# best blog platform



## Kevin (May 9, 2011)

OK, I haven't blogged since xanga! And now I want to get into it again in a small way. So my question is what is the "best" platform?

Considerations are ease of use (I'm dumb), cost(I'm poor), appearance(I like shinny things), etc. 

So does anyone of the PB bloggers have a suggestion?

Thanks


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## Notthemama1984 (May 9, 2011)




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## Semper Fidelis (May 9, 2011)

Wordpress. It has incredible community support. It's a fantastic platform for Church websites and/or integrating a blog into the same.


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## O'GodHowGreatThouArt (May 9, 2011)

I'll second Wordpress. I've used others, but Wordpress offers flexibility other platforms cannot provide.


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## seajayrice (May 9, 2011)

Weebly integrates your blog and website, all free. Very easy to use. Have not used Wordpress. Google's Blogspot I did not care for.


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## LeeD (May 9, 2011)

Wordpress is the best and I have used it with dozens of different applications for more than 3 years. It is free and there is plenty of "shiny" things for your taste.


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## LawrenceU (May 9, 2011)

I am in the process of switching my stuff to WordPress. Much better than Blogger.


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## NaphtaliPress (May 9, 2011)

All my sites are Wordpress. Ditto to bright and shiny extras in addons.


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## kodos (May 9, 2011)

Another vote for Wordpress.


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## Guido's Brother (May 9, 2011)

Wordpress.


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## Kevin (May 9, 2011)

thanks all.


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## Osage Bluestem (May 9, 2011)

Semper Fidelis said:


> Wordpress. It has incredible community support. It's a fantastic platform for Church websites and/or integrating a blog into the same.


 
I agree.


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## Andres (May 9, 2011)

I use blogger and I like it. It does everything I need it to do, then again my blog isn't anything fancy. You can view it in the link in my sig. With that being said, if I were starting a new blog today, I would probably go with Wordpress. It seems to have more features than blogger, it's more popular, and it's the same price (free!).


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## rpeters (May 9, 2011)

It all depends what is your target audience and purpose. I hate to say it, but you get what you pay for... If you are poor do not expect a great site.


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## Bill The Baptist (May 9, 2011)

Kevin said:


> Considerations are ease of use (I'm dumb), cost(I'm poor), appearance(I like shinny things), etc.



To quote Jeff Foxworthy, " Rednecks like shiny things. That's why Bass boats come in a glitter finish. Anybody ever seen a yacht in a glitter finish?"


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## Notthemama1984 (May 9, 2011)

Bill The Baptist said:


> To quote Jeff Foxworthy, " Rednecks like shiny things. That's why Bass boats come in a glitter finish. Anybody ever seen a yacht in a glitter finish?"


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## TexanRose (May 9, 2011)

For a *free* blogging platform, I like Blogger/Blogspot. I tried wordpress.com and couldn't get used to it. It wasn't nearly as customizable as Blogger. I couldn't change things like the header colors, column arrangements, etc. and that bugged me. The last straw for me with wordpress.com was when I discovered that I couldn't change fonts without a paid upgrade. No thanks!

But if you're willing to pay for your own hosting, then I hear wordpress.org is the ultimate in blogging platforms. Maybe someday I'll give it a try, but for the time being, I'm quite happy with Blogger.

My blog name is the same as my PB name if you want to take a look.


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## Kevin (May 9, 2011)

Bill The Baptist said:


> Kevin said:
> 
> 
> > Considerations are ease of use (I'm dumb), cost(I'm poor), appearance(I like shinny things), etc.
> ...


 
lol I am just an educated redneck after all.

---------- Post added at 03:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:13 AM ----------




rpeters said:


> It all depends what is your target audience and purpose. I hate to say it, but you get what you pay for... If you are poor do not expect a great site.


 
Do you have a suggestion?

Since I am a Canadian MNA planter I am the red-headed step-child of the PCA. So we we have to make do with the financial reality that we live in. Since I work for 1/2 pay I expect my expenses to also be frugal.


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## VictorBravo (May 10, 2011)

Kevin said:


> Since I am a Canadian MNA planter I am the red-headed step-child of the PCA. So we we have to make do with the financial reality that we live in. Since I work for 1/2 pay I expect my expenses to also be frugal.


 
Kevin, I think the majority is for Wordpress for a reason: Free and very full-featured.

The only thing I'd add is that, if your blog becomes popular, Wordpress does reserve the right to put "discreet ads" on your blog (usually just above the comments section).

The odd thing is that only those not logged in as Wordpress users will see the ads. Even the blog owner doesn't see them unless he logs out, so he can't tell how it looks to the casual reader.


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## Kevin (May 10, 2011)

thanks everyone.


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## greenbaggins (May 11, 2011)

A lot depends on what you want to do, and how tech-savvy you are. If you want to learn how to do html code and all that stuff, blogger is a very adaptable platform, with way more options than Wordpress. However, I have found that blogger is much more difficult to use, and is not as reliable as Wordpress. Be advised that there are two versions of Wordpress. There is wordpress dot com and wordpress dot org. The former has the web hosting off your own computer, which is great if you have a blog that is more travelled. It has fewer options, but more reliability. Wordpress dot org has your computer serve as the host, and has a lot more options for appearance, etc. I use Wordpress dot com for mine, because I don't want my computer tied up being a server. It does everything I want. It is far more intuitive than blogger.


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## Covenant Joel (May 11, 2011)

greenbaggins said:


> A lot depends on what you want to do, and how tech-savvy you are. If you want to learn how to do html code and all that stuff, blogger is a very adaptable platform, with way more options than Wordpress. However, I have found that blogger is much more difficult to use, and is not as reliable as Wordpress. Be advised that there are two versions of Wordpress. There is wordpress dot com and wordpress dot org. The former has the web hosting off your own computer, which is great if you have a blog that is more travelled. It has fewer options, but more reliability. Wordpress dot org has your computer serve as the host, and has a lot more options for appearance, etc. I use Wordpress dot com for mine, because I don't want my computer tied up being a server. It does everything I want. It is far more intuitive than blogger.


 
To clarify, you don't have to use your own computer as a server. WordPress.org is for those who want to host WordPress through another web hosting service. I do this for my blog...or Kevin, if you have a church website, you could use WordPress for the site and have your blog be a part of that. I have my hosting through KnappTech.com, which has WordPress as a free install. But you do have to pay for hosting that way (though you can do a lot more customization), unlike a wordpress.com blog.


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## Kevin (May 11, 2011)

Thanks guys. We do pay for hosting of a church website. The site is in the process of being re-done & I wanted to begin a simple blog about books for ministry & church planting.


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## Semper Fidelis (May 11, 2011)

Kevin said:


> Thanks guys. We do pay for hosting of a church website. The site is in the process of being re-done & I wanted to begin a simple blog about books for ministry & church planting.


 
Kevin,

You ought to be able to install Wordpress on that same hosting account. If you need help please PM me.


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## VictorBravo (May 12, 2011)

Kevin said:


> Thanks guys. We do pay for hosting of a church website. The site is in the process of being re-done & I wanted to begin a simple blog about books for ministry & church planting.


 
In that case, disregard what I said about Wordpress ads. That only applies to Wordpress-hosted blogs.

If you are paying for hosting, you can customize Wordpress templates as much as you want. I'd take Rich up on his offer because it can be fairly technical.


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## fishingpipe (May 12, 2011)

I use blogspot. Mainly because I like to send a lot of pics to my blog directly from my cell phone when traveling for family/friends to see. I do not believe you can do that in wordpress. At least not the last 3-4 times I've checked. If Wordpress had that feature I'd probably switch.


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## Der Pilger (May 13, 2011)

I also heartily recommend Wordpress. Whether you have Wordpress.com host your blog for you or you pay a web hosting service to do that, the interface is easy to use, and they're continually improving it.

One advantage of hosting your blog yourself is that you have access to many more themes. The wordpress.org community has a lot more themes, If I recall correctly, than wordpress.com offers.

If you want to go beyond that and come up with your own themes, I'd also recommend *Artisteer*. It's a program that lets you make excellent, original blog themes for Wordpress, Blogger, and other CMS applications. It's not free, but it is easy to use and powerful. In fact, the theme for my own blog (linked in my sig) was made using Artisteer.


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