Choosing the right blogging platform is a very important first step.
You can liken it to needing to find the perfect car.
Sure, they will all get you from point A to point B, but some do it better than others.
There are some that are faster, more effective, and more reliable.
The first kinds of blogging platforms are the free versions of popular software.
Blogger.
com is the one that is owned by Google and it's very easy to use and completely free.
The only issue is that you don't really own your blog as it is hosted by Blogger.
While the software is great, you're pretty much out of luck if they decide to pull the plug on you.
The other major, free blogging software is Wordpress.
com (not to be confused with Wordpress.
org, which is self-hosted).
This is also very easy to use, and it is hosted by Wordpress.
Be extremely careful if you're going to do a lot of affiliate marketing on your blog.
Wordpress.
com has been known to shut sites down without warning! As you can probably tell, it is generally a better idea to self-host your blog so you have total control over it.
As you start getting good traffic you'll definitely want to ensure that there is nothing anyone can do to take your blog away.
Setting up a free hosted blog is like putting all your eggs in one basket, and that's never a smart idea.
Of course that doesn't mean you can't set one up that is secondary and meant to help you get backlinks.
Hosted blogs are much better for most people.
One of the oldies but goodies is the Moveable Type software.
You do have to pay for this, but many people think it's worth it.
It's a very powerful way to blog.
Most bloggers, however, seem to prefer Wordpress.
org blogs.
You host these on your own server, so you have total control! It's similar to Moveable Type in that it's easy to use, but the differences in the support and plugins available is incredible.
There is a huge community set up based around Wordpress.
You can find plugins to help you with SEO, to run a membership site, to backup for you, to sell eBay items, and a lot more! There are also an incredible number of themes you can choose from to make the blog completely your own.
So, which one should you choose? Again, most Internet marketers tend to choose Wordpress.
You might want to as well since it is phenomenal software and offers everything you need.
Better yet, it's so easy to use that you can have a blog up and running in no time.
It is also important to note that most tutorials written in the IM arena are focused on Wordpress.
It seems to be the gold standard for bloggers, and you might want to select it if only to avoid the hassle of trying to learn another system that not many people use.