When we decide to build a home we first choose a place, then building plan, cost analysis, financing etc. Similarly when anyone decided to blog, have to choose blog location (domain or subdomain or hosted etc.) and blog building materials(i.e. blog platform or software). In my opinion these two are the very first basic choice every blogger have to make before they proceed blogging, otherwise in the end a lot of trouble come across your way. Let me explain why do i think it’s so important:-

Choosing Location: It’s true unlike our home we can move our blogs content from one location(server to server or platform to platform) to another, since it isn’t tangible. But have you consider that moving blog from one location to another location might cause you data loss (some platform or server may not support what already exist in your blog content/extra features you had added), search engine indexing & ranking lost (when you move your blog inter-domain, or subdomain or even inter-platform). Certainly loosing your hard work, ranking (which take a while to build) isn’t very smart things to do.

That’s the reason you need to decide first whether you want to blog a hosted blog, or you want to host your own blog. If you choose the second one you need to decide further factors too- domain name or sub-domain, software/platform etc. Lastly you need to ask yourself a question-how long you think your decision will last, example-you decided to host a blog in WordPress.com for 1st few years before you earned some reputation, and move up-to  host your own blog in your own domain/hosting. Think ahead of present since, you need to stick to your decision quite a long time, if you care to get succeed in blogging.

Choosing Platform/Software: Platform/software will be building material of your blog, so after you make the first decision this ones come along. One the first choice if you choose to have a hosted blog (ex- Blogger, TypePad, LiveJournal etc.) then you don’t need to worry about this part since your hosted blog decision include the blog platform already. There are three basic kinds of blog platform/software available( for now)-

1. Free blog software/platform (Usually Open source type)
2. Premium blog software/platform (Usually you pay a one time licensing fees to use these)
3. Custom made software/platform (i.e. You pay any developer/organization to build up unique blog system, alternatively you can make it by yourself too, if you have that kind of expertise)

I noticed that few of this things are misunderstood by a lot of startup bloggers. For example when you change your blogs looks/themes but the original software engine is still there, it doesn’t become a custom made platform. When you choose a blog software/platform regardless that’s a premium or free always needs some tweaking for making it personalized, off course in custom made platform its already tweaked to fit your taste/needs.

Which one is good for me?

Some of the premium blog service like TypePad,Userland etc. has different level of memberships that allow you to use their premium software on your own domain (certainly they are taking out the hosting cost from your wallet too). When you choose this kind of service you are completely free of thinking about your blog while your wallet dictate those services to provide you with hosting plan and software. This kind of service is appropriate for bloggers who are willing to spend but not willing/don’t have skills for tweaking. Popular WordPress also now offer paid hosted blog service. You are paying for it, but still limited customization are widely observed in this kind of services.

Not everyone wants to blog have opportunity or means to spend money in premium blog services but do not have time/skills to tweaking around too. For these kind of bloggers the appropriate choice would be free hosted blog. There are lot of them out on the net. Most talked hosted blog services are now- Google’s Blogger, MSN’s Livespace, Yahoo’s 360, MySpace, LiveJournal, Vox, Google’s Orkut so many more. In most of them your customization options will be limited, basically you can just change the way your blog looks.

Now for the third kind of people custom made blog, who likes their blog to be unique from the looks to the way they perform for flexibilities or for just satisfactions. Needless to mention this 3rd kind are ready to spend for their uniqueness demand. The first thing you need is find a good developer or organization who can facilitate your requirements. If you personally know someone that is the best part, otherwise you can look for those kind of services in sitepoint like websites.

Last kind is people who wants uniqueness but doesn’t have opportunity or means to spend (or just not willing) and well agree for tweaking (off course have certain knowledge). For this kind of people the option is free/open source blog software. There are quite a few free blog platform/software that can be tweaked to build something totally uniqe. This is the most popular type of software in blogosphere, since there is freedom to manipulate each and every section to make it of your own.

So i conclude this discussion, with recommendation that “You only know what you need, and what group you belongs to”, so ask yourself and decide carefully until you are not sure before you choose (stroll around blogosphere if you need sugestion to decide). Next round i will bring up the comparison of few popular blog platform/software, which will certainly help to  identify your needs.

[tags]Basic blogging, blog basics, blog softwares, blogging platform, choosing platform[/tags]