Everyone needs a space on the web, either to publicize their personal ideas or to bring their Content Marketing strategy to life. The good news is that there are many free blogging platforms today, and creating your own blog has never been easier.
However, adding the number of users of the main platforms for dissemination and management of current content, it is estimated that there are more than 400 million active blogs worldwide.
Therefore, if you really want your ideas to be read or your company to be found by the public, besides looking at the content, you will need to advertise it in the right place.
We have already shown here how to create a blog, and, in this post, we will talk about the most used free blog platforms, their features, advantages, and disadvantages, and how to choose the best one. Enjoy reading!
- What is the definition of CMS?
- What are the best free platforms for personal blogs?
- What are the best free CMSs for corporate blogs?
- Which platform to choose?
What is the definition of CMS?
The CMS or Content Management System is a software solution used to create, configure, manage, and publish content on the internet in a simplified way, without the need to perform complex web development tasks.
The sites are developed from different programming languages such as HTML, JavaScript, and PHP. What the CMS does, basically, is to read and organize this data in a single and configurable system.
In other words, the entire “complex” part of the development is replaced by an intuitive interface, which makes the page creation process much simpler.
These platforms have gained popularity not only because they facilitate the creation and dissemination of information on the internet, but also because they reduce costs with routine maintenance and, especially, because they give content producers a lot more autonomy.
What are the best free platforms for personal blogs?
If you need a space to spread your ideas, create a portfolio, or generate traffic, these platforms are completely free and very simple to use. Besides that, some already have an established audience, which contributes to the reach and engagement of posts.
1. WordPress.com
WordPress is the best known free platform for creating websites around the world and did not achieve this fame by chance. It offers a wide range of free themes and customization options in addition to presenting a friendly and reliable interface that has fallen in favor of users.
WordPress.com is the blog hosting service on the WordPress platform that does not require installation or contracting additional services. Just create a free account and start building your blog.
Main advantages:
- Various customization options
- Updates and automatic backup
- Allows you to use a custom domain
Main disadvantages:
- Does not accept plugins
- Has a limited database
- Its servers are usually overloaded due to the high volume of users
2. Medium
Medium is a free blogging platform for posting content that is relatively young but growing fast. The proposal of its creators, among them the co-founder of Twitter, Evan Williams, is to create a minimalist environment focused on content.
That means that you will not find many customization options in Medium, but will have other very interesting features, such as the possibility of making markups and comments on specific parts of the text.
Main advantages:
- Clean and intuitive design
- Allows integration with social networks
- Focused on the reading experience and content quality
Main disadvantages:
- Very few customization options
- Public still restricted
- Focused only on more elaborate texts
3. Blogger
Blogger is Google’s free blogging platform and was once considered one of the most beloved tools in the field, but has been losing popularity with the rise of other similar solutions.
Still, Blogger is quite interesting and houses most of the blogs on the planet. It is aimed at informative and personal content and is also a good way to keep in touch with family and friends.
Main advantages:
- Easy to log in and use
- Integrated with Google AdSense
- Many blog layout options
Main disadvantages:
- Does not offer organization in categories
- Few configuration options
- It is not very suitable for commercial activities
4. Tumblr
Tumblr is undoubtedly an unusual platform. Its behavior is similar to that of a social network, with the difference of offering the possibility to post a wide variety of content on your “profile”, from images to entire posts.
Although not very popular like the other platforms we mentioned, it is possible to create an attractive and interesting blog using Tumblr, but the ideal solution is to use it only as a source of traffic and not as your official address on the web.
Main advantages:
- Allows you to use a custom domain
- It is intuitive and allows you to build a relationship with other users
- Leverages shared network traffic to display its content to the entire audience
Main disadvantages:
- Limited customization options
- It takes some time to adapt to the platform
- It is a little polluted by low-quality blogs
5. Textpattern
Textpattern values a clean look that, although simple, leaves nothing to be desired in terms of quality and attractiveness. It’s a platform widely used by designers for portfolio presentation.
The main advantage is its agility. It is a very light system, which ends up being very convenient nowadays when the majority of accesses come from mobile devices.
Main advantages:
- Very light and agile system
- Clean look
- Has good plugin options
Main disadvantages:
- Few customization tools
- Little variety of templates
What are the best free CMSs for corporate blogs?
The following CMSs present a broader set of functionalities and are recommended for professional commercial projects and, mainly, for the management of Inbound Marketing strategies.
A great benefit of this type of software is that they allow the creation of a place really yours on the internet, in which your content will not be subject to the rules and circumstances of other platforms.
6. WordPress.org
Haven’t we already talked about WordPress? Yes, but there are two versions of this platform — WordPress.com, which we discussed in the previous topic, and WordPress.org, the CMS behind almost a third of all sites on the internet.
Because it has a huge community of active collaborators, the software is always undergoing improvements, and its database contains tens of thousands of plugins to build your website, blog, or store the way you want.
Main advantages:
- It has a huge community of users, developers, and experts
- Allows the creation of any type of website — blogs, e-commerce, institutional portals, etc.
- Very favorable for SEO
Main disadvantages:
- Basic technical knowledge is required
- You need a server to host it
- Because it is very popular, it requires greater concern with safety
7. Joomla
Joomla is cited by many users as the main rival of WordPress. The CMS has big clients, such as Harvard University, the German MTV website, and the iTWire technology portal.
Its interface is very friendly and responsive, and it can be used to build different types of websites, from personal blogs to e-commerce and intranet systems.
Benefits:
- Has a community of volunteers and developers
- Varied functions and customization
- Allows the creation of advanced online applications
Disadvantages:
- Rigid section structure (content cannot be part of more than one category)
- Needs external components to make improvements in SEO
- It is not as flexible as other CMSs
8. Drupal
Drupal is a professional CMS widely used in corporate projects. Huge international organizations use it, like Nokia, Sony Music, Tesla, and even NASA!
As you can see, this free blogging platform leaves nothing to be desired in almost any aspect, and its main strengths are the response time and its security mechanisms.
Benefits:
- High-quality resources
- Focused on performance and reliability
- Native modules that integrate marketing and e-commerce tools
Disadvantages:
- Requires technical knowledge to install and perform some functions
- Not very friendly interface for typical users
9. Weebly
Weebly is a very popular platform around the world and surprises with the possibilities it offers. With it, you can create websites, blogs, and even e-commerces, without previous knowledge.
Among its main advantages, there is the “drag and drop” editor, which makes personalizing pages much more practical. Another benefit is the possibility of adding several users with different usage restrictions in the same way as in more complete CMSs, such as Drupal and WordPress.
Main advantages:
- Simple to use and edit
- Several options of templates optimized for search engines
- Different features for websites
Main disadvantages:
- It is not completely free. It will be necessary to hire paid plans to enable some functions
- Displays a Weebly ad at the bottom of the free account
10. Wix
Wix gained popularity due to its extremely flexible website editor. The platform makes building pages a real game to drag, drop, color, and customize the way you want.
Due to its highly intuitive character, Wix attracts lay users looking for the simplest possible solution for creating websites and online stores.
Main advantages:
- Very simple to use and configure
- Very high customization flexibility
- Variety of plugins
Main disadvantages:
- It is not completely free. It will be necessary to hire paid plans to enable some functions
- Displays a Wix ad in the free account
- Has some SEO limitations
Which platform to choose?
If you want to do a leaner advertising job, or just want to add a source of traffic to your main website or online store, the most basic content publishing platforms may be enough.
The most complete CMSs, such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, are recommended for those who want to create a professional environment, with resources to:
- Monetize content
- Publicize content
- Analyze data
- Capture leads
- Several other tools focused on Digital Marketing
All the free blogging platforms that we presented in this article are effective and have countless users around the world publishing images, videos, and articles daily. The choice, however, will depend more on your specific needs and goals.
If you made it this far, it is because you have already realized the importance of creating and publishing relevant content on the internet these days. Now, it’s time to turn your company into a storyteller.
But you can’t do that if your audience struggles to open your page because it’s too slow. Do you know what’s the impact of your blog performance on sales? Check out this free infographic to see how they are related.
