WordPress vs. Blogger – My Experience

I started Eazy Cheezy last September as a Blogger Blog. I found Blogger to be a perfect platform for me to start with. As time went on, I made a quick decision to transition to WordPress. I was always curious about what WordPress had to offer and was sucked in after seeing  all the amazing WordPress Themes, Plugins, etc.

Launching my blog in Blogger was critical to my development as a Blogger. The ease of use eliminated what I thought would be a learning curb for figuring out how to use this platform. It instead enabled me to focus on learning to become a better blogger, finding some great widgets and working to grow blogging relationships and promote my site. As time passed, I realized it was time to make a big transition. In January, I moved to WordPress and wanted to share some of my thoughts on both Blogger and WordPress.

BLOGGER

The Good

• Simplicity – This was key for me to start my blogging venture. If it would have been too complex of a platform, I doubt I would have grown as a blogger as quickly as Blogger enabled me to. I believe users of all experience levels will be able to create a blog at Blogger and figure out how to add widgets, edit settings, etc. in no time.
• Blogger Community – I have built my best blogging relationships from fellow Blogger users. It truly is a great community of Bloggers and I enjoyed learning from and helping other bloggers as I was growing myself.
• Customization – Having the ability to edit your template and layout in such an easy way is such a nice benefit. By clicking on your layout tab, you can then click to modify the page elements, fonts and colors, make HTML adjustments or click to Pick a New Template from the Gallery of Blogger Templates.

The Bad

• Limitations – As I progressed as a Blogger, I began to feel a bit limited with some of the functionality and themes that weren’t available. Though I really liked the fact that there were some slick looking themes, many times finding the widget to do some of the things I wanted was a big process, full of quite a bit of Google Searching. There were also quite a few hacks I ended up using, which helped.

WORDPRESS

The Good

• Themes – I love the free and cheap WordPress themes that are available. To me, they are typically a notch above those that are available on Blogger.
• Plugins - I have found plugins for just about anything and everything I wanted. It’s saved me quite a bit of time and added the functionality I was lacking in Blogger. I currently have 28 active plugins I use for purposes such as spam filtering, Adsense, Twitter functionality, Top 10 Post Widget, subscription options, related posts, social networking, checking for broken links, search engine optimization, etc. I think you get the picture. If you have a need, chances are WordPress has the plugin for that need.

The Bad

• Upgrades – The most annoying thing to me is that each time I am satisfied with my current plugins, I get a notice in my dashboard about a new WordPress Upgrade. The problem with the upgrades are that some Plugins are only supported to a certain WordPress version. As I mentioned before, I have 28 plugins, so I have to worry about these plugins not working if I click on the upgrade.
• Spam – Perhaps it’s because I have more visits, but it really seems as though the spam has been ridiculous with WordPress. I use a plugin called Akismet, which is actually a very good plugin, but it doesn’t always catch all the spam. If I see one more Viagra or Cialis related comment, I’m going to go on a comment deleting spree.
• More Professional, Less Fun – Perhaps it’s just me or my experience, but my Blogger days seemed more fun and as if I was in more of a community. I like the professional look and feel of WordPress, but only to a point. I still love to blog and really appreciate my readers, but need to bring more of the fun back.

Overall

I can’t tell you which is best, only that I really love and get annoyed with them both for different reasons. It’s really up to each individual blogger and what the particular goals are. For many blogging aspects, Blogger was perfect for me and  I still use Blogger for a few side blogs. The only blog I use WordPress for is Eazy Cheezy. WordPress feels more professional and grown up for me, while Blogger felt a little more limited. For me to grow in the way I really want to, I felt I needed to move from Blogger. Perhaps WordPress is the answer or maybe I’ll even look into more options, such as SquareSpace. For now, I’m satisfied with WordPress but am always open to change if I think it’s a risk worth taking.