Why do you use Blogger?
That question—or some variation—seems to always come up when I speak about blogging. And the answer is simple—and complex.
The reason I started with Blogger was because it was so easy. And when I started my blog you could hardly fill a sentence with what I knew about blogging, much less a book!
But the reasons I continue with Blogger is a little more complex.
- I’ll be honest, I have an affinity for Blogger because we've sort of grown up together. It seems that every time I’m ready to take that next step with my site Blogger has added a new upgrade.
- Blogger is run by Google. Now Google isn't perfect by a long shot, but they have a HUGE presence on the Internet and they—as well as anyone—know where the business is headed.
I am familiar with WordPress and also with Typepad as blogging platforms. And I don’t want to leave them out. They both have some great options as well.
WordPress
- The thing I like best, and least, about WordPress is it’s tutorials. It walks you through the mechanics of building a blog, but you also have to move through a lot of the focus of your blog. It’s a lot to get through to just get started. When I built my blogs it was harder to get started with WordPress if you didn't know anything about websites and such. Now, with their directions it’s pretty easy. Their tutorials are much more thorough than Blogger’s. Blogger walks you through the steps—WordPress explains them.
- WordPress is also constantly updating its options. As a matter of fact, my next blog will be built on WordPress. Not because I’m unhappy with Blogger, but because I want to expand my knowledge base and play with a new toy!
Typepad
This platform isn’t free and it’s my least favorite, maybe because I’m not as familiar with it. But I’m coming up to speed quickly because I’ve taken over joint management of a large typepad site.
Surprisingly, since it’s a fee based service, it seems to have the least options. It seems that every time I want to do something it’s only possible in the next pricing tier.
Everyone has their favorite platform and to be truthful they’re all pretty good. WordPress and Blogger are definitely the frontrunners and they tend to swap the lead back and forth. For a while Blogger offers the newest and best options, then for a while WordPress does. I don’t think you can lose with either one.
So I’m dying to know—what’s your favorite blogging platform and why? Did you try a lesser known one and love it . . . or hate it?
Don’t forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie
My favorite is definitely WordPress, hands down. I found that blogger is easy and it offers some things that WP.com doesn't like ad management, java, etc. I started with the free one and moved to a self hosted (WP.org) one later. It is elegant and innovative. For the personal blogger, WordPress.com (free) is perfect because of the large number of themes available and the community it offers among bloggers. It restricts Java for security reasons and has a unique easy to use dashboard. Blogger doesn't restrict java and is very easy to use but domain management and custom theme installation is cumbersome. That's been my experience.
ReplyDeleteKeiki, I was hoping you'd chime in today on this topic. I absolutely love your blog and know you're a WordPress expert!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone hasn't visited her site you need to do so immediately - good stuff!
I'm a Blogger blogger (sorry, couldn't resist.)
ReplyDeleteWhy? Because that's the blog my web guru set me up with.
And that statement should tell you something about me techy expertise. I have probably only stuck a toe into what I should know about Blogger--but it's working for me.
I always look at blogs to see which format they use. I'm looking at redesigning my blog (and it's taking a while, because I want to do it myself).I keep note of blogs I like and find many are on Blogger. It's seems like many people I communicate with are already on Blogger due to gmail. I wonder if this will grow as more folks jump on G+. I also love the added features on blogger.
ReplyDeleteI use Blogger for my personal blogs. I use WordPress for Together Ministries' website. Why? Because I love blogger and find it easy to navigate (and didn't need a tutorial to figure it out). But when I wanted to get rid of the .blogsite.com tag and go to a straight web address for our ministry, I couldn't figure out how to do it via blogger and went with WordPress instead. I find WordPress difficult to navigate. For example, I'd like to add a photo to the sidebar, but can't figure out how to do so without changing the template, which means I'll have to have my graphic artist change the size of my banner for the fifth time. With blogger, I wouldn't have to go through all of that. :( I find it easy to post to WordPress, but that's about it. Even after playing with it for a few months. I definitely am a huge fan of blogger! (Sorry WordPress)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post............ i agree with your views for blogging platform is very best.
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