Blogging can help build your reputation, sharpen your writing skills, and expand your online presence. Static web sites are good, but they don’t have quite the go-juice of blogging. When you constantly update a blog with fresh content, you are giving people a reason to come back.
You can get a blog up and running for less than $10 a month. Actually, you can do it for less than $5 a month if you shop around. But what if you can’t spare the cash? What if you don’t want to spend money on a blog until you’re sure it’s something you can keep up with?
You could always get a free blog. It won’t look as professional, but it’s still better than nothing. Here are a few places where you can get a blog for free:
Blogger.com - Blogger is nice because you can tweak the designs to your liking and toss up some ads if you want to earn a passive income. It’s easy to set up, too.
WordPress.com - The advantage of a free WordPress.com blog is that you can create static pages, such as an “About Me” or “Services” page. The downside is that and you can’t display ads on your blog, which may or may not be an issue for you. Also, designs for your blog are limited; you have to pay a fee before you can tweak them.
LiveJournal.com - One of the perks of LiveJournal is that it encourages networking. You can find LiveJournal groups that match your interests. However, LiveJournal comes across as less professional than other options. It’s mostly geared toward teens and the younger crowd.
You can find other free blogging networks if you poke around, but these are some of the most well-known and reliable options. Also, if you sign up for a blog at one of these places and later decide to pay for a hosted WordPress blog, you won’t have a hard time moving all your posts from one of these accounts.
