Popular blogging programs / platforms

You may already know that within each type of blog hosting, there are several different popular blogging programs or platforms, you have probably heard of some of them already and may have even tried some of them already.

Blogger

Blogger is a free hosted blogging tool by Google that has been around for a long time and is very easy to use. Many people make personal blogs on this site and it only takes about 10 minutes to set up your first blog. They have a nice selection of templates but Blogger doesn’t allow for a lot of customization. - http://www.blogger.com/

LiveJournal

LiveJournal allows you to set up online journals quickly and easily. It is a collaboration and networking tool that is great for individuals but makes customization difficult. Again, it depends on what you are trying to do with your blog but if you hope to make money, this might not be your best option.

Textpattern

Textpattern is a free self-hosted tool which works best for those that are good with technology. It is much more customizable that the aforementioned options and it has wizard based interface to make this easier for you. It also uses custom formatting.

Typepad (hosted)/ Moveable Type (self-hosted)

Typepad was created by SixApart and is the hosted version of their popular MoveableType platform. These are both options for you to consider depending on your specific needs. Typepad is a paid blogging platform but it is still relatively affordable. There are different levels of access that will affect the price ranging from Basic to Pro.

Wordpress

Wordpress is both hosted and self hosted, depending on what your needs are. Wordpress is free and is easy to setup and use. There are hundreds of plugins to extend functionality in different areas. This is by far one of the most popular options around today. Here is a list of some popular blogging platforms which bloggers can install on their own servers:


Grey Matter (free + opensource)

http://www.noahgrey.com/greysoft/

Open Journal (free)

http://www.grohol.com/downloads/oj/


• b2evolution
• bBlog
• blosxom
• ExpressionEngine
• Drupal
• Movable Type
• Nucleus CMS
• Radio UserLand
• Roller Weblogger
• Serendipity
• Subtext
• Textpattern
• Windows Live Writer

Here is a list of some popular blogging services, which bloggers can use with no installation.

• Blog.com
• Blogger
• LiveJournal
• Open Diary
• TypePad
• Windows Live Spaces
• Wordpress.com
• Xanga

You have to decide for yourself which platform you think will meet all of your needs the best.

Google PR 10 Websites

Do PR 10 websites really exist?

They do and here’s a short sample of them........

http://www.google.com (at the top, of course)

http://www.adobe.com/
http://www.w3.org
http://www.real.com
http://www.macromedia.com
http://www.energy.gov
http://www.nasa.gov
http://www.nsf.gov
http://www.whitehouse.gov

Google although has awarded at this distinguished PR 10 status to many sites, it hasn't given one to Yahoo!. It’s interesting how Google gives its top competitor only a 9 of 10, when clearly Yahoo is far more prominent than any of the other 10 PR sites.

According to Alexa, Yahoo! is still the most popular website in the world, not for searches, but because of its multi-content ststus.