Starting a blog may seem like a long and tiresome process but in reality, it ‘s easy. It actually takes a few minutes to create a free blog and start blogging.
In this guide, you’ll learn how you can start a blog for free and what are its advantages & disadvantages.
Why Should You Start a Free Blog?
If you are reading this, everything you know about blogging is probably what you read on blogs and other sources. You don’t have any experience in blogging.
If that’s the case, investing in hosting, domain, professional email and a bunch of other stuff, doesn’t make any sense.
By creating your blog for free you are gaining experience and insight. You’ll be able to figure out whether you want to be a blogger or not and how you can be successful.
Yes, there are some disadvantages of a free-blog. That’s what we are going to discuss below.
Disadvantages of a Free Blog:
Your blogs address is a subdomain- yourdomainname.blogspot.com. You can host a custom domain on Blogger for free. Though you will have to buy the domain first.
If the contents of your blog violate their terms and condition, they’ll take your blog down, sometimes without any notice.
You have limited themes. But most sites give you the ability to use custom themes.
Lack of control over many factors that can be modified for search engine optimization.
A free blog will always look unprofessional.
In some cases more difficult to manage.
These are the reasons why once you are sure about blogging, you should move to a paid WordPress hosting and buy a custom domain name.
However if you don’t mind spending $50-100, I would definitely recommend purchasing a paid WordPress hosting and starting a WordPress blog.
But if you are running super low on cash or just a school kid, read on.
Choose a Niche:
Before you create your blog, you need to answer the most important question: What will be the niche(topic) of your blog?
Pick a niche that you are interested in and passionate about. There are opportunities to make money in almost every niche. So even if making money is your primary goal, choosing a niche that you are interested in will help you in the long run.
If you choose a niche solely for the purpose of making money you are gonna run out of juice soon and you’ll have to force yourself to create content.
If you can’t find anything that you are interested in, you can choose a niche that you know about.
For example, if you are an Android app creator, you can write about that. Like, how to solve a specific issue, how you created an app, etc.
Finding the right niche may take some time. But it’s okay.
Many bloggers fail just because they choose the wrong niche. So take your time choosing a niche.
Below are the free blogging sites that you can try:
#1. Blogger(Blogspot)
I’ve kept Blogger at the top of my list for a reason.
Google’s Blogger is a blog-publishing service that also lets you host domains for free. It is the best platform for you to create a free blog and gain some experience in the Blogosphere.
Blogger is absolutely free. There are no hidden charges or upgrade fee. You will get everything that Blogger has to offer right off the bat.
Obviously, there are some disadvantages to using a free service instead of paid hosting(as stated above).
But as a newbie, if you don’t want to invest anything. It’s a good place to start.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Create and Set up a Free Blogspot Blog
#2. WordPress.com
WordPress is also a great free blogging platform. It’s easy to use and has one of the best post-editors.
With a WordPress blog, you get plenty of customizable themes. You can’t “completely” customize them though. For that, you will have to buy the premium version.
WordPress also has a great stats screen with a lot of useful insights.
For more features like hosting a custom domain, more disk space, premium themes you will have to buy one of the premium plans.
WordPress.com Features that stand out:
Editor
Stats
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Create a Free WordPress.com Blog
#3. Wix
I’ll Be blunt, Wix isn’t meant for blogging, not even for free.
Though you can create a free blog with an address that looks like this-username.wix.com/website.
The reason why Wix isn’t good for blogging is that the premium plans are way too expensive(except in India) and it can be overwhelmingly complicated. there are a lot of features and tools that Wix charges for in Premium plans that a blogger doesn’t need.
There aren’t many third-party tools that support Wix websites either.
But the biggest let down is the unavailability of a decent migration method. There is no straight forward way of migrating your Wix blog to another platform. The easiest way to migrate from Wix to WordPress is by using a Plugin that costs according to the content of your blog.
Wix isn’t useless. It is just more suitable for business websites and not blogs.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Create and Set up a Free Wix Blog
#4. Tumblr
Well, Tumblr isn’t a blogging or social media platform. It’s something in between. Naturally, a Tumblr blog isn’t suited for long-form content.
Tumblr blogs are best for short text posts and images, gifs and videos.
You can also host a custom domain for free like blogger. The process of creating a blog and connecting a custom domain is also easy.
Not all Tumblr blogs get traffic from search engines. Most of your traffic would come from Tumblr- Tumblr users.
So while on other Bloggings sites you need to build your online presence for search engine and users. So that search engines rank and audience love your posts. On Tumblr, you need to build a fan following. Get people to follow your blog and keep posting useful/entertaining content get more followers and retain the existing ones.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Create and Set up a Tumblr Blog
#5. 000Webhost:
000webhost is the second free blogging site on this list that not only lets you create a free blog but also host a custom domain for free. But unlike Blogger you have more control over your blog’s content and appearance.
000Webhost is a free hosting service that is owned by Hostinger- a hosting company and domain registrar.
But the best thing is that you can get WordPress for free. Yes, you can install WordPress CMS on your server and make blogging easier.
But it isn’t all “sunshine and rainbows”. It can’t be. It’s free.
There are a few drawbacks that can make you ponder over the platform to choose- Blogger or 000webhost (if you want a custom domain but don’t want to pay for hosting yet.)
One downside that will irritate the hell out of anyone is this: Hostinger banners that will appear every time you click on a section in WordPress. Let’s say you are in your sites WordPress dashboard and now want to go to Setting. So you click on Settings and you are taken to that section. But before you start making changes you will have to close 2-3 Hostinger banners. Now you go back to the dashboard then again you will have to close the banners to work in peace. Though it isn’t necessary but still it’s pretty annoying why do you think people use ad blockers. It’s like ads popping up every time you go to any section.
Another drawback of 000Webhost is that the limit of RPM(requests per minute). 000Webhost limits the RMP at 500. A request is a request for a file e.g., images, CSS, javascript, text, etc.
So it doesn’t support many visitors at a time. The number of visitors that can view your site simultaneously depends on the content. In the case of Blogger, we don’t even know what that limit is or if there is such a limit.
000Webhost also lets you add more features by buying upgrades. You can buy upgrades for storage, domain parking and more. Though I wouldn’t recommend it. It is better to just move to Hostinger hosting than buying upgrades.
Moving to Hostinger from 00Webhost is also easy. You just have to enter your websites address and everything will be taken care of (after you have bought hosting).
Currently, Hostinger is offering up to 90% discount for new users. Click here to find out how you can get this deal.
Another issue that is really hard to ignore is 000Webhost logo that stays at the bottom of the screen whenever someone visits your blog even when you are using WordPress(when you are writing posts, viewing comments, changing settings, etc.) it’s there. It wouldn’t have been, much of an issue if it wasn’t sticky. It stays at the bottom of the screen(not website) as you scroll up or down or just stay idle.
Whether you should choose Blogger or 000Webhost for your free blog is your choice. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. It comes down to what disadvantages you can take and what you want.
Here’s one thing that I mentioned about Blogger before but in case you forgot: URLs in Blogger contain the date and at the end .html (abc.blogspot.com/2019/09/post.html). Many SEOs have said that having long and dated URLs can hurt your SEO. Moreover, it also makes your links look ugly.
Guide and Review: 000Webhost Review: how to Create a Free WordPress Blog
#6. Joomla
Joomla is another powerful CMS(Content Management System). It is quite similar to WordPress.org. I say WordPress.org and not WordPress.com because you have the option to install any of the thousands of Extension(Plugins) to your Free Joomla site. The Joomla Extensions can help you in a lot of fields like, content management, link management, adding styles, etc.
Joomla lets you create a free site using CloudAccess.net. Of course, there are a lot of limitations ad your domain name would look like this domainname.joomla.com.
One of the biggest limitations is that you have to renew your domain every 30 days. You don’t have to pay for it. Just click the Renew button. If you forget to do so your domain along with all its content will be deleted.
So you can say that it is kind of like 000Webhost.
How to Create a Free Blog on Joomla:
1. Head over to https://launch.joomla.org/ and enter a Site Name. This name will be the address of your blog. For example siteName.joomla.com. You can leave other settings as it is and tick the first checkbox the second one is optional.
2. Hit the Launch Now button and select a registration method.
3. Once your registration is complete you will be taken to ccp.CloudAccess.net. Later, when you need to access your blog(s) admin area, is you need to visit this address: ccp.cloudaccess.net/clientarea.php.
4. As you can see in the image a subdomain blog has been created with ___ as the site name and joomla.com postfix. You can renew your domain within 30 days(you won’t be charged). You also have the option to upgrade and terminate the site. Click Login to go to your free blog’s Dashboard.
5. This is the page where you will manage your blog.
In the next step, I’ll show you how you can write your first article.
How to Write a Blog Post:
In your Control Panel, click New Article.
You will be taken to the Joomla Editor that looks like this:
By default, Joomla uses the TinyMCE editor. You can change the Editor from Global Configurations. Yep, it’s quite cluttered. You will need sometime before you are familiar with the editor. Also, try each and every option of the editor to see what it does.
Enter your Posts Title in the Title box.
Alias: This contains the URL of your post. If you leave it empty it will be generated automatically from the title.
Create your first post and upload some images if you want.
Now create a category and click the Save button to publish your post.
Pros:
It’s Free(What did you think? I won’t repeat?).
Powerful editor.
Freedom to edit the template.
Cons:
No simple way to install a template.
Difficult to customize themes.
You have to keep renewing every 30 days and if you forget, your blog is lost.
They can delete your site any time they want. In fact, I couldn’t access my account for several days due to some error and my site expired.
Who is it for?
Starting a free Joomla blog is mainly for people who want to experience what it’s like to use Joomla or if you are going to start a site later and want to know how to use it. If you just want to start a free blog Joomla isn’t the place to go. Other blogging platforms are far more simple and easy to use and you wouldn’t want the 30-day expiry hovering over your blog.
What is the Best Free Blogging Platform?
Different people recommend different blogging sites for different reasons. Some people will totally stop you from using any free blogging sites with some good reasons(see the disadvantages section above).
I recommend using Blogger or 000Webhost with a custom domain.
Here’s why:
The biggest reason is the fact that they can be used as a free host. You can buy a custom domain and host it on Blogger/000Webhost as long as you want for free.
You can install custom third-party themes to make your blog look the way you want.
Easy to use- Beginner-friendly
000Webhost lets you install WordPress CMS
How Long Should You Run a Free Blog?
Well, that depends on you.
Some people start a blog, write some posts, but soon realize that It’s not for them. They may not like writing, or they may finally face the hard fact that blogging isn’t easy and writing is just a part of what a blogger needs to do.
1 year is enough, even if you are blogging casually to know the ins and outs of running a blog.
You should know whether you want to continue or not within a year.
What’s Next?
So after you have made up your mind about blogging you should migrate to a paid WordPress hosting.
Most hosting companies provide a free domain for the first year. So if you are going to get a domain get it from a hosting service.
Some of the most recommended WordPress hostings are Bluehost and HostGator. If you’re looking for a cheap and reliable host you can try Hostinger and Milesweb.
Other Platforms for starting a blog for free:
There are many other platforms that let you create and start a blog for free:
Penzu
Weebly
But Blogger is the best as it is easy to use, offers more control and flexibility.
What did you choose?