When curating a plan of action for your business’ success, you’ll find that blogging plays a key part in most companies’ content marketing strategy. Why? Because it works!
Blogging is a great way to build trust with your readers, establish your business’ brand, generate leads and appear in web searches through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Having a business blog and blogging regularly, can be massively rewarding for your business. However, in most cases, it takes time, money and creativity to spark success.
So, why wouldn’t you weigh up your options first?
Building a successful business blog starts by choosing the right platform.
Read now: How Blogging Can Help Your Business Grow
Hosted vs Self-Hosted Blogging
First, we need to define and understand the differences between a ‘hosted’ and a ‘self-hosted’ blog.
A hosted blog, sometimes referred to as ‘free hosted’ blogs, are owned by a blogging website (or platform) that you sign up to, and your content will be shown on the platform’s web servers.
Hosted blogging platforms take the responsibility of managing the software, data and security, so that you don’t have to.
A hosted blog is a popular starting option for independent writers/bloggers in which many bloggers may later decide to switch to a self-hosted platform, in order to have more control and responsibility over their blog’s design, as well as, being able to monetise their platform better.
A self-hosted blog is typically a form of blogging software, or open-source content management system (CSM), that can be downloaded and installed to use on your business’ website.
Most self-hosting blogging software is free to download, however, you’ll still have to pay for the domain registration and web hosting in order to have more control and freedom over your blog. The downside is that you are also in charge of upkeeping maintenance and holding responsibility if something were to go wrong on your blog/website, for example, data and security issues.
In this article, we’ll be covering some of the most popular hosted and self-hosted blogging platforms and software available in 2021, so that you can make the best decision going forward for your business’ growth strategy.
Hosted Blog Platforms
Perhaps you’re just wanting to experiment with the idea of creating a blog for your business, or maybe you want to create inspiring business-related articles to share on your social media channels, without being too bothered about your SEO ranking.
Whether you’re a small or bigger business, hosted blogging platforms could be a great (and straightforward) starting option for you.
These 3 online platforms below will introduce you into the world of blogging with ease.
- WordPress.com
WordPress has dominated the blogging industry for years. It’s natural to associate WordPress’ brand and name to the term, “blog”. It is definitely the most heard of blogging platform available worldwide – It doesn’t take an industry professional to be familiar with the name.
WordPress offers two varieties on their platform: hosted and self-hosted.
We’ll cover the self-hosted version later in this article (WordPress.org).
WordPress.com, the ‘free hosted’ version, is a great platform for all types of bloggers at various levels of capability. We already know that with a hosted platform, you won’t have to deal with any of the super technical and coding information that goes beyond creating posts and scheduling them for upload – so it’s relatively hassle free.
However, that means that as WordPress.com is hosting your work, they’re able to place their own ads on your blog. To avoid that from happening, you’ll have to pay a fee!
As a side note, you won’t be able to use plugins either, so you might feel restricted when it comes to your blog’s function and design, unless you pay for a business, or premium plan.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Great for beginners-intermediate levels
- Options for businesses (paid)
- Large community of blog writers
- If you want to switch to a self-hosted version later on as your business grows, its beneficial to start with WordPress.com as the transition can be made smooth later on.
Cons:
- Very basic in comparison to WordPress.org
- Limited designs and themes
- Not able to use third-party plugins
- Your blog will only have 3GB of storage, so when you exceed your limit, you’ll have to purchase more
- Extra fees may occur from customisation, plugins and ad preferences.
Overall cost: Free, other optional fees may occur, as mentioned above.
- Squarespace
Squarespace has gained its reputation through its gorgeous visuals and layouts. The platform primarily prioritises images and creative works a like, therefore, it’s the perfect option to show case your eye-catching style, photography and designs incorporated in your business.
Not to mention, the platform is incredibly functional and they provide 24-hour support, 7 day a week, with a super-fast response promise in case you need help– a nice bonus!
However, it seems that Squarespace only has a handful of layout templates available to its users, so ‘knocking your competition out the park’ may feel a little harder if your site is similar to others.
Although, choosing a platform such a Squarespace could benefit your business more than you realise, as a good and appealing website design is crucial for your business’ success.
Pros:
- Visually pleasing designs and layouts available, intern helps with improving your SEO ranking.
- Simple, fast and easy set up
- You can add premium features, such as, email services and ecommerce options to your blog
Cons:
- Design and layout features are limited
- There are no free options available. To use this platform, you’ll have to pay for it.
Overall cost: For business use, prices start from £15 per month.
- Blogger
Blogger, owned by Google, seems to have remained as a relatively well-known blogging platform throughout time since its first appearance in the early 90’s, in the early days of the blogging industry. However, some would argue it is becoming outdated and has easily been overshadowed by its competitors.
Blogger is considered to be beginner friendly, so that you can begin publishing without any major knowledge or experience in blogging. Although it is a well-known platform to those who are familiar with the blogging world, Google have declined the development of the platform as it seems to be slowly decreasing in popularity.
Ultimately, this is a major a red flag to new and current users of the platform, due to the high risk of being a hosted blog platform. If Google decides to shut down Blogger, then any written work could vanish forever.
Pros:
- Easy to monetise with Google AdSense
- Ideal for beginners
Cons:
- Doubtful to remain as a popular platform in years to come
- Outdated and restrictive features and customisation
- Owned by Google, so you’ll need a Gmail account to sign up
- High risk if Google ‘pull the plug’
Overall cost: Free
Self-hosted Blog Tools
There are so many reasons as to why a business might want to opt for a self-hosted software for their blog. From wanting to understand user blog traffic or SEO ranking better, to being able to use more premium tools and features. Self-hosted blogging software can be a great option for any business, that’s if you know what you’re doing.
Here a 4 of some of the most renowned self-hosting software readily available to download for your business in 2021:
- WordPress.org
With WordPress.org being the force behind over 41% of all online websites it’s easy to see why any business would want to choose their software.
Not to be confused with the formerly mentioned, WordPress.com, WordPress.org is a self-hosted blogging software available for download (for free), which means you’ll need a domain name and a web hosting provider, in other words: a unique and searchable website name, as well as a website to hold and present your business’ information, to be able use the WordPress.org software on.
It’s a great platform to incorporate your business’ design, with endless plugin options.
As an example of plugin options, you’re able to add subscribe boxes, pop ups, reader polls and advanced SEO analytic tools such as MonsterInsights, or YoastSEO. Which ultimately will help to improve your websites users experience.
Pros:
- Full control over site
- Multiple plugins available
- Easy to monetise
- Widely compatible with web hosting providers
- SEO-friendly content structure
- Wide community support if you need help
- Compatible with WordPress.com if you choose to move to WordPress.org later on.
Cons:
- Relatively steep learning curve initially
- Full responsibility of website security, data and even coding
- Some optional features and add-ons still cost, regardless of the free software.
Overall price: Free open-source content management system (CMS) software, with paid premium extras.
- Ghost
Ghost is ideal for your business if you want to primarily focus on the blog writing. The platform takes a minimalistic approach to focus specifically on the writers work itself. It is available as hosted service, or a software to download.
The platform was founded in 2013, and has since worked its way up the popularity scale rapidly. That’s because Ghost is powered by a modern technology known as Node.js, so it’s very fast and responsive regardless of heavy data loads. High speed is a great bonus, as you’re likely to find that your SEO rankings and user engagement will improve over time.
Not to mention, third-party applications like Shopify and Mailchimp are easy to integrate – perfect for most business set ups.
Pros:
- Focuses on blog writing, reduces outside distraction
- A cluster free and user-friendly interface
- Speedy platform
- Available as a hosted (Ghost Pro) or self-hosted (Ghost.org) resource
- Two-pane screen, you’re able to see what the site looks like as you’re editing
- Increasing popularity
- Built in SEO features, without needing third-party plugins
Cons:
- Installation and set-up can be complicated
- Limited themes
- Steep learning curve, will have to learn how to work with Markdown
- Full responsibility of website security, data and even coding
Overall price: Free open-source content management system (CMS) software.
- Durpal.org
Durpal is one of the more popular content management systems (CMS) platforms in the world, and is a strong competitor amongst the others listed in this article and beyond.
Durpal is branded as a professional and scalable online publishing platform, rather than just a blogging tool. It offers fully-fledge versioning, content scheduling, with the potential to build elaborate and aesthetically pleasing websites.
Although, like with most self-hosted software, it can be difficult to navigate at first, especially when it comes to making a blog that “looks good”. Which is possibly the biggest disadvantage of using Durpal.org for your self-hosted blogging software.
If you’re tech-savvy, or a super keen experienced blogger ready to learn, you’ll be able to utilise all of the amazing features that Durpal has to offer, hopefully with ease.
Pros:
- SEO-friendly content structure
- Thousands of free plugins and templates available to customise your website
- Great website scalability
- Incredibly secure
Cons:
- Less plugins and extensions compared to WordPress
- Very steep learning curve, unless you have experience in website development
- Not recommended for beginners
- Full responsibility of website security, data and even coding
Overall costs: Free open-source content management system (CMS) software.
- Joomla!
While not as well-known as WordPress.org, it can be argued that Joomla! is on par as they seem to share a lot in common, like wide extendibility and customisation options.
Although with Joomla!, when it comes to its settings, they are a much broader range of settings to work with compared to WordPress. Which unfortunately does mean that the learning curve is a bit steeper initally.
It has been noted that other self-hosted software such as WordPress or Drupal are chosen by people and businesses as they offer more add-ons than Joomla!
On the plus side, Joomla! Is easier to maintain, doesn’t require you to be super tech savvy in order to set up your website, and there are still plenty of options available, so not being able to use extensions won’t necessarily affect your business’ website negatively.
Pros:
- More build-in settings than WordPress
- Website using Joomla! Are usually easier to maintain as the update process is simple
- Not too steep of a learning curve
- Comprehensive learning guides on their website’s help portal.
Cons:
- Other competitors have the upper hand when it comes to variety themes and extensions.
Overall cost: Free open-source content management system (CMS) software.
Our Final Say
At Floodmaker, we’re big fans of WordPress.org as it gives us the freedom to design, create and use various plugins to monitor our SEO rankings. Not to mention, it’s relatively straightforward and possibly the most compatible self-hosted software with web-hosting providers worldwide.
However, it’s vital to make the best decision based on your business’s specific needs and goals. For self-hosted blogging platforms, your choice will likely depend of the different hosting site options available within your budget and what CMS is compatible with your hosting site.
Use this article as a guide to help you narrow down which hosted or self-hosted form of blog is ideal to implement into your business’ growth strategy.
Related Articles
- How to Create a Website for your Business Using WordPress
- Top 10 Blogging Tips for your Small Business
- How Blogging Can Help Your Business Grow
- Using Tumblr to Promote Your Business
There’s nothing harder than setting up your business in the right way, that why at Floodmaker we pride ourselves on being an outstanding content marketing firm, ready to help your business flourish with our services.