Wordpress.com or Blogger.com?
I’d like to look at what I think are the pros and cons of each hosting service and then talk about why self hosted wordpress trumps both. :D
Customization
Blogger - You can edit templates, styles and colors to your hearts content. There are few boundaries on how you can make your Blogger blog look.
Wordpress.com - You cannot edit your template at all and background and color modification are only available as an upgrade which costs $15 per year.
Image Files
Blogger - There is no image storage in your blogger.com blog. So if you want to post a picture you’ve posted previously, you must either upload it again or find the post it was pasted in and copy the code.
Wordpress.com - Great Image storage with the additional option of uploading .doc and .pdf files
Private Blogs
Blogger - You can make a blog open to invited users only
Wordpress.com - You can make a blog open to invited users only. In addition you can make a single post on a public blog, private and give only users of your choice a password to view it.
Statistics
Blogger - You can add a visitor stastic tracking service if you want.
Wordpress.com Visitor stats are available in your dashboard and include: three most viewed posts, searches which led people to your blog and number of visits per day, week or month.
Static Pages - These are set pages such as an About me page.
Blogger - No static page option
Wordpress.com - Available and listed in a separate menu for users to click on.
Comments
Blogger - Includes visual confirmation to try to deflect spam and includes comment moderation. Comments open in a pop up window or an entirely new page altogether.
Wordpress.com - Includes comment moderation, Akismet Spam protection (which is awesome) and comment forms appear at the bottom of a post instead of in a new window. The administrator also had the option to edit a comment if needed.
Email
Blogger - Visitors are not required to leave their email address.
Wordpress.com Visitors re required to leave their email address but it will not be made public.
Widgets
Bogger - Offers numerous widgets including - Slideshow, Newsreel, Videos, HTML/Javascript, Text, Link List, Picture, AdSense, Labels, Archives and more
Wordpress.com - Text, Link List, Categories, Archives, HTML, Post Calendar and a few more. Wordpress.com widgets do not allow javascript so you can’t use Adsense, goodreads badges or anything else with javascript in it.
Wordpress.com worked very well for me for quite a while. My personal favorite wordpress.com features:
* I loved that commenters had to leave email addresses because sometimes I really wanted to respond to someone’s comment in a more personal manner. Also, if I have a giveaway I can gather all the entrants email addresses and send out an email announcing the winner.
* I really like static pages
* An image directory is a must for me
* I like having a comment form at the end of a post. Blogger comment pages seem to take a while to load
* Wordpress.com doesn’t go down nearly as much as blogger does. As far as I’ve noticed anyhow.
One thing I really hated about wordpress.com was not being able to modify my look the way I wanted. But the other features were more important to me than that one when I was deciding what platform to use. I went with wordpress.com and I would recommend it above Blogger for anyone who doesn’t have it in their budget to, or is intimidated by self hosting.
Now I’ll just state the fact. If you do have it in your budget and you’re not afraid to learn a little about managing your own blog, Wordpress 2.5 trumps them both! Why? Because it basically offers the best of both platforms and more: Thousands of themes to download, free to modify your theme yourself or with the help of a designer, thousands of widgets/plugins, SEO advantages, easy installation and upgrades via Fantastico (make sure your webhoster of choice has it), search friendly permalinks for your posts and it’s very easy to figure out how to use.
So if you do decide to make the switch, I recommend Wordpress 2.5 and my blog hosting site shown in the ad below. And of course if you do make the switch I’ll be happy to guide you with initial set up if you’re struggling.
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That is great info to know. I will keep it in mind if I feel like switching. :-) I do love your new look. I hope this comment will post, though, I have been having a hard time with them showing up on here today.
I really liked this post. I’ve definitely been struggling with wordpress. I like it, but don’t know how to update it (you - sweet thing - even sent me an email way back when with directions) but I hadn’t ‘upgraded’ so, couldn’t make any adjustments. What I really want is to incorporate my blog into my site. I already have hosting for extraordinarymommy.com…but the site and blog aren’t really connected. I’ll have to check out 2.5. Maybe I can figure it out :)
You can manipulate the template. I’m not sure how, but my SIL did it, I sent her those images and she’s got it looking pretty much the same in WP as in Blogger, thought it’s not quite done yet.
Yes, you can manipulate the template in wordpress 2.5. Is that what your sister is transferring you to?
You can’t manipulate the template on a wordpress.com hosted blog however. You can change the colors and header but that’s with a paid upgrade.
Yep, I’m loving self-hosted WordPress too. Definitely much more than Blogger - although I see that they’re trying to improve some of the features (or lack of) that drove me nuts about it. I love all of the customization options - and how not every WordPress blog looks the same. It’s almost impossible to duplicate that with Blogger unless you know a lot about html and css.
Great post! :)
I’m back! It’s crazy not blogging for a month! My Reader has over 200 blog posts to read, not including the private ones! By the way, thanks for the comparison! I”ve often been curious about Wordpress, and have always definitely liked Google’s ability to format the html. One thing about the pictures, Google does automatically save your images in a Picasa web album for you, I don’t know if that would help what you need. Whatever, your happy over in Wordpress land! Enjoy! ;)
Oh, I was able to change my template to include my personal header. It took a bit, but all I had to do was google “Wordpress custom header” and type in the name of my template. Or even go to their support page and do a search there.
Doable for someone who knows a bit of html… or who can follow instructions and isn’t afraid to play with code. Ummm, maybe not that many out there.
Every change I made to the code I saved the original in a text file so I could replace it if the change didn’t work. Ya, I don’t know how to back up my site like they suggested, so I made do with what I knew.
oh, sorry I didn’t read your comments… hosted blog. Got it.
Hi Summer:
Got a couple of questions for you, if you don’t mind helping me out. I’m looking at helping a friend start a blog for her business. She wants the blog to be public but some of the pages to be password protected. Can you do this with the free wordpress blog or is it an upgrade?
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
Love the new place and colors. I’ve found being on your own server is a little challanging at times, but well worth it. The one thing I like most about WP, is I never miss a comment on ANY post. Someone could leave a comment on a post I published a month ago, and I’d see it, where Blogger I couldn’t unless I had comments moderated.
Such good info…one of these days I tell ya!
Thanks Summer! I’m thinking on it. My biggest issue is my out-laws:) I’ll have to email you some more of my questions. This was very helpful though. I’m going to reread it when it’s not 12:30 in the middle of the night though and maybe I’ll understand it even better! Have a great weekend!
I love my wordpress blog. It’s not as user friendly as blogger but it’s much more flexible!
I’m not sure what version it is or anything. I’m just thankful I have so many brilliant people helping me with it because I’d be completely lost otherwise!
Yeah, wordpress is definitely not as easy to figure out as blogger. That’s one con.
There actually is a way to find stored photos in Blogger. All uploaded photos in Blogger go into a Picasa Web Album (go to http://picasaweb.google.com and find the album with the same name as the blog).
To re-add the photo to a post, click on it in the album. On the right hand side of the page, find the “Link to this photo” link and click on it. A box appears with the HTML code to paste into your post (under “HTML to embed in website”). Below the box with the code, there’s also a drop-down menu with four size options
Thanks Jordan!
awesome post mate. good info