I received a question from a reader on the YouTube channel for I Help Bloggers about some of the differences between Blogger, WordPress.com and a hosted WordPress blog. In the video, I discuss just some of the few differences as there are many.
Focus and content type
When I am asked which platform a user should choose, I first ask what is the focus of the blog and what type of content do they think they will use? If you have not given much thought to it, I suggest working backwards. Start with the content type then work backwards to which platform will support it. For example, are you comfortable taking photos or recording videos? Perhaps you have a great speaking voice and prefer audio podcasts? Do you prefer writing quick posts? There are so many forms including art, music, cartoons, jokes and more than I can possibly name. If you’re having a difficult time deciding, revisit Define Your Content Type and Define a Niche for Your Blog.
Content-Type to Hosting
Once the primary content type is defined, find a hosting platform that meets those needs. I chose a combination of videos and text posts that involves hosting my videos at Youtube and Blip.TV. Occasionally, a single photo or slideshow is incorporated and Google’s Picasa met that need and for the low price of FREE!!
I also wanted an online community for bloggers to share information so the Facebook Pages has been a good choice. (On a technical note, this meant that the blogging platform needed to support redirection to an external site). There were other reasons such as the ability to gather statistics as well as easy integration for posting (uploading) videos from my Mac that were involved in choosing a hosted WordPress platform but everyone has to determine their reasons. By now, the content-type and hosting options were gathered, next on the list was the blogging platform that would support the content type.
Restrictions and Limitations
After careful consideration for the content type that maybe included in the blog, research the capabilities of the blogging platform. There are many others besides Blogger and a hosted WordPress blog but these are my favorites. Did you notice that I did not say WordPress.com was my favorite? I do not want to discourage anyone from using WordPress.com but I found that it was very restrictive and geared more for blogs of the written word than photos or other types of media. They restrict the blogger from using Java-enabled items or anything that could possible execute (run) and cause havoc on the system. As a result, all of fun stuff is removed due to high security restrictions. The ability to have ads on your blog to make a little bit of money is also prohibited. Last, if you decide to get your own domain name, such as ihelpbloggers.com, WordPress.com does not allow you to redirect your wordpress.com site to this domain. This feature is available in Blogger but with WordPress.com, your blog will always be yourblog.wordpress.com.
Blogger is not without its challenges. If you start with WordPress.com or even a hosted WordPress site, trying to revert or convert to Blogger is challenging to say the least. It can be done but it is not easy and the included import and export utilities do not work very well. Additionally, Blogger does not include categories and other SEO (search engine optimization) items that can offer more control over your postings to increase the blogs rankings and visibility.
Do some research and post often with different media types to test the blogging platforms to determine which platform offers the most flexibility and meets your needs.
Add-ons and Support
Starting with Google’s Blogger is great for starting a blog. It is not by accident that Google offers a suite of tools from Picasa for Photos, Youtube for videos, Docs for Microsoft Office compatible files, Maps and much more. Google aims to provide all the tools needed for computer living, not just blogging. Having said that, some of the “cool” add-ons are more widely available as plugins for WordPress (.com or hosted). These plugins can be downloaded and installed on a WordPress blog for free from WordPress.org under the extends menu option. Let’s be clear, there are many more blogging platforms than Blogger or WordPress but these are the my choice favorites.
If you have your own domain name, then having a hosted WordPress blog is a good option. It is more work for initial setup and does require some maintenance but it is well worth it as you have full control over the look and feel of the blog. For bloggers that start with Blogger and want to upgrade to WordPress.com or a hosted WordPress site, the import/export utilities to go from Blogger to WordPress do work pretty well. As I stated earlier, WordPress.com has more restrictions so some items may have to be re-worked or left out but migrating to a hosted WordPress blog is typically pretty smooth.
Considerations
At the end of the day, the best blogging platform is the one that meets your needs and doesn’t drive you to tears and frustration to maintain it. Choose a platform that is easy to use and is widely supported. Here are few questions to ponder as you delve into blogging:
- Is the platform easy to setup?
- Does the platform support my own domain, if desired?
- How easy can I upload or embed media such as photo’s, videos, music, etc? Are slideshows supported?
- What methods are available to gather statistics? Visitors? Browser used? Country of origin? How many repeat visitors?
- Can I embed or add Java-enabled items and scripts like badges from LinkedIn or Facebook, Google Maps, Visitor Maps like FeedJit
- Can I have ads on my blog?
- Can I modify the theme or template?
- Do I have to use more sites to host my media (videos, music, photos) than desired?
- Can I customize the title or URL such that it is optimized for SEO?
- Do I have control over comments and spam?
- Are there sufficient backup and restore options to prevent loss of my content?
- Can I post blogs from my phone?
- Can I have automatic notifications from Twitter or Facebook when a new post is created?
- How easy is it to have a customized feed such as http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ihelpbloggers.com?
- How many templates or themes area available for the platform?
These are just a few questions to consider when choosing a blogging platform. There is no right or wrong answer, just what is right for you.