Tutorial Time: WordPress Vs. Blogger

I’m not a wizard.

I don’t “know” a lot of stuff. I started this post over two months ago when I was toying with the idea of switching from Blogger to WordPress.

Originally I ended it by saying that although WordPress seems to have it’s perks, Blogger is much more simple and I would not be switching to WordPress any time soon.

Here I am, two months later, writing from my new WordPress blog. See how easily influenced I am?

When I wrote this I thought I could be a teacher of sorts. That I could prepare a tutorial listing the pros and cons of both Blogger and WordPress so that it’s all laid out and we can all see clearly why one is better than the other and decide which is better for us.

Only problem is I didn’t know anything about WordPress….other than the fact that my eyes start crossing when I hear the word “plug ins” and I start thinking about twinkies and stuff.

What I have heard from people who have been on Blogger, but switched to WordPress is that it can be a headache. Blogger simplifies everything and WordPress is much more complex. You might run into some glitches. You might lose your followers and subscribers. You might lose all of your backlinks and every comment ever left on all of your posts. You might lose ALL of your posts.

Those warnings alone were enough to turn me off. Why would I risk it? I’ve never had any complaints about Blogger. I’m familiar with the ins and outs. I didn’t understand the point of putting yourself through all the hassle that comes along with the switch, and I wasn’t a fan of some of the WordPress featuers. I’ll be honest with you, if I lost all my blog posts I might curl into a ball in the corner of my closet and cry…and turn to drugs.

And then bloggy friends of mine started switching over. Women I’ve been blogging with since the very beginning were all “OMG Kathy you HAVE to switch, it’s SO much better. The switch is not as hard as everyone makes it sound, we kept all of our stuff. Everything is fine and we’re happier with the new system”.

SO then I began to question whether or not WordPress was actually the party train and I was being left behind.

I don’t like to miss a party.

And then smart people started talking about how important it was to switch, how good it would be for my blog, and the SEO, and the traffic, and I was hypnotized. I had no idea what they were talking about. SEO? Will that buy me a new top??? Because that’s all I really want out of this. New clothes. Cold hard cash. Cookies. A live in nanny.

But I didn’t ask the smart people that…I just nodded and agreed and when they answered my questions I put on my best “Ohhhh now I see what you’re saying” face, even though I was still cross eyed and thinking about Twinkies. I give the same response when people start spouting off directions to me. Street names and numbers?? Say what?

They seemed so adamant and convinced though, and before I knew it I was contacting a web designer to help me with the switch. Because I don’t trust myself to do it myself. She said the switch should be smooth and it doesn’t have to be as scary as we make it out to be. You can back up your blog. You don’t have to lose everything. And if you’re trying to GROW your blog than eventually you’ll want to be on WordPress anyways.

Sigh.

I guess what I’m trying to say…is that…I’m not a wizard…but I listen to wizards. And they told me to move to WordPress. In my very own amateur and un-wizardlike way I will tell you why I think they wanted me to do that as I understand it.

#1 Blogger Owns Me
Blogger, though simple and easy and wonderful…is not mine. All this time and energy I’ve been putting into my blog is not mine. Blogger owns my blog. If I tick Blogger off for whatever reason they can shut my blog down. The likelines of that happening is REALLY low, but still…they could. They own it. They own the pictures I’ve uploaded through them. They own any videos I’ve uploaded through them. And guess what? They own my content.

Me no likey.

#2 WordPress is yours.
With the self hosted version of WordPress you own everything and don’t need to fear getting shut down. BUT! You have to pay somewhere around $8 a month for that ownership.

#3 WordPress is more professional looking.
I don’t know why this is. I’ve seen some great Blogger blogs that were plenty professional looking, but we are bloggers after all…it’s not like we’re competing for the most professional looking layouts. That being said…I did want a less cluttered look.

#4 WordPress is popular.
A lot of you have commented that you’ve noticed many people switching over. I think it’s been a domino affect. A lot of us read the same blogs so when one of them makes a strong argument for WordPress a seed is planted and before you know it we’ve all influenced each other. I have noticed that some of the “big” bloggers are on WordPress and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder if I could attain my goals as a blogger if I stayed on Blogger.

#5 Ellen Degeneres likes WordPress.
I just made that up.

#6 WordPress has a variety of “themes” to choose from.
This I do like. A theme is basically how your page is laid out. Not necessarily just the color and design like in Blogger, the theme changes how articles and columns and toolbars are displayed. And there are a bajillion to choose from…actually 1,088 to date. Your page doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s page. You can tailor it to show exactly what you want to show the way you want to show it. The theme I chose for this blog is called “thesis”, some people don’t like the way you can’t scroll down the blog to read all of the posts. But I do like it. I like it because if you missed a post you can see them all neatly laid out in front of you. If you’re not interested in one you don’t have to scroll through it to get to the next one. Having it laid out like that also increases my pageviews. The more that is clicked the higher pageviews I get and the more likely I am to land a contract with Nike. Then come the cute tops…the cold hard cash…the cookies…and the live in nanny.

You know. Because Nike is TOTALLY into mommy blogs.

#7 WordPress can house more people.
If you’re goal is to be the next King Of Blog, WordPress can better handle that kind of traffic.

#8 WordPress has a support system.
Instead of taking a ticket and waiting for SOME sort of response when a problem emerges, WordPress has forums and technical help and entire blogs specifically to help you.

#9 WordPress has LOTS of little gadgets…otherwise known as plugins.
You can get fancy with the comments. You can allow comment leavers to link their most recent post and twitter account. You can make it so that each of your posts are automatically sent to tweet land and other social media destinations. You can easily create tickers that connect your readers to your other homes on the web. You can add an ebay plug in to your sidebar that displays items in your shop. You can log the IP addresses of all your visitors and protect your site from unwanted people by blocking them. The list is endless. There’s no arguing that WordPress blows Blogger out of the water in that respect.

#10 The WordPress dashboard is like that friend in high school who dishes ALL the latest scoop.
It shows your stats…your latest comments…who recently linked to your blog…who put you on their blogroll…who dreamt about you the night before…who thinks you’re pretty…and who wants to have babies with you. You stay up to date on the latest and greatest with your new BFF dashboard. Honestly. That link above leads to a short video that shows you what the dashboard looks like and how you can use it. I just love figuring out what all the different functions are for.

Resources.

Because I don’t know everything here are some more interesting resources offering great tips regarding WordPress and Blogger:

These two sites compare and contrast the two:
1.) Blogging Wars: WordPress Vs. Blogger
2.) WordPress Vs. Blogger Blogspot – Who Is The Best -

3.) 15 Benefits and Limitations of WordPress.com Blogs.
It lists five drawbacks and ten benefits WordPress offers.

4.) Top 10 Reasons to Move To WordPress
Written by the wonderful lady who unkowingly areed to work with the world’s pickiest blogger (that would be me) when it comes to design and who is currently working with me on my own transition.

5.) Luck is a Curse. How NOT to Relaunch and Rebrand Your Blog. There May Be Tears.
Talks about mistakes she made when making the switch and what she would do differently. This article was great at helping me to understand what exactly I should be researching and what kinds of questions I should be asking my web designer.

6.) Seven Reasons Why Bloggers Should Not Switch To WordPress
I have LOVED Blogger. It really is great. It’s so easy to understand and in my heart of hearts I believe it’s only a matter of time before Blogger catches up in areas it falls short when compared to WordPress. It’s also free and has plenty of free layouts. Switching to WordPress can be spendy and I would not attempt to do it yourself unless you’re familiar with the process or know someone who is and can help guide you along.  If you choose to self host that’s an additional monthly fee…usually around eight dollars or so a month. But of course you can choose the free version of WordPress as well.

The bottom line is that there are significant differences between the two, but both display the exact same content. My voice is the same no matter where I’m posting my blog or how it’s laid out on the page. And so is yours.

I’m the same girl with the same family and the same fake addiction to drugs and alcohol. And so are you.

Or not.