Blogger vs. WordPress: Which Platform Is Better?

      Comments Off on Blogger vs. WordPress: Which Platform Is Better?
blogger vs. wordpress

There are 30.6 million bloggers out there.

That’s right. 30.6 million. Most of them are hosted on either Blogger or WordPress. 

You likely want to join their ranks, but which do you pick?

The eternal Blogger vs. WordPress battle wages on, with positives and negatives to both choices.

In this article, we’ll talk about some of the positives and negatives of each hosting platform. We’ll also discuss how to choose the right blogger platform for you.

Blogger vs. WordPress: Ease of Use

One reason so many beginners choose Blogger is because of its ease of use.

Many people start blogging with a simple idea. They want to get their voice out there, but might not be super Internet savvy. Blogger provides the simple and quick answer for that person.

Anyone can sign up for a Blogger account if they have a Gmail account, and they can start plugging away immediately, sharing photos, opinions and anything else they wish to grace the Internet.

They can upload pictures and format the posts fairly easily. It’s incredibly user-friendly, which makes it less intimidating.

WordPress, though also free for its most basic package, can be a little bit more difficult to figure out. Uploading isn’t as simple, and neither is writing a new post.

For this reason, Blogger is much easier for a beginner.

Cost

When it comes to cost, it can be difficult to gauge.

Blogger and WordPress both offer free versions of their service. In both instances, you’ll be hosted on the site’s domain.

For instance, if your site is on Blogger, it’ll be “Mysite.blogspot.com.” If your site is hosted on WordPress, it’s “Mysite.wordpress.com.”

Both, however, can be customized by purchasing a domain name. The price for this varies, though Blogger requires you use a third-party to do so. It will still host your blog.

WordPress won’t host your domain, though, so you’ll need to do this separately if you want your own domain site. This can cost a little bit more than simply purchasing a domain.

But, some people find hosting their own domain gives themselves the ease they need to run their website, and therefore, it’s worth the cost.

Customization

Both Blogger and WordPress allow you to customize your site with zero web development skills. You can toggle with some of their basic features to create a marginally original design.

However, if you want a totally original design, WordPress wins out.

You can use your web development skills, or pay a web developer, to design your blog for you and plug the code into Blogger. Unfortunately, the plug-ins and what you can do on Blogger are relatively limited compared to WordPress.

WordPress, by contrast, offers an almost limitless solution so you can make your page look like anything you want. And, if you know some code yourself, there are WordPress plug-ins that exist all over the Internet that make your life easy.

Many top newspapers and companies use WordPress as their interface, which speaks volumes to just how flexible you can be with WordPress.

Multiple Contributors to Your Blog

If you write a blog or an online publication that relies on more than one author, this is a very important feature.

Blogger does allow you to have multiple authors and multiple people logging into the page at once, but it’s nowhere near as advanced.

WordPress, instead, allows you to sign up users who only have minimal control over the site. This means that they can’t bop in and change your entire code. Instead, they can write and publish articles as they go, or they can send them to you for verification.

Once you like the articles, you can hit publish and it’ll integrate seamlessly into your site.

If you’re looking to have more than two contributors to your blog, WordPress is definitely the way to go.

Security

Security is important for most bloggers, especially if your blog expresses any point of view that is controversial. You may even have people trying to “break into” your blog or hack it for either information or revenge.

With Blogger, your site is relatively secure, because you’re signed up through Google. They take care of the security, partially because your site is 100% hosted through Blogger.

WordPress, however, creates a bit of conundrum for you.

Instead of WordPress keeping your site secure for you, you’ll need to do most of the leg-work. This can be difficult for companies who aren’t IT savvy or don’t have an IT team, which can make WordPress a turn off.

Who Owns the Blog’s Content?

With Blogger, you technically own your content, but you can’t fully lay claim to it. That’s because you’re forever hosted on Google’s servers, making you technically beholden to them. This is one very important reason why many companies stray and run into the arms of WordPress.

WordPress allows you to claim ownership of everything on your site, mostly because you do own it if you have your own domain.

Which One Is Best For Me?

So, Blogger vs. WordPress. Who’s the winner?

Well, that’s something you’ll have to answer for yourself. In the most basic terms, newbies prefer Blogger and more established bloggers typically prefer WordPress. There are exceptions to this, but it generally seems like the rule.

If WordPress intimidates you, you can always start with Blogger and then pay a company to transfer your blog to WordPress once you’ve gotten more time and experience under your belt.

Ready to start your blog? Visit our article on how to set one up today!