Blogger vs. Wordpress: Which one is better?

A lot of bloggers have this discussion. Which one is actually better? Which platform do you use to build your blog on, and is there any other blogging sites? We will answer all these questions and more in this article.
With social networking sites rapidly gaining momentum, let’s not forget that there’s not a whole lot you can express in a status box or better yet 140 characters. A blog is an essential piece of real estate for any online business or simply those who’d like to express themselves without any constraints. Blogs are a great way to position yourself as an expert in your niche, and promote your products and services. Until a few years ago, blogs were regarded as online journals, but have evolved into marketing and advertising powerhouses that substantially boost your online presence.

There are a number of blogging platforms to choose from today so which one is right for you? Two of the distinguished names are Blogger (www.blogger.com)  and Wordpress (www.wordpress.org), and each of them has its own unique features to boast and maybe a handful of drawbacks as well. These blogging services are widely accepted and used, but if you’re just getting started with blogging, then choosing one or the other may seem overwhelming. For starters, both these platforms eradicate the need for any complex coding, and any intense backend modifications.

This type of complete blogging solution allows you focus on the most critical aspect of running a blog, and that is creating remarkable content. They come pre-installed with all the features needed to write, edit and manage your posts, with the help of WYSIWYG editors. For coders or those who possess some level of coding skills, there’s always the option to switch back and forth and insert the code yourself. Using hosted services such as Blogger or Wordpress doesn’t mean that you can’t make use of powerful features, but they let you do much more from creating customized forms and polls to integrating efficiently with social networking sites.

Brought to you by Google, Blogger was one of the first blogging platforms to be introduced, and was initially launched by Pyra Labs in 2009. Over the years it has been considerably revamped and is now more powerful than ever. Wordpress may have been a little late walking into the show in 2003, but has wasted no time in becoming the blogging platform of choice for even the most seasoned bloggers. According to statistics of 2011, Wordpress is a proffered blogging engine for more than 20% of blogs on the web, and this surge of appeal doesn’t seem to be coming to a halt anytime soon.

There are many things to consider when choosing between Wordpress and Bloggers, but regardless of your pick, you can’t go wrong with either. Both platforms offer a smooth setup process, but this may not be the case for all levels of users. Starting with blogger, it offers a streamlined setup process to the point where one may feel that it was designed exclusively to introduce blogging to the masses. You will however require a Google account to get started just like all their products, and then it’s just the matter of choosing your domain name and theme. Just like Blogger, setting up Wordpress is also pretty straightforward, but the only hiccup you may experience is if you’re adding plugins and other enhancements.

Blogger is free to use as well as Wordpress, but you will need a paid domain name and hosting for the latter. If you pick a free blogging platform such as blogger, your domain name would look something like this; yourwebsite.blogger.com. However, when you go with a self hosted blogging solution such as Wordpress, your domain name will read something like this; yourwebsite.com or myblog.com. This doesn’t mean that Blogger is not a good option, but you get limited flexibility in terms of features and control.

Applications such as Mailchimp and AWeber that help you build email lists, which contribute significantly to your blogs performance and can only be added to Wordpress and other self hosted blogging platforms. Blogger is a good option for those who are on a tight budget or just getting their feet wet with blogging, and overall provides a pleasant experience. It also offers an excellent choice of themes and designs to improve the aesthetic appeal of your blog.

As mentioned before, content is the most crucial component of a blog regardless of whether it is sub-domain or self hosted. Generating content is not an easy task neither is it cheap, which brings us to the often neglected topic of ownership. For a moment, imagine that the content on your blog is a prized possession, which technically should be. Due to limited space, you are not able to accommodate this showpiece in your home so you decide to store it at your friend’s home.

Check out this video by Vana Chupp in which she compares the three most popular blogging platforms; Blogger, Wordpress and Tumblr:

Your friend has 3 dogs, 2 cats and 4 unruly kids so although she is willing to take care of your showpiece for free, she can’t guarantee it safety. Given this, you still agree to store your possession with her, but as you drive away another thought strikes you. Your friend is not well to do, and may get rid of your stuff while you’re away for some cash so now you’re in a different bind altogether. If you haven’t caught on yet, Blogger is your friend’s house and where you’re content is not safe.

Fact is that you have complete ownership of your content, and can publish or redistribute it as you see fit, but so can Google. Here’s an excerpt from the Blogger terms and service:

“When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps). Some Services may offer you ways to access and remove content that has been provided to that Service. Also, in some of our Services, there are terms or settings that narrow the scope of our use of the content submitted in those Services. Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services.

We are constantly changing and improving our Services. We may add or remove functionalities or features, and we may suspend or stop a Service altogether.

You can stop using our Services at any time, although we’ll be sorry to see you go. Google may also stop providing Services to you, or add or create new limits to our Services at any time.

We believe that you own your data and preserving your access to such data is important. If we discontinue a Service, where reasonably possible, we will give you reasonable advance notice and a chance to get information out of that Service.”

Considering the above analogy and the terms above, if you simply spent more money for private storage for your possession, you would have peace of mind knowing that it is safe regardless of the weather. If you’re looking to get into professional blogging or earn handsomely, Wordpress gives you the freedom to do so. Contrariwise, if you’re on a tight budget or are just a beginner, Blogger is a great way to get started.  

Conculsion

Both of these blogging platforms are very good. Both are free to use however for Wordpress (www.wordpress.org) you would need a hosting plan, a good hosting plan is WordPress Hosting. However with blogger you would not need to buy a host because it is already hosted on Google's servers. You would need a domain name for both of them. I would recommend Go Daddy. If you follow this link you get 25% off: 25% off your first purchase! New Customers only!

Thanks for reading this article. Which blogging platform do you use? Which one do you think is better? Leave a comment below. If you enjoyed this article, then please share it. Also remember to subscribe to our RSS Feed for all our latest updates. Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter.