bloggers: should you utilise blogger.com or wordpress?

Blogger.com (also known as blogspot) and wordpress are the two most normally utilised blogging platforms nowadays. blogger.com was a pioneer in the blogging industry , allowing users to sit up accounts and blog for release beginning in 1999. blogger.com was purchased by google in 2003 , which enabled it to swell using google's resources. nowadays , blogger.com has an undisclosed number of millions of users blogging on their system.

Wordpress began in 2003 as the successor to another (now relatively unknown) blogging system. it has since become the blog platform of selection for most blogging professionals. there are currently over two million persons who are spry users of wordpress.com , and there are millions of others who possess downloaded various versions of the wordpress code.

Using the blogger setup mandates that your blog be hosted on their servers. in comparison , blogs running on wordpress' platform can be hosted at wordpress.com , or the wordpress software can be downloaded and utilised on your selection of web hosts. below are a Lot Of of the key countenance of blogger.com versus the two versions of wordpress setups.

Blogger.com features
Free hosting for up to 1 gb worth of space
Blog content is maintained on blogger.com web servers
Ability to choose and customize templates (limited flexibility)
Easy to procure started; easy to use
Upload and store effigy files and video files

Wordpress.com features
Free hosting for up to 3gb worth of space
Blog content is maintained on wordpress.com web servers
Ability to choose and customize templates (limited flexibility)
Easy to procure started; easy to use
Upload and store effigy , video , and other (limited) file formats

Wordpress self-hosted features
Blog content is maintained on user's preferred web host
Nearly unlimited capacity to choose and customize templates and widgets
Takes a Lot Of technical capacity to setup and configure
Files succor limited plainly by web server , which likely means virtually unlimited

Who uses which
A instantaneous perusal of a few the various blogs running on the blogspot.com domain versus those that utilise one of the wordpress setups (accounts on wordpress.com and self-hosted blogs using wordpress software) indicates that blogspot.com is added normally utilised for persons who blog approximately their families , pets , and other personal kinds of topics. compared to wordpress users , blogger.com users are distinctively not "professional" bloggers , though there are plenty of common joe bloggers who monetize their blogspot blogs and concoct a living carrying Through it.

Self-hosted wordpress blogs tip added toward professional entities who possess an it person or department who handles their maintenance. they are often added formal. because wordpress.com is similar in its functionality to blogger.com , blogs using wordpress.com are similar to blogger blogs in content , naturally added casual or personal than self-hosted wordpress blogs.

Cost
Blogspot accounts are release. evenly are accounts on wordpress.com. however , if you want to accomplish any significant customization of your wordpress.com-hosted blog , you'll possess to stipend to upgrade to their custom css membership , which costs $14.97 per year. wordpress.com accounts can be upgraded to bestow you additional disk space($19.97/year for 5gb up to $89.97/year for 25gb) , unlimited user accounts for your blog($29.97/year) , and the capacity to add videos (blogger.com naturally has this succor built in.) to your blog ($59.97/year). if your blog runs on the wordpress platform downloadable from wordpress.org , your costs are dependent on your hosting account , which could toll as little as $5.00 per month or as much as hundreds of dollars monthly.

Flexibility
Because wordpress is unsophisticated source software , it gives experienced bloggers much added flexibility when it comes to customizing a blog. when you download and install wordpress , you possess full access to the database and the php , css , and effigy files that comprise the wordpress blogging platform. in contrast to blogger's platform , having development access to the entire system allows users to be as creative as they want to be. this flexibility does not exist to nearly the extent with accounts that are hosted on wordpress.com. one bonus that wordpress.com does provide is the capacity to throng files other than plainly images. ms powerpoint files , word (.doc) and unsophisticated office (.odt) word processing files , and pdf files can be uploaded and stored for utilise on a wordpress.com account.

Although blogger allows and encourages users of their setup to customize their blogs adding google gadgets and changing layouts , i've start that there is a fate of guesswork involved when trying to contour out how to manipulate their xml schema , which is utilised to customize templates beyond adding gadgets and changing layouts. when i customize blogs hosted on blogger's system , i often feel love i'm abstracted from their ogle smooth setup. a good deal of of blogger's xml tags are documented , but that documentation is scanty. when i'm customizing a blogspot blog , it's as if i'm throwing my work over a wall , and then checking to see what i procure back. this interface can be frustrating.

A comparison that is noteworthy between each of these blog platforms is the capacity to categorize posts. greater flexibility exists with both wordpress.com-hosted blogs and self-hosted ones using the wordpress software than with blogger.com. categories are created using labels on blogger.com blogs. this setup does not allow for sub-categories on blogger account. sub-categories are a natural fraction of both wordpress.com and self-hosted wordpress blogs.

Ease of use
For the layman blogger , getting started with blogging on blogger's platform is the simplest of tasks. you plainly concoct an account , choose a template , and start writing absent. the interface is very upright headstrong for users of blogger. wordpress.com are similar , slightly added elaborated. wordpress self-hosted blogs require a user to download the software , upload it to a server , configure database settings , and scud the installation program included with the software. this procedure is fair well-defined for a Person with it experience , but for most other persons it is a little intimidating.

Once a blog is setup with any of these platforms , using it is unsophisticated enough regardless of which one you choose. however , of all the interfaces , blogger.com is probably the easiest to understand and navigate.

Security and updates
Wordpress has had a history of vulnerability to hacks. to minimize that jeopardy , it is recommended that users of wordpress be vigilant approximately maintaining their sites. specifically , wordpress blog owners hosting their possess blogs are encouraged to keep up with current updates.

Blogger users can fundamentally allow the blogger development team to irritate approximately hacks. because the blog information is kept on blogger's servers , there is much fewer likelihood that blogger sites can be hacked.