Should you use Blogger.com or WordPress for your blog?
It's a matter of preference. Some experienced marketers dismiss
Blogger.com because it is not as sophisticated or as flexible as
WordPress. But there are other considerations.
The fact of the matter is that a number of the world's top bloggers
started out on Blogger.com (including Darren Rowse), partly
because not much was available then.
in the top ten results for a number of keywords for years.
At one stage, it had a PR5 rating from Google but dropped
in rank, partly because I did not maintain my blog posting (I
got diverted creating 100 + Squidoo lenses).
Blogger.com has these advantages:
1. automatically indexed by Google (goes in their blog directory)
2. simple to use
3. has become more sophisticated recently with its own plugins
(you can add scripts, affiliate products, etc.) and the plugin
options are built-in - you don't have to go searching for them on the
web
4. has some attractive templates
5. less choice (more built-in) means that it's faster to build your blog
6. you can easily create tags/labels (but not categories).
The downside is that Google owns Blogger.com and you don't
normally have your Blogger.com blog on your own domain
(although you have the option to host it on your own domain -
which makes it a bit more complicated to set up.)
The parallel of course is that you can have a WordPress
blog hosted on WordPress.com or on your own domain.
I did not bother with WordPress initially because my
Blogger.com blog was doing okay and I did not have the
time or inclination to invest in learning about WordPress
themes and plugins.
This changed recently when I teamed up with Anne Corcino
engaged Anne on a paid basis to convert the site for my
offline business (HR consultancy) to a WordPress platform.
Anne is a Master WordPress designer.
In working with Anne on the design, I learned a lot about
WordPress and I am now hooked. We are working on a
couple of WordPress sites together and I have created
one to back the SquidooRoo Training Program. This WordPress
blog is built on the marketing-orientated, Socrates Theme:
This needs a bit of work at the moment (in terms of plugins)
but is basically self-generating as I use an auto-blogging facility
developed by Brad Callen.
WordPress has the advantage of lots of plugins that can do
so many things automatically such as SEO and listing related articles,
etc. You really are only limited by your imagination in how you use
the hundreds of plugins available.
However, the range of themes (layouts) and plugins (action modules)
can be bewildering if you are new to WordPress or not technically
minded. Even if you have some degree of technical skill, you
need time and patience to get across the numerous options available.
If I was starting out now:
1. I would engage someone like Anne from SEO Praxis to build my
SEO optimized, WordPress blog
or
2. I would put a WordPress blog on my own domain
and use a simple theme that is designed for Internet
marketers such as the Socrates theme I used on
the social media marketing blog above.
If I was not technically minded I would start with Blogger.com
and master the art of writing blog posts and marketing first.
There is definitely a major time investment in setting up a
WordPress blog (even though the individual steps are relatively
easy).
As Darren Rowse points out, you can always start again with a
new blog (as he did three times). He now has 350,000 subscribers
to one of his blogs!
The blogging lesson (#6) of the SquidooRoo Training Program
takes this discussion further by exploring how to focus, write and
create your blog (on either platform) and how to make your
blog the foundation of your business. There are also resources
with step-by-step instructions for setting up either a Blogger.com
blog or a WordPress blog.
Photo Credit: Choosing a Blogging Platform by edkohler
Ron Passfield, PhD, is a Social Media Consultant, Top 100 Squidoo
Lensmaster and Giant Squid100.
He is the Creator of the SquidooRoo Training Progam, a 6 month
course in social media marketing:
SquidooRoo Training Program
He provides free resources for Squidoo marketing on his
Squidoo authority site:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies
To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing
check out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com
Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:
http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/
Ron is the author of the e-Book:
Squidoo Marketing Strategies
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