I am looking at starting my blog and well i did a search on the internet and OMG there is millions of options, i have no idea which to use. Who do you all use?

Well I'm sure you find different answers for a variety of everyone on this forum, but many of use the Self Hosted version of WordPress. That's my preference and after a bit of a learning curve you'll find you can do a great amount of stuff with it and that it gives you an amazing amount of flexibility for building your whole site it you want that. But it works amazingly well as a blogging platform and the best part of it is it's free (if you use the Self-hosted version and it's the way I recommend simply for the SEO factor).

WordPress also gives you an vast amount of options for themes (the look), amazing support (since it's open sourced) as well as flexibility and customization options.

WordPress, WordPress, WordPress and ......oh yeah WordPress! LOL.....1

Hmmm...might think I'm a fan! LOL!

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Renee Shupe, Become a Techie Virtual Assistant
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^^^^^ Ditto!^^^^^^

No really, Wordpress is your best option(my opinion). You'll need to buy hosting and a domain but that will only set you back about $80 for the year.

~C

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~Christina|BD Mag|VOSTeam

I rarely find anyone suggesting anything other than WordPress anymore - and it makes sense too because it is just so easy to work with, full-featured, and flexible.

There are a few other blogging platforms that take a close second, but with all the time and energy that goes into making WordPress better and the countless widgets and plugins you can use to enhance a WP blog or site, it's a solid choice.

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Agree- WordPress and I have used this already myself.

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I recommend Wordpress as well, and I think it is best to host it yourself. Wordpress.org lacks certain functions and I think you cut yourself short--it's definitely worth the small price. Plus you'll want your own domain name so why not host it yourself?

I also recommend that you buy one of the premium themes (like Woo, Studiopress, Thesis, etc.) The themes are not expensive and they add a lot of functionality. They usually have great forums for support.

So when you combine Wordpress, a good theme and just a few basic plug-ins, you have a great blog.

Hope this helps,

Julia

Wordpress, it's what I use and I love it

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I guess I'll be the one "other" voice today.

I know there are a thousand features and plug-ins Wordpress offers that others don't, but for me, using Wordpress was like trying to operate a right-handed can opener with my left foot. I tried, I really did, for six weeks and never got past an ugly, basic page. The Codex (like a user's manual) is organized in some way that I don't understand, either. The Wordpress community even tried to set me straight--very open, helpful folks--but alas, my lightbulb never came on. I guess I just don't have the Wordpress gene!

So, since I already had a personal blog on Blogger, I made a prof. one there, too. Hallelujah! I got the basics set up in 20 minutes flat, then spent another hour or two tweaking until I got the layout to look enough like my own site to satisfy me. Other than paying a coder a few small bucks to make a change I didn't know how to on my server (to make the blog URL display as a subdomain of my domain, which Blogger allows and even invites you to do), I've been able to do everything I needed with my Blogger blog on my own, quickly, and the way I want it done.

You'll find many comparison articles that say Blogger is bad because X, Y, and Z. Be aware that some of the reasons people cite are not entirely accurate, or they used to be true but no longer are. For example, by default a Blogger page displays a bar on top that lets a user click away from your blog to see a different random one. I agree it wouldn't be good for a business blog to invite people to browse elsewhere. However, removing that bar from your layout is not hard (I did it without any trouble, and I'm not all that tech-savvy), and it is NOT against Terms of Use to do so. That's just one example of a not-quite-accurate argument.

The primary argument against Blogger that IS true is that it's not hosted on your own server, so you don't have complete control. However, I can honestly say that bothers me not at all. I don't see Blogger (it's Google, after all) going belly-up anytime soon, so I think it's pretty safe on their much-backed-up, large capacity servers.

Long story short: Wordpress = good, if you "get it"; Blogger = good also!

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AnnaLisa Michalski, Sunny Words Writing Services

I prefer self hosting and no doubt Wordpress.org is the best blogging platform. However, I have tried Blogger to for one of my blogs as well and it works fine. Generally Wordpress.org is suitable for all blogging needs.

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Writing Consultation | creative writing, customer support, website maintenance

I've heard good things about Blogger. Although I don't have a blog yet, I'm bouncing between Blogger and having it though my hosting site since it's included in what I pay each year for domain name and website (which isn't much). Since I'll never be a major blogger I don't plan on looking into Wordpress.

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Pam Deyerle - Transcriptionist in the Richmond, Virginia area
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