by Melissa Gilbert

Created on: March 22, 2009   Last Updated: August 26, 2009

These days, there are different options when it comes to blogging platforms. The first question that you must ask yourself is where do you want it to be at? Are you planning on going with a free site or are you going to have it hosted on your own website? Those are the two questions that you need to ask yourself first.

If you plan on going with a free site, there are at least a few options that you can choose from. You can choose from blogger, wordpress.com and even live journal. In my early days, I had tried live journal. Now, having a free blogging site is a great stepping stone to start on as you really do not want to spend money if you are not really being read. If you happen to have your own website where you had bought your own domain name and webhosting for, then you have the option of having your own blogging platform to use. Here is where you get to decide which platform to use. There is wordpress, typepad, b2evolution, and many more to choose from.

What you do have to decide is what is best for you and what type of readership are you looking for. Are you looking for something that can be expanded with options or are you looking for something totally different. If you are looking for something that you do have control of, having your own website with a blog installed is the way to go but if you want someone else to be in control so that you do not have to worry about the maintenance then I would go with a free site.

It really is a matter of what is best for you and what you can handle. If you do not have much experience running a website, I would advise you to go with one of those free services out there but If you do sign up for one of those services, please make sure that you have read the rules that they have set out for you. You would really hate to lose your blog if you were not playing by their rules. All sites have rules, so it's very important to follow those rules.

If you do have the technological knowledge and know how to install the blog software you definitely have choices on the right platform for you. If you are one of those people whom likes to expand the software a bit, you will want to go with one that has plenty of options to where you can change the themes and add plug-ins or modules to the blog software.

No matter which way you go between free and paid, you have options and the final decision is yours after all. Nobody can tell you which method is the best but yourself. Sometimes you just have to try them all out to find the right one for you.

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