What Site Should I Use to Start a Blog?

Once in a while I get asked about starting blogs. What site should I use to start a blog? Or, maybe someone has already Googled a few different sites and wants some advice before spending real time and money on something.

That is where this article comes in. Generally, I do have an answer. It is not quite a default answer, but I have been at this stuff long enough to have pretty close to default answers for some things.

Most likely I will say:

WordPress.

Then, just like when somebody asks me what laptop they should buy, I start asking questions: 

What are you trying to do with it? 

Do you literally just want to write? 

Are you trying to make money eventually? 

Do you want a newsletter? 

Are you planning on selling subscriptions? 

Do you want a store someday? 

Do you want complete control over the thing? 

Or do you just want to click a few buttons, pick a pretty template, and start typing?

Because there are a ridiculous number of ways to start a blog now, and while WordPress is usually my answer, it isn't necessarily the right answer for everybody.

I Usually Say WordPress

WordPress is old, and I don't mean that as an insult. It has been around forever in internet years, and there's a reason it's still everywhere. More importantly, it gives you somewhere to go if your little blog eventually turns into something that isn't so little anymore.

You can start with a stupid-simple blog and eventually turn that same site into something almost unrecognizable. You can run ads, use affiliate links, sell products with WooCommerce, add memberships, build courses, send newsletters, or add some bizarre feature you came up with at 2:00 in the morning that absolutely nobody asked for. There's probably already a plugin for it.

That's really why I recommend WordPress. It's the “I want to start a blog, but I might eventually branch out” option. You don't have to know exactly what your website is going to become before you build it.

WordPress Is Also Kind of a Pain in the Ass

Of course, all that flexibility comes with some baggage. WordPress has themes, plugins, updates, hosting, backups, databases, page builders, and approximately 400 different ways to accomplish the exact same thing.

And then there is security.

WordPress itself is not inherently some giant security disaster, but it is popular enough that people are constantly looking for poorly maintained sites, outdated plugins, weak passwords, and bad configurations. The more plugins you install and the longer you ignore updates, the more opportunities you create for something stupid to happen.

That means if you're going to run WordPress, you need to at least pay attention. Keep it updated. Use decent passwords. Be picky about plugins. Have backups. Don't install some random theme from a website that looks like it was built in 2009 because it promises “PREMIUM FOR FREE.”

For somebody like me, that's not necessarily a deal breaker. Half the fun is screwing with it anyway. But not everybody wants that responsibility. Some people genuinely just want to write something, hit publish, and move on with their lives.

If that's you, a hosted platform like Ghost or Squarespace starts looking a lot more attractive, because a lot of that infrastructure and maintenance is somebody else's problem.

And Then Somebody Mentions Wix

Eventually Wix enters the conversation.

I understand the appeal. You sign up, pick a template, drag some stuff around, change a few pictures, and you've got yourself a website. There's very little standing between you and getting something online.

There's just one problem.

Wix is ass.

Okay, maybe that's a little unfair.

You can absolutely make a functioning website with Wix. There are plenty of businesses using it, and if all you need is a few pages with your phone number, some pictures, and a contact form, it will probably do exactly what you need it to do.

I just don't particularly like recommending it for something somebody is hoping to grow.

If you tell me you want to start writing, build traffic, monetize the site, add features, and see where the whole thing goes, I'd rather put you somewhere that gives you more room to do that. Wix might be easier this afternoon, but I care a little more about whether you're going to hate your decision two years from now.

If your number one requirement is simply “I need a website and I don't want to learn how websites work,” then fine. Wix can do that.

I'm still going to make fun of you for it.

Ghost Is Where It Gets Interesting

Ghost at Ghost.io is probably the platform most likely to make me change my WordPress answer.

If you tell me that you're not interested in building some giant website and what you really want to do is write, Ghost makes a lot of sense. Especially if newsletters, memberships, and paid subscriptions are part of the plan.

That's what Ghost is built around.

You aren't starting with a general-purpose website and then adding a bunch of stuff to turn it into a publishing business. Publishing is the business. Posts, members, email newsletters, subscriptions, and paid content all fit naturally into what Ghost is trying to do.

I think that's probably the easiest way to explain the difference between the two.

WordPress gives you the world of Minecraft and tells you to build whatever the hell you want. Ghost has a world built for you and just tells you to play.

If somebody comes to me and says, “I want to start writing articles, build an email list, and eventually have people pay to subscribe,” I'm going to have a hard time automatically telling them WordPress anymore.

Ghost may legitimately be the better choice.

Squarespace Is Fine

I don't really have beef with Squarespace.

It's easy enough to use, it generally looks pretty good without requiring you to become a web designer, and you don't have to spend nearly as much time worrying about what's happening behind the scenes.

For a small business, portfolio, personal site, or somebody who wants a blog attached to an otherwise pretty simple website, Squarespace can be a perfectly reasonable choice.

You're trading some flexibility for convenience, but I think people sometimes treat that like it's automatically a bad trade.

It isn't.

If you don't enjoy messing with websites and don't ever intend to enjoy messing with websites, there is absolutely nothing wrong with paying somebody else to make most of that problem disappear.

I'd rather see somebody actually write 30 articles on Squarespace than spend six months building the world's greatest WordPress setup and publish absolutely nothing.

What About Substack?

I was actually questioning myself while writing this article because I legitimately wasn't sure whether I should recommend Substack. This was one of those platforms that seemed to take the world by storm for a while, and then, at least from where I was sitting, it seemed like it kind of fell off.

Turns out, I was wrong.

Substack is still very much a thing, but I almost think of it as a different conversation. If you tell me you want to start a newsletter, Substack makes a lot of sense. It removes a lot of the nonsense between deciding you want to write and actually putting your writing in front of people. You don't really have to care about building a website first. You can just start writing and start trying to build an audience.

That's useful, and apparently a whole lot of people still agree.

Where I start becoming a little less enthusiastic is when somebody tells me they're trying to build an entire brand or business. At that point, I start caring more about your website, your domain, how much control you have, and what happens when you eventually decide you want to do something the platform wasn't really designed for.

That doesn't make Substack bad. It just means I'd choose it because I specifically wanted what Substack does, not because somebody told me it was an easy way to start blogging.

If your thought is, “I want to write and build a newsletter audience,” absolutely take a look at Substack.

If your thought is, “I have no idea what this thing is going to become, but I want room to find out,” I'm probably right back to WordPress.

You Could Also Just Build the Damn Thing

Of course, there is always the nuclear option.

Build it yourself.

You can make your own website, your own authoring system, your own database, your own admin portal, your own authentication, your own analytics, your own subscriptions, and anything else your heart desires.

You will have complete control.

You will also be responsible for every single damn thing that breaks.

I actually enjoy building this kind of stuff, so I'm probably more willing than most people to go down that rabbit hole. But I would absolutely not recommend it to somebody whose actual goal is to start a blog.

It's really easy to spend three weeks building an amazing system for writing articles and forget that at some point you're supposed to actually write the articles.

Sometimes the boring, already-built solution is the better solution.

So, What Should You Actually Use?

If you ask me what you should use to start a blog and give me absolutely nothing else to work with, I'm probably going to say WordPress.

It gives you room to start small without deciding what your entire business is going to look like five years from now. If the blog takes off, you have somewhere to go. If you decide to sell something, you can. If you decide to add memberships, you can. If you come up with something completely ridiculous later, there's a decent chance WordPress can handle that too.

If you already know that writing, newsletters, memberships, and subscriptions are the whole game, I'd take a serious look at Ghost. It might actually be the better tool for the job.

If you want a nice-looking website and have absolutely no interest in becoming the person who maintains a website, Squarespace is fine.

If the newsletter itself is really what you're trying to build, Substack deserves a look.

And if you want Wix?

Well, you probably didn't need to read this far.

Wix is ass.

Use WordPress.