Blogging Wars - Wordpress Vs Blogger
I know we all have different views as to what blogging platform to use when publishing blogs. The key question is “Do you go for Google’s Blogger or the Open Source Wordpress blogging platform?”. I like to know your views on this question.
Personally, I started off using Blogger but found it very restrictive as to what you can publish on your blog. Also I have heared stories of bloggers having their blogs short down without prior notice. This wouldn’t happen with Wordpress since you have the opportunity to host your own blog and you can more or less publish what you like. Anyway, I believe it is a matter of choice to whatever platform you decide to use. Below is a very useful article written by the WordPress Adsense System creator Gobala Krishnan. It outlines the major advantages and disadvantages of each blogging platform.
Blogging Wars - Wordpress Vs Blogger
There’s a war going on in the blogosphere, and it has nothing to do with bloggers dissing each other on their respective websites. The war is about control of the blogosphere by several great, many good, and tons of terrible blogging platforms. The average newbie now has “too many” options to choose from, and the battle for blogging supremacy is hotter than ever.
At my website and blogs, I’m always asked the question “Is Wordpress better than Blogger?”. The answer, of course, is “Yes”. But to really understand why, it’s important to look at both blogging platforms side-by-side and see which one you really need.
Here’s the comparison scale:
1) Ease of Set-up And Use
Yes, it’s much easier to set-up a blog with Blogspot.com and get your own Bloggger account. You can be done in 10 minutes flat. Once you’re set-up you can start posting immediately. If you want to add a designer’s touch to your blog, there are also tons of blogger templates available for free.
Installing Wordpress however can be a major headache if you don’t know what you’re doing. Since you’re going to host it on your own account, you’ll need to download the installation files, upload them to your server, set-up a database, and run the configuration script.
However, if you know which hosting account to get, you can choose one with Cpanel included. With Cpanel, you can do a one-click installation, upgrade and removal of your Wordpress platform.
2) Customization & Advanced Use
Blogger doesn’t allow categories. You can’t sort your articles into different focuses, unless you know how to hack the platform. With Wordpress, not only can you add categories, you can also display each category differently on your main page. In fact with the correct plugins you can even turn your Wordpress into a magazine-like portal.
Publishing with Blogger can be a pain in the ass. It can take forever to post articles, especially if you’re making changes to the entire website. With Wordpress, publishing is much faster, although if you load your system with all kinds of bells and whistles it can be just as frustrating. With a Blogger account, you can get additional features like “Shout Boxes” that improve interaction on your site. You can also get pretty themes and nifty little tools that you can add to the core template files. However, that’s as far as you can go with Blogger.
With Wordpress however, the sky is the limit. As cliche as that may sound, not only can you get themes, additional “plugins” and advanced tools, you can also extend Wordpress to far beyond just a blogging platform.
The talk today is about using Wordpress as a complete, user-friendly Content Management System or CMS.
3) Copyrights and Ownership of Content
I started with Blogger and I won’t say that it’s bad. But after a while I started to get frustrated with Blogger, and here’s why: Google Owns Your Content
Google has the authority to shut down your account without warning if they don’t like what you’re blogging about. You don’t have absolute control over your own blog. With Wordpress, you own the domain name and the blog is hosted on your own account. You have full control over your content.
With the self-hosted version of Wordpress (not Wordpress.com), you’re free to write about anything you want, and use the software in any way you want. Yes, Blogger allows you to publish to your own domain, but they still own the database that holds your content! Don’t forget that!
4) Search Engine Optimization and Traffic
There’s this propaganda that since Google owns Blogger, they tend to favor Blogger accounts. I won’t say that this is illogical, but from my experience, there’s no such favoritism.
I’ve heard as many stories of getting indexed fast and ranking high in search engines from both Wordpress and Blogger users. As long as the content is good, the spiders will come.
When you post in Blogger, you can only “ping†a limited amount of sites, whereas with Wordpress on your own domain you can ping as many blog directories as you want, and start getting more traffic.
As a conclusion, I would say that Wordpress is only slightly ahead in terms of optimization for search engines, and building large amounts of traffic.
5) Money-Making Potential
There’s no doubt that it’s easier to get started with Google Adsense if you have a Blogger account. In fact you can now apply for Adsense from within a Blogger account. Not entirely surprising considering the fact that both are owned by the same company.
With Wordpress, it can get tricky. The default installation is not enough. You’ll need a couple of plugins and even a better theme to really maximize the Adsense potential. However, this seems to be getting easier and there’s even “Adsense revenue sharing” plugins around that allow you to share ad revenue with other contributors and writers for your blog.
When you start using Wordpress to build your Adsense websites, you’ll soon discover what I mean. It’s something you need to experience for yourself. I can tell you one thing though – when you go Wordpress, you don’t go back.
About the Author
Gobala Krishnan is the author of Wordpress Adsense System, the unique beginner’s guide to building content-rich Adsense websites with Wordpress. You can download two free chapters of his book at http://www.easywordpress.com/go.php?offer=Delaboy&pid=02
So what do you think?
Tags:Affiliate Programs, Articles, Blogging, My Web Tools, Wordpress, WordPressAdsensePopularity: 80% [?]
Stumble it!
November 23rd, 2006 at 8:19 pm
im using blogger.com. thsi was the first blog service i heard from. i have tried wordpress. the opportunities from wordpress is the system. its possible to create tags od put some new links in the blog.
December 11th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
Nice Blog, I invite you to visit mine… http://www.mgdesign.co.il
January 6th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Gobala,
You are right on. Blogger is for people just getting their feet wet. If you are serious about earning an income online you want to use a platform like Wordpress that allows you to control the SEO and customize the look and feel of the blog. I like the look of yours by the way.
If you or anyone else needs one-on-one coaching on internet marketing check out http://www.AskGregg.com and also tell me what you think about TheMarketersMind.com
Gregg
January 25th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Wordpress Vs Blogger… Hmmm!
The humdrum existence of going to the office day after day doing the usual 9-5 shift is a trying task for those who have lived all their lives doing so. This is why the convenience of doing work at home under amazingly flexible working hours is a dazzling prospect to them. Doing work at home that is as fulfilling as having a career working for a computer on the 19th floor of a skyscraper is already a possibility in these modern times. This is because the jungle-like network that is the internet has given birth to a business that has given some people practically new lives doing nothing but so.
This particular business allows people to work at home under flexible working hours. There is no boss to scream around putting pressure on everyone about the deadline at hand. There is no clutter of messy paperwork that needs to be completed the soonest possible time. Conveniences such as these are experienced by those who are into affiliate marketing, the newest way to earn money without having to go through all sorts of routine found in regular employment.
Those who have been in the business long enough can attest to the fact that it is a lucrative business indeed, one that can actually give people things that they could not possibly possess or experience under ordinary circumstances.
The business called affiliate marketing involves an affiliate’s promotion of a merchant’s website. Here the website owned by the affiliate is made to advertise and market the website of the merchant through the affiliate program that they run. Whenever someone clicks on the merchant’s website promoted by the one owned by the affiliate, the affiliate is given a commission. This is in recognition of his effort in helping the merchant make a sale.
The system involved in affiliate marketing seems easy, but it also takes a lot of diligence and perseverance for one to be able to penetrate it thoroughly. Those who want to get into this type of business should possess the necessary skills to be able tread through the industry with confidence and self-assurance. Still, other factors are needed by one to be able to really break in. Knowledge about the business at hand is very important as it dictates the actions that are to be done by people who are into it.
The leading figure in affiliate marketing is the super affiliate. He is basically an e-mail marketer who collects large databases of e-mail addresses through newsletters. Super affiliates are also those who know the business even better than affiliate managers as a result of their knowledge about the affiliate marketing industry inside out. Those who want to be super affiliates should know that becoming a super affiliate is not easy, because it takes a lot to be able to master the marketing craft.
Becoming a super affiliate means having one’s own website and autoresponder. These tools will help a lot in one’s facilitation of the business. Building one’s own list is another. Creating a loyal customer base and taking care of it is one secret that successful super affiliates have. Making good customer relations is also important if one wants to be a super affiliate to reckon with.
Continuing to market to the people on one’s list is another must if one wants to succeed as a super affiliate. Sending out quality content in lieu of ads is an advantage as products are marketed better whenever enough information is given about them.
Building traffic to one’s own site is also one of the most essential points in the affiliate marketing business. Making one’s affiliate links his own business will allow him to build a strong relationship with his customers, enabling him to market to them over and over again.
The most important thing one should remember if he wants to become a super affiliate is to treat affiliate marketing as a business first and foremost. If he is capable of doing this, then he will never have to go back to the humdrum existence of working the 9-5 shift. A career as a super affiliate in the business which will change his life forever could possibly take that unexciting job’s place.
Konrad Braun
http://www.powerhits.ca.tt
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:08 am
Blogger.com is by far better if you’re just starting out, new, or if you don’t have a host. Wordpress.com does not allow you to promote things like affiliate links and the like. Obviously if you have Wordpress installed on your host, you can do whatever you want with it.
The good and bad thing about Wordpress are all the plug-ins and add-ons. It’s great that there are so many, but this can be very confusing for those starting out.
I have both Wordpress and blogger blogs (one of my blogger blogs on marketing is at http://iwantpennies.blogspot.com), and both have their advantages and disadvantages. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other in all cases, though.
Brian
February 24th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Hi Brian,
I have no doubt that Blogger.com is good if you are starting out. However, you have to realise that Blogger.com own the rights to your blog and can wipe your blog off Blogosphere if they so wish. I always host my own wordpress blogs so I don’t have any issues with promoting affiliate links etc.
Thanks for sharing.
Ade
April 4th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Please join our Blog for discussions on topics about The Virtual Reality.
Technology development of The Virtual Reality and its perspectives.