Blogger vs. Wordpress

19 replies
Hey there fellow Warriors!

Loving this forum! I have learned more here in the last few days than in the last few months before I found this place.

I see a lot of people advising newbies like myself to use Wordpress to set up blogs (and websites). Is there any reason that I should use Wordpress rather than Blogger?

I have been using Blogger purley out of it being simple and easy to use. I am a newbie, so ease of use means a lot to me

Do you get more functionality with Wordpress? Can you get more add ons? Is it better for SEO / Adsense? I have found out that some add-ons don't look too hot on Blogger

I have downloaded Wordpress so I just need to figure out how to use it. Is it worth my while to learn how to use Wordpress, or is it worth continuing with Blogger?

Thanks in advance. You guys are awesome!
#blogger #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author EdKirby
    Hi Nick,

    The main reason (to me) for picking Wordpress over Blogger is that I own the domain and relatively speaking have no restrictions on what I can put on my blog. If G doesn't like your content or something you're doing with/on your blog you could lose it and all of your hard work is down the drain.

    Another thing is credibility. If you take the time to set up your own site I believe that long term you will have more credibility with your target audience than you would with blogger. Which should result in more followers and more $$$.

    If done correctly, the SEO aspects alone of Wordpress should be enough to overcome any benefits you may see otherwise. For example I have a Wordpress blog that I host myself and is on the first page of G in positions 6 and 7 for our main keyword and not long tail either. Mind you this is only a 16 week old site, not an aged site. You could do the same but I'm not convince that you could with a blogger site. Of course, it wasn't WP alone but the effort in SEO, article writing, backlinks and properly written content that went into achieving that.

    The ability to get a keyword rich domain name. Depending on what your niche is you can own your own domain name that could have the very keywords that people are searching on. Right now this works to your benefit in G. There's some talk as to how long this will last but if it works right now why not take advantage of it.

    You can use your blog to build your list. There are a couple of plugins for Wordpress that help to facilitate this. I don't know whether there are any restrictions on blogger for this kind of activity but that alone would kill it for me if they didn't allow it.

    Lastly, it's not that hard to learn, the basics anyway. You shouldn't have to download Wordpress either. If you have a cpanel account with your host you will be able to do a 2 click install via Fantastico and the site will be up and running in minutes. Keep in mind you will have some work to do to take it from this basic installation to a full fledged site complete with all the necessary plugins and theme but it's not an insurmountable task.

    I hope this helps! Feel free to PM me if you need any additional information. I'd be glad to help.

    Cheers,
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    Ed

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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      • Profile picture of the author EdKirby
        Originally Posted by alexa_s View Post

        Please excuse me apparently taking away your main reason, Ed, but you can do that with Blogger, too.

        Every time you start a new Blogger blog, it asks you whether you want to host it at Blogspot or on your own server under your own domain-name.



        Absolutely. And the same is true of the free hosting at Wordpress.com.

        These are certainly excellent reasons to have your own hosting and own your own blog.

        But they're not a reason to use Wordpress rather than Blogger.



        It really isn't, Daredevil Marketing. Exactly the same is true if you host a Blogger blog on your own server.



        There's so much misinformation in the forum at the moment!!
        @Alexa: You're not! It's all good! But, the complete paragraph/answer needs to be taken into context to understand where I was coming from. I wasn't intending to get this deep into it but here goes:

        It's my understanding that even if you are using your own domain name it still requires that you use Googles DNS servers since they are "still" technically hosting your blog so, if they don't like what you're posting you are vulnerable to termination.

        Now, if you are going to host yourself you have to set up "FTP Publishing" via Blogspot and you are still using the Blogspot admin panel to publish your content and still vulnerable to losing your account if someone other than you decides that they don't like your site.

        Does this happen? I don't know, but I wouldn't want to find out.

        Now, I'm not going to argue that I can't technically put whatever I want on a blogger blog it's more that I don't have to feel like big brother is watching and can decide to terminate my Blogspot account if they don't like "what" I'm publishing.

        I'm just not a fan of that kind of vulnerability.

        If I can use an analogy it's like owning a home vs. owning a condo. If I pay my taxes and mortgage I can pretty much decide what color I want my house to be etc. but if I own a condo, the condo association can dictate what I can and can't do with my condo and change the rules if they want.

        @ Nick, I guess the only thing else I would say is that this is a business and as such you are trying to build assets. In this case "virtual real estate". I would rather have a bucket full of "houses" that I have full control over and could be easier to sell if I wanted to.

        Cheers,
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        Ed

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      • Originally Posted by alexa_s View Post


        It really isn't, Daredevil Marketing. Exactly the same is true if you host a Blogger blog on your own server.



        There's so much misinformation in the forum at the moment!!
        It really is, Alexa S (ask me how I know :rolleyes and EdKriby beat me to the punch to explain why.

        Simply put, you're still at the mercy of the faceless moderation team at Blogger (owned, of course, by Google) when you supply your own hosting for your blogger blog. They can, at any time, strip away the right to use their service at their discretion per their Terms of Service (that does not differ whether they host the content or you do).

        "10. Termination; Suspension. Google may, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account. In the event of termination, your account will be disabled and you may not be granted access to your account or any files or other content contained in your account although residual copies of information may remain in our system for some time for back-up purposes. Sections 2, 3, 5 - 8, and 10 - 15 of the Agreement, along with applicable provisions of the general Terms of Service (including the section regarding limitation of liability), shall survive expiration or termination."
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        DareDevil Marketing
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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          • Profile picture of the author The Pension Guy
            Originally Posted by alexa_s View Post

            The fact of the matter is that countless marketers host their own Blogger blogs on their own self-hosted web sites.
            That how it is perceived on the surface by most Blogger blog owners.
            Technically, that is still a Blogger blog, created by the Blogger software/platform and it is just displayed under your domain on your host.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ankesh Kothari
    As with most things - it depends on your purpose and online business model.

    If simplicity is your goal - go with posterous.com. Much easier to use than blogger.com. (So if you're selling a software or a tangible product or something and need a blog just for updates - go with posterous.)

    If scalability and future potential is your goal - go with wordpress.org. Don't think about any other blogging platform if you deal with and plan selling information.

    WordPress.org is better because:

    1. You can totally customize it
    2. You'll find plugins on almost any feature you can think of
    3. It'll be on your own domain name - which is very good from SEO point of view (of course - only if your domain name is keyword rich.)
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  • EdKirby covered the bases quite nicely.

    At the end of the day, a Wordpress.org (not Wordpress.com!) installation hosted on your server is your property. Nobody can come along and pull the rug out from under you at any minute, which is certainly the case with Blogger, Wordpress.com, etc.

    I and many other people have great success in not treating the entities as mutually exclusive so you may want to consider that avenue.

    By this, I mean that you can have a Wordpress.org installation with your own domain, hosting, etc. as your main site and have one or even several Blogger and/or other properties leading traffic into your main site.

    Look up recent threads on the notion of building "Linkwheels" and you'll find plenty of great information about what I mean.

    That way you get all the benefits of both.

    Hope this helps,

    -DareDevil
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    DareDevil Marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author Creative Thinker
    Hi,

    I advice them to use wordpress.

    Visit: Learning Resources

    Read all the articles (it has audio too!) and see the videos about wordpress. You will find out that you need not even download the wordpress software. Instead it can be installed directly!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hersh
    Personally I can't understand if you are asking about Blogger VS Wordpress.com, or you are talking on the hosted Wordpress. If you are asking on the hosted Wordpress than I will say without a doubt Blogger is stronger. It get's better search engine rankings in 90% of the time and Google like it more than Wordpress.

    If you are talking about the self hosted Wordpress VS Blogger.com than the winner will be Wordpress. Wordpress is by far the best solution for a successful blog, website, or anything else that can come to your mind.

    Mike G
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  • Profile picture of the author Jon Alexander
    if you are planning on creating autoblogs, wp is better, because there are loads of free wp hosts out there (far more than there are blogger clones).
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    PS my PM system is broken. Sorry I can't help anymore.
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  • Profile picture of the author rashamba
    Can you customize a blogger template?
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  • I don't think that EdKirby was arguing with you and I know that I wasn't. I can't imagine how it would come off that way.

    Nobody is disputing that you can host a site using the Blogger platform on your own hosting. That's pretty obvious to anyone that has signed up for an account.

    The fact of the matter is that there exists the potential for that site to be disrupted in event that Google decides that your content doesn't meet their standards. This has happened many times to many people - and I know in my case, the content was not inappropriate (or so I thought).

    So in that aspect, it does deserve mentioning to the OP who wanted to know the pros and cons of each platform.

    -DareDevil
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      • Originally Posted by alexa_s View Post

        I understand that, DareDevil.

        The problem in this ever-recurring, ever-revolving discussion is that people inevitably say that the reason for using Wordpress rather than Blogger is that one can be self-hosted and the other can't, which really is misinformation.

        Gotcha. Yeah, I agree to that wholeheartedly. But just to play Devil's advocate, I can see how that misconception can easily be perpetuated by Wordpress.org's immense popularity and Blogger's reputation as being mostly a "free hosted" blog platform.

        But I think we've beat this horse enough.

        -DareDevil
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    • Profile picture of the author EdKirby
      @ Daredevil and Alexa_S: Oh, most definitely! I'm not trying to argue nor am I out to prove anyone wrong.

      I'm just trying to state an opinion based on what I know. This is what makes this forum great and a great place to learn from. The free and open exchange of ideas and information benefits everyone.

      At the end of the day everyone should do their "due diligence" when it comes to any information and check it out for themselves.
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      Ed

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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
    Thank you all for your comments! I have decided to go with Wordpress.
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    "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
    William Butler Yeats
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Campbell
    Glad to hear you're going with WordPress. I think after you do some searching around and get your blog installed to a host you will find it just as easy as Blogger, if not easier. I started out blogging on Blogger but made the switch to WP because of how many people were raving about it, and they were right. I love the plugins and customizable themes for WP. You can't beat them anywhere else.
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