What makes Ghost the best blogging platform for writers?

"Working where you are comfortable is a major key to success, not only online but everywhere in life."

There's many aspects to blogging and creating content.

Building an audience, email lists, SEO, keyword research ... etc.

At it's deepest core however, blogging is writing.

Content management systems or "CMS" allow your thoughts and vision to come alive for the world to see, without a great cms you really can't blog.

With that said it's pretty safe to say the cms you choose to bring your ideas to life is pretty important.

Different platforms are better for different reasons, in this article I want to explain why Ghost is the best blogging platform for writers, in my opinion.

Anyone can tout a CMS without explanation, in this article I want to cover the real world reasons why I think ... For a serious blog writer, Ghost is best.

Here's what we will cover in this post ...

• What is Ghost?
• The advantage of the Ghost editor
• Ghost pricing
• My experience with Ghost
• Who should use Ghost and who should not

Let's get started shall we?

What is Ghost?

Ghost is a elegant and simple platform designed to allow seamless content creation.

The simplicity of Ghost allows you, the blogger to focus on writing.

Trust me, for many this is very important, my about page explains very well the dangers of having way too many distractions in your blogging space.

Compared to the most popular platform, WordPress Ghost is beautifully simple. Don't get me wrong, WordPress allows you to do literally anything online.

The real question is for us bloggers is "do we need all of that added weight?"

Here's some quick data ... Credit to Wikipedia

Ghost is coded in node.js, the platform is free and open sourced which means anyone can use it self hosted.

The other option is Ghost Pro which is a managed hosting product that wornbee.com happens to be on.

I recommend going the Ghost pro route simply because Ghost can be a little tricky to set up on your hosting platform as many do not offer "one click install."

The public version of Ghost has been around since 2013, the entire platform is managed by a non profit organization and all profits through hosting are put back into development.

Why is Ghost the best blogging platform for writers?

Enough of the technical, let's have a chat about why Ghost is a definite contender to consider when choosing your blogging platform.

The advantage of the Ghost editor

Ghost works, and works very well.

There is no lag or update button, no unnecessary crap that takes your attention away from actually blogging.

Word press on the other hand can take a simple task and turn it into hours of wasted time if not held in check.

The Ghost editor has everything you need without anything you don't. The markdown editor is fantastic ...

Above is a screen shot of this very page as I was writing it! The markdown box appears as it looks above, the markdown box allows you to easily add images, text, quotes, lists, text modifications, links and even spell check.  

The markdown is great but it's not the end, just by clicking the + sign that shows on every line as you work down you can open up an awesome menu of choices ... All the stuff you need to create great content and none of the "fluff" that distracts from actually creating posts.

Let's take a look at the Ghost editor!

How much does Ghost cost?

Here's the deal, Ghost is free and open sourced.

If you are handy on the computer you can install and set up Ghost on your own web host.

When I started looking into using Ghost I asked support over at Siteground if it would work and at the time the answer was yes.

The thing is however it takes a bit more than a simple click to install the CMS, not to mention you are responsible for keeping everything updated and running smooth.

My pick .... Ghost Pro

I opted to go with the pro version of Ghost and I haven't looked back since.

Here's the pricing, yearly first then monthly.

This pricing is based on an audience of 500 or less which is plenty when getting your blog rolling!

Ghost also offers a free 14 day trial so you can get a feel of the platform before you commit.

Biggest reason I chose Pro ..

In one word, SIMPLICITY.

I need a platform that is easy to work with and makes me focus on creating content. Spinning wheels tweaking and tweaking on Word press is not blogging!

Writing content and building an audience is, this is the biggest reason I chose Ghost pro.

My experience with Ghost so far

All in all I really like Ghost, not only is this the perfect writing platform, it's taken my work to another level of "getting it done."

There is less detraction and the flow of the editor is so refreshing when moving from WordPress.

I do love WordPress, I really do. This is where I started and still run many sites on, however Ghost was the platform I was waiting for with wornbee.com

Ghost is coded to be fast, and it is. Google and all other search engines love a fast site that is clean and responsive.

Having this speed will not only make your readers experience better, it will raise your ranks as well, a double whammy!

Loving the themes

The themes for Ghost are indeed impressive, they are clean, fast, and responsive.

There is a TON less tweaking to get things looking great for your blog.

You can get many themes for free, however if you are looking to take it up a notch there are absolutely beautiful paid themes to choose from.

Who should consider Ghost?

The blogger that takes content seriously and wants a clean, fast and awesome looking blog without the time WordPress takes to set up.

Listen friends, I'm really liking Ghost, This is not an in depth review of every feature and square inch of the platform.

There are no links to "sign up" now any where in this post.

This is a convo with a friend that is giving you the quick lowdown on a platform that works for him.

I'm being honest here and I purposely left out all of the technical and other stuff that comes with it here.

If there is a question I can answer you can always ask me anytime!

There's my email, I would really be happy to answer ANY questions you have so don't be shy!

You have 14 Days ...

I suggest taking the trial and see if Ghost is the best writing platform for bloggers, if not blog where YOU feel comfortable!