Blog Software

[JNEWFIFTY]

Has anyone ventured out and started their own blog, not affiliated with where you work? I am looking to do this and am soliciting recommendations on blog software.

I've tried tumblr, but find it to be eh. Anyone have any experience?

 

[sgreenwell]

I used Blogger, solely because you can put Google Ads on it and (theoretically) get some revenue that way. I made about $20 in two-ish years, but I wasn't really writing with any sort of purpose or niche in mind.

 

[SeanKennedy]

I would recommend WordPress, especially if you want to get serious about it.

 

[baddecision]

WordPress is a tremendous platform. Can be as simple as you want or as complex as you can imagine. It makes sense, it's modular, it's customizable and there are smart people out there willing to help you through a problem. Start with the free site and if it takes off you can buy your own domain (try asmallorange.com, that's what I use for $20 per year plus $12 for the domain -- search google for their $5 off ad). I don't get a ton of views but I put Google Ads on it and it brings in just about enough to cover costs.

 

[brandonsneed]

I blog for my publishing company through a WordPress platform. I use Squarespace for my personal blog and freelance portfolio. Both are tremendous. I prefer Squarespace, but WordPress is really good. And WordPress can be really inexpensive or even free, if you want. Squarespace costs me about $150 a year, but I'm a Web 2.0 fanboy and like playing around with it. Much more customizable.

 

[FileNotFound]

WordPress. Accept no substitutes.

 

[fishwrapper]

WordPress. Accept no substitutes.

What he said.
Archives that are transferable, ad functionality and industry-accepted.
Also, Wordpress has customizable coding functions for embeds/inlines and accepts raw HTML coding.

 

[JNEWFIFTY]

Thanks all.

 

[BillyT]

Our weekly group uses WordPress for all of our sites.

Personally, I was using it for my beer blog before I got here.

 

[Thomas Goldkamp]

If you're just looking to blog, I'd say WordPress is the way to go because of its simplicity.

If you want to do a little more and try different things, I'd say Joomla! is the way to go. I use Joomla! for my personal site because it allows me to play around with HTML, CSS, PHP, etc. Pretty useful to be fluent in those coding languages, believe it or not.