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With the increased interest in Blogging (web Logging), many web hosting providers now provide an assortment of free usage, open source blogging software packages. Among the most popular of these blogging tools are B2evolution, WordPress and Nucleus. Each of these programs offer similar basic features, so the question arises as to which one is easiest to use and would be appropriate for the requirements of your particular website.

The answer lies in the true purpose of your blog website. If your primary goal is to share your opinions and ideas with the general public, you would want to utilize a different blogging tool than a user who was creating product blogs as a commercial sales effort. A blog for search engine promotion would have entirely different requirements. All of these uses are viable reasons to create a blog, however each requires different features to be successful.

WordPress Blogging Software

Available for free download at: http://wordpress.org/

It is hard to beat WordPress for general personal blogging. WordPress is an open source, state-of-the-art personal publishing platform with a focus on presentation and usability. Everything related to creating and updating your blog is available through an intuitive graphical interface. With WordPress there is no need to compile your work. You simply write your column. You then select the features you want and your blog is instantly created and published to your website.

If you are on vacation, you can schedule your uploads for some date in the future or even email your column to the server! The system allows multiple users with multiple blogs divided into categories and sub-categories. This allows multiple family members or friends to create their own blogs along with yours.

Easy customization and the availability of many “plug-ins” that provide more functionality (add new features as you learn) makes this software a very good choice for most individuals.

B2evolution

Available for free download at: http://b2evolution.net/

B2evolution is another advanced web log tool that features an integrated XHTML validator. It supports recursive subcategories, cross posting and has a really cool integrated “skinning” system.

The “skinning” system allows you to create multiple blogs in separate categories with different appearances for each blog. You simply “change the skin” for the blog to create a totally new look and feel.

The “skinning” feature, combined with the built in multi-user administration management tool, makes the system robust enough for more commercial endeavors, such as product promotion blogs. If you have much to publish with multiple themes, this is the software you are looking for.

Nucleus Blogging Software

Available for free download at: http://nucleuscms.org/

Though Nucleus is an extremely robust blogging tool in its own right, it also contains some powerful features that can provide benefits in promotion of your blog.

Nucleus offers the ability to optimize its URLS, creating simple page addresses that do not have and “&” or “=” characters. This makes the pages search engine (and user) friendly. Another great feature is the ability to show the contents of multiple weblogs on one page. This could allow a
website owner to manipulate the optimum text / keyword balance on pages for better search engine rankings.

Nucleus also provides RSS and Atom feeds that can be extremely helpful when promoting a website. If part of your blog’s function is to work as a search engine marketing and promotion tool, Nucleus is an exceptional software package.

Each of these blogging software packages offer the basic tools that you would need to create a successful blog and all three are PHP – MySQL open source (free to use) packages. You should try to select the software that helps you achieve the long term goal that you have in mind for your website based on the unique extra features offered by each.

At hosted for free blog services like blogger.com and wordpress.com, you can create a blog in a mere matter of minutes. Starting and setting up one is as easy as pie. All you have to do is follow the free host’s recipe and your blog will quickly be online.

This kind of blog is not necessarily the best kind to have. Instead, you might be better off paying for hosting, getting your own domain name, and installing WordPress as your blogging platform. There are some disadvantages with free hosting that you should be aware of, if you intend to put a lot of time and effort into blogging.

* There will be less configuration choices than a self-hosted blog. You simply won’t be able to tweak it as much as you could with self-hosting. At the start, this may not make much of a difference. However, as your blogging demands and capabilities grow, you will probably find the lack of configuration choices a detriment. The configuration limits of free services can hold you back.

* You will have to choose your theme from a selection of canned themes. Some of the theme choices may have some design change options built into them, and the particular free hosted service you choose may allow some theme modification. Overall though, you will be using themes that everybody else using the free hosted service chooses from. Your blog will probably wind up looking like a lot of others. With self-hosting, you can have your own unique theme.

* Although you will have the ownership of the content you create for your blog, you don’t have complete ownership of your blog with free hosting. The online service you use for your blog has ownership of the domain name associated with your blog. You can’t change or improve the blogging platform, you just make do with what is offered. You will have to live with the way your blog works on a hosted free service. With a self-hosted blog, you own the whole shebang and can do whatever you want, because you own your own blog. That’s a very good thing.

* The default domain name you will have is not a Top Level Domain. An example of a Top Level Domain name is myblogname.com. The domain name will by default, include the name of the online hosting service. An example would be myblogname.thenameofthefreehost.com. A self-hosted blog with a Top Level Domain name, is simply more professional and impressive. It’s best to register your own Top Level Domain name and use it for your blog.

* If you ever decide to make the switch, it can be a challenge to move your freely hosted blog over to a self-hosted blog. You will have to export your blog’s content, and then import it to your self-hosted blog. This process may or may not go smoothly. Personally, I’ve had good luck exporting and importing content to a self-hosted blog, but things can go wrong and my palms were sweaty each time I did this. The worst-case scenario is that valuable content can be lost or not imported to the new self-hosted blog. Your blog’s content is all the effort and hard work you put into making your posts. You don’t want that to forever disappear with a mouse click. Keep in mind that moving content to a self-hosted blog can be risky.

In my opinion, owning your own blog by using WordPress as your blogging platform, having it self-hosted at a web host you choose, and having your own registered domain name, is the most professional and serious way to have a blog. You will maintain control of your blog and a third-party free hosted blog service will not impose limitations or constraints on your blog, or what you do with it.

There are millions of blogs out there so it can be difficult to distinguish yourself. Just making a blog header can personalize the template so your visitors know exactly what your blog is about before they ever actually start reading. The blog header makes a first impression on the guests of your site so make sure that it’s a good impression.

Photos are popular sources for blog headers. You’ll want to make sure that the picture directly relates to your content or incorporate it with a witty tagline. Be aware that people all around the world will be visiting your blog so make sure that you take that into account when deciding whether or not to use pictures of your kids.

For a personal blog or if you scrapbook or sell crafts you might be interested in a cute cartoon graphic. This can look like you but still have a sense of whimsy. This creates a welcoming feel on your blog. It’s rare to find these graphics for free but if you look through free stock photo sites you may be able to dig up a few. You’ll want to contact the artist before you put it in your template. The picture may only be available for private use instead of on commercial sites. You’ll also want the artist to be aware that you’ll be using the photo in a template, especially if you are going to let other people use your design as well.

You’ll need some kind of photo editing software when creating designs for blogs. There is free software that is comparable to Photoshop such as the GIMP program. Be aware that there is a sharp learning curve for these kinds of programs because there are so many different features available. Give yourself enough time to really learn the full capabilities of the software. This will give you a professional looking design.

If you aren’t a designer then turn to people who are for free help. Many designers offer free headers. These are basic designs that you can use for a background. Then you can just add the title of you blog or maybe hang a frame with a picture that speaks to your niche on it. The downside to this is that you’ll probably have to include a link in your template back to the designer but it saves you a lot of money.

The other way to create a free blog header is through the use of collage. You might want to just crop different photos and then resize them. Then you can lay them out in your blog header for a tile effect. This way you’ll have a totally different look from every other blog out there. You’ll want to make sure that the title of you blog is still visible and readable on top of a custom header.

A free blog header allows you to personalize a template easily. You can create a custom look without a big budget and it’s an opportunity to tap into your creative skills.