Setting up a Blog? Part 1: Blogger Blogs
Okay, so you say you are ready to setup your first blog but you don't know what platform to use – Blogger or WordPress. And yes, there are other platforms out there but these are the 2 main ones I am going to focus on in this article.
I found that the best way to decide on something like this is to do a Pros and Cons list. I have experience with both platforms and this is what I came up with.
Blogger Pros:
- Free hosting
- Drag and drop gadgets (widgets) around easily
- Owned by Google
- Easy to setup in 5 minutes
- Easy for a "newbie" to understand how to use
- Can place ads on your blog to monetize it
- Can add a custom domain without paying for hosting
Blogger Cons:
- Limited gadgets (widgets)
- Limited features
- Requires knowledge of HTML to add certain features
- Limited templates available
Now that I gave you this list let me explain a bit more.
Pros:
Blogger is owned by Google so getting on the search engines seem to be easier. I had a couple of Blogger blogs appear on page 1 of the search engine results for my topic in 3 days using a free Blogger blog domain name (.blogspot.com). Hosting is always free even if you own a custom domain. Google allows you to monetize (make money) with your blog by adding Google Adsense ads and other ads. It takes approximately 5 minutes to set up a Blogger blog and even a person who is new to blogging can understand how to create a post within a few minutes. You can create gadgets (sometimes called widgets) easily and if you get "tired" of where they appear on the finished blog you just click and drag them to a new location.
Cons:
There are limited professional templates available for Blogger because more designers seem to be making templates for WordPress blogs. There are limited gadgets (widgets) available unlike WordPress which let's you install plug-ins that give you more options for widgets. The limited features I am talking about would be the plug-ins that WordPress offers such as the All-in-One SEO package, printing a page option, threaded comments, and more. These things are possible with Blogger but you would need extensive HTML knowledge to create them or at least feel comfortable "tweaking" the HTML code.
Stay tuned for my next post which will give you the Pros and Cons of using WordPress and I will tell you my preference in a blogging platform and why.
Wendy is an all around geek who lives in New England, is married, has 3 grown boys, is a grandma, and has 5 cats. You will usually find her tweaking something in HTML, entering and winning online sweepstakes, or working on one of her other blogs (Business Blogging Guide, Shopping Gems, Twitter Tweet Win). Wendy invites you to follow her on Twitter!
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Thanks for posting this. I'm thinking about switching to wordpress, so can't wait to hear tomorrows post.
Nice template. Where can i download it?