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Blog Software Buyer's Guide
Table of Contents
What is Blog software?
It is a platform for creating an online blog or publication. These are released as open source software and come with a fully managed PaaS (Platform as a service) system. Once published, the content can be easily distributed everywhere. A Blog software application also comes with integrated AMP support and inbuilt SEO optimization tools. The presence of customizable themes makes the overall presentation even more delightful.
Is it worth investing in money?
› FOR THE WEBSITE:
Here the answer is definitely a big YES as the blog software provides a streamlined and feasible way of pouring thoughts and sharing them with the whole world. With little to zero requirements of coding skills and availability of pre-developed themes, plugins, and facilities, a beginner can also easily understand the basics of how to start a blog without any support. Moreover, various free blog sites also allow users to fully customize their websites or blogs as per their need or choices without any prior coding or technical knowledge. One can simply know the basics or do as suggested in guides or reviews and be successful in hosting his/her own free blog platforms.
› FOR THE USERS:
Every new thing poses difficulties at the beginning. In this scenario, external assistance from a number of platforms, such as guides, reviews, YouTube videos, discussions over social media platforms like Reddit, and Quora seems to be fruitful for bloggers. In this regard, many blog software also provides 24/7 customer support to their users over emails, chat services, and phone calls to provide instant assistance to address their issues.
› FOR THE COMPANY:
Top blog software applications also allow users to keep a regular track on new visitor acquisition, shows their behavior and interest with metrics for analyzing the proper designing of content. It enables users to have an idea on the fields which ups the interest of the customer that ultimately results in a healthy inflow of traffic to the website and maximize the profits.
How does blogging software work?
A blog software platform makes your publication stable, secure and fast. It offers a flexible content management system coupled with the power of dynamic routine to give your site any shape you want. You can pull in dynamic blocks such as videos, images, embeds into your content to make your blog look attractive and audience puller.
Now, if you have decided to go for a Blogging software, it’s time for you to know some important aspects.
Before choosing any blogging software
Before jumping into a conclusion and investing in any of the best blog software let’s discuss the most important points which one should always keep in mind, to avoid any headache in the future.
› UNDERSTANDING THE TARGET AUDIENCE
One of the most important steps is to have a complete understanding of one’s target audience, such as the needs of the audience, your uniqueness, the offers which can keep the customers engaged and satisfied, and many more.
› CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLAN
Blog software come with a variety of subscription packs which depend upon the factors like the number of individual assessors, type of content (Audio/Video/Articles) and many more. Moreover, a myriad of free blog platforms also allows its users to avail a limited number of facilities under a free basic plan.
› EXPLORING DETAILS OF THE PRODUCT
Gathering details on the product can even save one from a lot of dilemma as this helps the individual to compare and find out the best blogging platform which successfully adheres to an individual or company’s need.
› DECIDING THE BUDGET
Similarly pre-deciding the budget also helps cutting down a lot of friction. You can quickly determine which ones to keep and which ones to not from your final list.
How to choose the best blog software?
The whole point of choosing the best blog software from a series of an existing platform is to achieve an individual goal within the planned time frame.
Here are some of the additional features you might want in your blog site:
1. INCLUDES A WYSIWYG EDITOR
Let’s face it, not all blog writers are proficient in HTML code, and we can’t rely on HTML coders for every time we decide to post a blog. Therefore, its crucial to find a blog platform which comes with a WYSIWYG Editor feature.
Acronym to ‘why you see is what you get,’ the WYSIWYG provides an interface where developers can see the end- results while he/she is making the changes. With features like this, anyone with decent internet skills can write and update their blogs with captivating modifications. You might consider blogs like b2evolution, Blogo, WordPress.com, etc. if you consider WYSIWYG Editor a must-have feature.
2. CO-MANAGEMENT
It’s vital for a company to permits the User to make some minor changes in blog posts to fit their reading criteria. If you have a staff who posts regular contents, then you must select a blogging platform that allows separate management permission to your team and users. Some Blog platforms offer individual permissions to users like changing blog names, personal categorization including minor changes to enhance their User Experience.
In the same way, your staff must have the administrative power to modify or remove a blog in extreme necessity. Managing the reviews and comments in social media platforms is a hard task, and without proper administrative control, things might get out of your hand before you even comprehend it.
3. TRACK YOUR BLOG’S PERFORMANCE
Through tracking the performance of your uploaded blog, you can get a fair idea about your target audience, their choices, what attracts them, what turns them off. With proper analysis, you will grasp the concept behind running successful blog campaigns. You can know which blogs are most liked and which topics attract more audience footprints. You will know which blogs lead to sales and which blog drove customers away. The advantage of tracking the performance of a blog is unquantifiable, but with proper idea & planning, you can put concentration more on customer-oriented contents.
Not all free blog sites allow you to track the performance of your posts. Some platforms only offer a limited number of monitoring options. Sometimes, you have to add some special tools to enhance the performance tracking of the blog.
4. CUSTOMER SUPPORT
This is what even the most prominent blog post platforms fail to deliver. Comparing the external features of the blog post platform with internal support is something which you must never skip. It’s not smart to consider some platforms as best blog sites due to their extensive features. When you run a digital campaign, it’s essential to ensure the efficiency of the platform. Otherwise, you will found yourself in the middle of nowhere, when things go awry in the future.
It’s quite common to face technical issues while posting a blog. Prompt customer support that guides you throughout the process is what you need at such crucial hours.
What are the features of blog software?
A blog Software allows you to upload your blog posts and make it available for the world to read it and express their viewpoints. However, to do that, you need a blog software which includes some basic features.
Here are the features of blog software:
1. ALLOWING TO POST BLOGS AND EMBED VIDEOS
It’s quite common to find a blog platform that will enable you with hassle-free uploads of texts and images. You will find plenty of platforms which allows you to upload audio files and video files as well. The problem arises when they won’t let you upload videos in a web-ready format. In such a situation, you may have to trim or use a separate video conversion process to make the video web-ready.
However, a platform which allows easy video embedding features can resolve your issue. You can upload your videos at youtube or Vimeo, and embed it at your blog platform. In this way, you will get viewers via the video sharing site as well as from the blog post.
2. EASY SHARING OPTION
Increasing the readership and driving traffic must remain your ultimate focus behind every blog post. This is only possible when you employ every available tool and start sharing and distributing your blog posts in all associated platforms. Sharing options are easily found on most free blog platforms. However, it also depends upon how easier the platform makes you share your blogs on different platforms.
Choosing the right blog posting platform will make it easier for you to distribute your blog in both internal and external platforms. Sharing must be as easy as clicking on one link and its done.
3. INTERACTIVE COMMENTING FEATURES
User comments can build or destroy a blog. Either you will be poured with applause or devoured with backlashes. Sometimes, commentators also leave elicit reviews just for trolling purposes. However, choosing the best blogging platform with advanced comment control features can set your comments back on track without losing any traffic.
While choosing the best blogging platform, make sure it includes buttons for users to express their affirmation to the blog. You can add a ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ button below the blog or ask the users to rate the article between one to five. The prime aim is to create an engagement page for users where they can share their thoughts. The more the buzz lasts, the more chance you will have to get the best out of it. Don’t forget to add the ‘captcha’ feature to your blogs, ensuring to keep spammers and trollers away from your blog. Adding a captcha will help in establishing a clean and tidy environment, promoting healthy discussions inside the platform.
4. KEEP YOUR USERS UPDATED:
You might be a small company with an aim to post one blog per week. However, with your business’s expansion and increase in readers, you must look forward to increasing your blog post updates. As time passes by, your page will be swarming with hundreds of blogs, which might create confusion among regular visitors.
You must look for the best blogging platform which displays ‘recent post’ features to your Users. To keep your Users updated with your recent posts, you must look forward to a highly compliant blog that displays all the fresh posts, as soon as a User enters into the page. Besides, make sure it also pays credit to the contributors or authors of the blog posts.
What are the benefits of blog software?
It is not just the coding hassle that you avoid; you get benefited in a number of ways with best blog software on your side such as:
› IMPROVED SEO:
With a proper SEO built-in directory, you get constant advice on improving your content for rank better on search engine algorithms.
› ACCELERATED MOBILE PAGES:
As most blog software has inbuilt AMP support, your page will load fast on mobile thereby catering towards a big pull of audience.
› DETAILED STRUCTURED DATA:
The pages appear beautifully on the page and give a structured appearance to the readers with rich Metadata.
› DEFAULT RSS FEEDS AND EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS:
The feature of RSS Feeds and auto Email-Subscription capture forms come by default with these software applications.
Conclusion
A blog software application is no doubt a boon for independent bloggers. It enables them to get started almost in a day which used to take a month a decade ago. However, with so many applications present in the market, it is essential to choose the best blog software through detailed analysis to get the best return on your investment.