Choosing The Best Blog Provider

If you want to make money online then the best place to start is with a blog

, but it can be confusing to decide which blog platform is the right one to use. Here are the pros and cons of the two most popular blogging platforms to get you started.

1. Blogger

Blogger is owned by Google and has several advantages:

* It is easy to use and setting up your site is simply a matter of filling out a form and following a few prompts. There is nothing to install so you don't need your own hosting account.

* It's free for you to use and you don't even need to spend money on a domain name as you will be provided with one which is based on the name of your blog.

* Posting is really easy and you can also change the look and feel of your blog by selecting a different theme and colour scheme.

* If you have more than one blog you can access them all through the one blogger dashboard.

If you are wanting to blog to make money then there are some disadvantages to using Blogger:

* Compare to other options there is a lack of flexibility. There are a number of themes available but they all look very similar so it is hard to make your blog look truly unique.

* You get a free domain name when you sign up but it's yourname.blogspot.com rather than yourname.com which doesn't look as professional.

* You might own the content but you never own your blog since it is hosted on Blogger's service. This means that if the Terms of Service ever change and you blog no longer fits the rules it could be shut down without giving you any notice.

2. Wordpress

Wordpress is the other popular platform for blogging. There are two options available, the hosted version at wordpress.com which is actually very similar to the Blogger option. Alternatively, if you are serious about wanting to make money blogging you should consider the free open source version of Wordpress which you host with your own hosting account provider.

Here are the advantages of a self-hosted Wordpress blog:

* You can customise your blog as much or as little as you like. There are hundreds if not thousands of free themes available which will make your blog look like a blog, or a magazine, or a website. There are some great paid options too that don't cost too much money.

* You can increase the functionality by installing any number of free or paid for plugins that will help you make the most of your website. From statistics to Twitter integration and SEO support; whatever functionality you need you will almost certainly find a plugin that can make it happen.

Of course it does have its disadvantages too:

* You will need to buy your own domain name, though these usually cost less than $10 a year.

* You will need somewhere to host your blog, but hosts like Host Gator are very reasonable so it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg to get started.

* It's not quite as user friendly as Blogger but there are plenty of tutorials available online and if you are willing to invest some time learning how to use the system then it will definitely pay off over time.

by: Clare Swindlehurst

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