Wordpress vs. Blogger
Blogging,  Creatives

WordPress vs. Blogger

In this post, I will be tackling my long-waited transfer from Blogger to WordPress. WordPress.com will be the main topic. Not to be confused with WordPress.org, which is a portable version that you can host on your own chosen server, WordPress.com is hosted by WordPress themselves – keyword, “hosting”.

All of the changes I have been making in my blog, I consider milestones. Finding that blogging is a journey and requires time and effort, any changes made are an accomplishment.

This week, then, marks a milestone I’ve been looking forward to since I started blogging.

I officially moved my blog to WordPress.com.

WordPress requires a certain amount of payment so I kept pushing it aside. Blogger.com gave me a pretty good start in the blogging world but in the name of moving forward with blogging, everyone would definitely agree that setting up a blog at WordPress.com is one step ahead to getting the blog out to the internet world.

Since we are talking about Blogger and WordPress, here are the major factors in my decision to migrate from Blogger to WordPress.

Affordability

Blogger.com is a free blogging platform, that in my opinion, is best for start-up bloggers and beginner web writers who are starting to explore the blogging world. It offers a free Blogspot subdomain, supported by Google, with free design templates. However, if you want your own domain as I did, you must be willing to pay a certain amount. In my case, I signed up at Goddady.com which I have been using until now. I initially paid approximately $15 for a two-year subscription which was not bad for a beginner.

WordPress.com also offers a free blogging platform. There are free design templates and plugins to kick start your blog but with it being free, there are limited designs and plugins to choose from. WordPress offers prices and rates suited to different users. Check out their plans here. I opted for the Premium Package which is $8 per month. This is not cheap for me, but I took the risk so considering that I want to get really serious with blogging from now on. On top of this hosting fee with WordPress, I maintained my domain name subscription mentioned above.

Design-ability

Blogger.com, in my opinion, is very limiting in terms of design themes. However, it does allow you full access to the back-end XML and Javascript codes so you can totally customize the designs and feel of your blog to whatever suits you. That is if you know how to code. In my case, I can manipulate existing codes and can somehow work my way around the back-end codes so it wasn’t really a bother to me at all. But, with too much stuff to do nowadays, my hours in tinkering with codes have been reduced to non-existent, so I needed an easier way around. I want to have more time writing than tinkering with codes. This is one of the reasons I decided to move over to WordPress.

WordPress.com‘s free blogging plan, on the other hand, does not give you full access to its back-end design codes. What it has are more appealing free design templates to choose from. So even though you are new to blogging, you can give your blog a professional look without squandering too much time with codes.

Community

Blogger.com – When I was with Blogger, I felt alone. My blog seemed to reach no one in particular and, therefore, the growth was so slow. There was no sense of help and community that will assist your blogging growth. Blogger’s “Follow Blog” button became so obsolete that most of the blogs that I followed before are now either dead or not updated in years.

WordPress.com – On the other hand, when I tried the free version of WordPress, I got super excited to receive comments immediately after posting from other WordPress users. WordPress ‘Reader’ Section allows you to easily search for like-minded blogs to follow. With that ‘tag’ feature in WordPress, your posts will automatically be added to search lists for people to find. They also have a ‘Discover‘ page where they curate and feature different WordPress blogs that meet a certain standard. With these tricky small features added to WordPress, your blog can easily be found within the WordPress community and, therefore, increases your traffic as well. This is another factor that solidifies my transfer to WordPress. This type of community that WordPress has translated very well to the real world that they even have ‘Wordcamp‘ – a conference dedicated to everything WordPress.

Flexibility

Blogger.com is very limiting in plugin support – that is when back-end coding is a mystery to you. Because when you’re a bit familiar with coding, there are so many scripts and codes available in the world wide web that you can integrate into the Blogger’s back-end XML, HTML designer and make your Blogger look so professional, people will have a hard time guessing you’re using the Blogger platform. But if you’re not into coding, then you’re stuck with the boring Blogger templates with no interactive plugins to make your site interesting.

WordPress.com‘s default plugins are enough to make your blog going for the long haul. Additional plugins are available for the Business and eCommerce plans. Combined with a nicer-looking layout/themes, there’s really no need for additional plugins than the default ones given.

Conclusion

Criteriablogger.comwordpress.com
Affordability★★★★☆★★★☆☆
Design-ability★★★★☆★★★★☆
Community★☆☆☆☆★★★★★
Flexibility★★★☆☆★★★★☆

Overall, I can’t even compare these two. Both are good in their own way. But in terms of blogging growth, WordPress.com wins for me. Blogger.com can give you a good start, but it’s slow in giving you that much-needed traffic boost.

These criteria helped me decide to finally jump ship to WordPress.com. So, what are your thoughts on this?

I am Jena, an experienced content creator, who is passionate about travel, health and wellness, and fashion. I'm an avid traveler and digital nomad, who loves to craft and sew and who has some IT background. I aspire to help others with 'no niche' online find their voice and just express themselves. 

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