Is Ghost Worth Using for Content Creators?
Reading Time: 4 minutesIf you’re a content creator, you might want to think about creating a website. Ghost is the perfect platform to do so.
Blogging platforms have existed for a while, but many of the older ones used to require a lot of coding to customize your website as you felt was necessary. That has changed, however, and it’s much easier to build a fancy-looking site with little or no programming experience.
Ghost is one of the most popular tools for building a website that allows you to share your passions and ideas. You can also use it to monetize your knowledge later down the line. Having said that, understanding what you can and can’t do with it is a good idea.
So, is Ghost worth using for content creators?
What Is Ghost?
Ghost is a website-building platform that was designed for the creator economy. It was initially released in 2013; since then, it has achieved over three million installations. The platform also has over 16,000 active customers at the time of writing in December 2022.
Ghost’s software is open-source, and you have plenty of customization options.
Several major publishers and companies use Ghost, including Buffer, DuckDuckGo, and Unsplash. Several creators, such as Ali Abdaal, also use the service. The service has varying tools depending on whether you’re a creator, publisher, or business.
Is Ghost Expensive to Use?
Ghost has a progressive pricing structure, and your subscription costs will increase as your website gains more members. You’ve got four categories to choose from in the beginning: Starter, Creator, Team, and Business. However, the Starter plan is no longer applicable once your audience surpasses a certain number.
For beginner content creators with fewer than 500 subscribers, the prices for Ghost are as follows:
- Starter: $9 per month (annual), $11 per month (monthly)
- Creator: $25 per month (annual), $31 per month (monthly)
- Team: $50 per month (annual), $63 per month (monthly)
- Business: $199 per month (annual), $249 per month (monthly)
Prices increase until you reach 400,000 members. After that, you can contact the team at Ghost to negotiate your pricing structure.
How Many Themes Does Ghost Have?
When you subscribe to a plan with Ghost, you’ll have access to a selection of themes you can use for your website. In the interface, you can choose from 12 free themes directly. Once you choose these, you’ll have multiple customization options—more on this later.
You can also go to the Ghost Marketplace if you want more options. Here, you’ll find plenty of free additional themes in multiple categories—such as news and blogs. However, you can also purchase a selection of paid themes if you’d prefer.
Blogging With Ghost
Regardless of your creative discipline, using a blogging platform is a great way to grow your audience. You can attract more traffic to your website, and it also offers an outlet to express your thoughts and feelings on multiple topics.
Blogging regularly is much easier if you have a user-friendly platform for this, and Ghost fits that category. You can easily divide your posts into different sections and embed multiple kinds of media, such as podcasts from Spotify. On top of that, writing is a breeze, and the user interface tends to react pretty quickly.
When blogging with Ghost, you can also easily choose images from Unsplash and add them directly to your post.
Can You Comply With Data Laws With a Website Created by Ghost?
In your early days as a creator, you probably don’t think too much about data compliance. However, understanding this area is crucial if you plan to grow an audience—even if you’re not interested in monetizing what you do.
You’ll have to consider multiple global data laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU. The UK and Switzerland, while not being in the EU or EEA, have their own equivalents; the Swiss version will be implemented in 2023.
When using a website created by Ghost, you can use multiple plugins to ensure that you comply with data protection laws. For example, you can easily integrate CookieYes to allow users to consent to the use of cookies.
Does Ghost Allow a Custom Domain?
When making a website to promote your creative endeavors, you’ll likely want a custom domain to make your site look more credible and professional. While you do get a Ghost domain, you can also add a customized one.
If you purchase a domain on GoDaddy, you can integrate this with your Ghost website. You’ll find instructions on how to do so via the user interface, and you can work with your domain provider to get everything up and running if you require extra assistance.
Beginner-Friendliness
Blogging with Ghost is straightforward, and using everything else is also pretty straightforward. The backend gives you access to your subscriber information, and it’s also easy to change themes. On top of that, you shouldn’t have too many problems when adding third-party integrations to your website.
You can also create new pages and tags without much hassle. If you want inspiration for your site, you can go to the Explore tab.
Customizing Your Website With Ghost
Expressing yourself as a creative is straightforward when using Ghost, and you can customize your website in multiple ways. For example, you can switch your branded colors and upload a publication logo.
Ghost gives you control over your website’s fonts, email sign-up, and footer texts. Moreover, you can add a slogan for your site and change the theme whenever you want. Ghost also offers flexibility in terms of user plugins, and you’re able to add code as well.
Ghost Is an Excellent Website Builder for Creatives
Ghost is a handy website builder for beginner creators and seasoned professionals alike. Creating a website is incredibly easy, and while memberships can get expensive, you can maximize your earnings as your followership grows.
You can also use Ghost to create your website regardless of whether you’re a podcaster, blogger, YouTuber, or something else. Connecting a domain also shouldn’t take too long, and you can easily manage your newsletter subscribers within the platform as well.
If you’re thinking about sharing your creative endeavors with the world, why not see if Ghost can help you get your name out there?