Why I Recommend Blogger

I recommend Blogger because it's relatively easy-to-use, but that ease-of-use creates some limitations.  If you'd like to compare some of the features of different platforms, you can take a look at my article Comparing Blog Platforms.

The greatest strength I see in Blogger is that it's relatively intuitive.  You won't find very many "must click here" menus, and the buttons you do use are relatively large, dependable, and self-explanatory.  In fact, you could create an entire blog without ever checking your Settings tab - for the most part, everything you need to do is taken care of when you first create your blog, and then you can take care of the rest under the Posting tab.

However, most bloggers (myself included) want a blog that's aesthetically pleasing.  You want your page to look good.  And this is where Blogger really shines.  If you go to the Design tab, you can easily rearrange the Page Elements (basically, you can move your Pages, Personal Profile, and List of Blog Posts wherever you like.)  And then there's the most fun part of all: the Template Designer.  With a few clicks, you can switch from Simple blue skies to dark and Awesome to an artsy Watermark.

However, Blogger does have limits that advanced bloggers might not like.  You can get around them using at little HTML and a lot of patience, but I'm afraid this example blog doesn't give much information on how to do that.  This isn't the place to learn about advanced blogging tools such as DNS settings, HTML coding, or Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  I'll try to include more information on those tools at another point, but you don't need to worry about them in order to get your online presence up and running.  And Blogger is nice because you don't need to worry about those settings to get started.

As you become a better blogger, you'll find that you may need to use the more advanced settings in order to create a more personalized website and attract more visitors.  Fortunately, HTML is fairly standard - anything you can code with HTML will work all right in Blogger.  I must warn you that Blogger is not as well equipped for SEO as other blogging platforms (such as Word Press.)  However, if you purchase a custom domain through Google, you'll have full control over your DNS settings, and that can allow you to create subdomains and redirects - either to highlight multiple blogs or to send your visitors to different websites.