It is an excellent way of establishing yourself as a brand. It can also be a great source of passive income.
However, running a successful blog is more complicated than you would think. As reported by the State of Inbound, generating traffic isone of the biggest challenges that brands face.
It requires more than just skills.Over ten million blogs are published each day; out of which only a few thousand are read.
To cut through the noise, you must consistently put up high-quality content that adds value to readers’ lives. Only then will your content reach your target audience and help propel you to success.
Finding the right platform to blog on is as important as the content you put up.
The best way to find the right platform for you is to define your purpose.
Ask yourself, “Why do I want to blog?”
- To establish credibility?
- To demonstrate authority over specific subject matters?
- To make a passive source of income?
- To journal and share my thoughts?
Although a single blog can do a little of all these things, you must define what your primary objective is.
You’ll know when you have found the right platform. You will find it easy to use, and it will enable you to realize your blogging goals, regardlessif you’re looking to monetize your content or are just looking for exposure.
Finding the right platform involves a lot of trial and error. Luckily, you can try out most platforms free of cost.
How to Start a Blog for Free
The development of blogging platforms made blogging much more comfortable than it was back in the day. You no longer need to learn to code and build your website to blog.
It is as simple as signing up, setting up, and putting up content.
To give you a head start, here are the ten best free blogging platforms you can choose from.
#1 Tumblr
Image: Tumblr.png
Tumblr is a unique blogging platform that allows you to switch content formats any time you like, without confusing your followers.
It is very versatile as a platform, and there are no bounds to your creative outlet.
You can put up polished articles and posts, or switch it up and decide to put content in the form of quotes and images. You can also put up audio content—be it ramblings, podcasts, or music and even put up videos.
It currently hosts over480 million blogs.
Nonetheless, short-form content proves to be the most effective on this platform. You can host your blog, sure, but putting up a preview of your blog in the form of a quote or an image is a great idea.
The best part?
Posting all forms of content is entirely free. However, if you wish to change the way your blog looks, you must pay for premium themes.
#2 Joomla
Image: Joomla.png
Joomla is one of the pioneering content management systems that supplies users with a lot of design flexibility.
It was launched in 2005 and currently hosts over2 million websites.
Joomla has a dedicated extension library called the Joomla Extension Directory. There are a lot of both free and paid extensions here that you can install to customize the way your site looks and operates.
These extensions make design possibilities a lot less restricted than many other platforms, and all that free of cost. It allows you to personalize your blog without spending a single penny.
Additionally, Joomla allows you to edit your website design using Bootstrap, a drag-and-drop website editor.
You can also render your HTML files if you have a knack for coding.
Joomla is a self-hosted software, which means you need to have your own domain name and web hosting if you want to use it.
Although Joomla has a comparatively smaller community, it is continually supported and supplies an easy, glitch-free website-building experience.