Learn how to Start a Blog for Free with these 9 sites

Ever fantasize about publishing high-quality blogs to educate audiences? Hold on, don’t reach for your wallet just yet. While fancy themes can aid in visual appearance, they’re not the key to unlocking your blogging capabilities.

The truth is, countless bloggers have kickstarted their journeys on completely free platforms. Think of it as a writer’s bootcamp – you hone your craft, build an audience, and all without breaking the bank.

This may sound too good to be true, but you really can start blogging with little to no investment. If you’re looking for a free platform to publish your blogs, this guide is about to show you the ropes.

I’ll share the best free blogging platforms that won’t leave you bankrupt. Plus, I’ll show light on the not-so-secret methods to earn from your blogs (yes, you read that right!). Let’s get started.

How to Start a Blog for Free?

Before you know the best free blogging sites, you need to know how to start a blog for beginners for free. Many people don’t know the process, and sharing the websites would only confuse them. 

All you need to do is keep a few tips in mind. While the process isn’t daunting, it is a little time-consuming. Let’s get started. 

1. Find the Perfect Niche and Name

Make sure you conduct a thorough research. Look at the popular niches and what your competitors are doing. More importantly, what can you deliver with utmost perfection? 

If you want to thrive in your writing career, you need an interesting niche. You also need to pick something you’re knowledgeable about. 

After you find your niche, the name for your blog should come automatically. Make sure it’s catchy and simple. Most platforms will let you find an available blog name. 

2. Choose a Reliable Blogging Platform

Your success in starting a blog for free will heavily depend on your chosen blogging platform. You need to choose a platform where you can store your website’s data without paying anything. 

One downside of using such free blogging platforms is that you will be sharing the space with other clients. As it’s a free account, the provider extends the URL by attaching a subdomain name. 

But when you go with a paid option, you will get a custom URL, a custom yet free domain name, and your private server. This self-hosting storage will give you more control over space and storage. You should consider this when your free blog starts getting traffic. 

3. Pick a Theme

Free blogging platforms offer free themes to choose from. The themes will influence your site’s appearance. Additionally, considering the importance of page speed during theme selection can enhance user experience and reduce load times. The way you design your blog will impact its readability.

You can customize the themes according to color, layouts, fonts, and color schemes. The customization options are limitless. 

Don’t forget to experiment with different widgets, effects, wordings, and plugins. However, ensure the design doesn’t overwhelm your blog or the visitors. 

4. Publish your Post

Once you choose these essential aspects, you need to publish your blog. If you want to know how to start a blog for free, you need to focus on picking a blogging platform first. 

Don’t forget to experiment with different widgets, effects, wordings, and plugins. However, ensure the design doesn’t overwhelm your blog or the visitors. Tools like HeyLocate can also enhance user experience by providing accurate location-based insights.  

Best Free Blogging Websites

Now that you know how to start a blog for free, you’re ready to set up a blog publishing platform. However, not everyone knows the best free blogging websites to publish their blog. 

Moreover, most options come with paid pricing, which you might not find feasible. To help you with the process, I have researched and highlighted nine free blogging platforms. Let’s take a look at them. 

1. Wix

If you’re looking for a free blog and website builder, consider choosing Wix. One of the best things about Wix is that you can manage it entirely from the front end. 

However, the most notable feature of Wix should be its 100% free services. You can launch your blogging platform under Wix’s subdomain. 

Wix also has an extensive collection of free and premium templates and themes. Depending on your needs, you can use these templates for blogging. The simple design of Wix is great for beginners and professionals alike. 

To start blogging on Wix, all you need to do is just sign up. The Wix ADI can create a blogging website from your questionnaire, or you can build one yourself. 

If you want to build a blogging website independently, use the Wix editor to choose the perfect layouts and templates. 

Wix comes with a drag-and-drop feature, which will prove extremely helpful when you’re working on your blog. This feature allows both technical and non-technical users to upload their blogs on Wix easily. 

You can also add numerous elements to your blogging page. This includes menus, video boxes, backgrounds, forms, typography, etc. 

When you’re done customizing your blogging website, click on the Publish button, and you can publish your blogs. You can edit the content blocks anytime after publishing. 

2. WordPress

WordPress is an excellent option for someone who doesn’t know how to start a blog website for free. As WordPress is an open-source platform, you will get a plethora of customization options. 

You can implement thousands of free templates and themes. This way, you can give your blog a more professional and appealing look without worrying about any coding knowledge. 

Additionally, WordPress has an active community. Even if you face problems with any technical aspect, they will be more than happy to help you. 

While you can access WordPress for free, you need to purchase a hosting service to make your website live. These services will store your website files and make them accessible to visitors. 

However, you can create a free blogging website without purchasing a hosting service. But your website will have a WordPress subdomain. 

Your free WordPress website may not be as fast as the other shared hosting, but it’s certainly a great starting place. You can install free cache plugins to enhance the speed and performance of your WordPress website. 

WordPress.com takes care of website updates and security, which is a major advantage for non-technical users. This saves you time and effort compared to self-hosted WordPress.org.

3. LinkedIn

You may wonder why I included LinkedIn on my list of free websites to start a blog. It isn’t the first option for most people when looking for the best blog site. However, LinkedIn can help you publish your first blog. 

Two primary reasons to use LinkedIn are the easy-to-use tools and the pre-existing audience. This is why you will find most professionals, including CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, and other C-suite executives, on LinkedIn.

The best thing about LinkedIn’s user base is that you will have access to a great community of people. From business owners to professionals, everyone is present on LinkedIn. 

In fact, reports suggest that over 60 million businesses are active on LinkedIn. Besides searching for jobs or posting vacancies, people use LinkedIn to consume high-quality content. 

In short, LinkedIn is the best platform to get exposure from like-minded people. This makes LinkedIn one of the most eye-catching and free blogging sites in the market. 

Keep in mind that LinkedIn offers multiple pricing plans, and some of them are curated for recruiters and sales navigators. However, I will only list the pricing plans that would prove relevant to your goals.

Publishing blog content on LinkedIn is also easy. Just go to your LinkedIn feed and create a new post. You can also choose “Write an article on LinkedIn” for complete viewing. 

You will also find numerous editing tools that will help you add images, format your texts, and more. However, you won’t get any themes or templates. 

4. Weebly

Weebly is another website builder that you can use for your blogging purposes. If you have plans to promote your blog and sell something through it, you can also use Weebly. 

Let’s say you’re a professional content writer like me, and you want to showcase your diverse portfolio. In such cases, Weebly will capture your attention. 

While Weebly is somewhat similar to Wix, Wix comes with a drag-and-drop feature and a WYSIWYG editor. 

If you want to add any specific button, you can add it to the web page and then customize it as per your needs. This also applies to slideshows, photo galleries, and other multimedia elements. 

Weebly comes with media boxes, sidebars, ad spaces, forms, newsletter subscriptions, social media icons, and many more. 

I don’t recommend upgrading to the premium plans of Weebly. This is because this platform is focused on helping WooCommerce and other businesses planning to sell products and services.

Weebly has built-in analytics, where you will be able to use your own customized domains. However, you need to pay for the customized domains. 

5. Medium 

If you’re keen on learning how to start a blog site for free, make sure you consider Medium. This multipurpose platform covers diverse topics. 

Unlike other free blogging websites, the most notable feature of Medium is that you can showcase your article to a wide range of audiences. 

Medium has over 150 million readers per month. In short, your content will be consumed by like-minded people. You can build a great connection base as they will engage with your blogs. 

Medium is also super simple to use. You don’t need to have any technical or coding skills to get started on Medium. Just sign up, create an account, and you can start uploading your blogs there. 

However, keep in mind that Medium is a third-party platform. That being said, you cannot build your own customized space like you would with Wix or WordPress. 

Remember that writing and publishing on Medium is free. However, readers need to be a Medium member to view unlimited stories. The subscription costs from the readers allow writers to get paid.

With Medium, your blogs may not achieve higher rankings on the Google SERPs. This is because Google always prefers websites over these third-party platforms. 

6. Blogger

Coming sixth in my list of best free blogging sites is Blogger. This is undoubtedly one of the oldest platforms in the market. However, its popularity has decreased over time. 

If you want to publish a personal blog, you should consider choosing Blogger. But keep in mind that it’s not the best solution for professional blogs. 

Blogger operates just like other hosted platforms. You need to sign up and create an account to get started. The creation process is simple and easy. 

After creating an account, you must choose one of the default themes and start writing down your thoughts. Blogger’s interface is somewhat similar to the Google+ profile. The editor looks like an MS Word page. 

Blogger offers a couple of eye-catching themes to choose from. Each of them will have different skins, minimalistic gadgets, and advanced color filtering. However, you won’t get anything too fancy or customizable. 

As Blogger is completely free, you don’t need to worry about any hidden costs or subscription fees. You can also access a vast community of other bloggers for support and inspiration.

In short, Blogger has a simple appearance and user interface. This way, readers will be able to focus on your writing rather than being distracted by complex designs. 

7. Tumblr

Tumblr is one of the most popular and original free blogging sites on the internet. While it’s a little bit less effective than the other options on my list, it’s still an excellent choice for beginners and professionals alike. 

Unlike most platforms that are used for blog publishing purposes, Tumblr is more focused on social media and multimedia content. 

The interface of Tumblr is also easy to begin with. You won’t find too much technical jargon or clutters. This way, you won’t face any navigational or operational difficulties. 

You can simply sign up, create an account, and publish your content immediately. The sign-up process is also super smooth. 

Just like a basic blogging platform, Tumblr comes with multiple uploading formats, catering to different types of content. 

However, remember that Tumblr is purely for personal use. I won’t recommend this platform if you have business-oriented plans. 

While it’s not built for business, Tumblr will allow you to run ads on your page, integrate your blog with Google Analytics, and use affiliate links. These links are a great way to make money, as you can monetize your blog. Don’t forget to use reliable content writing tools to enhance your writing skills.

8. Joomla

Joomla is similar to WordPress but not as effective as other free blogging platforms out there. But Zoomla will definitely help you out if you want to know how to start a blog for free and make money. 

Just like WordPress, Zoomla is free to use. However, you need to invest in a domain and hosting. But unlike WordPress, where you can use it for free by creating a subdomain, you won’t get the same flexibility with Zoomla.

Zoomla features a simple and versatile interface that you can use for blogging purposes and complex websites. 

You can choose from various extensions and templates to customize your website. Zoomla’s customization capability is hands down top-notch. 

Regarding ease of use, Zoomla comes with a traditional editor, which looks like Microsoft Word. It will allow you to customize the size, font, color, tables, emoticons, and background. 

The Zoomla editor has a tabbed version. The first tab is the classic texting window. You must change the tabs to choose the post categories, date, meta description, tags, keywords, etc. 

9. Jimdo

Jimdo is another platform you can use to build your website for free. Although I have tried many free blogging websites, nothing comes close to Jimdo in terms of the website creation process. 

Give Jimdo some quick pointers and a few details regarding the blog’s appearance. With these answers, Jimdo can easily create your blog without any problem. 

When you choose the free plan, Jimdo will let you upload and publish your blog under its own subdomain. If you want to create a customized web address, you need to upgrade to the premium plan. 

What sets Jimdo apart is that it gives you more of a “page builder” feel. The primary difference between Jimdo and WordPress is that you can create and start your own blog directly within the website’s customization page.

 You don’t need to worry about using any separate editor like you do with other blogging platforms. 

If you want to edit content, click on the content box and then edit whatever you want. You can achieve all of these without going to any different page. You can also edit the logo and footer of your site through the same method. 

You will also find more editable options on the left side of the interface. You can add things like the post’s title, date, and category. You can choose to either publish the blog or keep it in draft.  

Ready to Start a Blog for Free?

Starting a blog for free is not only possible but also accessible to everyone with the right tools and platforms. 

With options like Wix, WordPress, LinkedIn, and more, aspiring bloggers like you can start your blog journey without breaking the bank.

Remember, it’s not about how much you spend but the quality of your content and the value you provide to your audience that truly matters in the world of blogging. So, pick a platform, find your niche, and start sharing your voice with the world today!

I hope you liked the information provided in my blog. Do you want to start a blog journey? Let me know which platform you’re going to choose.