White hat

White hat, in regards to search engine optimization, refers to any techniques not specifically banned by the major search engines.  Generally, unless you’re going out of your way or playing around with automation, you don’t have to worry about breaking the rules.  If you post your own content on your own accounts, run your own social media accounts, and don’t send bulk emails, you’ll be just fine.

WordPress

WordPress is the most popular platform for blogs.  It started as a simple way to host a linear collection of posts, but over time has grown into a full content management system.  A robust collection of plugins and themes makes it easy to run an entire website with WordPress alone, without having to rely on other platforms.

It is possible to host a WordPress blog directly on wordpress.com, but these days most people prefer to download the stand-alone version and install it on their own hosting.  It’s available for free and without ads.