blog and not be distracted by how it (the blog) works!
In return for all these wonderful opportunities, the administration of the free blogging service places ad blocks in the diaries of its users. Places neatly and unobtrusively.
In general, if you want to start a free blog and not be distracted by its maintenance, then here are the best services for this.
LiveJournal
LiveJournal(or simply LiveJournal) is the most famous of all the free blog services on the Runet. There are a huge number of magazines here and every day there are more and more. All "advanced" politicians, writers, athletes, etc. are represented in LiveJournal. Free blogs on a variety of topics daily attract a lot of people to LJ (including advertisers, it is no coincidence that LJ is becoming more and more popular). That is why many LiveJournal diaries take high places in the Yandex blog ranking. In general, if you decide to start a free blog, then you won’t find a better place than LiveJournal.live internet
LiveInternet is the oldest free blogging service on the Russian Internet. There are a huge number of diaries and communities. The LiveInternet engine has rich functionality for blogging, customizing it, and for . I recommend.Blogspot
Blogspot is a free blogging service from . Blogspot has the most advanced features of any free blogging service. You can set up almost everything there, there would be a desire and patience. You can attach your second level to the diary on Blogspot and turn it (blog) into a full-fledged website. I started my blog on Blogspot almost simultaneously with the creation of this site. Since then, it has existed (a link to it can be found at the end of this list).Twitter
Twitter is a relatively new free blogging service. More precisely, not just a service, but a whole new format of microblogging. "Micro" because the length of the message in it cannot exceed 140 characters. Quite quickly, the microblogging service won the hearts of millions of users around the world and continues to confidently walk the Internet further. Join now!
This Google-owned platform is very easy to use. You can create and customize a blog to fit your needs in minutes. Hosting and subdomain (blog_name.blogger.com) is provided free of charge.
On the other hand, customization of the appearance and functionality of blogs is limited. There are only a small number of themes and a simple editor at your service, although knowledge of HTML and CSS will make the design more or less unique. But you can’t expand the blog’s capabilities with add-ons and plugins.
Google is in no hurry to develop and maintain the service. Therefore, Blogger looks outdated against the backdrop of some alternatives.
Price
The WordPress service is a flexible platform that is perfect for both the amateur and the professional. You can create and design a simple blog in a few elementary steps. The WordPress catalog has a huge number of ready-made themes for every taste. But if you need something more serious, the service offers a lot of options for customizing the design and functionality.
The basic features of the platform, including a subdomain (site_name.wordpress.com) and 3 GB of hosting, are available for free. But the service also has paid tariff plans that provide access to advanced options up to independent design development and plug-in connection. To use the full potential of WordPress, you need to understand web technologies.
Price: free, and with your own domain - from 200 rubles per month.
Opening a blog on LiveJournal is no more difficult than registering on a forum. But the main advantage of the service is in the social component. A blog created on this platform becomes part of a large community with a Russian-speaking audience. As a result, bloggers get additional tools to attract new readers.
The disadvantages include the unsightly interface of the service and meager opportunities for blogging. You can’t tailor the functionality for yourself, as in WordPress. For free, the user receives a subdomain (blog_name.livejournal.com) and only 1 GB for file hosting. With a paid subscription, you'll get more customization options and 100 GB of available server space.
Price: basic features are free, the domain must be registered and paid for in a third-party service.
4.Ghost
Simple blogging platform, nothing more. An intuitive interface and a large number of stylish themes (paid and free) in the service's built-in store make Ghost visually appealing to bloggers and audiences alike. The service allows you to deploy a blog on your own (paid) or third-party web hosting.
In addition to the stylish design of Ghost, it is worth noting the high speed and user-friendly control panel. This is where the benefits of the service end. Advanced settings for templates and functionality are available only to those who know how to layout and program for the web.
Price: From $19/month (domain connection included).
With Weebly, you can create blogs and even simple online stores. The service has a convenient visual constructor that allows you to build pages with the necessary functions in real time, brick by brick. To do this, you just need to customize and drag the site blocks within the selected template.
To use a custom domain, you can register it within the service (the .com, .net, .org zones are supported). It is also possible to connect previously registered domains. The free plan only includes a subdomain (sitename.weebly.com) and 500MB of disk space. More space and opportunities to control the site - in paid tariff plans.
Price: free, with custom domain - from $8 per month.
A free platform where blogs form something like a social network. Readers can subscribe to updates from their favorite authors and repost their publications to their tumblers or other services.
Tumblr is more suitable for microblogging. The ideal publication format for this service is a minimum of text, a maximum of multimedia files: music tracks, pictures, videos and gifs. There are no wide possibilities for customizing the appearance and functionality of blogs.
Price: free, but the domain must be registered and paid for in a third-party service.
A fashionable feature of recent times is your own commercial blog, and this is not about the usual online diary or social account, but about a full-fledged information space in which the owner is free to publish, offer and even sell anything. At the same time, the owner does not have to choose and buy hosting, install a special blog script, and so on.
Before moving on to the article, I suggest that you read the article about creating blogs. You will also be interested to know the main characteristics of the most.
In the case of the platform, everything is much simpler: you only need a custom domain to connect, and the rest can be configured immediately after domain binding. Modern platforms offer a variety of functionality that can implement rather non-standard solutions, for example, install additional modules from other developers or transform a blog into a classic online store. The choice is quite wide, so let's get acquainted with the most interesting representatives of this direction:
1.Tumblr
It is one of the simplest and most popular platforms. The developers focused on customization, that is, they made it possible for users to target information to a specific circle of readers. Several types of content are allowed for publications at once: videos, photos, audio, links, chats and, of course, the usual textual information. The service perfectly interacts with You Tube, Facebook and Twitter, and also has the ability to directly download videos. Unlike most blogging platforms, Tumblr has some of the characteristics of a social network, such as the ability to read feeds, like, comment, and even share. The function of delayed publication of posts is very convenient and in demand, as it allows you to blog even without direct access to your account. In general, this platform is so versatile and modern that it allows you to organize a workspace more reminiscent of a classic site, rather than a blog, which is naturally great for implementing various commercial projects.
2. WordPress.
Speaking of platforms, we can't help but mention WordPress. This rather complex and very professional service is often used when a full-fledged website or online store is needed. Users have access to an extensive library of design themes, many functions, free applications for Android and iOS, as well as the ability to connect various modules. To create a blog, online store or website on this platform, just like in all other cases, you need your own domain. If there is none, it can be purchased right there without leaving the site. Judging by the numerous reviews, the platform is very stable, practical and functional, but it is quite difficult for beginners.
3. Blogger.
Unlike many others, this blogging platform is completely free. In principle, it is well suited for running a commercial or personal blog, since the functionality initially includes the ability to install additional modules, there is a record of visit statistics, options for creating your own themes, and other useful settings. To get started, you need a custom domain, as well as a standard Google profile. The platform is simple and logical, so developing your own blog does not present any difficulties - everything is accessible and understandable even for beginners. By the way, Blogger developers did not ignore the owners of mobile gadgets - there are corresponding applications for Android and iOS.
4. Weebly.
The principle of operation of this service is very reminiscent of a building designer familiar from childhood, only instead of cubes and blocks, the platform offers to compile an almost full-fledged website from individual functions. The functionality is not complicated, many features are provided absolutely free. And just like in the case of WordPress, the domain necessary for work can be purchased here, and such popular zones as org, net or com are available. For Weebly mobile devices, there are relatively new mobile applications with good functionality and the ability to manage a blog. The platform is relatively simple and will be interesting, first of all, to those who are just starting their acquaintance with services of this kind.
The advantage of these website builders is their versatility. Sites made on these designers are perfectly displayed on all mobile devices.
True, on mobile devices, mobile applications are already more popular than websites. And, fortunately, free mobile application builders are already appearing, with which you can create a full-fledged mobile application. If you want to create a mobile application for devices running Android OS, then the site http://mobiappsystems.ru/ can help you. Despite the fact that this service is free, you can use it to create a full-fledged application. If you master the functionality of this service, you can create an application in 20 minutes.
Video.
In order to better understand the creation of mobile applications, you should watch the following videos.
First video.
Second video.
