Which is best for blogging, WordPress, Wix, Joomla or…? This is a popular question beginners ask just like how to come up with blog post ideas, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. There are scores of popular blogging platforms out there, one of which you must choose/use if you want to start a blog.
Since “best” is a relative term, perhaps the question should be, which platform is best suited to my particular blogging needs, pattern, niche, style, budget, coding skills, etc? This approach makes more sense plus makes choosing a blogging platform a tad easier for individuals, brands or businesses looking to join the blogosphere.
In this piece, we shall highlight some key features of popular blogging platforms like WordPress, Wix and Joomla, their pricing structure, and a few pros and cons, to help you decide which is best for your blogging needs, but first
What is a Blog and Why Bother?
The first recorded weblog (abbr. blog) began in 1994 as a “personal homepage”, a personal online diary or journal, where people shared their personal thoughts and experiences.
Today, Blogging, Content Marketing and Writing are emerging as high performing strategies in digital marketing. With the need for quality content growing every day, brands are looking at content marketing trends more than ever. This is because, Inbound strategies are growing more than paid advertising models. Maintaining website blogs and doing high-authority guest posting are some reasons why brands are turning to content marketing and development.
Billions of searches are conducted daily, serving up tons of search engine results pages (SERPs), which are essentially web pages or blogs containing relevant answers or information. Search visibility via blogging can yield tremendous value and revenue for businesses that know their onions.
Following are
Some Interesting Statistics Showing Why You Should Start Blogging
- About 409 million people around the world view over 20 billion pages every month
- Businesses that blog receive at least 97 percent more links to their website
- Businesses publishing 16 blog posts or more per month got 4.5x more leads than those with fewer than 4 posts per month.
- 53 percent of marketers cite blogging as their #1 content marketing priority
- Marketers or bloggers that prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to see positive ROI
- Internet users in the US spend 3X more time on blogs than emails
- In 2018, there were 30.6 million bloggers in the US alone. By 2020, this number is set to reach up to 31.7 million (Statista)
- Companies that blog generate 2X more traffic from email than those who don’t
- Blogs are known to increase web traffic by up to 6X
- Blogs have been rated the 5th most trustworthy or reliable source for gathering quality information online
3 of the Best Blogging Platforms Out There
- WordPress
Michael Valdrighi launched B2-Cafelog in 2001. By 2003, Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg developed it further into WordPress.
Now powering over 34% of websites, WordPress controls over 60.8% of content management system (CMS) market share, making it the most popular and most widely used CMS out there.
WordPress allows you to promote your products/services, use advanced SEO tools, access built-in audiences on social media, open a store, process and receive payments, configure tax and shipping, design an online portfolio, or even start and grow a thriving blog.
Plugins and extensions help users get the most out of WP. With zero coding skills, users can create beautiful websites just by installing and customizing themes. Coders can also edit or modify WP theme codes to create highly customized websites/blogs.
Big brands like CNN, UPS, TED, and CBS Radio all use WordPress. Services like WhatWPThemeIsThat also help you identify if a site uses WordPress and what type of theme it uses.
Pricing starts at $4/mo billed yearly.
- Wix
Wix is a product of Wix.Com Ltd., with HQ in Tel Aviv-Yafo. It is a cloud-based web development platform that allows users to create/build stunning websites without any coding whatsoever. Featuring drag and drop mechanism, users can create HTML5 and mobile responsive websites within minutes simply via drag and drop.
Founded in 2006 by co-founders Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami and Giora Kaplan, the do-it-yourself web publishing platform has witnessed phenomenal growth, and now powers over 160 million websites.
Wix is great for small brands or business owners who hate or can’t code to save their lives. It comes pre-loaded with themes and templates with which users can create any site of their choice.
With Wix, you can promote your business, showcase your work, open an e-commerce store or even start a blog. It gives you the freedom to create your dream website for free or cheap, including affordable hosting packages.
Users need to answer a few questions and Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) will create a website therefrom. Users who can code can also build professional websites by adding their code into Wix’s built-in IDE.
Pricing also starts at $4/mo.
- Joomla
Joomla is another powerful open-source CMS founded in 2005 and built on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) web application framework. Co-founder and lead developer Johan Janssens has contributed greatly to its development. Joomla CMS is written in PHP language and makes use of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).
It is an open-source application that any developer can inspect, modify and enhance. The Joomla community of over 1, 600 also contributes to the development and enhancement of the platform.
Joomla has been downloaded over 108 million times, features over 10, 000 extensions and templates, and powers over 2 million websites, and is available in over 76 languages.
Michael Phelps’ website is powered by Joomla, among other high-profile users. Joomla is the second most popular CMS powering 3% of websites and controlling 5.4% CMS market share.
WordPress vs. Wix vs. Joomla: Pros and Cons
WordPress
Pros
- Relatively easy to use
- Zero to little coding required
- Free to use
- Relatively cheap hosting
- 1000s of themes and plugins
- Mobile responsiveness
- SEO ready
- Constant updates
- Social media integration
- In-built analytics
Cons
- Requires basic technical know-how
- Backend management can be tasking
- Paid themes, plugins can raise cost
- Prime target for cybercriminals
- Increased vulnerability from plugins
- Customization requires coding knowledge
Wix
Pros
- User-friendly even for non-techies
- Drag and drop website builder
- AI (ADI) powered web design
- Over 500 templates to choose from
- Free plans
- Relatively affordable pricing plans
- Great for SMBs
- Ecommerce functionality
- Up to 21 payment gateways
- Dedicated support team
Cons
- No access to edit your site’s code
- Users have less control
- Fewer apps which are rather high-priced
- Paid apps not functional with free plan
- Inability to change template after launch
- Inability to transfer website data
Joomla
Pros
- Flexible and incredibly powerful
- Suitable for building more than just blogs
- Lots of templates available
- Ability to install and use multiple templates
- Hundreds of extensions (plugins) available
- Multiple languages supported
- Advanced user management out-of-box
- Ability to download and install
- Features TinyMCE Editor similar to WordPress
- Huge developer community
Cons
- Basic tech/coding skills required
- Knowledge of CSS and HTML is essential
- Users are responsible for backups, security, and performance (though you can take advantage of Joomla’s managed hosting)
- Accountable for 17% of all hacked website
- Limited flexibility and functionality
Conclusion
Bogging can grow your business, bring you highly qualified organic traffic/leads, establish you as an expert or authority; and when monetized, can pay your bills. It is important to select the best platform best suited to your needs, in order to benefit from blogging.
Which of WordPress, Wix or Joomla do you use, and why? Share with us in the comments section.
Author Bio
Amos Onwukwe is an AWAI trained Business and Ecommerce Copywriter who also covers Tech and Social Media. When not writing, he’s thinking of writing or making music. He’s been featured in Huffington Post, Dumb Little Man, Ecommerce Nation, eCommerce Insights, Understanding Ecommerce, Result First, Floship, GrowMap, Self Growth, among others.
You can connect with him on
Twitter: @amos_onwukwe
LinkedIn: Amos Onwukwe