Welcome the second part in my series about my journey from Blogger to Wordpress. After reading the first installment in this series, it may sound like Wordpress is all that and a side of chips. Well, there is a reason it's the most popular blogging platform. But, don't discount Blogger just yet. Google's platform has a lot to offer.Blogger is a user-friendly, and more importantly, free platform hosted by Google. There are a few drawbacks with the platform, especially when it comes to things like whiz-bang features and SEO. However, Blogger still offers quite a bit, especially for smaller blogs.
- Free
- Very little down time
- Able to handle large traffic spikes
- Automatically updated and patched by Google
- Small but useful widget library
- Ability to use custom domain (with automatic setup)
- Decent content editor
- Ability to position images by dragging
- Full access to template for advanced customization
I guess there's not much I can add to the first point. Blogger is a free product. There are of course free platforms for Wordpress as well such as Wordpress.com and a number of hosting sites. However, those options can be limited at times.
Probably the biggest thing that kept me with Blogger longer than I wanted (besides the price) was the fact that this is a Google product. That means it lives on Google's massive server infrastructure Now, nothing is totally free of downtime, but I experienced very little unavailability with my site.
Similarly, I wasn't worried about my site falling apart should something I do go viral and get a massive spike of traffic all at once.
I also wasn't as worried about vulnerabilities within my blog. Google patched the platform regularly without me really knowing much about it or having to do anything. In the Wordpress world (save for managed providers like Wordpress.com) it's up to you to make sure your stuff is updated, even if it's fairly simple to do.
Not only do you have to keep on top of Wordpress updates, but you also need to make sure your widgets are updated as well. While Blogger isn't going to win a widget contest with Wordpress (the plugin infrastructure is unbelievable), the widgets it does offer are pretty useful. For example, it took me forever to find a comparable blog roll widget on my Wordpress site.
Blogger also gives you the option of using your own domain, something some free wordpress hosts don't. If you don't have a domain, you can even buy a domain cheap through your Blogger admin console and Google will handle the setup for you.
In general, I like the Blogger interface for most things. There's a few things I even wish that my Wordpress admin side had. For some reason, I really like the posts editor in Blogger. Especially the fact I can drag around an image to place it inside a post. Wordpress is more of a manual process to place images.
Finally, if you want more customization than you get out of the box, you can do that in Blogger too. You get full access to your HTML and CSS template, so you can hack around to your hearts content. Many of the tips I see online require this. While it's more difficult than plugins, it does add a lot of flexibility to the platform.
In Conclusion
It's not like Blogger is a terrible platform. It's got a lot going for it, especially the fact that its supported by Google's massive and robust technology. Other things like easy Adsense integration are also a nice touch.
If Blogger is working out for you, there may be no need to make the jump. Depending on your needs, moving over to Wordpress may be more trouble than its worth. We'll touch more on that in the next installment.
Probably the biggest thing that kept me with Blogger longer than I wanted (besides the price) was the fact that this is a Google product. That means it lives on Google's massive server infrastructure Now, nothing is totally free of downtime, but I experienced very little unavailability with my site.
Similarly, I wasn't worried about my site falling apart should something I do go viral and get a massive spike of traffic all at once.
Not only do you have to keep on top of Wordpress updates, but you also need to make sure your widgets are updated as well. While Blogger isn't going to win a widget contest with Wordpress (the plugin infrastructure is unbelievable), the widgets it does offer are pretty useful. For example, it took me forever to find a comparable blog roll widget on my Wordpress site.
Blogger also gives you the option of using your own domain, something some free wordpress hosts don't. If you don't have a domain, you can even buy a domain cheap through your Blogger admin console and Google will handle the setup for you.
In general, I like the Blogger interface for most things. There's a few things I even wish that my Wordpress admin side had. For some reason, I really like the posts editor in Blogger. Especially the fact I can drag around an image to place it inside a post. Wordpress is more of a manual process to place images.
Finally, if you want more customization than you get out of the box, you can do that in Blogger too. You get full access to your HTML and CSS template, so you can hack around to your hearts content. Many of the tips I see online require this. While it's more difficult than plugins, it does add a lot of flexibility to the platform.
In Conclusion
It's not like Blogger is a terrible platform. It's got a lot going for it, especially the fact that its supported by Google's massive and robust technology. Other things like easy Adsense integration are also a nice touch.
If Blogger is working out for you, there may be no need to make the jump. Depending on your needs, moving over to Wordpress may be more trouble than its worth. We'll touch more on that in the next installment.
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