Hi all, is there part of you that want to start a blog because you see or heard people making a shit ton of money? That shit is not easy! I’m not even making money, lol! I just like to post some blogs here and there. I am by no means even close to reaching a big audience, but it’s a start.
Here are two companies I like and have used, but there are definitely a ton of others that work that I haven’t used,
1. WordPress (it’s what I have right now)
2. Tumblr (what I have used in the past)
Reasons I like Tumblr
– FREE!
– No Ads
– Easy to use interface/simplicity
– Decent free templates
– Mobile Optimized
– Easy to move tumblr content to wordpress
– Able to customize the template a lot more (if you’re coding savvy)
Reasons I like WordPress
– FREE! (the most basic version)
– A lot of free templates
– Able to customize templates (to a certain extent)
– Able to upgrade if needed
– Multiple free widgets
– Better for blogging (imho)
One of the main reasons I switched to wordpress was how much more I can customize my page without extreme coding knowledge. It is a little more difficult to maneuver, but after a few days with lots of research online, it wasn’t that bad. It’s still something I am learning, PLUS, you’re able to upgrade accordingly, whenever you feel like you’re ready.
If you don’t have money to spend per month on a blog/website, it doesn’t hurt to start off with things that are FREE. You don’t know if you’ll still be “into” it, 6 months down the road and by that time you’ve wasted money thinking you’re going to make money. UNLESS you have the money then feel free to do whatever you like!
I went from tumblr >> square space >> tumblr >> wordpress. Square space was a beautiful site! I loved it, but it cost a lot more than I can afford, especially the amount I was paying vs the amount I was profiting. It was a good experience for sure and when I am ready, I will most likely go back to square space.
HOW TO MAKE IT WORK
LAYOUTS
Not all free layouts are the best looking, but they definitely aren’t bad at all (depending what you’re going for). They aren’t as customizable, but you can definitely make it work! I’ve spent HOURS, DAYS, MONTHS, on trying to make this blog look decent. I think it looks pretty good for what I have. You really have to play around with different layouts available and see what you can customize and what works for you. I think I used about 5+ free layouts until I found this current one.
PICTURES
I think GOOD pictures will make your page 100x better. I spend a good amount of time editing and taking good pictures, one, I want people to be able to enjoy it, two, people can probably see that you care about your blog enough to put time and effort. I think people would appreciate that and it would make your page more enjoyable to read and go onto. Sometimes images that come straight out the camera aren’t that great, they aren’t true to color, too dark, too bright, etc. that’s where editing comes in handy and I can guarantee you that it WILL make a difference. If you’re not “photo taking” savvy, you can always look for free stock photos available online (like the ones on this post)!
FONT
Finding the right fonts also play a key role in how your page looks. For wordpress, I only have 34 font choices for the heading and 23 fonts for the main text and a lot of them aren’t cute. I don’t think I would even use half of it because it doesn’t work for me. I personally think the right font will make or break how your page looks like. It can look modern or it can look super outdated (not in an intentional cute way). So test out each font and see how you feel about it.
OVERALL
My site isn’t the cutest or the best looking, but to me, for something that is 100% free, I think it looks pretty darn good! It gets to the point, I get to customize a decent amount of things, and free layout isn’t bad at all. When I am ready, I will upgrade, but as for now, I am fine with what I have. I don’t mind having (wordpress.com) in my link, I don’t mind the small ads that come with it because it’s not as bombarding as some others.
UPDATE (10/16/18): I upgraded to “personal” on wordpress. It still uses “free templates”, but removes ads. I still think my website looks good for using a free template!
HAVE YOU STARTED A BLOG? WHAT DO YOU USE? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
XOXO VONNIE
VONNIE AND CO. 
What a great post! Thanks for sharing!
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