It seems that today everything is about how to make money by blogging. There are tons of articles, videos explaining the benefits of having your own website with your domain. While I’m a fan of having your own online territory, I also believe that there are cases when it’s completely unnecessary. How to start a blog fast and totally free? Why you should do that? I’ll explain.
Is it Worth Paying for a Blog?
Even if you are absolutely new to blogging, I’m sure you’ve met the term ‘self-hosted blog‘. It means that you buy a domain name and pay a third party to host your blog or website. It’s the best solution when you are a professional blogger or blog for business. But what if you are not one of them? There are cases when it’s unnecessary to pay for a blog:
- You are just exploring blogging. You are not even sure if it’s your thing.
- It’s just a hobby, you only write for the joy of writing.
- You have a blog only to be in touch with your friends and/or family.
- You would like to try a topic to see how attractive it is amongst readers. Or you want to test yourself if you can really write about this topic for a long time.
How to Start a Blog for Free
In this blog post, I already explained what to think about before you start blogging. The most important thing about blogging is that you start doing it. It won’t be perfect, you will make mistakes but this is part of the game. So, if you take a piece of advice from me, don’t think about it too much. Just start a blog if you want one.
- Pick a blog topic.
- Choose a free blogging site.
- Choose a name for your blog.
- Pick a nickname if you don’t want to use your real name.
- Start writing!
The Best Free Sites to Start a Blog
The most important thing is before you start a blog on a free platform: check if you can export (download) your blog. You need this function if you decide to move to a self-hosted blog. Or if you want to try another free platform. It’s extremely important. If you can’t export your blog it means that you are stuck there forever, no matter what. And you don’t want to do that.
WordPress.com
This is the free version of WordPress. Compared to the paid version your options are limited when it comes to customization. But it’s still good enough for personal use. It’s easy to set up and easy to handle. I’m a big fan of WordPress, so this is what I recommend for you.
Blogger
Blogger is one of the oldest free websites. Till a couple of years ago, it was one of the most popular free sites amongst hobby bloggers. What makes it likable is, that it’s easy to set up and use, it offers a bunch of themes to choose from. Even you can run Google advertisements on it to make a little money on the side. It’s designed in a way that focuses on the written text and not on the fancy design elements.
Tumblr
Unlike the other two platforms above, Tumblr is designed for sharing multimedia or social-media-like content. The interface of Tumblr is more playful and is easy to get started with – you can simply sign up and then you’re allowed to start posting.
It’s not a classic blogging platform but it can be a great place to blog if you are in business life and you want to get exposure. It’s super easy to use. And you already have a pre-existing audience. Another wonderful thing about LinkedIn is that statistics show that it has highly focused users. Not only professionals and business owners but many businesses use LinkedIn. They are not there just for the sake of it. LinkedIn is a great marketing channel.
Ready to Launch a Free Blog?
There are more free platforms for blogging. You can also use Instagram or Facebook for that purpose. In this article, I tried to focus on the more traditional blogging sites. What do you think? Will you give it a try? Which one do you like the most? Do you have other favorite sites I didn’t mention? Leave me a comment! I am curious to hear about your experience.