WordPress or Blogger?
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| January 31, 2013 | Posted by Sam Bowden under Blogging Help, Intriguing, Reviews, Technology |
Both WordPress and Blogger are fantastic blogging platforms, but which one is better than the other, and which one should you use? Your blogging platform depends on how serious you want to be about blogging, generally you would want to use WordPress.com or self host it yourself. Blogger is good for people who know little about websites and design because they basically set everything up for you. WordPress allows much more customization compared to blogger, it allows for a more unique looking blog fitted to your tastes. Even the WordPress.com version of WordPress seems to be better than Blogger. I think a “.wordpress.com” URL looks better and more credible than “.blogspot.com”. Overall, your blogging platform should be chosen on how serious you want to be about blogging.
Self-Hosting WordPress or going through WordPress.com are both plausible ways to start up your blogging career. Using WordPress gives you access to thousands of free themes and plugins to use on your blog. Many plugins or themes can not be found on Blogger, this makes WordPress superior to Blogger when it comes to customization. Blogger’s dashboard, to me, seems much harder to use and navigate than the WordPress dashboard. Even though both dashboards are virtually the same, the WordPress dashboard has a more comfortable format, everything is evenly aligned, and generally just looks better. Blogger’s dashboard looks like an HTML page with a few pictures and links on it, I guess you could call it unprofessional. I believe that WordPress is the better choice for any blogger who will be blogging for a living, for long periods of time, or someone who wants to get a lot out of blogging.
I enjoy being able to simply do something, like making a comment on a blog post. Commenting on a blog is easier when that blog is using WordPress. Unlike Blogger, the WordPress comment form has four fields; name, email, website, and your comment. Filling out those four forms isn’t that hard for whoever is reading the blog post, and when they return to that blog the name, email, and website boxes are automatically filled in with the previously entered information. Blogger blogs can have a comment system like WordPress does, but many of them don’t in my experience. Usually what I have to do on a Blogger blog is use a profile, like my Google profile, in order to comment. Using my Google profile to comment isn’t exactly something I want to do, because I do not want my name linked to my profile. Using WordPress allows your readers to simply enter their information and leave a comment; users can even register an account on WordPress.com and fill out the comment information there. Filling out your comment information on WordPress.com automatically fills comment forms on all WordPress blogs that are linked to WordPress.com.
Choosing WordPress over Blogger is probably the smarter choice, but as I’ve stated before, your blog platform depends on how serious you are about blogging. If you are very laid back and don’t want to do much besides throw your thoughts out on the internet, go ahead and use blogger. I’m not saying there aren’t serious bloggers on Blogger, it’s just that I would use blogger for throwing my thoughts on the internet. Bloggers who wish to establish themselves as a unique and independent blog should use WordPress, with all it’s features and customization it is sure to please you. No matter what I say, the choice is yours, but WordPress is better than Blogger in the long run.
Hi Sam, Great Comparison between WordPress and Blogger bro. I prefer Self Hosted WordPress which is really awesome and flexible to use. Thanks for Sharing!!
Hello Sai, I’m glad that someone agrees with me about WordPress. Also, thank you for your comment, I appreciate it.
Arrgh, I like blogger. :p
I agree with some points, though. WordPress does look more professional next to Blogger, and in the long run, it seems to be the better platform (especially Self-Hosted). I would like to earn a bit of money with my blog, but I just want to create good content at the moment. I have considered moving to WordPress, but I am still reluctant; Blogger has been very helpful in my particular situation, considering I don’t have money to be self-hosted nor I’m THAT good at customization. I know that if I get a lot of views and followers, I will have to be self-hosted in order to achieve complete control, and possibly even open a small shop. Hey, being a little ambitious can be healthy. :p
Good post, and thanks for sharing your perspective.
I don’t know, I think Blogger can be just as good as WordPress, certainly from a personal point of view. My personal blog is on Blogger but I’ve written guest posts on a WordPress blog that uses some sort of login system that means I have an account on that blog for writing only, not moderation or editing, but I don’t have an actual WordPress acount. Of the two, I much prefer writing on Blogger because it feels easier to me-everything feels more obvious and I’ve never really got the hang of adding pictures and links on WordPress because with Blogger you don’t even need to work it out. As for designs, I don’t really care that there isn’t much choice on Blogger because it’s not really something that I want people to be focussing on when they visit-my page is a very plain mint green with a small flock of flying birds in the corner. I know if I wanted to make it fully customised and my own though, I could, as I’ve seen many Blogger blogs with unique headers and backgrounds.
The things I /really/ like though, are the GFC follow option because I really don’t like following blogs by email (although I do). With Google Friend Connect I can click a button and then it’s done, I don’t have to worry about confirmation emails or anything else-plus I can see all updates from all the blogs I follow really easily from the interface of my own. I imagine there’s something similar for WordPress though, although I am not familiar with it. I also love that Blogger is connected to Google+ because it makes sharing my blog posts with a wider community of people so much easier and simpler (I really don’t understand Google+ as a social site!) and I can even have it prompt me to do it straight after I post if I choose to.
I understand that I haven’t really experienced WordPress and who knows, if I did, I might love it too. But I’m not moving any time soon unless I really have to!
WOW. Did NOT realise that comment was so long, sorry for the essay!
It’s quite alright. I enjoy essay length comments
Thanks for this post. I wish I had read it before I set up my blog because I think you’re right about the customization options in WordPress. I decided to use Blogger because it was less intimidating. It’s still working for me now but I do see fabulous WordPress themes that tempt me all the time.
Is there a way to switch your blog from one to the other without rewriting articles? If so, I would love to see a post on that!
I found this article on how to migrate your blog.
http://www.labnol.org/internet/switch-from-blogger-to-wordpress/9707/
I hope it helps you.
Hi! Very nice post, but I think it’s a shame you only mention Blogger and WordPress!
They might be most popular platforms, but there are others that are as good, or even better.
Here is another post about how to chose a blogging platform. Hope you’ll enjoy it : http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/free-advice-for-new-bloggers/
Personally, I’m using OverBlog and I am really satisfied with the service: it’s a free blogging platform too, with premium options, customisable domain name, you have a free unlimited storage, and you own all your blog content of course. You can even monetize your blog, and theme customisation is very flexible. And I don’t think this is very useful to be self hosted when it’s only a personal blog, because you can import your content in xml file. Thanks!
Google…
usually posts some quite exciting stuff like this. If youre new to this site…
Hi… nice to find the comparison between both platforms… I have purchased hostgator platform in the past, which is why I have enjoyed the premium wordpress platform for whole year; but now I want to move my blog to free hosting providers.. I want to go for wordpress option, but don’t know if wordpress free hosting provides same features as that of the premium or not… Also which platform will be good as per hosting perspectives? Isn’t blogger much friendly to search engines then wordpress?… it will be great if you can help me
Well, if you want, you could use free web hosting and self host your WordPress blog. The free web hosting service I use also allows you to pay one dollar per month to remove their advertisements. It’s actually a very good host.
WordPress can be more search engine friendly than blogger and blogger can be more search engine friendly than WordPress, it just depends on how you promote yourself.
Thanks for brief reply brother… I have signed up to freewebhostingarea, but getting this error now… Is it common, or just happening with me?
forgot to paste the message, here is the message:
“Autoinstaller was temporary disabled until we update the scripts to latest versions.”
Oh yea, I got that. I did it manually by going to the file manger and uploading the files.
Can you post a link to where your getting the error, because when I first signed up I got a few errors to.
I do have this guide on how to set up a free blog with freewebhostingarea.
http://www.jibbary.com/08/21/2012/how-to-make-a-free-blog-with-wordpress/
You have provided great points on your blog, but in my view blogger is better in many sense, i have also written a article on wordpress vs blogger, on my blog.
Take a look at the points and suggest me, after reading it that which one is better.
I am a fan of blogger, i have not tried it yet, but was tempted to changes as my blog is still relatively new, i have managed to customize the look quite well however my biggest gripe is the way it decides on how i should display my text i will make a post then the text is in all random sizes. and big gaps everywhere. reading your comments you may of twisted my arm into it , well at least trying it out, feel free to pop along to my blog and let me know what you think
Nice comparison. But i love wordpress! i appreciate its functionality and ease of use at the same time. Blogger looks a little bit plain. WIth wordpress it’s easy to add posts, pages, media files. The dashboard is very convenient.
Hi,
I tweet a lot about anything related to my job but it leaves me unsatisfied when I want to say more, so Im thinking on starting a blog about beer (yes, another one).
Im not sure on what to expect but Im sure on what to say. I’ve never done a blog but Im not afraid to start one.
I want to be serious about it but I dont want it to be central. I want to promote what I do but I want to be honest and not feel like Im pimping myself out.
I want it to be simple and fun and yet be taken seriously.
So my question is which blogging site would be a better fit for me? Blogger, WordPress or Tumblr?
Thank you + cheers!
Well, if you are going to buy your own domain, I would say use WordPress and customize it to your likings. If you aren’t planning to buy a domain I would say go with blogger, because it has the ability to do everything you need it to do.
Never use Tubmlr, when I see a blog that is hosted on Tumblr I pretty much just ignore it because it is probably some little kid just posting random photos.
I hope this helps!