Choose the blogging platform that is best for you

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Jan 30, 2014

Aalto University, Finland, recently held a course on building successful blogging concepts. I gave a presentation about choosing a blogging platform.The main message of the presentation was that you can run a blog with any CMS. Dedicated blogging platforms make your life easier, but they won’t decide whether you succeed or not.

North Patrol is a consulting firm specialized in the design of digital services and information systems. We shape ideas into a vision and service concept, find the best architectural and technological solutions, design a functional user experience, and compete to find the ideal partner for implementation work. We do not sell implementation projects, nor do we sell licenses; we are genuinely on the side of the customer.

30 January 2014

Perttu Tolvanen

The best dedicated blogging platform at the moment is WordPress.com. Choose WordPress.com if you don’t have any special reasons to choose something else. You can even get your followers transferred from WordPress.com.

[slideshare id=27407484&doc=futureofbloggingplatformsandtools-northpatrol-20131019-131021062837-phpapp02]

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Key points to consider:

  1. You can run a blog with any CMS. Dedicated blogging platforms make your life easier, but they won’t decide whether you succeed or not. So don’t stress if your organization doesn’t allow you to pick your blogging tools. Even Drupal and many other multipurpose tools are OK for blogging. Social media platforms can be good choices, but remember that if you really want to make it big, you should avoid platforms that lock you in (such as Google’s Blogger, Tumblr, Facebook, LinkedIn).
  2. WordPress.com is the best hosted platform at the moment. You can use your own domain and buy redirects when you want to move on. Choose WordPress.com if you don’t have any special reasons to choose something else. You can even get your followers transferred from WordPress.com.
  3. Getting your first followers is the most difficult part. It can be easier if you build your blog on a social media platform (Tumblr, Blogger, Google+, Facebook). Remember, though, that moving elsewhere from those platforms is usually a painful process. You can’t buy redirects or get your followers transferred to the new platform. Also, on social media platforms there’s no way to monetize your blog.
  4. Registering your own domain and managing your blog yourself is the safest way, but also the hardest to build your audience. It also requires quite a lot of knowledge about different tools (email lists, web analytics, search engine optimization, RSS tools). Be prepared to spend quite a lot of time doing other things than writing.
  5. Following/reading blogs is a mess. RSS is pretty dead and depending on your audience, you may have to manage several social media channels to get visitors to your blog. Getting people to comment on your posts is also a mess. No real solution seems to be available in the near future, so just try to live with it.

Perttu Tolvanen

Perttu Tolvanen is a web concept design and content management system expert.

Perttu consults with clients on project planning and defining requirements, and supports customers in selecting content management systems and implementation partners. His areas of specialisation include facilitating concept design workshops and selecting content management systems.

Perttu has ten years of experience with web and intranet projects, including serving as a project manager and consultant. Earlier in his career Perttu has worked in procurement and as a project manager at a large media company, a content management system consultant at a large IT company and an independent, neutral consultant at his own firm. He is also a well-known seminar speaker and blogger. Perttu is also the editor of Vierityspalkki.fi, a Finnish blog about the Finnish internet and its creators.

About North Patrol

We are a team of ten consultants, all of whom are experienced designers and technology experts. Every year we design and prepare over 50 different online services and information systems. Our customer satisfaction is very high (9.5 out of 10), and we have helped many customers transform their digital services.

Read more about us

How we differ from our competitors?

  • We specialize in digital service design

    We specialize in high-quality design and requirements specification of digital services. Our mission is to help customers succeed in their software project by creating the best possible foundation for implementation – whether it is an agile implementation done inhouse, a project done with a partner, or a publicly tendered project.

  • We don't sell coding or licenses

    Many software companies recommend software solutions that they also implement themselves. We don’t do that. We don’t do software implementation projects or have partnerships with technology providers. Our perspective on the software market is broad, as it should be for our customers. Our goal is always to find the best possible software solution for our customer, whether it’s a custom-built solution, a SaaS service, an open-source platform, or a combination of these.

  • We are realistic and forward-thinking

    We design digital service concepts, implementation methods and architectures that are sustainable and can be further developed. We place great importance on the feasibility of software solutions, the availability of good partners and the predictability of costs.

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