Originally posted to HubPages in 2014. Updated at the end of the post.

I read a post with this very title (see above) on another site. Great title, low on real content. They talked about what you need but in generic terms. There was nothing there to really help anyone. It was a post created to generate traffic, get readers but it would not keep many of them because it did not back up the promise given in the title.

I’ve been publishing my own sites online since 1998 and I have done in with a sadly modest (miserly) budget.

WordPress Versus Blogger or Other Options, Like Joomla

I will not bash Google Blogger (blogspot.com) because that is a long-lived, free blogging platform which keeps up with trends quite well, has a lot of features and the ability to be customized. You get a lot from Blogger and pay nothing. I still think Blogger is a good way for anyone to start a site, give it some time to see how you like it and evolve your ideas. You don't need to rush into buying a domain, a web host or templates.

However, when you do have your plan and you know what you want to blog about (or create a site for, it doesn't always have to be a blog) take a look at WordPress (not the .com, I mean WordPress.org).

One of the best things about WordPress is the community support. People who like WordPress, get into the spirit of open source and giving and free exchange. This is why you can get such a variety of really good plugins and themes to take your site from out of the box (as is) to something of your own creation. Take a moment to thank the WordPress developers and theme makers who give so much without asking for payment.

Update 2025:

I would not recommend WordPress now. It's lost the focus of being about self publishing for individuals. Now its for WordPress site designers (NOT web designers, I don't think many of them know HTML) to build cookie cutter sites for clients. The software is bloated with things you don't really need and the things you could use are gone. Instead they are plugins you need to pay for. It is VERY hard to find any open source/ free plugins on the WordPress plugin directory now. WordPress is not what it once was. It's a good money maker for the people who sell their services for WordPress, its themes and plugins.

If you need a small site for your business, Blogger has not been entirely abandoned, but people tend to look down on it. You can use the Blogger software with your own domain. That would work well enough to put up a few pages to promote and give information about your business, while using your domain.

My best advice, in 2025, is to go back to the basics, build your own site with just plain HTML and text. You can find lots of guides for using HTML online.

Add images to your site from your own photographs or find someone who can draw and scan the images for you. Don't use images right from the digital camera unless you have settings to keep the images from being huge files that will take time to load or be very large in the space they take up on the web page. There are free image conversion services online. Make sure the one you use does not leave a watermark (ad) on your image.

Instead of a contact form, offer an email address people can reply to. That keeps it simple for you and them. Include your business name, address and phone number too. A photo of your business if you have a location people can come to.

If you want to have something more with a lot of posts, like a weblog, look for software like Chyrp Lite. This is the software I'm currently using. I like AlternativeTo, a directory of software alternatives if you want to look for something else.

Other than the cost of web hosting and the domain, you don't need to spend anything but time to have a site online.

If you only need a simple site to get your business online, keep it simple. Not only will it load quickly but people will not have trouble accessing it. It will be easy for you to update yourself, no need to pay someone to make changes and updates to your site.

Even in 2025, it does not need to be expensive, complicated, or troublesome to have a website or self publish for yourself online.

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Found included in a post from Witch of the Wildwood. I hope they copy and paste here.

Can it be done by someone who is not a programmer, code geek, etc.? Maybe not. I felt more confident before I started looking at ways to do it.

rokde - WordPress to Markdown lonekorean - WordPress export to Markdown Technicode - Converting a WordPress Export to Markdown Swizec - WordPress to Markdown Swizec - How to export a large Wordpress site to Markdown

I'm going to look for more options. Mostly because I've lost that youthful confidence and carefree attitude. Also, I don't want to muck up my WordPress files, more than I (possibly) already have. Although, in the end, who will care other than myself? Yet, I do and I'm the one still here.

I posted this to Facebook a few minutes ago. Almost instantly it was pulled off the site as spam. The bot claims I'm being misleading, etc.

More than anything else... This may explain how my Mother's posts don't appear when she's sure she sent them to me. Thanks for protecting me from my 80 year old Mother, Facebook.

I think this is a clear sign that its time for me to stop using Facebook. My Mother just isn't that dangerous any more. I didn't think long dead silent movie stars were either.

A site asks you to allow ads on their site, to make an exception with your ad blocker. Ok, I do. Usually because I like the site and use it often.

What is the very first ad you see? An ad for an ad blocker! Of course!

Is it some form of sarcasm?

After using the site, with ads, you quickly remember why you turned on your ad blocker. The ads take over the content. I either give up using the site, find an alternative, or some other workaround. Or turn the ad blocker back on so I can use the site.

I think people who ask you to make an exception and turn off your ad blocker never go into their own site and look at it with their own ad blocker turned off. It would be a shock for them to see how much the ads take over their site. Like trying to enjoy a garden taken over by massive invading weeds. Not the odd wildflower but aggressive weeds with thorns and prickles.

If you have a site and ask people to accept ads make sure you fully know what you are asking. You could be driving people away from your site, permanently.