Free Online Blogging Sites
Blogging has quickly become one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news. There are millions of blogs online. A blog is a great way to express your thoughts, create a web presence for your company and provide content to Internet users.
The First Steps to Starting a Blog:
1. Choose your preferred blogging platform.
2. Choose whether you want to self-host and a paid domain, or get a free blog.
3. Setting up a blog on your own domain.
4. Designing your blog.
The 10 best blogging platforms available for free
WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.
WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. You can download and install a software script called WordPress. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements and a little time. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything. There is also a service called WordPress.com which lets you get started with a new and free WordPress-based blog in seconds, but varies in several ways and is less flexible than the WordPress you download and install yourself.
Blogger - Blogger is Google’s free blog-hosting site. More popular at the turn of the millenium, Blogger still offers a great service but the designs are a bit elementary. Login and publish your first post for free with only a Gmail account.
Tumblr - Tumblr is a widely popular online blogging platform that appeals to the younger masses. Tumblr is a fusion between a full-fledged blog and Twitter. Tumblr is more about micro-blogging, the blogging of short form and frequent updates, multiple times in a day.
With a strong social following and a decent mobile app to accompany it, Tumblr is a great free tool to get started on micro-blogging and see for yourselves if blogging is for you.
Typepad - Basic subscribers are able to create 2 blogs, Plus subscribers can have 4, and Unlimited and higher subscribers can have an unlimited number of blogs. The option to Create a Blog will not appear if you already have the maximum allowed blogs for your subscription level.
Each Typepad account comes with a free profile, which sets you up for leaving comments on other blogs, with either your profile or blog linked to your name. Your profile also allows you access to some cool features like following friends and other Typepad bloggers, keeping up with important discussions, and more.
Domain mapping is available with all Pro plans. Domain Mapping is the process of pointing a registered domain name to a Typepad site, blog or photo album. Domain mapping is more than domain forwarding, because your permalinks and URL contain the address of your domain.
Weebly - Founded in 2007, Weebly is privately funded by Sequoia Capital, Baseline Ventures, Ron Conway, and Y Combinator. Weebly is available in 11 languages (English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, Dutch, and German).
To create a blog, go to the Pages tab of the editor, click Add Page and select the Blog Page option. Give the blog a name and then click Save & Edit to start adding content.
A new blog starts with a sidebar with some default content that you can easily change, and also gives you the option to add a New Post.
Your blog post has a title and a content area. The title should generally be short - no more than a sentence long or so. The content area includes a basic paragraph element which you can either edit or delete.
Squarespace.com - SquareSpace is the only pricey option but will surely deliver the best results. Amazing for photographers, store owners, bloggers, musicians and business owners, this platform features tons of templates that will keep your blog looking polished and professional.
Update your blog or portfolio, check your web analytics, or jot down ideas and reminders, all on the go and all for free with our suite of mobile apps.
Overblog - The OverBlog mobile app enables you to blog from your smartphone very easily, wherever you are. You'll find the same features that you know from the web interface.
Blog.com - Blog.com offers you a great set of free features. Tha site provides you all the tools needed. Connect with Facebook, share your posts with tons of social networks or track your statistics with Google Analytics. Post from your mobile phone, iphone, or 3rd party services.
Blog.com allows you to pick your team of authors, all capable of publishing entries, reviewing comments and many more.
Thoughts.com - Share your thoughts, join the conversation and meet like minded people. At thoughts.com you can follow blogggers and topics that interest you and make new friends with similar interests. You can create a personal blog, just for your thoughts, or create a group blog and invite others who share your interests to join in.
Let your friends know about your new blog by connecting your posts with Facebook or Twitter or make new friends right here on thoughts.com.
Sosblogs.com - On sosblogs.com, everyone can create his blog, in few seconds, without any informatic knowledge and begin to blogger immediately ! Create your free blog in three clicks only and share your passions on your own blog. The interface of the blog is easy to use and to personalize. Join an alive community of thousands of bloggers.
Edublogs - Easily create & run thousands of blogs and web sites. Have complete control of privacy, users and content. Includes your own domain, designs and branding.
Some themes automatically add a link to pages in their header area at the top of the blog while on other themes you need to add a pages widget or set up a custom menu to add the page links to your main navigation area.