Top Ten Blog Hosting Sites of 2013

Would you like to start your very own blog this year?  If yes, you have a number of blog hosting sites to choose from.  Check out this shortlist of the most popular blog publishing platforms for the year 2013.  You can click on each link to be directed to the blog host you would like to try.

1. Blogger  A free blog publishing service provided by Google.  Without a doubt, one of the leading blogging platforms in the world. If you have a Google account, you can use it to sign in and create a blog straightaway.  The free account offers six customizable templates and all the basic tools needed in blogging.  You can buy a custom domain for your blog at $10 per year.  This would remove the ".blogspot" extension from your website address.

2. Wordpress.com  A powerful, free blog publishing site that offers reliable support, secure hosting, 3GB storage, blogging tools, and with over 200 ready-to-use customizable themes.  You have the option to subscribe to different kinds of premium upgrades at any time.

3. Tumblr  Founded in 2007, it is considered to be the fastest growing blog hosting site with about 112.6 million blogs to date.  Tumblr is both a microblogging platform and a social networking site where people can share blog entries, photos, videos, music, and texts from a desktop, mobile phone or email.  It is a favorite platform among photo bloggers.

4. Typepad Starting from $8.95 a month, you can fully personalize your blog's design, get help from Typepad's support team, create up to four different blogs, and enjoy unlimited storage.  There's a 14-day free trial period if you want to try it out.

5. Weebly  Its website creator uses a drag-and-drop interface, making it very easy for anyone to design a website that looks professional.  You can post entries from your iPhone or any Android device wherever you are. The free option includes the basic tools you need for blogging while the complete package costs $8 per month.  Furthermore, like the above blogging sites mentioned, it is search engine optimized; has built-in site analytics, and provides reliable cloud hosting service. 

6. LiveJournal  As the name suggests, LiveJournal promotes personal journaling online.  It combines blogging and social networking in one platform. You can post entries on your blog, join blog groups and interact with people in the blogging community.  Bloggers may use a free account or sign up for a paid account to access special features such as a personalized @livejournal email address, advanced customization option, etc.

7. Squarespace  Starting from $16 a month, you get a custom domain, unlimited pages, galleries and blogs, unlimited bandwith and storage, an advanced form builder, and 24/7 cusomer support.  You get to integrate your website with Google Docs and MailChimp for easy management of your mailing list.  You can also connect your website with a Facebook Page for instant tabs sharing.  At $24 per month, you can enjoy a fully-integrated e-commerce website along with other merchant tools and services.  If you have an online business, Squarespace is worth checking out.


8. Webs The free package is ad supported and includes the easy-to-use site builder, 40 MB storage and the option to display up to 5 items in your shop. Meanwhile, the Pro package starts from $15.67 per month, is ad free and includes a custom domain name, access to premium templates, up to 15 personalized email addresses, 5000 MB storage, unlimited HQ video storage, $100 Google AdWords Credit, $50 Facebook Ads Credit, and unlimited items in your web store. Like Squarespace, the e-commerce features makes this blogging platform ideal for business owners.

9. Xanga Founded in 1999, it was originally created as a place to share book and music reviews online.  Since then, it has continued to grow and has expanded to become both a blog hosting service and a social networking website with millions of users worldwide.
 

10. Wordpress.org  Here is a web publishing software for those who have their own domain with an independent web hosting service.  It offers thousands of plug-ins and themes to choose from so you can fully-customize the look, feel and functionality of your blog or website.  This blog publishing tool is currently used by millions of professional bloggers and internet marketers worldwide.