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What is a Blogging Platform?
A blogging Platform is a place for you to publish content without worrying about having and creating a website. Not every blog needs a website to become popular and known. The website can be looked at as the frame where you will publish your content.
Some wonderful blogging platforms include Medium and Hashnode which I love to use. Medium is one of the most known, while Hashnode is still growing and making itself noticed.
One of the benefits of blogging on a platform is that the blogging platform will find relevant keywords and phrases for you. This will optimize your SEO performance significantly and make your blog noticed faster.
These platforms also tend to include some customization options, but most of the time, they are pretty limited. On Hashnode you can customize everything, on Dev.to it's more limited to just the theme color of your blog. On Medium you only can write content and there are few customization options.
1. Hasnode
Hashnode is probably the best choice for a Developer because it allows you to make your blog unique and not only produce content such as on Medium. It allows for customization of the home page, widgets, custom code that can override the template's settings, and even monetization. This makes it possible for your blog to be unique, you even don't need to have a you.hashnode.dev domain if you don't want to and have the money to buy one which you can easily do at Namecheap.
I've been blogging here for half a year, which satisfies me with the blogging features. If I was only a blogger, I would have not made my website which will be released soon. Be sure to subscribe to and not miss this great event.
Hashnode is excellent for someone looking to start a fully customized blog without any limits. Hashnode also has a very friendly community, and you usually get noticed if you write good content.
Now I've been active for only a month and already have 200+ views. The interface is also nice and sleek if you're looking for that. I love Hashnode it is an excellent platform for blogging and allows for your blog to be customized.
2. Dev.to
Dev.to is a popular blogging platform for developers and focuses on the programming aspect of blogging. It even has a markdown editor where you write pure markdown, unlike Medium or Hashnode, though Hashnode does use markdown elements. Dev.to is more on the simple side of blogging since it does not allow for complete customization.
It is designed to be the basic playground for people to blog on and does not spread out as much as Hashnode does. Currently, 1 million people are using Hashnode, and this number is continuing to grow.
Dev.to has become popular because it is very simple, even with Hashnode you do have to spend some time setting it up. With Dev.to it's very simple, you sign up, enter some info about what you like, what languages you know, and that stuff, and start blogging.
Dev.to's interface is a bit underdesigned but is acceptable, and even as a designer, I haven't had much to critique. The only thing I think they should improve is the analytics because it is very basic. In Hashnode you can see all the info about your visitors and on Dev.to it's only how many, when, and where they came from.
The community is also very nice, gives nice comments and you get even more views on Dev.to than on Hashnode. The platform's popularity is continuing to grow and we'll probably see some major improvements in the coming years.
3. Medium
Medium is the most famous and popular of the three, it offers many opportunities for creators but its key difference from the other two is that Medium is not only designed for blogging about tech-related things. There are many blogs about gaming, food, and even fashion on the platform.
Out of all three, this one is the hardest to grow on, when you post something about a topic that isn't that common, then there is no response at all if you're just starting out. Getting noticed is very hard because you have to blog about a topic that is trendy to get more views.
Medium's interface is okay, but needs some improvement, the editor which feels a bit plain. It also feels like you're writing an article for New York Times because of the font. A very good example of a blog post editor is Hashnode which has a simple interface but does not feel lonely, the other way around, it concentrates the writer to be fully engaged in creating the draft.
If you already are popular on Medium you can start blogging about tech because your followers will notice that you posted something new and you have the potential to be ranked higher in search. Otherwise, it wouldn't be wise to start blogging there because it is very hard to grow on.
If you like to have a plain writing experience and don't mind waiting for viewers this is the perfect platform for you. Don't forget that not only developers blog on there so if you like gaming too, like I do. You are free to write about all your favorite games there. Medium is also an excellent source of news and trusted information.
Conclusion
I would recommend having a main blog on Hashnode and a side blog on Dev.to, which would give you the benefits of both platforms. If you want to blog on Medium you certainly can, but the struggle is worth noting here, though if you're sure you can make it you can go on and start writing.
Thank you for reading this article and I hope you found which platform you'll be blogging on. Don't forget to subscribe :)