This is for everyone but I’m posting it because of cK’s wonderful question-

For this site I use Wordpress as my publishing platform, since they are extremely flexible, always updating, and free. I absolutely recommend them for anyone who is looking for a blog site.

Bluehost is really good for hosting your own website with great rates, and they are complatible with bloggers using Wordpress. It’s about $6.95 a month with your domain name included. (Usually it’s anywhere from $8 to $18 a year for your domain and you have to deal with it seperately. Example: www.trailingtwilight.com) Then you simply log on to your cpanel (username and password are provided from Bluehost) and install Wordpress, and it’s already included with your package. (If this is confusing don’t worry, I am completely able and willing to explain.) From there, you work directly in the Wordpress platform, again, they are always updating and free. I cannot glorify Wordpress enough. It’s amazing. Simply. Truly. After years of journaling online from Scribble, to Diaryland, Diary-X, Livejournal, Blogger, etc. Nothing beats Wordpress.

For those of you can’t afford or simply don’t want your own space from Bluehost- Wordpress also offers a free spot for your blog. (It would be yourwittyname.wordpress.com.) They keep wordpress.com users completely up to date with the platform, but like Blooger and other free hosters it’s a little more limiting. They offer only a set amount of templates to choose from (though Wordpress is ALWAYS updating the ones to choose from) and have a list of readily available plugins.

If I can recommend anything for you to jump start your site it would definitely be going with a hoster and using the Wordpress platform. I know it’s worth it for me, I’m on almost every day and so much of my life is on here. I can put up my photography and art porfolios, I can put up music, and luckily I can save my journal and download it in case something horrible happens. I know from experience, and so do thousands of others, the pain of journaling for two years (or more) on a well known site and going to the home page ready to update another day to find that the server crashed and everything was lost. If ANYONE would like help updating, installing, or using a template for Wordpress or even Wordpress itself, let me know. I love doing templates in my spare time. Or I can direct you to something that works well for you and you can design and mess around with it yourself.

Please also note that Wordpress has several coders around the world that do templates and plugins for free that you can choose from, they’re easy to install, and completely customizable as well. An example of Wordpress plugins available are the Livejournal crossposter (everytime you post on your site with Wordpress, it automatically reposts it in your livejournal account so friends who have livejournal can still get your posts on their friendslist.) Xanga crossposter, Blogger crossposter, and audioplayer.

Wordpress also comes in several languages. They also have a plugin that automatically translates your page for hundreds of other languages. (I haven’t tried this one yet so I don’t know how accurate it is.) But the point is: I <3 Wordpress. If anyone would like to share their experience with Wordpress, or any other journaling site, please drop us (me and the other readers) a line and share your experience. Even if it’s how much you love another platform other than Wordpress, I’d love to hear it. =D

I hope this helps everyone,
Cheers.