Finding the right platform helps create a successful personal or business blog, and for developers, writing blogs can be extremely beneficial. Only a blogging platform suitable for your needs will make creating and sharing your content more effortless. More accessible blogging platforms can help you create a website with a personalized design. Meanwhile, other media focus primarily on content and provide the same layout for all profiles.
We have compiled a list of the best blogging platforms to narrow the options. We will cover the pros and cons of each forum.
freeCodeCamp Blogging Platform
freeCodeCamp is one of the best choices if you want many people to read your writing. They run their publication similar to a traditional academic journal.
One benefit is you don’t have to worry about building or maintaining your blog.
Another massive benefit is that you don’t have to worry about promoting your articles. freeCodeCamp has an enormous base of readers, which you can reach if you publish articles there. They encourage the articles from their authors throughout their network, so you don’t blog into the void.
On the flip side, since freeCodeCamp spends a lot of time editing the articles and publicizing them, they ask that you don’t republish these articles on other platforms.
Besides that, you have to apply to write for them. You need to have already some examples of your writing to submit when you use it.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the pros and cons of publishing on freeCodeCamp.
PROS:
- You don’t have to worry about building and maintaining the blog.
- You don’t blog into the void. freeCodeCamp has a considerable following.
- They have an editorial team that green-lights your article ideas or helps you come up with article ideas and edits your articles.
CONS:
No cross-post articles which help you edit, publish, and publicize.
You have to apply to become an author, and even then, they reject many article ideas.
Dev.to Blogging Platform
Born in 2016, Dev.to is a platform specifically made for developers that makes it super easy to set up a blog and start sharing your tech knowledge.
The best part of Dev.to is its community of tens of thousands of developers. Every time you publish a new article, it will be shown on the home page feeds, just like socials do, where the community will be able to interact with it, giving you some extra visibility.
Another feature that made me put this platform on the list of best blogging platforms for developers is its excellent SEO optimization. One time out of 3, their website appears within the first 3 Google results when I’m looking for some development-related article.
Last but not least, Dev.to social presence is massive, and it’s not rare to see your articles featured on their pages, giving you even more visibility.
Of course, this platform comes with a couple of downsides like:
You won’t be able to use any custom domain,
Personalization is very scarce, leaving you unable to optimize your blog experience properly.
Last but not least, Dev.to analytics aren’t very helpful, not giving any insights about your readers.
Although this shouldn’t be an issue if you are starting, the inability to personalize the user experience, optimize it towards your conversion goals, and the absence of a custom domain or proper analytics, could stop more experienced or professional bloggers from using Dev.to.
Besides that, this is one of the best blogging platforms for developers just starting their tech writing journey.
Let’s recap the pros and cons of Dev.to.
PROS:
- Easy to set up and use.
- Gigantic community of developers.
- Strong social presence.
- Amazing SEO Optimization.
CONS:
- Low to no personalizaton.
- No custom domain.
- Lacks proper analytics.
Hashnode Blogging Platform
Hashnode is a platform that allows you to create a blog and write articles, like all the other platforms in this article.
One of the main differences is that Hashnode enables you to map your custom domain. That means, instead of having username.bloggingplatform.com, you can have an environment like yourname.com.
This makes your blogging platforms look more professional and more accessible for the readers to remember your blogging address.
Another significant benefit is that you’re not tied into the platform. You can easily download all your posts or export them to GitHub. That means you can always leave without too much hassle.
To put things into perspective, when I switched from WordPress to Hashnode, I lost most of my articles. Thus, it is crucial to be able to export your articles easily.
Lastly, you can customize and personalize your blog. You might be aware that blogging platforms have only one design that everyone uses. However, with Hashnode, everyone can customize their blog with custom CSS, so their blog has a unique feel and look.
However, you still don’t have complete control over your blog. If you’re not building your blog from the ground up, you’ll always depend on someone else.
For instance, if you want a feature, you must propose it and wait until it’s implemented. Even though the parts are usually implemented quickly, you still have to wait and have no control over them.
Also, you are not able to remove or modify core Hashnode features. For instance, you cannot remove the “Sign In” button from your blogging page. However, overall it’s an excellent platform for blogging.
Thus, let’s see the pros and cons of using Hashnode.
PROS:
- It gives you the possibility to backup all your posts.
- You are part of a large community.
- You can customize and personalize your blog.
CONS:
- You have to accept and follow the Terms of Service.
- You’re still using someone else’s platform.
WordPress Blogging Platform
The WordPress site is an open-source content management system (CMS), powering over 42% of all websites. It is the second most popular blogging platform, with over 77.8 million blogs.
WordPress’s popularity comes from its extensive selection of themes and plugins that help create any blog. WordPress plugins also give users complete control over customization and content creation.
In addition, users have more opportunities to scale a WordPress blog, such as turning it into an online store or a business site after it gains more followers.
Install the WordPress software first to create a website using the self-hosted WordPress version. Afterward, buy a domain name and a web host. One of the most popular Blog hosting services is Hostinger. Once you have everything set, select a suitable WordPress blog theme.
After installing the theme, personalize your blog by customizing its layout.
WordPress features blog content on the homepage by default. However, it is possible to create a separate page:
- Publish a new empty Page entitled blog.
- Head to Settings, Readings, and select A static page next to the Your homepage displays section.
- Select the Blog Page on the Post page section and click Save Changes.
- After setting up the blog page, start creating content by adding new posts. There is no limit to the number of blogging posts you can publish on your WordPress site.
PROS:
- Yoast SEO. This search engine optimization tool advises improving certain elements, such as SEO titles or meta descriptions, getting higher rankings on search engine result pages.
- WordFence Security. This comprehensive WordPress security solution keeps blogs secure by protecting them from malicious IP addresses and other security threats.
- Site Kit by Google. Track website analytics by recording the amount of traffic, engagement, and clicks a blog gets. In addition, learning the readers’ demographics will help improve and adjust content.
- Beaver Builder. Customize layout freely using this drag-and-drop site builder. This plugin gives more control over a blog’s design.
CONS:
- Finding a suitable theme, plugins, and tools can be overwhelming since plenty of options are available.
- Not all plugins and themes are high quality and secure.
