Setting Up a Blog: Part 4 - Choosing Your Blogging Platform (Blogger, Wordpress, Movable Type)
There are many platforms available to power up your blog. They are free versions (like Blogger.com), and paid ones (like Movable Type). They are also those that will host if for you - but we already discussed that you should use your own domain name - and those that you can publish/install onto your own server.Here are my takes on three of the blogging platforms that I have used before - Blogger, Wordpress, and Movable Type.
Blogger.com offers perhaps the simplest platform for you to get started. The interface is very easy to use. Granted, in recent months there are many new features being included - such as label for posts - but there are all good news.
Personally I think Blogger.com offers you the most flexibility when it comes to customising your template. There are tonnes of free Blogger templates on the web ready to be used. In fact, Blogger is so easy to use that it has become a platform of choice for many beginner bloggers.
Blogger.com also offers you free blog hosting under their own domain name, such as yourblogname.blogspot.com. Some of the money making blogs that I saw are taking advantage of this service.
Blogger.com allows you to publish your blog onto your own server, via FTP. I see a few advantages using this method:
1. You still can make use of Blogger.com’s simple functions
2. Your posts are saved on Blogger.com server. If anything happen to your web host, your posts are saved, at least
More info on this FTP publishing method can be found here. I used Blogger.com exclusively when I got started with blogging, and one of the grievances that I had was that it does not allow me to categorise postings. With the post label function, blogger can do that now.
But ever since I discovered WordPress, I have not looked back to Blogger anymore.
WordPress is simple the most powerful publishing platform that I had the fortune to come across. Yes, at first it was a little difficult to navigate through it’s many advanced functions, but after you get the hang of it, you will never look to other platforms.
I can think of many advantages of WordPress:
1) You can write both posts and pages on WordPress. At times, you will want to create standalone pages for “timeless” information, such as the “about” page, the “contact information” page, the “advertise” page
2) You can easily enhance your blog with many, many different WordPress plugins. Plugins are special scripts developed by third party that you can install onto your own WordPress blog. On this blog, you can see the “Top Commentators” - that’s a plugin. If you leave a comment, you can subscribe to updates to your comment thread via email - that’s a plugin, too. You can’t see this - but on the back end, I am using the Askimet plugin to control spam comments, so that I do not have to spend half my day moderating and deleting spam comments
3) You can edit and change your template rather easily. WordPress’ powerful templating engine allows you to upload different themes into your blog, and changing between themes is a mere click away. With the right plugin, you can also allow your visitors to switch between themes for a more personalised experience.
I can go on, and on, but you can already see I am a big WordPress fan. And I am not alone - professional bloggers like Darren Rowse and Yaro Starak swear by WordPress as well.
If you are using the web hosts I have recommended, your hosting package will come Fantastico, which is a powerful script installation engine that you can easily manage via cPanel - where you control everything about your web hosting. Using Fantastico, you can install a WordPress blog by just three clicks. I won’t go into the technical details here, but drop me a comment if you found youself stuck installing WordPress on your Fantastico.
I left Movable Type to the very last for various reasons. First off, I must say that MT is the most advanced blog engine you can find. My problem with MT is that it is way too advanced for beginner bloggers. Even for advanced bloggers like yours truly are flabbergasted with all the technicalities in using the platform. I recently discovered that MT has a free version, but back then when I tried it out, I have to pay for my MT. With the free MT, I have limited functionalities.
When you can have a fully-controlled and user-friendly platform like WordPress, why go through the hassle, right?
So there you go, my recommendation in choosing your blogging platform. Obviously, I am highly recommending WordPress for your new blog. It will definitely set you up to a great start.
Now, get blogging!
(Razlan’s Note: It has been some time since I last updated the blog. Sorry if you have been waiting for updates. Much stuff has happened recently in my personal life, so the little hiatus was a little inevitable. But I am back! Thanks for the patience 
)
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