In our Social Media for Artists Workshop I extol the virtues of writing a blog as a successful marketing tool. And while we discuss what to write and how often, the biggest question is always, “Who should I use to set one up?”

Here’s a rundown of my favorite platforms:

Tumblr

Tumblr is a straightforward blog. They offer clean layouts with a number of template choices, some free and some that are paid or the ability to use your own html. Most of the social media sharing aspects are built right in and only take a few clicks to get set up, plus there’s a number of third party applications that have been developed just for Tumblr. You can add pages if you want to build your blog out into a full website and the ability to map to your own domain is easily available.

If you know html you can do a lot with this platform in the free mode. If you don’t just be picky with the theme that you pick, some are more easily customized than others. If you’re the type that just wants something that looks good and you don’t have to fuss with, Tumblr is a great option.

Typepad

Typepad is also a very straightforward blogging platform. It’s much more limited in the free version than Tumbler, but with just a small price jump you get a lot more bells and whistles especially in the social plug-in arena. Typepad is built more for creating an entire website around the blog, so adding pages and plug-ins is a snap. Typepad also seems to offer more abilty to track traffic and customize your SEO than Tumblr, if you’re into that sort of thing.

I don’t recommend the free version of Typepad for a business blog, it’s a little too simple and unsophisticated. However if you’re willing to pay a small fee, you’ll get great options to customize and great support.

Squarespace

Squarespace is what we use for the Lightbox SF and 200 Yards websites and is a website builder not just a blogging platform. Needless to say I love it. You do have to pay a fee, $13-35, but the ability to build exactly what you want with ease is close to priceless. There’s no need to understand html code, however if you do there’s nothing you can’t do. There are templates for many basic types of pages, journals, photo galleries, file upload, directories, and more. You select a theme and can customize everything from colors and fonts to CSS. The developer forum also provides solutions to many “fixes” you want to make that Squarespace doesn’t support. I’m also a fan of their customer support, all email, but very quick and helpful.

If you’re just looking for a blog to either link to your existing website or just to get started with, I suggest Tumblr. If you’re looking to build a website, but want it as easy as possible and are willing to have some customization limitations then Typepad is the way to go. However if you’re serious about a full business website that can grow with your business, is totally customizable, and still downright easy Squarespace is your answer.

Both Squarespace and Typepad offer free trials, so test them out, or just sign up for Tumblr and put your writing hat on. Sometimes a blank page is all you need to get going.