Any person who has the skill to write or just a mere wish to become one can now create a blog online. From being user-friendly to being accessible by every person, whether having little or heavy technical expertise, there is a plethora of blog software.
For others, it’s a daily project: life experiences are blogged, friends and family are paid tribute to, and many other topics of interest are discussed. Blogs can be pressed into service for everything from expressing political views to selling products or giving research information, such as teaching somebody something. Whatever one’s interest may be, there is probably a blog available for it.
Musicians, politicians, sports figures, novelists, and news personalities have all become bloggers. Such wide interest in blogging has spawned controversy since the free spirit of blogging can sometimes end up with controversial material. While you can blog on any topic you want to, you need to be responsible and never write anything that could be construed as contentious.
Why Blog?
Personal Connection: Blogs may act as a daily planner and a way of updating personal life to friends and family. They even act as a center for publishing personal views and opinions on matters of interest.
Topic Interest: Most of the blogs are topical, meaning they focus on specific subjects such as technology or politics. All these blogs usually take form in magazines, focusing on readers with particular interests.
Marketing: This is whereby businesses also use blogs as a way of communication. Good quality blogs will improve one’s business communication, create awareness on any product or services, and update the employees with the happenings within the company.
Why Use Pre-Built Software?
This may make many web designers and developers skeptical about using pre-written blog software; rather, they would build it from scratch. Most blogging software, however, has been developed based on countless research and testing, and many have a set of features that are really tedious to remake. For most users, the aim is to get the content up and not spending time developing software. For such, the pre-built ones come in handy.
Hosted Services
For beginners who do not have web hosting, there are hosted blogging services that make it very easy to get started. These services handle the technical side of things. This means that all of the technical aspects of the host will be dealt with by these services, and the only thing that a user has to be concerned with is the actual content and design. Currently, all but TypePad, are free. It has a very nominal monthly charge.
Self-Hosted Solutions
If you already have web hosting or are willing to pay for it, using a self-hosted blogging platform, like Movable Type, Textpattern, and WordPress, can grant much more control and flexibility. Many hosts have easy installation options from the control panel. Most self-hosted solutions are free; though some of them make a charge depending on what features and support you would like to require.
Whether you go with a hosted service or a self-hosted platform, there are many kinds of blog software which will accommodate your needs to the fullest and fulfill all your goals regarding blogging.
