9 Best Blog Website Builders. Check Our Detailed Review

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Blogging is an excellent way of connecting with the outside world. Through a blog, you can express the love for your interests, connect with your followers on a more personal level, or promote a specific brand. But how do you get started? In this post, we will review the popular blog website builders in the market right now.

Before anything else, it is essential to appreciate that blogging goes beyond posting photographs and writing content. Also, it is about choosing the best blogging platform to meet your needs. You want a platform that is quite easy to use and offers an array of customization options to provide your readers with the content they need.

If you are only starting, it makes sense to settle on a platform that is suitable for beginners. In most cases, it means you do not want a tool that requires you to work on CSS and HTML code. However, if you have been blogging for some time, it is okay to want a platform with a code editor to give you more personalization capabilities.

Moreover, you have to decide if you want to pay for the functionalities of various paid platforms or work with the limited features availed by free builders. Here, your decision will be influenced by what your site will focus on and whether you want to earn from it.

Today, there are many website builders for blog with paid and free plans that are useful, especially when your site becomes big. That said, below are reviews of top blog sites providing an overview, the pros, and cons of each.

Selecting the Best Blogging Platform    

Here are things to consider to ensure that you pick the best blog websites:

  • Costs: It is one of the most important considerations. You want to settle on blog builders that fall within your budget while also giving you value for money. It is not smart to pick a free plan that does not offer what you want.
  • Features and scalability: Your requirements for the weblog will change with time. For example, you might add some more features, overhaul the design, or make other necessary adjustments. An excellent platform should allow you to do that.
  • Beginner-friendliness: If you are considering blogging for the first time, you need a solution that is easy to work with, manage, and does not require HTML knowledge. Apart from that, your choice of weblog platform should offer excellent support whenever you run into issues.
  • Monetization options: If you intend to make money from your website, you should use a maker that allows you to do it conveniently.
  • Maintenance: You need to understand the hands-on work your website platform requires. Also, you need to consider if your solution offers features that allow you to handle the activities you wish to carry out on your site. It is essential to do this, as these are some of the things that will influence your workflow.

Assessing these factors will depend on your goals, requirements, and skills. Have them at the back of your mind as we review the popular blog sites in the market. Now, here is the list of blog sites we will compare:

  • WordPress.org
  • Weebly
  • Wix
  • WordPress.com
  • Squarespace
  • Blogger
  • Tumblr
  • Strikingly
  • SITE123

WordPress.org: Best Blogging Platform with Powerful Tools

WordPress.org is open-source software that has enabled many people to start blogs. It is so popular given that it powers 24% of all sites on the internet. All blogs created with this tool often perform well for SEO. The fact that this is open-source software means you can modify the code, thus, gaining absolute control over your site. You will be in charge of things such as images, colors, and fonts of your website. However, you need money to hire a designer or coding knowledge to take advantage of this flexibility. With this freedom, you can put an array of features to your site, for example:

  • Membership
  • Forum
  • Online store

WordPress.org is particularly popular among technical bloggers since it enables them to create multiple sites. All said it remains an excellent software that can convert writers into accomplished bloggers over time.

Pros

It offers excellent blogging tools, for instance, 54,000 plugins with newsletter systems as well as design tools. Another advantage is that WordPress.org allows for customization if you have the necessary coding skills.

Cons

One of the downsides to this platform is that users with limited HTML knowledge will have trouble learning how to use it. It is especially the case given that there are drag and drop site builders in the market, for example, Squarespace and Wix.

While it is free to use, you still have to pay to secure your domain and for hosting. Also, because it is an open-source platform, you have to handle security and hosting on your own. And it does not go without saying that this can be problematic for users who are not computer savvy. Lastly, it is not the easiest blog platform to use.

Pricing

The cost of WordPress.org varies depending on what you want to build. Other things that affect pricing include premium plugins and templates. That said, on the lower end, you can expect to use WordPress.org at $46 per year.

Weebly: Best Blogging Platform for Building Fast and Easily

Weebly is one of the top drag-and-drop site builders in the market.     Its ease of use interface makes it one of the best blogging platforms. All you have to do is click and point to add a weblog to your site and post content onto it.

With Weebly, you do not have to possess HTML knowledge to create a site and add a weblog page to it. The software handles all of the technical operations in the back-end, ensuring that your blog is accessible to visitors and loads fast.

There are several templates to choose from, and an adequate level of customization is allowed. Other than that, you can add various features to your weblog, such as:

Comprehensive analytics on your weblog’s performance.

  • A comments area.
  • Easily accessible archive.
  • Social bookmarking.

With this feature, scheduled publishing is possible and straightforward. You can plan for your weblog to go live at a specific time. Therefore, if you develop it during the day, but the tool’s analytics indicate that your visitors engage in the evening, you can decide to delay the publication.  

Cons

There is less customization than on other platforms. Apart from that, long-term growth on the platform is quite limited.

Pricing

You can create your site on any of the available pricing plans. There is a free subscription, Connect plan ($5 per month), Pro plan ($12 per month) and the Business plan ($25 per month). If you want to remove Weebly ads to make your weblog professional, you might want to subscribe for the Weebly Connect plan.

Wix: Best Blogging Platform for Combining a Weblog with a Site

It is an intuitive builder that allows you to integrate a weblog to your site in a click of a button. Wix remains one of the top-rated website builders for blogs and currently has an excess of 100 million registered users. Wix has an array of templates to choose from to enable users to create the best personal blogs.

Recently, this builder revamped its content editor. Therefore, you can now do the following with the software:

  • Add links and captions to pictures.
  • Personalize your image galleries.
  • Integrate videos from Vimeo or YouTube

With the Wix Editor, you will create your weblog with excellent personalization options. It is great on mobile too enabling you to update your weblog on mobile devices without any hassle. This way, this tool becomes useful, especially when you are on the move.

It is also worth mentioning that Wix offers premium assistance on email and phone. Therefore, it is a good choice for those who are new to blog website builders.

Pros

This platform is excellent for integrating with a site and long-term growth. Another good thing about it is its beginner-friendly and quite easy to use interface.

Cons

When compared to other builders such as WordPress.com and Weebly, Wix offers significantly fewer blogging features. Moreover, it does not have adequate storage on the lower pricing plans.

Pricing

Wix has four plans, namely Connect Domain at $4.50 per month, Combo at $8.50 each month, Unlimited at $12.50 monthly, and VIP at $24 per month.

WordPress.com: Best Blogging Platform for Powerful Tools

It is a weblog hosting service from the owners of WordPress.org, Automattic. You can start your weblog on the builder for free, but if you need additional features, for example, your domain name and more storage, you have to pay extra. If you want to eliminate the WordPress.com logo from your site, you have to be on a paid plan. It is a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to create the best blog sites by moving different elements on the interface.

It is excellent for SEO and sites built with it have excellent infrastructure as well as load speeds. It is one of the best blog website builders because it is quick to set up and easy to understand. Furthermore, it comes with industry-leading features such as:

  • Modern website design.
  • Mobile-optimized themes.
  • Management of technical issues, for example, domain registration, software updates, and hosting.
  • Excellent analytics to enable you to know your audience better.

Pros

WordPress.com offers powerful weblogging tools that include RSS feed and social bookmarking. Moreover, it is simpler when compared to WordPress.org, Weebly, or Wix.

Cons

It is not friendly for beginners since it requires HTML knowledge. Also, it offers fewer customization options than WordPress.org.

Pricing

WordPress offers several pricing plans- Free, Blogger ($3 monthly), Personal ($5 monthly), Premium ($8 monthly), Business ($25 monthly), and eCommerce ($45 monthly.)

Squarespace: Best Blogging Platform for Stunning Designs and Images

It is the best site to start a blog, especially for designers and artists due to its fantastic templates and professional look. Squarespace is renowned among users for its beautiful models catering to different industries.

Moreover, the templates allow you to post content to your weblog in an excellent way. Apart from that, there are first-rate features like 3D scrolling and grid layout that give your weblog a distinctive look. Some of the features this builder offers include:

  • A comment area.
  • Display of web-logging categories.
  • Integration of RSS feed.

Pros

This weblog maker comes with top-notch features and designs. Moreover, it gives you a lot of creative freedom.

Cons

Customization is a bit limited on Squarespace and the onboarding problematic. Apart from that, you have to upgrade to a costly plan to access editing capabilities. Regarding SEO, it is not friendly to novice users since some themes display SEO information on them, which can be quite alarming for inexperienced bloggers. Lastly, it is expensive when compared to builders such as Weebly and Wix.

Pricing

Squarespace allows you to start with a free trial. After that, you can upgrade to the Personal ($12 monthly), Business ($18 monthly), Basic Commerce ($26 monthly), or Advanced Commerce ($40 monthly.)

Blogger: Best Blogging Platform for a Basic Weblog

Blogger is one of the oldest blog websites and the most popular blog sites. Launched back in 2003 by Google, it is free, reliable, and easy to use. Like other tools, you are responsible for the hosting and the speed of your site. However, you will get a free SSL security certificate.

Google hosts weblogs created on this software if you do not pay for a custom domain. Your Google account is linked to your Blogger, allowing you to manage both with much ease. You can monetize your weblog using Google AdSense.

Pros

It is quite easy to use and share content. Furthermore, it is the right builder for beginners, given that it is straightforward.

Cons

With Blogger, you will be stuck to very basic tools. Moreover, you cannot add features, and your customization options are limited to a few themes. Therefore, it makes weblogging quite boring, and some times might seem quite analogue. For instance, you require some redirects to create a home page on Blogger.

Apart from that, another downside is that your number of blogs as well as character count is limited. Last but not least, the builder is not updated regularly, and you will have to leave with a fear of Google stopping the tool.

Pricing

Blogger is free.

Tumblr: Best Blogging Platform for Short-Form Content

Tumblr is a top-rated micro-blogging website that hosts more than four hundred million blogs. Founded in 2007 this site enables you to upload content you create fast, easy, and for free. However, you can also buy a template among the paid ones to add them to your weblog. This tool supports a variety of content type, including articles and images. Tumblr also has a community, much like social media networks. It is, however, most ideal, for short-form content that readers can click and share.

 Much like Blogger, the opportunities for growth are limited. For example, the infrastructure available does not allow for social media marketing, building advanced pages, or experimenting with different layouts. It is also tricky to backup blogs that are created on Tumblr. As this tool is primarily for short online content, SEO is also much more challenging to do as compared to using other platforms like WordPress.org.

Pros

Tumblr is free and simple to set up. Also, publishing content is easy and quite quick. This builder is also quite popular and playful. It supports multimedia such as audio, images, and GIFs, and has social features that allow the sharing of posts. Lastly, it has lots of designs you can custom.     

Cons

Tumblr’s disadvantages include limited features and scalability, difficulty in backing up content, and no support for long-form content.

Pricing

Setting up blogs and uploading content is free. However, you may incur costs if you opt for a custom domain or add apps and themes provided by third parties.

Overall, Tumblr is one of the best personal blogs, hobby blogs, and micro-blogs builder. It is worth looking at if you are interested in publishing short clickable and sharable posts rather than long text.

Strikingly: Best for Stylish One-Page Blog Websites

For those looking for own simple and stylish blogs but don’t have the technical skills to build one, Strikingly is the best. This platform is not only free but also very easy to use. This builder will help you design and launch a weblog where you can share your thoughts, experiences, or talent in no time. However, Strikingly is best for setting up one-page sites. By adding the tool’s Simple weblog feature, you can enjoy a wide range of site tools such as RSS feed, analytics, subscription, search function, categories, social bookmarking, and comments section.

Though you can only build one page on the Strikingly free plan, adding numerous posts won’t slow down or overload your site. The headings of each post will appear on the site where the reader can click on an article they wish to read, and it opens on a new page. Therefore, your homepage remains clean and easily navigable.

Among the features available on the free package include 24/7 support, unlimited sites to build for free, 5GB monthly bandwidth, and the freedom to sell a single product on each site. However, your domain name will bear include strikingly.com. However, you can choose to upgrade in any of the three premium plans to connect a custom domain. A key advantage of Strikingly is that you can integrate your site with social media.

Pros

Some good things about Strikingly include ease to use, free unlimited websites, round the clock support even on the free plan, easy integration with users’ social media, and built-in analytics tools.  

Cons

The downsides of this builder are that it has little website customization freedom and scaling options. Also, you can only create single-page websites on the free plan.

Pricing

There is a plan that does not cost money as well as paid plans. The Limited plan goes for $8 monthly and allows up to 5 products on one site (allows 2 Limited sites and unlimited free sites). The Pro plan costs $16/month and offers unlimited bandwidth, 3 pro sites, mobile action buttons, among other features. The most expensive plan is the VIP and includes everything in Pro, 5 Pro sites, newsletter sending options, priority customer service, among others.  

SITE123: Best Site to Start a Blog If You Need Assistance

 If you are looking for a builder that will give you great help as you build your blog, SITE123 is worth a shot. This tool is intuitive and simple to understand how it is used. It comes with a live chat feature that makes it extra convenient to contact support whenever you get stuck. Much easier to handle than most builders you will come by, SITE123 has lots of beautiful templates and intuitive site editor. It also gives you free domain registration and hosting, mobile-responsive designs, SEO tools, and the option to do business by establishing an online store. This platform handles all the technical bits and allows you to focus on creating content for your readers.

With a free website, you can share posts with your social media followers too. Some features you can expect from this tool include blog-specific templates, posts’ scheduling, comments system with a reply tool, comment auto-confirmation, integration with social media, and RSS.

Another great thing about SITE123 is that you get to access to the builder’s App Market. Here, you get lots of additional free and premium features to add to your site. Examples include live chat apps and Google Analytics. Similar to SITE123 builder, the market is also very easy to navigate.

Pros

SITE123 offers excellent chat support, easy-to-use design, free site set up, an App Market, and full responsiveness on desktop and mobile. You also get 500B of storage on the free plan.

Cons

The disadvantages of this platform include poor quality of some features, limited design options, and inability to change site design once it’s published. While it can build personal as well as small blogs comfortably, it is not ideal for complex blogging websites.

SITE123 is an excellent choice for beginners and anyone who needs a helping hand in building their site. You can build for free and get in touch with customer support at any point.

Top Tips to Help You Choose the Best Website Builders for Blogs

These are the most popular blog sites. But how do you know which ones to choose? Here are answers to a couple of vital questions you should ask yourself when comparing different blog websites:

How Do You Intend to Set Up the Blog?

If you are not a software developer, there are only two straightforward ways of building a blog. One, you can hire a website developer. Developers are people who are skilled and qualified in website creation. Prices for developing a site through a developer vary greatly depending on who you hire. The other, much simpler and cheaper method, is using a website builder.

These tools usually come with drag-and-drop editors that allow you to personalize pre-designed blog templates to your preferences. You can pick from among the builders reviewed here. To know which one is the best for you, think about your preferences, the features, number of pages you want to add to your website, and most importantly, your skills. Also, note that some builders are not specially created for blogs but may support a blog within site.

Do You Intend to Monetize Your Blog?

You can turn your blogging venture into a money-making gig by monetizing your site. There are many ways to earn money from blogging. The most common way of making money from a weblog is by placing ads. With ads, you register your site to a digital advertising program such as Google AdSense.

Ads are placed on your site, and you earn a fixed amount of money for a certain number of views or through pay-per-click basis. Pay-per-click means that you earn some money every time a visitor clicks on an advert on your site.

Another way to make money through blogging is by adding affiliate links in your posts. In this case, a seller permits you to advertise a product they are selling on your site. For every sale they receive from your site, you earn a predetermined commission. Additional ways to make money include selling private ads, selling digital products such as eBooks, online courses, etc.

If you plan to monetize your site, make sure you choose a builder that supports such growth. Good suggestions include WordPress.org, Weebly, and Blogger.

Do You Want to Promote a Blog?

There are several ways you can spread the word about your blog, and as a result, drive more traffic to it. Some popular methods include:

  • Collecting email contacts and sending content suggestions at strategic times.
  • Share content in many channels, including your social media account, including Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
  • Optimize your post by adding visuals to encourage people to pin them.
  • Write guest posts on other blogs in your niche.
  • Try out cross-marketing, co-marketing, and sponsored marketing.

Even word of mouth and encouraging your friends to share your posts can go a long way in increasing your site traffic. When choosing a blog builder, check that it supports the avenues/ channels you intend to use for marketing (email, social media, SEO, etc.).

What Things Do You Want to Blog About?

What you intend to concentrate on should influence the website creation platform you choose. For example, a photographer needs a handy tool that allows them to showcase their talent to potential clients. Therefore, the tool you pick should not only support high-quality images, but also offer lots of storage space, good visuals, and photography-related templates. For photography, you could try Squarespace, as it offers high-quality features. Different tools shine in different niches. So, check what is available in your specialization.

What Can You Do to Make Sure Your Blog Is Successful?

Your blog’s success will start with the building process. If you, for example, choose a limited tool, scaling later can become a problem. The same case with making changes to your site once published (some builders don’t provide this option). So, to be successful, outline your goals first. Then, compare these platforms to see how they align with what you want to achieve from blogging. Also, take advantage of promotion functions, if the site developer offers any, to reach more people. As a bonus tip, for growing your new blog, post and share your content often. Fresh content can bring more people to your site and earn you more subscriptions.

Verdict on Top Blog Sites

For the most basic blogging site, Blogger is ideal. Weebly and Strikingly are great for building beautiful but simple blogs. Wix is a good choice for those who wish to integrate blogs into websites. For clickable content, pick Tumblr. If you want a builder that provides high-quality images and professional templates, Squarespace is the way to go.

WordPress.org and WordPress.com are wonderful choices for those who are a little experienced and are looking for a more powerful and technical tool than the ones mentioned above. Finally, those who need support in building their blogs can go for SITE123. The overall best blogging platform is WordPress.org because it can be fully customized and has built the many blogs you see today. But it is not as easy to use Weebly or Wix.  

While these are the best blog sites suggestions available in the market, each has both pros and cons. Remember, these sites come in different types. There are those that are referred to as self-hosted blogging platforms, there are also site builders that support blogging, and then there are hosted blog websites. The ideal choice, therefore, will depend on your goals, expertise, preferences as well as needs for your blog.

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