If I were to choose just ONE marketing platform to focus on and build a following for a blog and possible online business - Which is the best?

Choose the platform where your market is. And quickly figure out your cost of customer acquisition so you'll know how much you can afford to invest in marketing so your business model has a chance to be viable.

That either sounds obvious (and I can hear certain readers already saying "Duh...") or it sounds confusing.

So before you write it off as too obvious or too complicated - let's examine it the statement and I'll show you where the value is.

First - WHO is your market?
What will you be blogging about?
Why should they listen to you?
What value do you provide that they can't get elsewhere?

Once you figure out who your market is you'll be better able to figure out where they are.

And I don't just mean "online"... I mean specifically WHERE the are online (and by the way you really better make sure they ARE online before you even start an "online business"). Do they even have a twitter account? Do they read blogs on linkedin? If they visit linkedin but don't read the posts there - it wouldn't make any sense for YOU to post there.

Again - this might sound simple - but rest assured that many new and experienced business owners make this mistake all of the time.

The (faulty) "logic" goes like this...
"100 million people visit (whatever the site of the week is) every day - and even if I get only 1% of those people to click my article/post/ad - that would be 10,000 click! And if I could get only 1% of those people (100 of them) to spend $10.00 on my entry level product then I'll make $1000.00 per day which comes to $365,000 per year!"

If you don't get WHY that's nonsense - you really should find a business coach or mentor ASAP.

Bottom line (specifically regarding the question you asked): Deciding on a marketing platform before you know which market you are going to try to serve and how you are going to monetize your business is backwards.

I hope this was helpful. Let me know if I can be of assistance. And best of luck to you!

It depends on what you topic, audience, aims, strategy, style, etc.

David Berman is right when he advises you to go where your intended audience already is.

That said, I do think it's important to own some online property of your own in addition to renting space / visibility on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Even if you use those sites heavily, try to blend that with reference to a home page where you call the shots and are immune to changes from on high. Facebook and Google implement drastic changes from time to time, and you don't want to be at their mercy.

If your Twitter following, let's say, is also part of your email subscriber base and has been trained to visit a home page elsewhere, then you're less vulnerable and more versatile. This isn't just about minimizing risk, it's about having more control of your brand and marketing.

As technologies, policies, and fashions change with the wind, you want to be able to pivot with them. Try to keep 1 foot in social venues and 1 foot on a primary branded location.

If you've ever been to a farmer's market, you'll see people with this same strategy. Yes, they set up temporary booths on someone else's property; but they ideally entice customers back to their main brick-and-mortar store.

I do my fair share of blogging and find Twitter + LinkedIn to be the best platforms from which to share my articles. I have heard that Medium is an evolving platform, though have not used it much. I have paid for 'boosting' promotion of my blogs but would not recommend. I don't think it's worth the investment. I honestly believe in building your network via those you already know, and starting to target those that will be instrumental for the service you want to provide - growing that base by Twitter + LinkedIn. There are also platforms you can send your blogs to that will publish on their sites for added exposure (so in sustainability I use TriplePundit and 2degrees but there are so many these days). I don't find Facebook that helpful, particularly now with how they promote mostly paid sites versus regular pages. I would create your own website to host the blogs so people have to go to your site to read them. This will help with your branding and exposure. Hope this helps and happy to share more by phone.

If you're looking monetize your online publishing idea then you shouldn't ignore the top 4-5 social media platforms. Google Adwords and PPC could be a good idea as well. You just need to be cautious with your approach on different social media platform. Do ensure to adopt media specific customized marketing initiatives than doing some random run-of-the-mill stuff.

Are you looking for any specific information? Feel free to reach out.

Clients have told me consistently that they "checked out" my Facebook page before hiring me. While prospective clients have engaged with me via LinkedIn and Twitter, make sure that your Facebook page is active and maintained.

I agree with everyone's suggestions. Success is going to come to your business based upon the solution you are providing to your clients' problems. Having a coach to guide you along this path is the best way to get started. It made all the difference in the world for my business.

It's so important to get clear on:

1. Who is your ideal client?
2. What problems do they have which need solutions?
3. What solutions can you provide them?
4. How do you plan to provide these solutions? (information products, videos, audios, ebooks, consulting, guides, tips)
5. Where does your ideal client like to hang out online? Maybe they are on FB but not on Instagram or Twitter.
6. Do you have a marketing strategy?
7. Have you communicated with + asked your ideal clients what they want?

Some of my ideal clients are on Twitter but for the most part Twitter is helping me build partnership growth opportunities for my business. Most of my ideal clients are tucked away in private Facebook groups. Joining these groups allows me to communicate with them, ask them what would be helpful to them, and immediately grow my business providing solutions. It's a win-win for everyone, and you feel confident with your products/solutions.

So, it really is important to do your research on your ideal client FIRST and then decide what social media platforms best suit your business efforts. Hope this helps, I'm here to help if you have further questions. You're on the right track by asking questions, you've already got a success mindset! ~ Cherie

There are several blogging platforms that may help you out. To decide which one is the best depends on you as everyone is unique.
1. Wix: Wix is the best website builder for blogging. No question. This is the easy route for building a blog. As such, it is a close runner up to WordPress for the best blog platform. Wix offers you beautiful templates for any type of blog. Easily customize any web page with their drag-and-drop editor. The blog manager is also simple and intuitive, with analytics and SEO built right in. It’s simple to add the basic features you might want on your blog too: social tools, likes, comments, hashtags, categories, and subscriber forms. All of the SEO features you need are easy to access too: alt tags for your images, internal links, SEO titles and descriptions (that are different from you post title), and no follow tags for external links. Wix blogs have an automatic email subscription feature and a social media bar beneath each article for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and more. To build a blog on Wix, you will sign into your account and pick a template. There is a Blog template category, which is a great place to start. Once you have your template selected, I suggest updating the font, colours, and logo to personalize your template and help it stand out from the rest. Writing a post is as simple as clicking Create a Post, writing, and adding images. You can save drafts, or even give other contributors writing privileges for your site. This is all just as easy from a mobile device as from a desktop, no app required. Make sure that you update your SEO settings for every post: this is what is presented in the search results page and is critical for ranking in organic search. The resulting post will have an automatic read-time count, like a Medium post right next to the author’s name, which I also like a lot. I also like the ability to live-chat with your readers in the Wix app. If you build a real community in your blog or are open to answering reader questions in real time say about an online course you’re offering or a webinar that’s coming up, then it’s a cool feature.
2. Medium: Medium is home to more than 60 million users. These bloggers and content creators focus on crafting niche content for readers to settle down and read. The platform was founded by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Evan Williams as a response to the hyper-short limits of Twitter, hence the name Medium. At one point, there was some distinction between even longer blog platforms, but that is dissipated by now. From personal experience, I know that when I read on Medium, I read with curiosity and intent. I am ready to put in some time reading. It also helps that they give you an estimate of how long it will take to read the article. Posting with Medium is super simple too. There is a clean, white WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. Basically, as you type, you see what the post will look like when it is published. Do not stop at this point though. Instead of just a profile, I recommend creating a Medium Publication. This gives you the option to add other writers and editors to your blog. More importantly, it gives you a lot more options for controlling what is essentially your blog homepage.
3. WordPress with Bluehost Hosting: WordPress is the most popular website builders out there. That is because it is highly flexible and powerful. No matter what you want from your blog, it can be done with WordPress. To build your own site, you will need to buy a domain name, get web hosting, and set up your WordPress account. The quick answer: Go with Bluehost. Not only is Bluehost one of the most popular web hosts, it is also ready-made for WordPress. They even recommend using Bluehost as a hosting option. With just one click, you will be able to get your WordPress site up and running within minutes. Bottom line: If you are making a WordPress website, make it with Bluehost.
4. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is probably the most popular social network for professionals of all stripes.

They boast more than 590 million users, and 154 million of them in the US. And a lot of them are active with 44% are monthly active users. LinkedIn used to be basically a resume hosting platform. In a lot of ways, it was like a job-hunting dating app: you would go on if you were looking to hire or looking to get hired but not much else. In the last few years that has changed dramatically. If you are building a business blog, the audience on LinkedIn is premium: 45% of LinkedIn article readers are in upper-level positions (managers, VPs, Directors, C-level). In an article for Forbes, “Is LinkedIn Poised to Be the Next Big Social Network … For Brands?”, Ryan Holmes nailed what’s great about the platform, “Hardcore LinkedIn users know that there is a certain warm professionalism that underlies many exchanges on the platform. In short, LinkedIn offers a kind of stability, civility, and real value that’s sorely needed on some social platforms.” I completely concur. The platform has a ready-made culture and set of expectations that a business blogger would dream of creating on their own site. LinkedIn is a social network. Your influence grows in proportion to the size of your network. The more posts you publish, the more connection requests and followers you will attract. Writing consistently not only expands your network, but it also reinforces the message about the depth and breadth of your knowledge of the subjects that you write about. Publishing does not make you a LinkedIn Influencer, unfortunately. That is a hand-selected group of people that rotates throughout the year “to include only the most engaged, prolific, and thoughtful contributors and to ensure that their expertise matches our members’ interests,” according to LinkedIn. An article is not a post and vice versa. A post is a smaller update you would share with your feed and connections. Think quick anecdote or pro tip. They are limited to 1,300 characters, which is about 5 lines. Articles are longer and more in-depth. They are something that the broader LinkedIn audience would be interested in reading. A person who reads your article can also follow you from there, so they will be alerted when you publish your next article. Any articles you publish will appear in the Articles section of your LinkedIn profile.
5. Instagram: Instagram is primarily visual — the feed is all the images or videos, and extraordinarily little of the captions. You can use the caption field for your text, and users like a long caption. You will be capped at 2,200 characters or about 300 words. Instagram is perfect if what you are sharing is visual: a lifestyle, art, dance. Or if there is some way to share it visually like in a how-to mini video. Instagram is so good now that it is hard to want to go anywhere else. The downside is that you’re beholden to the algorithm and the feed, and the changes the platform makes. On the flip side, you also do not have to be the product manager, hire a developer, or build an audience from scratch. You will have to weigh the pros and cons yourself. You can also host vlogs on Instagram Live — simply tap the camera icon (top left of the screen, or by swiping right from the Feed) and tap Live at the bottom. When you are ready to go live, it is as simple as tapping Go Live. You will be able to see the number of viewers you have at the top of the screen and comments will pop in at the bottom. When you are done, tap End. From here, I recommend tapping “Save” to save it to your camera roll and tapping “Share” to add it to your story. It will live there for 24 hours to be replayed by anyone who was not around when it was live.
6. Facebook: 1.49 billion daily active users are a number worth noting. How many of those active users will make it to your page or your post, now that is another question. Organic reach on Facebook was once not such a wild aspiration, but in 2016 there was a huge decrease in organic reach. Social Flow found that brands saw a 42% decline in organic reach over Q1 and Q2 2016. The easiest way to build a blog on Facebook is to create a group or a page for your business or brand. From there, your posts will literally be Facebook posts.

To make it easier to post and handle all your interactions in one spot, I recommend using the Facebook Creator Studio. It is an all-in-one dashboard for publishing and analysing your content. If you are new to Facebook and are really using it as a classic blog platform, you will want to create Notes. These are the closest things to blogs: a header image, a title, and text down the middle. From here you can also go live, post videos, gifs, polls, recommendations, any type of Facebook post you have seen you can create from this dashboard. You can even save, schedule, and backdate posts.
Now, before you choose any one of them answer these two questions:
1. Do you plan to make money blogging?
If so, go with Wix. Wix has all the features you will need to make money with your blog. It is also easier to use than other platforms.
2. What is your blog about? Who will read it? What is your blog niche?
My recommendations:
a. If you are in business, blog on LinkedIn.
b. If you are creative, start your “blog” on Instagram.
c. The best classic blogging site is Medium, which can also serve as a syndication platform.
d. The biggest audience, of course, still lives on Facebook.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath