The popular blog platforms in 2024
If you want a quick response, I particularly recommend Kleap, it's not the most popular blogging platform but it will soon be the case.
Before we get to the heart of the matter, I would still prefer to talk to you about two possibilities.
The first optionconsists of creating a website and a blog. Building your own website and maintaining a blog on it (the good old method). To do this, you will need to use a blogging platform like Kleap or do everything yourself with WordPress. This requires more work at the beginning, but you will be the owner, the master of your site and digital presence.
The other option Using a blog platform like Medium, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. Even if some of these platforms are not technically specialized for blogging, you can still harness their potential by using them as blogs. It is much easier to reach millions of people and it takes less than 15 minutes to set up. The downside is that you will be accountable to their platform, their rules, and their algorithms.
In this guide, I will analyze these two ways of setting up your blog and help you choose among all these popular blogging platforms, the one that best suits your digital expectations.
Content creator for 8 years, I have written thousands of words, tested all digital platforms extensively, and I will tell you everything, for better or for worse.
How to choose among all these blogging platforms?
To guide you in the right direction, I need to ask you two questions: one about money, the other about your blog niche.
Why do you want to create a blog? For fun or for money?
What theme are you working on? And therefore, who are you targeting?
Let's talk about it little by little.
1. Are you planning to make money by blogging?
Almost all bloggers create their website with this goal in mind (at least, initially). Unfortunately, it is not always easy. By encountering various kinds of problems, some of them give up before even seeing any results.
To avoid this, I recommend a very simple solution: choose Kleap. It is an online platform that offers a whole range of features (including the ability to create a blog) for Make money with your blog.
The most important thing is that Kleap is one of the easiest platforms to use (I have prepared a quick tutorial for you earlier)..
Free version
The easiest editor on the market
Many payment systems
Over 200 website templates
All-in-one tool
And what if you create a website without thinking about making money with it? You can still use Kleap, it's your choice. You are still free to use other platforms (we will come back to this later, be patient)TimeAs an expert SEO, I will translate this website content into English.
Which one is the best?
To ensure that you are making the right choice, base it on the desired outcome. This leads us to the next question.
2. What will your blog look like and who will be your audience?
The continuation of the story mainly depends on your target audience. Here are some situations to enlighten you:
You are in the professional environment. Your main goal is to generate leads. LinkedIn is the best platform for blogging in this case.
You are creative and love to imagine. Instagram is the best place for you, because most of your targets are there.
You simply want to write on a classic blog. Medium is made for you.
You target all kinds of people. Facebook is probably best, as it is the most popular and most widely used blog of all.
Compared to creating a blog on a website, is using a specialized platform on social media better?
I understand your concern perfectly. In fact, I'm not saying that social networks are better. What I mean is that if your target audience is already there, there is no reason to be hesitant. Especially since they are freeMoney face emoji
Creating a blog on a specialized platform would be a waste of time if your target audience is already elsewhere. Let's take an example. Designers, photographers, and artists have no reason to create their blog on specialized platforms.
Instagram and Pinterest are more than enough for them! Over time, you can always create your own blog alongside. But on which platform this time? To answer this, let's do a thorough analysis...
What are the best platforms for creating a blog in 2021? In-depth analysis
For this part, I have chosen to highlight the most popular and efficient platforms that I know. This way, we will not waste much time studying something that would later be useless to us.
Kleap - Best platform for create blogs
How can you claim that Kleap is the best when it is brand new?
Well done!Sorry, but the text "😉" does not have a specific meaning or content that can be translated into English. It is simply a symbol or emoticon And yet, I guarantee what I say 100%! It was only created in 2020, but I was fortunate to be one of the first to test it. Its other users were also quickly won over by their concept. Most of them are professionals who are launching their business and have been incredibly successful.
I recommend you to visit their page: Kleap.co. It describes Kleap as the all-in-one tool for building your business. This description is very sincere, as Kleap indeed supports professionals in all aspects of their business: creating a blog, sending email campaigns, monetization, and much more.
Advantages and disadvantages of creating a blog with Kleap
Kleap is free! Isn't that reason enough to give it a try? Anyway, whenever I have nothing to lose, I never hesitate to try. You should do the same.
As I just explained, Kleap is an all-in-one tool. Creating a blog on Kleap is just one option among many others. I'm not going to describe everything to you (I can't do it, it would be too long), but here's an idea that might interest many of you: Kleap allows you to sell online!
Other than that, I'll let you discover the surprises yourselfThe text: 😉. Translated text: The text: 😉
The only downside is that at a certain stage, you would have to pay for Kleap's services. The prices offered are higher than for Wix, but it is definitely worth it! In terms of features, the price is really affordable.
"At a certain stage?"
Yes, I did say that. And the threshold I am talking about here concerns the number of your contacts. Once you exceed 1000 contacts in Kleap and you want to have your own domain name, you need the paid plan.
How to create a website on Kleap?
You won't find many tutorials on how to create a website on Kleap on the internet yet, which is normal given its age. So I thought it would be a good idea to share with you a small guide
Visit the website: Kleap.co
Next, sign upSmiling face emoji It doesn't take too much time, just enter a few pieces of information and you're good to go! One final verification via email
Once you have your login, just log in. You will be redirected to the dashboard.
In the left sidebar, there are different tabs. What interests us is the second one: website.
From there, you can modify and configure your site according to what you want.
Wix - The most well-known blogging platform
I like Wix because it is unique. If you want to choose the simplest solution, it's Wix. I myself was hesitant about Wix for a long time because the SEO was not good. But the engineers have worked hard and it is now equivalent to WordPress.
To be honest, it is a competitor of WordPress and what sets it apart is the ease of use.
The templates are very intuitive and you can customize them using a very easy-to-use visual editor.
There are even analysis options and integrated SEO options. If you truly want to increase your SEO, you should not only rely on these SEO options. There are more options availableDedicated SEO Tools.
Adding other basic features to the blog is easy: social tools, comments, hashtags, categories, and subscription forms.
All the SEO features you need are also easy to use: alt tags for your images, internal links, SEO titles and descriptions (which are different from your post title), and nofollow tags for external links.
Wix blogs also have a feature for automatic email subscriptions and a social media bar under each article (sharing on Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
How to create a blog on Wix?
To create a blog on Wix, you must log in to your account and choose a template. There is a category of blog templates, which is an excellent starting point.
Once you have chosen your template, I suggest updating the font, colors, and logo to customize your template and help it stand out from the others.
To write an article on Wix, simply click on "Create an article", write and add images.
14 days free trial
Drag and drop option
Integrated Payment Processing
Over 500 e-commerce templates
Of course, I see some of you coming with the thought: "You promote Wix but you don't use Wix for your own Blog"..
Indeed, this blog is not on Wix. Because, I am a developer by trade and that is the same reason I do not use Apple. 🙂 I want to have 100% control over everything I use. So whenever I have the choice, I use Open Source solutions where the code is completely customizable.
If I wasn't so stubborn about Open Source, I wouldn't bother with WordPress anymore and I would without hesitation choose Wix.
WordPress - The best blogging platform for flexibility
WordPress is by far the most flexible option. Whatever you expect from your blog, you can do it with WordPress. It is Open Source, meaning that the code is open and you can modify it as you wish. Developers, your choice is made.
To create your own websiteI'm sorry, but the text provided is too short for me to provide an accurate translation. Please provide more context or additional content for translationyou mustBuy a domain nameI'm sorry, but the text provided is too short for me to provide an accurate translation. Please provide more context or additional content for translationget web hosting and create your WordPress website. You will find more information in our article on the best web hosting.
You will need to spend time setting up your site, which means choosing a theme, configuring it, adjusting your WordPress settings, adding WordPress plugins for SEO, making sure all your content is uploaded. For beginner bloggers, this can be overwhelming...
This is the compromise with WordPress. It will do everything you want, but it takes more time to learn (much more than Wix)
Advantages and disadvantages of blogging with WordPress
The main reason for using WordPress is its total flexibility. No matter what you want to build or the size of the blog, WordPress is one of the best blog platforms to handle it.
There are millions ofplugins that offer you all kinds of features Additional. And if you really want to, you can start modifying the code yourself. WordPress is open-source, which means you can do whatever you want with it. If you know PHP, you're in luck! However, you may also consider hiring a developer
But such flexibility comes with a lot of learning. You will need to learn WordPress, plugins, your theme, and how to write blog articles effectively. I understand that there are a lot of requirements (for a first website), but it is worth it!
If you simply want to start a blog in order to be able to blog immediately, WordPress will not be the easiest option..
WordPress is a long-term solution.
Medium - Best traditional blog site
Wow, what does traditional mean?
By traditional, I mean sharing. Do you want to write content without a monetary or promotional purpose, but more for sharing? Then Medium is for you.
It is difficult to determine the number of users that Medium has. This platform was founded by the co-founder of Twitter and former CEO Evan Williams, in response to the limitations encountered on Twitter.
In 2017, Medium had 60 million unique visitors. From my personal experience, I know that when I read on Medium, I do so with curiosity and intention. I am willing to dedicate time to reading, and the displayed reading times for each article encourage me to engage a little more, to stick with it.
So, if you post interesting and well-developed content, you will quickly gain readers.
Posting an article on Medium is super simple. There is a clean and very simple WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. Basically, you will already see what the article will look like once published. Unlike other top blogging platforms, Medium's interface is simple.
But don't stop at opening a Medium account. The more you publish there, the more you can add other writers and editors to your blog. More importantly, it gives you many more options to control and modify your blog's homepage.
Look below at the difference between this Medium profile (top image below) and the REI Medium profile (bottom image below)...
Above, you will only get the feed of your posts.
Below, the magazine-style layout will be accessible.
One is a simple chronological feed while the other is a page designed with useful menu options. With a Medium profile like REI's, you also unlock the ability to send a newsletter to your subscribers.
Expert tips on Medium for bloggers who are getting started
The use of the import function is very important for SEO.
To start a bulleted list, simply type an asterisk or a hyphen (followed by a space).
There are two types of citations. Use a block quote by clicking once on the quote icon. Click again for a pull quote.
Capital letters add a bit of editorial weight. To enlarge the first letter of your paragraph and give it the desired appearance, select the letter in question, and the option will appear.
Use TK to leave notes for yourself. It's an old journalism trick. If you write something that needs space, use CT and the editor will alert you if you try to publish with a space still in place.
Advantages and disadvantages of a blog on Medium
Medium is the best traditional blogging platform. It is where the majority of readers looking to read classic blog articles are currently located.
The downside lies in the choice of creating your own blog or creating one and setting it up on a platform - you will not own the traffic and you will not be able to do things like sell advertising placements, for example.
You don't have to choose between these two best blogging platforms: WordPress vs Medium. Even if you have a WordPress site, you can republish your articles on Medium. The question that will then arise is: will Google penalize you? No, if the articles areimportedAnd not copy paste. Anyway, I prefer to consider these two platforms as two very different sites. Therefore, for each distribution channel, unique content.
LinkedIn - Best blogging platform for businesses
LinkedIn brings together over 590 million users. Many of them are active: about 44%. LinkedIn was originally a platform for hosting resumes.
It could be considered as a dating app for professionals (job searches in particular). You come here if you are looking for employees, or if you are looking for work. Nothing more. However, lately, the situation has radically changed.
If you create a company blog, the premium audience on LinkedIn is as follows:
45% of LinkedIn article readers hold high-level positions (directors, vice presidents, managers...)
In an article for Forbes titled: "Is LinkedIn poised to become the next big social network ... for brands?", Ryan Holmes highlighted the strengths of the platform: "LinkedIn users know that there is a certain level of professionalism on the network. It is precisely this mindset that makes LinkedIn very lively."
In short, LinkedIn offers a kind of stability, civility, and real value that some social platforms greatly need. I totally agree. The platform has a ready-made culture that a business blogger would dream of having
LinkedIn is a social network. The larger your network, the more influence you have. The more messages you post, the more connection requests and followers you attract. This is what sets LinkedIn apart from the other top blogging platforms I mentioned earlier.
By writing regularly, not only do you expand your network, but you also strengthen your image within the network, that is, the extent of your knowledge in your favorite subjects (the category in which your company operates).
Regularly posting on LinkedIn does not make you an influencer, for sure. Instead, you have a network mainly composed of a group of people selected (according to their activity). This network keeps evolving
Also, it is important to know the difference between a blog article and a simple post on LinkedIn. A post is a small update that you share with your feed and connections from time to time. It can be a quick anecdote or a professional tip. They are limited to 1,300 characters, which is about 5 lines.
On the other hand, the articles are longer and more in-depth. They are intended for a wider audience, that of LinkedIn. A person who reads your article can also follow you from there, so they will be alerted when you publish other articles. All the articles you publish will appear in the Articles section of your LinkedIn profile.
Expert advice for blogging on LinkedIn
Be clear about who you are and what you are going to talk about. Stick to that topic and do not stray from it. And post regularly. Even if you post once or twice a month - consistently - you will do just fine. Twice a month is 48 times a year. In five years, you will have nearly 250 posts. That's huge.
You can share a draft with a colleague or friend to get feedback (before making it public).
Make good use of viewing and interaction statistics. Then, improve what is not working based on these statistics.
Do you want to improve? Check out the LinkedIn course on improving blogs on the platformWriting to be heard on LinkedIn.
Advantages and disadvantages of blogs on LinkedIn
If you blog about management or other related topics, I recommend creating your blog on LinkedIn. On this platform, there is a community that loves these subjects and is ready to read articles on these topics.
The audience of LinkedIn is composed of directors and vice presidents of companies (45%). So, if you are specifically targeting this category of people, I recommend opening your blog on LinkedIn and regularly publishing content there.
The downside with LinkedIn is that you are neither the owner of the site nor the traffic that you generate with your articles.
Instagram - Best blog site for creatives
Instagram focuses on visuals - the feed is made up of infographics (i.e. images and videos). You can use the caption field for your text. However, Instagram users love long captions. You will be limited to 2,200 characters, which is approximately 300 words.
Instagram is perfect if you share visual content (in the themes of lifestyle, art, dance...). Short videos are also highly favored on the platform.
In fact, Instagram surpasses all other blogs dedicated to lifestyle.
It has become much more difficult for fashion, beauty, wellness, and lifestyle bloggers to build a following around their own blog. Especially since social media platforms like Instagram have given influencers more and more tools (e-commerce, groups, and direct messaging...).
Rosie Spinks, "Instagram Has Killed the Art of Lifestyle Blogging" on Quartzy
Instagram is so powerful that it is now difficult to want to go elsewhere. Just like other top blogging platforms such as LinkedIn, with this one, you are also accountable to the algorithm. You depend on their feed and the changes they make internally. However, you do not need to incur additional expenses (such as hiring a developer).
Instagram is not like other top blogging platforms, as it allows you to host Live sessions - simply tap the camera icon (top left of the screen, or swipe right from the news feed) and click on Live (at the bottom). When you are ready to go live, just press the "Go Live" button. You can see the number of viewers at the top of the screen; comments will appear at the bottom.
When you are done, press Finish. From there, I recommend pressing Save, and Share to add it to your story. It will stay there for 24 hours; those who missed the live can then watch it again.
Expert tips for Instagram blogs
Choose a good name that is catchy and easy to type - your name should clearly indicate what you are talking about on your account.
Stick to one theme.
Don't forget about visuals to support your articles.
Do not stray. If you are an artist, do not post photos of your lunch salad. If you are a food blogger, think twice before posting photos of your doodles.
Post regularly!
Engage with your subscribers.
You can only have one link in your profile, but with the Linktree tool, you can add more links. I don't think it's a good idea to build a blog somewhere in the hopes of directing your readers or Instagram followers to the blog. Instead, encourage your followers to subscribe to your newsletter, for example.
They want to stay on Instagram, and not read your website. If, however, you want them to go to your site, give them a very good reason to do so. Do they really want to buy a particular product?
It is more likely that I will follow someone on Instagram for a while and one day I will buy something from that person. It is only once the relationship you have with your followers is very strong, that they will decide to follow you elsewhere, on your actual website. Until then, take good care of your Instagram account!
Advantages and disadvantages of an Instagram "Blog"
If you are a creative, especially in the visual field, your blog should be an Instagram account. You can post images of your work and use the caption field for your post. If you're not used to this idea, it may seem a little crazyThis is not a real blog. But that's the case. People read the Instagram captions of the accounts they follow as if they were reading a blog - and your visual work will be well highlighted in your feed and the overall feed.
The disadvantages are nevertheless obvious: you will have to follow the Instagram format, and you will be subject to the algorithm of the feed. It is not impossible to monetize your Instagram feed, but you will be limited to those you can present in an image or a caption. All monetization possibilities will have to be integrated natively.
Facebook - The largest audience for blogs
What do 1.49 billion daily active users represent to you? It's a huge number that deserves to be noted. How many of these active users will arrive on your page or message? That's another question.
The simplest way to create a blog on Facebook is to create a group or a page for your business or brand. From there, your posts will be targeted.
To facilitate the publication and management of all your interactions in one place, I recommend using Facebook Creator Studio. It is an all-in-one dashboard for publishing and analyzing your content.
You will also be able to connect live, publish videos, gifs, polls, recommendations. You can even save, schedule, and backdate publications.
Advantages and disadvantages of blogging on Facebook
Facebook has the largest audience of all social networks. Sometimes all it takes is to create a Facebook page and regularly publish content. You may receive comments and interactions, which are better than those on a traditional blog. You can truly focus on building genuine fans on Facebook.
The disadvantages of Facebook have been highly publicized recently. There are issues with privacy concerns, there is the question of an ever-changing and fairly secretive algorithm, etc. You probably already have an opinion on Facebook - let that guide you in your decision.
If you build your blog on a unique platform that does not belong to you, well, you have built your blog on a unique platform that does not belong to youThis means that you are indebted to someone else's company and algorithm. What is good for their business and algorithm may not necessarily be good for yours. That is why I advise you to create your own blog if you want to make money with it. You will have more control over your activity.
Summary of the top 6 websites and blogging platforms for 2021
Best website builder for blogs - Kleap
If you want to have your own website and keep things simple, choose Kleap. It is an editor with drag-and-drop option that will allow you to be up and running quickly.
14 days free trial
Building a website with drag and drop
Integrated payment processing
More than 500 e-commerce models
Best blogging software for flexibility - WordPress
I recommend this platform to those who want to personalize their site and who need total control.
Best platform for traditional blogs - Medium
If you do not want to build a website, and you want to create a classic blog, you need Medium. It has a built-in audience that is interested in reading.
Best Blog Site for Businesses - LinkedIn
Are you blogging about business or looking to become an influencer in a specific sector? You need LinkedIn. I know, it may not seem like a blogging platform, but LinkedIn users are highly engaged and hungry for content!
Best blog site for creatives - Instagram
If you focus on images, art, creativity, lifestyle... your audience is on Instagram. There are already many users. They will discover you through hashtags, comments, and mutual friends.
The largest audience - Facebook
Finally, the largest audience can be found on Facebook. There are millions of people on this site, and even though the platform's organic reach is not what it used to be, it is still significant. It is also an ideal place to create a page dedicated to your blog.