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I particularly like Smart Bear's Blog interface. It's easy to leave a comment, sign up, low barrier of entry to leave a comment, and it's easy for others to chime in on comments. I like the clean basic look, the layout, and the variety of sharing features.

I'm going to add a blog section to my site and I'm looking for a platform that will be easy to use like the aforementioned blog above.

In your opinion, what's the best, easiest, and cheapest blog platform similar to the one i've just described?

Thanks!

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ok, what's the difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org? – Alex Oct 27 '10 at 21:55
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See my comment to Justin's answer. – lkessler Oct 28 '10 at 4:22

8 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Wordpress 100%. Plugins take WP to the next level. There is such a dedicated community you can surely find a plugin to take care of all your basic needs - contact form, seo, sitemaps, navigation, social sharing, facebook plugins, bookmarking, CMS, print CSS, etc.

Most people don't associated Wordpress as a Content Management System, but it can also be used as a powerful CMS and/or hybrid blog/website. There are also thousands and thousands of free/paid themes that make customizing, building, and publishing a site super easy. It's based off PHP so if you know a little of that, you'll be able to master the platform.

I design and develop almost exclusively on Wordpress. Take a look at the WP section of my portfolio for an idea of what you can do with Wordpress: http://www.cenerwebdesign.com/portfolio.html

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whats the difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org? – Alex Oct 27 '10 at 21:49
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@Alex: Wordpress.com is where you can go to get a Wordpress blog that will be hosted for you and everything will be set up for you. Wordpress.org is where the wordpress program itself is, and where you go if you want to download it and host it on your own website. – lkessler Oct 28 '10 at 4:21
up vote 2 down vote

Everyone seems to love Wordpress, but I found it a bit clunky and difficult to use. I would recommend trying Joomla, which is another free Open Source program that some hosts offer as a one-click install. I run my website on Joomla at it's been amazing for me, especially with the search engines. The Joomla site has hundreds of thousands of free plugins that offer tremendous value. Their forums are also mind-blowing as all the members are so tremendously helpful. Good luck!

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Joomla is good but it is too big to use just as a blog platform. It is great as a CMS. – Ricardo Oct 29 '10 at 13:59
I can see how you might think that, but the latest Joomla technology allows for much faster load times and there are ways you can optimize the speed to perform just as well if not better than Wordpress. I suppose someone might want to look into testing out the back-end of both systems to see which is a better fit for them. – Cheryl Allin Nov 1 '10 at 3:59
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Smart Bear uses Wordpress and I believe its the most popular platform out there. Most hosting companies offer it as a one click install, and then from there there are thousands of themes and plug ins out there that you can use to customize your blog.

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up vote 1 down vote

Well, if you like the smart bear blog you should check out Jason's venture WP Engine - though it might not qualify under the "cheapest" requirement you set out...

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1  
WPEngine is not a blogging platform, it is a hosting solution for WordPress. – Ricardo Oct 29 '10 at 13:57
@Ricardo - I understand that. Once someone has chosen wordpress they have to host it somewhere, correct? I figured since the OP mentioned smartbear specifically it was worth the link. – TimJ♦ Oct 29 '10 at 13:59
Agree with you on that 100%. I just wanted to make sure that anyone reading your answer wouldn't get confused :) – Ricardo Oct 29 '10 at 14:41
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IMO, wordpress seems to fit what you have described.

Easy to use -Wordpress just works. No complicated installation. U just need a php and mysql enabled server which can be installed in any server. Just a side note if you have an existing windows server, you can easily install it using Microsoft platform installer.

Cheapest - it's free and running on php. Which means you were to go with self hosting option, you can get it running in just a few dollars. It can be totally free of charge if u make use of wordpress.com

Best - I cannot say anything is best as things are changing every time. But I heard Microsoft is changing their live spaces to wordpress. So definitely it is a piece of good blogging software.

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up vote 1 down vote

The Smart Bear blog is on Wordpress, and it uses the Thesis Theme. Jason also wrote a blog post discussing the Wordpress plugins he uses on the Smart Bear blog.

You may also want to take a look at 8 Free Plugins to Protect Your WordPress Blog from Being Hacked. And also see this question: Current best practices for blogging

As a side note, we use Wordpress for our website, and I would highly recommend it.

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up vote 0 down vote

I would recommend Wordpress. The interface is pretty easy to use. We are currently updating our site with a blog section using Wordpress. we're expecting to have that up by next week.

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up vote 0 down vote

This is going to depend on whether or not you plan to physically host the blog on your site using on-premise software. Assuming you're not (and why would you): blogger is easier to use than Wordpress, and as far as I can tell, similarly equipped. I've operated blogs on both platforms, and in my mind, blogger is the winner. YMMV.

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