Blogger or Wordpress - Which one and why? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

I suppose that's pretty simple.  A couple of you have said that you prefer Wordpress over Blogger. I'm probably getting my own domain soon – at least in the next month. However, I remain "poor folk" and there's no way I'm renting server space anywhere, so I'll be hosting my domain somewhere free.

Now, I've enjoyed Blogger and I find it quite easy to use. I HAVE noticed that most of the coolest widgets and toys and page templates seem to be for Wordpress. However, I can edit my template and, at least from this non-programmer's perspective, seem to have considerable control over my template. I have access to fonts that I want, too (okay, Trebuchet MS is the only one I use cuz I love it), and I recall Wordpress having really terrible font choices. I really appreciate the stats – I don't know what Wordpress offers for stats.  I've also noticed that, if I get my own domain, I can map it to Blogger for free, and I do like free.

So what are the benefits to Wordpress?

C.D.

Regarding being "poor folk", HostTheName.com is having a killer hosting deal.   I've only had an account for a few minutes, but at $1/month, it's worth testing.  The reviews on the warrior forum are positive.

http://hostthename.com/hosting

Coupon: startupwarrior

Oh, but I started out with Host Monster and they SUCKED.  I've since switched to Host Gator and it has been FANTASTIC.

I am poor too, and I like Blogger.  So far i have been able to customize it in every way that I needed to.  of course, it helps that i know HTML so i can just go into the code and edit where I want.  Right now I have no desire to switch from Blogger and am very happy with it.

BUT… I advice all Blogger users to export a copy of your entire blog (easy to do in Blogger) once a week.  Why?  Blogger has the right to shut down your blog if something triggers the 'alarm' (usually it is being accused of spamming).  While this is not common, it is possible and so having a backup makes it easy to pick up and move to a paid hosting down the line if need be. 

I also use Blogger. I'd say I'm about 80% satisfied with it. I am not 100% satisfied because it doesn't allow me to do backlinks/trackbacks and as has been mentioned above, the SEO optimization is a little harder.

However, with certain adjustments to the Blogger html, I've been able to make necessary changes to keep me going. I also back up once a week as Single Saver advised. 

I feel like Blogger has never "held me back" as far as making progress with building my blog. The only thing that has held me back is not having enough hours in the day! haha

Like others, when I talk about WordPress I mean the interface/software, not the WordPress domain. The benefits are that you can do as little or as much with whatever theme you choose to use, and chances are it will look great. It's also very easy to use, and your site is hosted where ever you decide to host it. Which means it truly is your site and not up at the whim of another party.

For me, customizing Blogger was too much of pain. I can do html and programming but that's not what I wanted to spend my time on. While you can probably customize Blogger, you pretty much get everything in terms of plugin with WordPress without having to do any php programming.

As for my comments about building a community, it wasn't just about the commenting but about the trackback. With Blogger I had to manually find out who linked back and use Google Alerts for searches and none worked like the trackback capability of Word Press. The community isn't just about the commenters but the other bloggers you end up interacting with. Track back does good at automating that.

The amount of plugins with Word Press is huge compared with Blogger which prevents having to spend time on customizing manually. There are many plugins that allow you to pick how to present your post based where your traffic comes from and many others. I have barely scratch the surface of all the plugins.

<meta> tags were forbidden in the Blogger editor which I found odd since you need to use them for SEO.

Again, Blogger can satisfy many, it really depends on where you want to go. I would say that Word Press (self hosted) is probably more customizable since you have access to everything. All the php files and the MySql database.

I blogged for nearly 1 year with Blogger and recently switched and I also went with hostgator. I tried a cheap provider to avoid spending, and in the end, spending 60$ for a year is just worth it for peace of mind.

I moved all of my blogs to Wordpress and I wish I had either started there or done it sooner. It was well worth it. My traffic grew faster, I had 100% control, and I own my content. Google can't kill my blog overnight with no explanation (as has happened to other Yakezie members in the past).