Choosing a blog platform

There are 4 different blog companies that I've seen recommended: Typepad.com, MoveableType (owned by Typepad), WordPress.com, and Blogger.com. Of the 4, I've found Blogger.com to be the best option because

1. it's free (Typepad and MoveableType cost $. WordPress is free but technially difficult to use)

2. it's easy - no software installation is required (WordPress and MoveableType have to be installed into your web host account)

3. it's the most user-friendly (Typepad doesn't allow you to publish your blog pages directly to your web site, so your blog gets a link like "yourblogname.typepad.com". With Blogger.com, you can publish your blog pages directly to your own web site, so the pages will be under YOUR domain name: www.yourdomainname.com/blog. Also, Typepad doesn't allow you to customize your blog page template unless you buy one of their high-priced service packages).

Typepad, MoveableType and WordPress have some better features than Blogger.com, but I think it's better to learn about blogging on a free and simple system; if you really get into blogging and decide you can't live without the enhanced features, you can always switch. Keep in mind - Blogger.com is constantly improving it's software, so new features are being added all the time (Blogger.com is owned by Google, by the way).