381: How to Pick the Right Blog Platform Based on Your Goals

[00:00:00] One of the biggest questions I get from new bloggers or anybody that wants to start a blog is What platform should I use? And that depends on many things, which is not a fun answer. But in this episode, I am going to walk you through some of the most popular platforms, tell you the pros and cons, and help you make an informed decision if blogging is something that you want to start doing.

[00:00:27] Because choosing the right platform. Is going to affect how easy it is to start. It also is gonna depend on things that you like to do, how creative you can be, how techy you are, and how much control you have over SEO and growth. And there's not really like a perfect platform. There's just one that is going to fit you and going to fit your goals.

[00:00:55] I have one that I recommend the most, but it's also the one that works the best for me. And so I'll tell you which one that is. But my promise to you is that by the end of this episode, you are gonna feel confident in which platform you should go with and ready to get started. Hey there, I'm brief hair content creator, coach, and your host of the Thrive Podcast.

[00:01:18] And I'm here to help you build a brand you're proud of with clear strategy and real support. Let's dive in.

[00:01:28] We're not only going to cover what platform. You should choose and how to choose the right one for you. But I'm also gonna talk about like, what are those other things that you need to do to get started. So we're gonna talk about establishing your branding, creating a brand guide, some fun, legal stuff that you need to have on your site to stay safe and protected.

[00:01:51] And protect your content. And then finally, what we need to do to create a content plan. So it's a jam packed episode, so let's go ahead and dive in. Did you ever have a pen pal growing up? Or maybe you really wanted one? That person who'd send you letters with stickers and doodles and tell you about their life, there was something so special about it.

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[00:03:05] Alright, so first things first, let's go over the platforms. There are six different ones that I'm going to share with you. There are other ones out there. These are the most popular and. Give you a really good range in what you're able to do. So the first one I wanna talk about is Substack, because this one is picking up steam lately, and it's because it is really easy to use.

[00:03:33] So I'm going to rank all of these. From one to five stars. Five stars being the best, one, star being the worst. And I'm gonna rank these three different ways. One is ease of use. One is the customization potential, and the other one is SEO Control. So with Substack, I give it five stars. It is very, very easy to use.

[00:03:58] It's. One of the easiest ways to start writing online. It's literally as simple as creating an account and typing your first post. We love that, right? It's really designed for writers who wanna focus on words and send content directly to subscribers. So I think this is also a really cool platform because you can start collecting email subscribers as well.

[00:04:22] Now you guys know I love flow desks, but if you are a little overwhelmed and need to keep something just super simple, substack kind of doing that all in one is a great thing. But there's also some downsides to substack. So that leads me to customization potential. This is very, very limited. I'm giving it one star.

[00:04:47] You can add a logo and a few colors, but that's about it. So it's. Not ideal. If you want your site to have a really unique look or a branded design, there's not much that you can do there. And then the last thing we're ranking it for is SEO Control. I'm also giving this a one star. Substack is really built for email delivery and the goal is to really like get people to sign up for your substack, subscribe to it, but it's not really built for start engines.

[00:05:23] Your posts are public, um, or they can be public, but they don't really perform well for long-term SEO traffic. There's not a ton that you can do on the backend to make sure everything is SEO optimized. So to summarize, Substack, it's. Great for anybody that wants to write, or creators that want to start super fast and skip all the tech setup, you're not gonna have any tech setup.

[00:05:50] You just start an account and write. But it's not great if you wanna go through SEO or have really full brand control. The next one is Squarespace. So this one is pretty simple to use as well. It's got an all-in-one platform, so everything is there. You don't have to like go to multiple different things to get things set up.

[00:06:15] Similar to Squarespace in that way. So you have everything like your hosting templates and tools are all built in. There is some customization ability. And simple drag and drop design with easy publishing, so ease of use. If you're not wanting to get super, super customized, it's really like a four star ease of use, the customization potential.

[00:06:37] I'm giving it three stars because there are beautiful templates, but customization is really limited within those templates unless you're hiring somebody to go in and hard code things for you. So if you want a clean aesthetic site, that's, I mean, kind of specific, um, or simple, I mean, but. If you're wanting something a little more customized and unique, Squarespace is gonna be a little bit more challenging to get that for you, unless again, you're paying somebody to code for you.

[00:07:09] SEO control. It's got all the basics. You know, you can do meta descriptions, alt text and everything, which is great. I'm giving it like a two or three stars. I think it's fine for beginners, but it can be limiting. Um, it doesn't have all the super advanced control that WordPress offers, but it's not bad more so I think like one of the complaints I hear about.

[00:07:34] Squarespace all the time is it doesn't have Yost. And if you're new to blogging, Yost is a plugin for WordPress. So it's something that you add to your WordPress site that helps you make sure that you are using your keywords and plugging them in throughout your site correctly. Where people go wrong with Yost on WordPress is thinking that Yost is the end all be all and is going to make their website rank.

[00:08:01] Yost relies on you telling it what the keywords are to use and to make sure that those keywords so, so what you do is you're like, all right, I want to rank for cranberry pecan cobbler. I don't know, I'm hungry. Um, that's what popped in my head. And so what it's then going to do is it's going to search through your blog post and be like, cool, do you have cranberry pecan cobbler in your title, in your headings, in your paragraphs?

[00:08:31] How many times is it in your blog post? Do you have it in the meta description? Do you have it X, Y, and Z? So it's giving you a checklist to make sure, and it'll tell you like, Hey, you forgot to put it here. That's all it really does. So you can do that manually yourself by just like having your own checklist and then going through and doing that for yourself on Squarespace.

[00:08:52] So that's like one misconception I wanna just address with Yost. I love Yost. I use the free version. I think it's really cool to make sure that I didn't forget anything, but you still have to know and do your own research to know what keywords that you need to be using in the first place. So Squarespace is really ideal for somebody who wants a polished and professional site without dealing with a ton of tech headaches.

[00:09:17] You're sacrificing a little control, but if you need something that's super simple, I think it's worth it. It's gonna give you more customization than substack, and then more SEO control as well. It still doesn't have the full, full customization potential like some of the other ones that we're gonna talk about here in a minute.

[00:09:38] Alright, number three is Wix. This one honestly has surprised me that it is still around. It's still one that people talk about. Um. I remember Winix kind of came onto the scene and kind of watching it and seeing like what happens with it and you know, I think it can be good for starting out. I don't think it's the best for long term.

[00:10:04] So let's dive into it. As far as ease of use, it's very beginner friendly. I'm gonna give it four stars. It's got tons of templates. It's got a nice. Drag and drop freedom that you can use on it, which I love and makes it easy. Setup is quick, um, but as you grow, editing can feel a little bit messy and confusing.

[00:10:28] Just kind of cluttered customization potential. I'm gonna give it three stars. It has more freedom than Squarespace, but that flexibility can backfire in that if you are not a designer and. Don't have that skillset of making things look super consistent and polished and professional. It can make it seem like the site is a little bit clunky or just not very well made.

[00:10:55] There's also a little bit of like limited access to backend, to customization. SEO control. You know, the tools here have improved, but the structure on this platform is still just a little less search engine friendly. So that's where I'm like, it's good for starting out. I just don't think it's the best one for long-term scaling.

[00:11:17] So depending on what your goals are, that's kind of what I would look at. If you're needing to have a lot of pages. If you're not really design savvy with, you know, making something look professional online, it might not be the best one for you. But if you have a little bit of a design background or an eye for it, then maybe that is something that you wanna try for SEO control, I'm gonna give it a two stars, so it, it's gonna give you a little bit more creative freedom than Squarespace, but just again, not as SEO friendly and can backfire in terms of design.

[00:11:56] So next ones we're gonna talk about number four and five are wordpress.com and wordpress.org. And this is where I start to see people get really confused and honestly, I've, I understand the difference, but I have to remind myself which one I'm talking about. Okay. So let me break it down as easy as possible for you.

[00:12:17] So there's two types of WordPress. There's wordpress.com and WordPress dot. How they are different is that wordpress.com, everything is hosted for you on WordPress. So wordpress.com, think of it more like a Squarespace in terms of like you sign up and everything is taken care of for you, right? You don't have to go find a host.

[00:12:44] It's all in one, so it's gonna give you less tech setup, but in the long run. It is really limiting your customization unless you pay for higher plans, and this can get really pricey over time. So there's limited plugins and different things that you can add. And if you want certain ones, they're gonna charge you more per month.

[00:13:09] So that's how wordpress.com works is it's like, yes, it's all in one, but if you are wanting to do more customization, you might get charged more per month. wordpress.org is self-hosted, and this is the version that most professional bloggers use. You can choose your own host, so a host for example, would be something like Site Ground, GoDaddy, big Scoot, that type of thing.

[00:13:37] And with wordpress.org being self-hosted means you have more control. So you have, you own everything with your site. You have full control over the design, the plugins, and SEO. And unless you're purchasing a plugin, you don't have like those extra costs. And I, am I paying for any plugins right now? I don't think I am.

[00:14:02] I might have something through SiteGround, which is my current host for security, but that's probably it. So with this though, it does take more. Set up and maintenance time. So your cost is the hosting, and my suggestion here is that if you decide to go this route, you want to purchase as many years of hosting upfront as you can because it'll never be that cheap again.

[00:14:27] So for example, if you're gonna go to Site Ground and be like, all right, this is the host I want to use, usually somewhere around like $4 a month. For the first purchase that you make, it typically lets you go up to like three or five years of purchasing. At one time. I would purchase as many years as possible because you're gonna find that the next time it goes to renew, and this is where everybody gets all mad and I'm like.

[00:14:53] I, I guess I need to talk about it more like this is something to expect. It is going to happen. It typically jumps up to about $12 a month, which is a drastic jump. I completely agree. But that is the name of the game and unless you wanna like jump hosts all the time, that's just how it works. So that's why I say purchase as many years upfront as you can.

[00:15:14] So in summary, for the two, and I'm gonna go into depth with both of them now, but before I do that, just think of.com as beginner friendly intro and.org as the powerhouse for long-term blogging. Okay, so let's talk about.com First, ease of use. I'm gonna give this three stars. It's easier than self-hosted WordPress because it handles hosting and updates for you, which is great.

[00:15:42] You can start with the free plan, but you're gonna hit limits pretty quickly as you grow the customization potential. I'm gonna give it three stars. You can use pre-made themes and limited plugins, but as you want to do advanced customization, it's going to require upgrading your plan and paying more. So ideally, if you want some control but not the full tech responsibility, this might be a route that you want to go.

[00:16:10] And I know a lot of girls that have started on this and then moved to a wordpress.org site as they grew and as they were making some more money. But also I've found that they're switching because they're tired of paying as much as they are for wordpress.com because they've had to just like their price per month has just gone up and up and up.

[00:16:32] Whereas on wordpress.org with yourself hosted, you kind of already know like what you've paid for already. SEO control as far as wordpress.com, it's pretty decent. But again, you're not gonna have those full plugin access or analytics unless you upgrade. But it still performs really well for casual blogging.

[00:16:50] So I'm giving that a three star for SEO control. So, like I said, wordpress.com, it's a great stepping stone. It gives you the reliability of WordPress without the full tech setup, but eventually you're gonna outgrow its limits. So then that brings me to wordpress.org, which is the self-hosted. So you need your own hosting theme and plugins.

[00:17:13] There are free themes that you can use. They're not as aesthetic as you're probably going to want, so you'll want to upgrade those at some point. And purchasing a theme is typically, I would say around anywhere from like 60 to $150, maybe $200 now. Just kind of depending on which one you're wanting and all the functions you want with it.

[00:17:35] There is a learning curve upfront with getting all of this set up. Once it's set up, posting and running the site day to day is really, really easy. Like I don't have to do anything now that it's set up except for just like update my plugins every so often. But that's literally just like a Clickup button.

[00:17:53] So as far as ease of use, I'm gonna give it two stars because it is. You know, you, you're, you're gonna have to figure out how to get all that set up. We have a lot of tutorials for you, which I'll tell you about in a little bit. But in general, you know, ease of use. I'm gonna give it a two just for getting things set up now.

[00:18:13] When it comes to customization potential, I'm giving it five stars because that is the beauty of WordPress and why most professional bloggers go with WordPress is because there are endless options. You can do themes, plugins, code edits. You own your entire site, and you can design and scale it however you want.

[00:18:34] A lot of websites are built on WordPress. Beyond blogs, you know, other stores, online retailers, different DI mean, tons of different websites are built on WordPress because of the endless options. And then same thing with SEO Control. I'm also giving that five stars because there is complete SEO Freedom with plugins that you can use.

[00:18:56] And advanced features. Since you have access to all of the code pretty easily, you just kind of have to know what to do. It's really the gold standard for long-term SEO and monetization. So if you want total control and plan to grow your blog into a business, then wordpress.org is your best bet. It just takes a little bit of setup at the front end to get there, but it is completely doable.

[00:19:21] I am 100% self-taught when it comes to WordPress, and if I can do it, you can do it. Okay. The last one I'm gonna talk about is show it with a WordPress blog. So that's what's pretty interesting about show it ease of use. I'm, I'm gonna give it like a two to a three star setup. The design side is easy once you get used to it, but connecting.

[00:19:49] Show it to WordPress is just gonna add a little bit of complexity. I will say show its team is fantastic. Their support is incredible and you will love that part of it. So if you do have questions and if you are setting it up yourself, they're there to help and that's really awesome. So with show it. Two systems working together.

[00:20:11] So Showit manages like the design and the hosting of your site, and then WordPress is for the blogging. So once you have the design set up, you don't really need to log in to show it and touch anything. You'll just log into WordPress and write your blog posts, which is great. So with that, the customization potential is five stars.

[00:20:32] You have absolute creative freedom just like you do with WordPress. It is true drag and drop design without coding. So if you've ever played with something like. Adobe products, illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, or even Canva. Truly, I get a little bit more of the feel. Um, with my background being in graphic design and knowing how to use Adobe Illustrator and those products, playing with Showit felt very natural to me and I was able to build pages for clients very.

[00:21:02] Seamlessly because I kind of already knew how that structure worked on the backend with layers and different things, Canva trying to get there. Um, so I think if you like playing with layers and different things in Canva, then once you kind of figure out where everything is and show it, it's really simple to use.

[00:21:19] My caveat with this again though, is unless you're purchasing a theme, so I, I would not start from scratch to show it. And they have a lot of themes that you can use to get started. If you want to purchase more themes, it does get pricey, but again, you can create really, really gorgeous, beautiful sites with this one of our clients.

[00:21:38] Liz over at Within the Grove. I'll leave her link in the description below you. Her site is built on, show it, and has the WordPress blog, and it's a beautiful website, so check that one out for just to kind of get an example so you can create a completely unique site that feels like your brand. If you know how to design, um, SEO control is fantastic.

[00:22:01] You know, you're combining show its visuals with WordPresses, SEO Power. You just have to really make sure settings are connected correctly for the best results. I'm gonna give this a four star for SEO control because you have to know how to put in keywords both on show it side and then of course like within your own WordPress.

[00:22:21] So there's kind of a few places that you have to like take care of things there. But I really think show, it's like the dream platform for creatives who care deeply about design. It's a little more complex to learn, but the results are stunning. My long-term choice, because I told you guys that after I gave you our run through of all of them, hopefully your eyes have or ears haven't glazed over, eyes, haven't glazed over.

[00:22:45] I guess you're not really watching this, but I hope that gives you like a good. Landing place for knowing where to go. If you want my choice, my long-term choice is WordPress. It's what I have been on, not since day one, because I started out on blog spot and then switched to WordPress a few years in, and I use WordPress with an Elementor plugin, which gives me a lot of design control, which I like.

[00:23:15] If I were to start over, I would probably go with show it. But really, you know, I kind of gave you the pros and cons of all of them. So hopefully you are able to make a really informed decision now. So now that you've heard about all of these platforms, and I know you're sitting here thinking, all right, Brie, I, I'm picking one, but now how do I actually.

[00:23:36] Do it. What do I do? You know, I've got the blog set up, or hey, I need tech tutorials. You mentioned those, right? All right, so the platform really is just the beginning. And what matters is having a plan for what comes next, how you're gonna brand it, how you're gonna grow it, how you're gonna actually make money from it, and also how are you going to set this up?

[00:23:55] And that's the part where most new bloggers get stuck, right? Um, once you finally figure out, okay, here's the setup, and maybe it's as easy as Substack, but. You know, you write a few posts and then you hit this wall of, I have no idea what I'm doing. That's why I created Bold Fluence, because it's there where I can walk you through all of it.

[00:24:15] So the tech set up for setting up the blog, the growth strategies, the monetization roadmaps, anything that is techy. Once you get it set up and you're like, oh my God, I hate this. I wanna cry. All of that is in one place, and you've got a whole community of creators figuring it out right alongside you. And we actually have templates inside for a lot of the stuff I'm about to cover, like brand guides and content plans, so you're not starting from scratch.

[00:24:41] So if that sounds helpful, click bold, fluence in the description, or Head to Thrive together. Do blogs slash bold fluence to check it out. Alright, so let's talk about those next steps. So before you even publish another post. Or your first post, you need to take time to define your brand, who you're talking to, what makes you different, and then the kind of content you want to be known for.

[00:25:03] So ask yourself, who am I creating for? What problems or desires does my content help with? What do I want someone to feel when they land on my site? Would you stop and do this first and answer these questions first, and maybe you're already publishing on a platform. Maybe you're on social media. Now you're ready to go to a blog.

[00:25:23] This clarity is going to help everything across the board and make every future decision. Easier from your visuals to your content planning, to your brand partnerships, to affiliate partnerships, all of the above. When you know this information, it's going to help so, so much. Once you've done that and you notice, like I said.

[00:25:46] Branding, but I didn't talk about visuals. Okay, so that's the next part. First, you wanna do audience and you know, all of the questions I just asked. Then create a brand guide. This is where we can start to get into some of the visuals, but not quite yet. Um, you wanna talk then about your voice and strategy.

[00:26:07] Okay. Branding is so much more than colors and fonts. This is the core of what makes you stand apart. And if you're coming from social media, you know that you're like, yes, I can create a certain vibe and aesthetic with my video content. But it's really your voice, your strategy, who you're talking to that has created your brand.

[00:26:31] So what tone are you using? Is it friendly, educational, cozy? Um, are you hilarious? Right? Um, who's your audience and how do you want them to see you? What topics or content pillars are you gonna focus on, and what is setting you apart from other creators in your niche? Do you have your voice really nailed down, or is it something that you're going to work on?

[00:26:54] These details are your anchor. You can literally write them down in one page and call it your brand voice guide and reference it when you create content or pitch brands, or if you have an assistant in the future, give this to them. That's what I love to do. I want to make sure that everybody is on the same page and including myself, and that I am not like straying from what I want the brand to be.

[00:27:19] We have a template for this inside bold fluence, just FYI, that walks you through step by step. So then we get to your visual identity. So that's when you can think of this as like your blogs outfit, and your mood board, right? So you want your logo, a color palette, fonts that you're going to use, and then this is gonna help you stay consistent.

[00:27:41] Visually across your website, graphics and social posts, and build recognition over time. I would even encourage you if you are going to be doing video, short form video or long form video to have some of those guidelines set up for the visual as well, how you're filming, how you're editing the content, what that looks like, so that way that stays consistent as well.

[00:28:05] Alright. The last part that we're gonna talk about is the legal jargon. What do we need to keep ourselves, our blog, our audience, our content, all of that safe. Every single blog, even brand new ones, need to have at least a privacy policy. A cookie policy, and if you're going to be sharing any affiliate links, you also need an affiliate disclosure.

[00:28:31] So the privacy policy explains what data you collect and how it's used. A cookie policy is if you're using Google Analytics ads, affiliates, you need to have this policy on there as well. An affiliate disclosure is required by law if you earn money through affiliate links. So if you share any affiliate links, you have to disclose that.

[00:28:54] Optional. But recommended is just a general disclaimer, clarifying that your content is for educational or entertainment purposes and not professional advice like legal, medical, or financial. So you can grab. Pre-written templates for these online. Um, or you can have a lawyer review them if you wanna be extra thorough.

[00:29:14] I know just getting started out, that's not, um, a super fun expense, which is why I love templates from a couple of different spots. And I will link those for you guys in the show notes. And they are pretty affordable, so you can get those there. Now after you have all of this set up, what next? It's time to create a content plan.

[00:29:36] So once your platform and branding are in place, it's time to plan what you're gonna actually publish, right? So this is where we're gonna go in our next episode on blogging in a few weeks. How to create a simple, repeatable content plan that's gonna help you stay consistent and intentional and connect with your audience and help you grow your page views.

[00:29:56] All without burning out. So if you're feeling inspired right now. Great. You're building a foundation for something that's gonna grow with you. So I'm giving you time if you need to go get your blog set up or revised or moved to a different platform, you've got time before the next episode to go and do that.

[00:30:12] And two, check out bold fluence to help propel your momentum even further or get some help with getting everything set up correctly. So check the link in the description or head to thrive together, blog slash bold fluence. And I'll see you guys back here next week for a new episode.

[00:30:33] If this episode helped you, help us grow, leave a review, share it with a friend, and tag us on social media. We can't wait to cheer you on.