When it comes to blogging, we have plenty of options to start a blog:
- WordPress
- BlogSpot
- Tumblr
- …and many others…
One of the most talked-about topics here at ShoutMeLoud is:
Which blogging platform is better?
WordPress or Blogger?
This debate can get pretty confusing at times. Many users like BlogSpot because there are fewer technical hassles, and many users love WordPress because of its increased power and features. When someone asks me which platform they should start with, here is my usual answer:
Start with WordPress.com for a month, and once you get accustomed to blogging, start a new blog on the self-hosted WordPress platform.
Alternatively, you are free to use Blogger.com as your launchpad blogging platform but don’t stick to it for too long.
I say this from experience because I started my blogging journey with BlogSpot and later migrated my blogger blog to WordPress.org.
Back then, there was a hell of a lot of learning experiences trying to figure out WordPress. But now, learning WordPress is quite easy with the help of detailed guides, tutorials, and videos.
Anyway, in this article, I have shared a detailed comparison of WordPress vs. BlogSpot and will explain which one is better for certain situations and why.
WordPress Vs. Blogger: Which Platform to choose?
The Blogger platform (aka BlogSpot) is very useful when you just want to start a blog to share your thoughts. When you are not blogging for money, or you need a simple platform that doesn’t require any technical know-how, BlogSpot is really good.
While there are many limitations of BlogSpot in terms of functionalities and SEO benefits, if you just need a platform to start a blog at almost 0 costs, BlogSpot is the right pick.
At the same time, if you are blogging for money, to build authority, or for branding yourself, BlogSpot is not the ideal choice. This is because you have limited control over visibility in search engines, and after a while, you become very limited when you want to add new features.
I have read it many times:
- Blogger is a Google product which means it gives more SEO advantages.
This is simply not true.
It doesn’t matter if you are using WordPress, Blogger, Drupal, or any other platform, SEO is decided by how you configure your complete site for search engines.
In the Blogger platform, we have limited control over our site. Even though they have added some new SEO features, BlogSpot still lacks in SEO optimization.
In a nutshell, the Blogger platform is better than WordPress when you are creating a blog for no other reason than you want to write. If you are OK with the limited features offered by the Blogger platform, then this is a great choice. For making money or creating a long-term impact, the WordPress platform is better.
Note: ShoutMeLoud uses WordPress (Self-hosted WordPress) as its blogging platform, but this will not make my comparison biased.
WordPress gives you complete control over your blog, and you can technically do anything you want.
You host your files, can design them however you like, and can use them for any purpose (personal or professional).
You also get complete control over the SEO including adding SEO plugins to make your blog more SEO friendly. Moreover, you can always introduce the latest SEO techniques like “star ratings” using a plugin such as Rich Snippets.
WordPress will let you do everything you want to do.
But at the same time, you need to manage your blog. You need to install WordPress on your server and maintain your blog’s health.
It may sound technical, but with amazing support from the WordPress community, you can learn everything in no time.
If you stumble onto the ShoutMeLoud WordPress guide, most of your queries regarding WordPress will be answered.
Getting started with WordPress may require some effort in terms of watching videos, learning how to add a plugin, getting used to the dashboard, etc.
But we also have to do that with Blogger, right?
If you are planning to create a blog with the mindset of making it popular and making money from it, you should go for the self-hosted WordPress blog.
If you are an occasional writer or a hobby blogger, BlogSpot is the best pick for you.
Here is a handy chart from HowJoyful, explaining the feature differences between BlogSpot vs. WordPress.com vs. Self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org):
Blogger Vs. WordPress: Why WordPress is better?
As I mentioned above, I started my journey to Blogging with BlogSpot, and later I moved to WordPress. So, I’m aware of the benefits and downside of BlogSpot, and here I’m not going to talk about any benefits, as WordPress offers all those features which BlogSpot offers.
1. Control over your blog:
This is one of the major reasons I support self-hosted blogs. Blogspot is owned by Google, and there are chances that they can delete your Blogspot account without giving you any warning. Even if you use the custom domain feature (Using your domain name ), chances are high that if spammers use the feature Flag as spam and report your blog as spam.
Google might remove your blog. This is something very common and by doing a quick search on Google, you will realize many bloggers faced this problem while using BlogSpot.
Winner: Self-hosted blog
2. Search engine optimization:
It doesn’t matter where your blog is hosted, traffic is the first and last thing any blogger will look for. Search engine optimization in simple words means Optimizing your blog for search engines and getting traffic from search engines”. Comparing WordPress and BlogSpot, WordPress offers more options to optimize your blog for search engines whereas BlogSpot you are limited to certain settings.
Here are a few posts that will help you to optimize your WordPress blog for search engine optimization
- Best WordPress SEO Plugins
3. Plugins and support:
WordPress is blessed with features like the plugin and a strong community to get support.
When I was on BlogSpot, I spent lots of time editing my theme to show related posts and adding such features. WordPress makes your life easy by using simple plugins for everything you need. By using plugins, you can achieve anything, and if not, you can take the help of the WordPress support forum to get the custom code and extend the capabilities of your blog.
Here is a list of 30 must-have WordPress plugins.
4. Reputation:
This can be considered as the human tendency or perception, that most people see Blogs built on blogger platforms as non-serious. One of the simple reasons is it’s free, and a mass number of people are using it for Blackhat SEO, spamming, and affiliate landing pages.
When talking about the self-hosted blog, people think that the person has paid for the service, and he is serious about his blog.
5. Theme and templates:
BlogSpot offers many templates but due to the commercial nature of WordPress, you will find unlimited free and premium WordPress themes. Moreover, since you have FTP access, you can alter the complete look and feel of your WordPress theme.
6. AdSense:
AdSense is the lifeline for any blogger who is looking forward to making money from his blog. Initially, BlogSpot used to be the best way to get your AdSense account approved, but later on, it’s becoming tough to get your Adsense account with BlogSpot.
With WordPress and your domain email address, getting your blog approved is very easy. Another advantage of a self-hosted blog.
If you are an AdSense user, you should consider checking out the following posts on AdSense: