Blogger Vs WordPress: Which is best for your blog?

Blogging is the online trend that everyone wants to do because it is great and offers name, fame, money, and many more things that you can’t even think of when you are working in some company. It looks simple when you talk, but when it comes to set up a blog, you have many things do decide and consider.

One such decision you need to take when it comes to choosing the blogging platform. Blogger and WordPress are the two blogging platforms that most of the bloggers choose to use, and they keep comparing both. The comparison between Blogger and WordPress is never-ending.

Note: I am talking about WordPress CMS which means wordpress.org, i.e. self-hosted. Please don’t get confused with wordpress.com.

Let’s first know about these two separately.

Blogger

Blogger.com is a blog publishing service that was developed by Pyra Labs. It was launched on 23^rd August 1999. But, later it was acquired by Google in the year 2003.

Blogger cannot be installed on a web server. Thus, all the blogs created on it are hosted by Google only. The file, database, and everything are managed by it. You won’t get the access of these. All you can do is create a blog that will have URL like example.blogspot.com in which example is subject to availability on blogspot.com. You can also change the template, and edit HTML/CSS to change the look of the whole template. In short, you get the privilege of blog posting, comment system, and design customization.

If you want you can use your custom domain i.e. example.com on your blogger blog. So that your blog will open on example.com. But, you still don’t get file and database access.

WordPress

WordPress is an open source CMS that was launched on 27 May 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. It is powered by PHP and MySQL. WordPress CMS can be downloaded from www.wordpress.org, and then you can install it on a Linux web server to create your blog.

As it is installed on the server you have an account on, you will have all the access to files and Databases. You can use any WordPress theme, make changes in theme’s PHP coding as well. You have the full access when you use the self-hosted WordPress.

So now, you are aware of these two platforms. Now let’s have a detailed comparison so that we find out which is the best platform for blogging.

Blogger Vs WordPress. Which is the best?

1). Accessibility

If you choose Blogger, you will not have the full access to your blog. You can only do the publishing task, and change the front-end design. You cannot get the access to the database, and site files. These all are managed by Google itself.

If you choose WordPress, you have full access of your files and database. You will not only be able to customize the design, but you can also make changes in the PHP codes and MySQL queries to change the functionality of your blog. You manage everything. You are allowed to host your blog with any hosting provider that you think is good.

2). Plugins

Blogger doesn’t have much of plugin support. However, you can add gadgets that are available, but those add a few things but not able to make it more flexible or add some great features.

WordPress is awesome because of its plugin support. You can do almost everything with a WordPress site by using various plugins for different tasks. Thousands of developers keep on adding their plugins to WordPress plugin repository for carrying out some different tasks that may not be done easily without plugins. I love WordPress because of Plugins as different plugins made my life much easier because I am not a coder, and I cannot code for getting something done. But, plugins do everything without doing any coding stuff. Just install, fix the settings, and you are done.

3). Support

When you use Blogger, and get into some issues, then you can only get help from the support forum. You have to get help from there and try fixing things on your own.

When you are using WordPress, and get into issues, you can get help from your hosting provider, or some expert to help you out because everything is on your hosting account that one can see and try to fix. In most cases, the issues are solved by hosting provider that is a great thing of using self-hosted WordPress blog.

4). Cost

You don’t to need spend a dime when you use Blogger. However, if you want to use custom domain then you need to pay only for the domain, but hosting is forever free and maintained by Google.

If you use WordPress Self Hosted, then you have to pay for the domain and hosting as well. There is nothing you get for free except the WordPress CMS.

5). Themes

You won’t find great themes for Blogger blogs. Most of the times you have to use free themes that are not well SEO optimized. Thus, they can cause low ranking in search engines.

You get awesome themes for WordPress. There are many big theme vendors like Elegantthemes, Studiopress, etc. which develop high-quality WordPress themes that you can use on your WordPress blogs. There are many free themes as well, but if you are serious towards blogging, you must go for a premium theme. There is a vast list of themes available for WordPress.

6). Customization

You can only edit the HTML/CSS/Javascript part of your Blogger blog to change the look, but you cannot add features and some advanced changes in the design as well.

If you use WordPress, you have the access to everything. You can edit anything in the design, features, etc. You get full control of your blog.

7). Security

By using Blogger, you get the benefits of Google’s robust security system. Hence, you need not to worry about the security.

WordPress is quite secure as well, but you are responsible for all of its security as it is hosted on your hosting account. You should take backups regularly to make sure if someday it is hacked, you can restore from the backup. There are many security plugins available that you can use to tighten your WP blog’s security.

8). Permalinks

Blogger doesn’t offer many options to make your blog’s Permalink much SEO friendly. But, WordPress has good options to choose SEO Friendly Permalink.

9). Search Engine Friendliness

Blogger is an excellent platform to start with but if you want to make money, then you have to make your blog more search friendly that might not be possible with blogger. It is good, but it has limited options.

WordPress is popularly known as most search-friendly CMS, which is built to grab massive search engine traffic. You can implement so many things by using its flexibility to make your WordPress blog more SEO friendly.

10). File Hosting

On blogger, you cannot upload anything except the images. But, when you use WordPress, you get your own hosting account, and you can upload any type of file, and make it available to your audience for download.

Blogger Vs WordPress: What I recommend?

Keeping above comparisons into consideration, it is clear that WordPress can give you the feel of being an owner of a blog.

I too recommend WordPress because it has so much to offer which you can’t even think with blogger. Not only blogs but you can create business websites, E-commerce websites, and various kinds of websites using WordPress CMS.

Now, you know that if you are ready to start professional blogging then WordPress is the right choice.

Requirements to start a blog using WordPress?

To start a blog using WordPress CMS, you need a domain and a web hosting account that you can get from some good web hosting company. I recommend Bluehost because it is one of the best hosting companies in this age.

Why do I recommend Bluehost?

I know you are wondering why I am recommending Bluehost only while there are many cheap hosting services available. Right?

Let me share Bluehost Features that make it the best in the industry. Here is the list of features:

• Unlimited Disk Space, Unlimited Bandwidth, Unlimited Domain Hosting: You get unlimited space, handle unlimited traffic, and can host an unlimited number of domains in your hosting account.
• Free Domain Name for One year: When you buy hosting from Bluehost, it gives you a free domain for one year that is good for a start.
• Free Website Builder and unlimited add-on, and sub-domains: You get free website builder that helps you create a website only by clicking. You get so many add-ons, and can create unlimited subdomains as well.
• Unlimited additional FTP accounts: If ever you want to create multiple FTP accounts, then you can do that as well. It is helpful when you share some hosting space with some friend, and want to give FTP access to that space.
• Support via Phone, Chat, and Email: Bluehost offers 24×7 support by all three medias such as phone, chat, and email.
• Installers for WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, etc. : There are installers available for WordPress, Drupal and other popular CMS that help you install the CMS within few seconds.
• Unlimited Email accounts: You can create unlimited email accounts on your domain.
• Anytime Money Back Guarantee: If you are not satisfied with the services Bluehost offers you, then you can apply for money back as they are offering anytime money back guarantee.
• Google Adwords $100 Free Credit: To promote your new site, Bluehost offers 100 USD Adwords voucher to advertise on Google.

How to set up a new blog on Bluehost using WordPress?

Once you are ready to book the domain, hosting and set up your blog, you will need to know how to go through all these things. I am sharing a step by step procedure to set up a new blog on Bluehost using WordPress:

1). Visit Bluehost.

2). Click on Get Started Now to sign up. You will be taken to plans page, and select the one as per your requirement, and click on Select. It will take you to sign up page.

As you are starting everything from the start, I consider you don’t have a domain already.

3). Fill the domain in the New Domain option, and click on next.

On this page, you need to fill the details, and in the package Information box, you can select account plan that you want either for a year or two years or three years.

4). Once you are done with the filling up all the details. Scroll down to Billing Information.

Fill the payment details and pay!

You are done! You will receive an email from Bluehost with all credentials and FTP details of your hosting account.

5). As everything is done, you now need to install WordPress on your hosting account to set up the blog. Now, use the credential to log into your hosting control panel, and then find Website option.

6). Click on Install WordPress, and follow the instruction. In a few clicks, you will be able to set up the blog.

7). Once your blog is installed on the server, you need to choose a good WordPress theme and install necessary plugins. And, you are done.

Where to get the best WordPress Themes?

There are many theme vendors that design awesome themes. Many themes are free, and many are paid. If you are starting professional blogging, I would recommend going for a Premium theme. You can check out Genesis, Mythemeshop, Elegantthemes, Tesla Themes, etc. to find a good theme for you.

I personally use Genesis theme due to this awesome features like simple and elegant, fast loading speed, SEO friendly and fully responsive.

Which Plugins should be installed at the basic level?

Though you install plugins as you require, there are few plugins that you should install at the beginning that are listed below:

• Akismet
• GASP
• CommentLuv
• Jetpack
• Limit Login
• Backwpup
• WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Shareaholic or any other share button plugin.
• Bruteforce Security Plugin.

These are the essential plugins that you need, but in future, if you may need to add more functionality to your blog then you can install more plugins as per the requirements.

Conclusion

In this blog post, you have read the head to head comparison between two popular blogging platforms. Though blogger is an excellent blogging platform, WordPress wins when it comes to professional blogging and earning money through it.