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Choosing the right blogging platform is one of the most important decisions you will have to make in your blogging journey. There are countless articles on the internet by bloggers recommending you the best blogging platform according to them.
While in reality, this is your decision to make. Don’t get me wrong, take their advice; they are speaking from experience, but check if a particular CMS (content management system) meets your demand before launching your site with it.
For instance, if you want to build and establish a blog online, WordPress is a good choice, but Blogger is another famous alternative. Each CMS has its advantages and disadvantages, and you need to know them to choose the right platform.
And in this article, I will share the list of the eight best blogging platforms to make money in 2021 with their pros and cons to help you pick the right one.
Let’s start with a small definition of a blogging platform to help you understand it better.
What Exactly Is A Blogging Platform?
A blogging platform is a collection of tools for creating and maintaining blogs. Typically, it includes software used to create content, an editorial calendar, publishing tools, traffic services, and community tools.
Eight Best Blogging Platforms To Make Money
WordPress:
WordPress is one of the most famous blogging platforms that power up to 42% of the web. It is an open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL that helps you create an outstanding blog/website in a few minutes.
However, WordPress is marketed as two separate products:
WordPress.com: WordPress.com provides a free blogging service and website hosting service that enables users to create blogs with subdomains. It is commonly used by individuals who have no technical experience and want to blog as a hobby.
Pros of WordPress.com:
Free and easy to use
Necessary plugins and themes are already downloaded for free
Cons of WordPress.com:
You can not install any plugins until you upgrade it
Your site and its content belongs to a third party; you don’t obtain the ownership
Free blogs cannot be monetized with ads
Starting Price: 4$ per month
WordPress.org: WordPress.org is a software application that allows users to host and manage websites on their web server or web domain and maintain complete administrative control over the software. It is downloaded by individuals who plan to turn their blog into a career, niche site, or open an e-commerce site.
Pros of WordPress.org:
- Many plugins and themes are available for free
- It is incredibly customizable
- The created site will have SEO advantages
Cons of WordPress.org:
You need to be a little tech-savvy to use it
Requires web hosting, which can be costly
Price: Free
Blogger:
Blogger.com is an online content management system launched back on August 23, 1999. Pyra Labs initially developed it, but in 2003, Google bought this company and became the owner of Blogger.com.
It’s a revolutionary blogging tool designed to help busy people share their thoughts easily with friends, family, and the world. It is incredibly easy to publish and manage a blog on it.
No experience and no technical requirements are needed to start a blog with this popular blogging platform. Just sign up with your Google account, select a sub-domain name, choose a theme, write a blog post and click publish to make your blog go live.
Pros of Blogger.com:
Free and easy to use
A blog can be created in a few minutes
No coding required
A blog will come with 5GB of storage space
Cons of Blogger.com:
Since it is free, you don’t own your content
You will get a sub-domain which means it’s hard for visitors to trust your site
It is not as customizable as WordPress
Pricing: Free
Squarespace:
Squarespace.com is a website-building, blogging platform, and hosting service started in January 2004 by Anthony Casalena. This fantastic company is specially designed for individuals who have no experience with coding.
With Squarespace, users can create a professional website with an easy drag and drop interface. Additionally, Squarespace provides its users with all the tools to manage their site, such as complete e-commerce solutions, search engine optimization (SEO), email campaigns, etc.
To get started with Squarespace, all you need to do is choose a template, start your free trial, and choose a free domain.
Pros of Sqaurespace.com:
The user interface is clean and simple
Beautiful and creative templates
It is safe to use
Has a good selection of features
Cons of Sqaurespace.com:
- Pricing can be too much
- Limited templates
- Support is by email only
Personal Package Price: 12$ per month
Medium:
Medium.com is an online publishing platform developed by Evan Williams. It is a free platform open to all individuals with or without experience. On Medium, writers can publish stories, thoughts, and long-form articles on any topic.
Some people use this platform as a way to share their work with an audience. Others use it as an opportunity to make money. Yes, Medium offers a partner program where authors can get paid for their post views.
It is worth giving this publishing platform a shot because the top author earned 49,705.40$ in September 2020.
Pros Of Medium.com:
Easy to use
You get to put your work in front of 100 million readers
Pays for articles for views
It’s free to create a blog on it
Cons Of Medium.com:
Followers must become members to access your articles on an unlimited basis
100 followers is a requirement to apply for a partner program
No membership is required to write articles on it.
Weebly:
Weebly.com is a hosting service and a website creation tool that started in 2007. This company offers modern, drag-and-drop site-building capabilities without sacrificing the simplicity or security of a classic website.
With Weebly, you don’t have to know anything about HTML, CSS, Javascript, or PHP in just a few minutes; you be able to build a professional, mobile-optimized business site. It also comes with an advanced analytics tool to help you keep track of your website.
For entrepreneurs, Weebly is the best option because it provides special assistance to them by simplifying shipping, taxes, and inventory management.
In May 2018, Weebly was acquired by Squarespace.
Pros of Weebly.com:
Easy drag and drop option
Offers a wide range of prices
With the pro version, you get 100$ Google Ads credit
Phone support is available for the pro version
Cons of Weebly.com:
Have limited customization options
Pricing can be expensive for small businesses
Limited advance features like SEO, plugins
Price range: 5$ per month when paid annually
HubPages:
HubPages is an online publishing platform launched back in 2006. Like Medium on HubPages, individuals can share thoughts, expertise, articles, or explore and increase their knowledge by reading other authors’ content.
HubPages provides tools and resources to writers to help them write articles easily, build and discover an audience, generate revenue, and earn awards. It is an excellent choice for beginners to get more exposure because it receives more than 35,000,000 views on its networks sites.
In 2014, HubPages was acquired by The Mavin, Inc.
Pros Of HubPages:
Offers tutorial to get started
A great way for the search engine to find your articles
Can earn money with ads displayed on your HubPages
Cons of HubPages:
- Hubpages will take its shares from your ad revenues
- Only support Paypal as a payment method
- Not a place to earn passive income
Pricing: No payment required to get started
Jamoola:
Jamoola is a free open source CMS (content management system) launched back in 2005. Over the years, this company has won several awards for its great performance, such as the best open source CMS award, best free CMS award, etc.
Built on the model-view-controller framework, it allows for the development of powerful web applications. It can be used to create an e-commerce store, personal homepages, extensions, web applications. The possibilities with Jamoola are endless.
Jamoola is not so well known as the other content management systems, but it has many powerful tools to help you build a professional website.
Pros of Jamoola:
It is a free, forever open source software
Provides powerful tools for website creation
Cons of Jamoola:
It is based on PHP and MYSQL, so a little tech work is required
It takes time to get used to its features
Starting Price: 99$ per user but does offer a free version
Ghost.org:
Ghost.org is an open-source blogging platform that started back in April 2013. Its goal is to shape the future of online media by developing the best open source tools for journalists and writers worldwide.
Ghost has all the features and tools you need in order to build a successful website, such as registration forms, paying support, XML sitemaps, Google AMP pages, optimized URL, and more. And best of all, these tools are built-in, which means you don’t need to install any plugins.
Basically, Ghost.org is an alternative to WordPress but with a little twist of its own.
Pros of Ghost.org:
No plugins installation required
Provides managed hosting from 9$
Migration from WordPress to Ghost.org is free
Cons of Ghost.org:
It can be a bit hard to set a self-hosted website on it
You need to be a little tech-savvy to get the most out of it
Pricing: The starting price is 9$ per month
Conclusion
So, we finally reached the end of this post. In this article, I discussed some of the best blogging platforms for making money in 2021 and their advantages and disadvantages.
One thing is, no matter what content management system you choose, make sure you go for a self-hosted blog instead of a free one because of a lack of opportunities. And as for the hosting, I recommend Dream Host because of its amazing benefits.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any questions or suggestions, please comment down below!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which blogging platform is best for making money?
WordPress.org is the best blogging platform to make money because of its outstanding features. WordPress.org allows you to display ads, add affiliate links, write sponsorship posts, and more.
Q: How do beginner bloggers make money?
There are many methods beginner bloggers use to make money, such as publishing ebooks, selling courses, freelancing, writing sponsorship posts, product reviewing, etc. You can read this article to learn more about “How To Make Money Blogging As A Beginner.”
Q: Is it realistic to make money blogging?
Yes, in 2021, it is possible to make money blogging. In fact, many bloggers have earned thousands of dollars per month by just writing informative content. Read this article, 9 Types Of Blogs That Make Money (With Examples), to find out income reports of a few bloggers.
Q: Which one is better WordPress or Blogger?
From my personal experience, WordPress.com is better than Blogger.com because of its great customization and plugins options. I have used WordPress.com for more than a year and have never experienced any technical issues. My only problem was that I couldn’t monetize my blog with ads.
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