There are more than one way to blog. With so many blog solutions out there, you can easily get lost. Choosing the right solution is important for any business. Nothing is more annoying than having to handle countless of problems and decisions when you need to move from one blog platform to another blog host after you have all up and running.

Different blog hosting and services have their own benefits and drawbacks. All of them share many characteristics that make blogging easy and fun, but one should require more technical knowledge than the other. That should not be the barrier because it actually is not as difficult as you imagine.

There are basically three common blogging platforms:

1. Hosted weblog provider

This type of blog is the easiest way to start. Like creating a free service account online, you only need to enter your information into the sign up form and click submit. If you know how to create your own web mail account such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail or Hotmail account, you know more than enough to get started.

Although using it is entirely different than just creating one, this is the only blog solution that allows you to get up and running in a few minutes.

In this type of solution, you don’t need to install any type of software or script to get going. Some providers even allow you to use their hosting service for free. All you need to do is select the options you want and start posting to your blog.

The URL to your blog is usually in the following format:

• http://<user>.example.com/
• http://<blogname>.example.org/
• http://example.com/<blogname>/

Example: Blogger, TypePad, Blogware, WordPress.com.

As you’ve probably noticed, the biggest benefits of using this type of blog platform is you don’t have to take responsibility on anything more than using and manage your posts. The host providers will organize everything so that no technical skills are required for it to operate properly. They make sure that the servers run smoothly and securely.

For example, if they are proactive and customer centered, they will add features, upgrade new software and support you if you have problems.

However, you still have to understand what to do to accomplish certain tasks from the back-end of the blog, or sometimes also called administration area or dashboard.

2. Standalone weblog software

Standalone weblog software platform requires you to install software or script into your web hosting account. Usually, these software need database and PHP or Perl support (FYI, they are scripting languages) in the web server. Most standard hosting already have support for those features out of the box.

What makes this type of platform so popular is the flexibility and control you get from owning one. You can host the blog on your own domain with your existing web site; customize the template to inherit the color and navigation (look and feel), and so on.

Additionally you can have the blog software modified to suit your needs, may be install some plug-ins to expand the functionalities not available on the standard package. If the blog software includes source code and the term of use lets you modify it, you can even let a programmer add features and fix something if you find a bug that mingles the operation of your blog.

The whole process involves more work than using hosted solution. Contrarily with the first solution, if you need to add features, you have to upgrade it your own or hire people who know how to do it.

Example: WordPress, Movable Type, GreyMatter, PMachine, ExpressionEngine, B2Evolution.

3. Remote hosted weblog

Current web and Internet technologies allow certain blog platform to expand the flexibility, kind of a hybrid of some of the features of standalone weblog software and hosted weblog provider. It takes the best of two worlds and bundle it into an elegant solution.

This is generally how it works: you create an account, post and manage your entries through the blog solution website, but the results are transferred to your own chosen domain.

You have to enter your web hosting server login details for it to work properly, i.e. uploading content pages to your hosting server.

Example: Blogger.

Armed with this information, you now have all you need to start researching on which blogware to choose for your project. If you are still confused, here are my recommendations: Blogger, Movable Type and WordPress.