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What are the advantages and disadvantages to sites like Blogger and WordPress.com?

by James Liberty
12 replies
I started a blog about six weeks ago... and my website was immediately hacked.

So I paid someone on Fiverr to clean it for me... and three days later, my site was hacked again.

So far, I've spent about six hours trying to fix malware problems... and zero hours writing content.

Needless to say, I'm pretty sick of dealing with this WordPress security bullcrap.

So... I've been thinking about switching to a free blogging service that would handle the security thing for me -- you know, sites like Blogger or WordPress.com.

That said, what are the advantages and disadvantages to these services?

(Can I still use a custom domain name with them? Is it easy to later transfer my site to a paid web host should I later decide to? Will transferring a free blog to a self-hosted site destroy my SEO juice? Any other tips?)
#advantages #blogger #disadvantages #sites #wordpresscom
  • Profile picture of the author danieldesai
    Originally Posted by James Liberty View Post

    So... I've been thinking about switching to a free blogging service that would handle the security thing for me -- you know, sites like Blogger or WordPress.com.

    That said, what are the advantages and disadvantages to these services?
    The advantage of a free blogging service is that you don't pay any money, and that's it.

    The disadvantage is that you can lose your site without warning, all it takes is a single change to the Terms of Service.

    Forget about malware, the greatest threat to your free blog is the service provider itself, especially if you're monetizing that site.

    Just use Sucuri.net to deal with the malware and stick to your self-hosted WordPress blog.

    Daniel

    P.S. another option is to use WP Engine as they do fully managed WordPress hosting and they remove malware, free of charge.
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    • Profile picture of the author GetPLRhere
      Originally Posted by danieldesai View Post

      The advantage of a free blogging service is that you don't pay any money, and that's it.

      The disadvantage is that you can lose your site without warning, all it takes is a single change to the Terms of Service.

      Forget about malware, the greatest threat to your free blog is the service provider itself, especially if you're monetizing that site.

      Just use Sucuri.net to deal with the malware and stick to your self-hosted WordPress blog.

      Daniel

      P.S. another option is to use WP Engine as they do fully managed WordPress hosting and they remove malware, free of charge.
      There's some relevance to what you've just said; about losing your site.

      Google could conceivably shut down Blogger any time it wishes. Geocities was very popular back in the days then Yahoo acquired it, then some years later, they ended up shutting that down.

      I believe there might be a plug-in or software that can convert your blog posts to HTML pages. This could be useful for backing up your content in case anything happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    What's the main purpose of your blog? or just blog? or are you trying to make money?

    If you are trying to make money, make sure your own your blog and host it yourself, if not, then go ahead and use the free ones
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  • Profile picture of the author GetPLRhere
    For one thing, Blogger is own by Google so obviously, Google plays favorites. Just look at some of the searches and you'll see YouTube videos popping everywhere in the SERPs.

    WordPress.com is or was a PageRank 9 site I believe, though PageRank is not a public factor anymore for SEO, it might still be a factor internally. Only Google knows of course.
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  • Profile picture of the author cooler1
    The main disadvantage of Wordpress.com is that you can't monetize it, so it isn't a suitable option for IM'ers, unless you want to create a blog for something like case studies, where you'll just be writing without promoting anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author dnamie
    advantage in blogger is totally free compared to wordpress. about design its depend of webmaster how he design it
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  • Profile picture of the author MrFume
    Originally Posted by James Liberty View Post

    I started a blog about six weeks ago... and my website was immediately hacked.

    So I paid someone on Fiverr to clean it for me... and three days later, my site was hacked again.

    So far, I've spent about six hours trying to fix malware problems... and zero hours writing content.

    Needless to say, I'm pretty sick of dealing with this WordPress security bullcrap.

    So... I've been thinking about switching to a free blogging service that would handle the security thing for me -- you know, sites like Blogger or WordPress.com.

    That said, what are the advantages and disadvantages to these services?

    (Can I still use a custom domain name with them? Is it easy to later transfer my site to a paid web host should I later decide to? Will transferring a free blog to a self-hosted site destroy my SEO juice? Any other tips?)
    I run at the moment 10 WordPress sites - I have used this CMS since about 2009, along with Joomla & Drupal. I have been hacked only 1 time and that was in the early days before I learned all about securing sites. WordPress is very popular (the stand-alone version on hosting) so it is a target for all kinds of low-life idiots who have zero skills and imagination who cannot build anything for themselves so they derive moronic satisfaction from screwing up other people's work. It is entirely possible to build your WordPress sites and make them just about bullet-proof, so don't give up so easily.
    Moving to the .com platform of WordPress will not be an advantage, your site will never truly belong to you and it can be deleted if you piss off the WP people-it makes no difference if your livelihood depended on it. I have heard some harrowing stories about that happening to people.
    There is just no comparison with having complete ownership and control of your websites, you determine the content, and can make your own money from your work.
    If you want some help in securing your WordPress site, I offer some consultation services, it's up to you, and that is my opinion.
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    Journalism, the profession is undergoing a massive change since the WWW has arrived. I help people to build their personal profile and create a multi-media platform with WordPress, Podcasting, Writing and Video.
    Digital Media for a Noisy World

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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    Aside the potential to lose your content if the free blog gets shut down, one thing that's pissing me off lately is being outranked by blog scrapers pushing my Page 1 ranking benneath theirs using pieces of my content and others...and they are nearly always Blooger sites that these people use... so, as fast as you send out a DMCA and get em shut down... 3 more surface.

    What aggravates the hell out of me... is the crap Google allows to outrank my articles and content...is pure trash! - Yet, they say the most relevant content wins...that's BS! - Seems to me, you tube and blogger nearly always hold 1-2 spots on the top 10 front page results for anything MMO related anyway...maybe not for health sites, or more widely sought niche markets...either way, it's not healthy to rely on a free blog IMHO... although I do believe Web 3.0 properties do serve as good buffer sites (i.e. blogger, HubPages, etc..)

    Art
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    Atop a tree with Buddha ain't a bad place to take rest!
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  • Profile picture of the author shaunybb
    Word press is still very secure you obviously don't know how to secure it properly! and paying someone of fiverr to clean up the security? COME ON you might as well give them the admin login while your at it...they probably caused half the problems!
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    You FAIL online because you have the WRONG information.....
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    • Profile picture of the author James Liberty
      Originally Posted by shaunybb View Post

      Word press is still very secure you obviously don't know how to secure it properly! and paying someone of fiverr to clean up the security? COME ON you might as well give them the admin login while your at it...they probably caused half the problems!
      Who would you recommend instead?
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  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    I use Wordpress for all my own sites and all my clients' sites. Make sure you install a good security plug-in, such as WordFence or Bullet Proof Security. Make sure you NEVER us "admin" as the username and use good, strong passwords.

    Back up your site regularly. A good host will do regular backups and restore your site for you, so you shouldn't need to pay to have a site unhacked by someone on Fiverr.

    The biggest disadvantage of Wordpress.com is that they don't allow commercial sites, so if you try to sell something there your site will be taken down.

    Google loves Blogger, cos they own it. I discovered that recently when I found a site I'd forgotten about - I was amazed at how many visitors it was still receiving, so I tarted it up and sorted out the content. It's a pathetic site in my eyes, but apparently not in Google's. It wasn't receiving vast numbers of visitors, around 20 - 30 a day. But some were clicking through, and it's free.
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  • Profile picture of the author twinklingstars
    I'd imagine blogger sites would rank really easily. I had no idea malware and hacks were issues for small and new blogs.
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