To Join a Blogging Site or Not to Join?

Joining an established blogging site like live journal or
blogger has plenty of advantages, especially for the blog
novice. Sites that host a lot of different blogs often have
very useful tutorials about building and updating your
blog, and you are likely to encounter a very user-
friendly software interface at an established blogging
site. In addition, these sites provide a kind of instant
community of fellow bloggers who can provide advice,
insight, and feedback. These established sites often
keep directories of their members, which can be great
news for your traffic logs because it means that other
bloggers on the site will find out about your pages.

However, there are also some downsides to linking up
with a large blogging site. By posting within the
established templates of a site like blogger, you run the
risk of having your blog look and feel like everybody
else's. The blogging movement is very much about the
creation of distinctive sites and the development of
individual voices, so it makes plenty of sense that many
bloggers would shy away from the cookie-cutter look
and feel that these blogging sites often promote. Many
bloggers feel that the content of a blog is what makes it
distinctive, not the look of the blog, but many members
of the blogging community feel that the visual impact
of a blog should match the originality of the writing.