Blogger vs Wordpress - The Search for the Best Blogging Platform - Part 2 - Why Blogger?

My previous post was an introduction to my quest for the best blogging platform. In that post, I hinted that Blogger fitted my circumstance quite well. I'll try to show you why this is so. Who knows, it might also be the best fit for you.

Wordpress and Self–installed Platforms

As you read on, please note that any mention of Wordpress in this series, unless otherwise specified, refers to Wordpress.org which is a software you download from the website of the same name and install in your own server. For that reason, it is referred to as a self–installed platform or software. Now, your server may be in the same room as you are, in the same house, or may even be in the same continent lounging in the air conditioned environment of your hosting company while being attended to by geeky types in a lab coat wearing goggles and gloves—the difference is moot.

Note also that platforms or software which are referred to as nonhosted, self–hosted, or self–installed are the same in most cases and will be treated as such in this series. For uniformity, I will use the term self–installed as it is what I consider the most accurate term.

Blogger.com and Wordpress.org

But first of all, you might ask why this series deals with Blogger vs Wordpress and not Hosted vs Self–installed blogging platforms. It is true that the latter approach would have been more methodical as we can start from the general then narrow down to the specific. For instance, you and I could first find out if a hosted platform would better suit our fancy; If so, we could then look at all the varieties of hosted platforms and proceed from there; otherwise, to the self–installed blog platforms, we go.

Sounds good so far. Problem is, it's a logical fallacy that all hosted blog platforms have a degree of similarity in flavor which justifies lumping them up together under the same category. In fact, this could be one of the reasons why Blogger is wrongly downplayed in favor of Wordpress.

Take a peek at what would happen when someone tries to decide what blogging platform to use using that approach. She first asks: Hosted or self–installed?. Searching the net, she found that the former is restricted in options and the latter is more professional. So, she tossed the former, Blogger along with it, and choose the latter. After that, Wordpress is almost always the default choice, so she went for Wordpress. She could also have been happier with Blogger.

This does not do Blogger justice. Blogger has a lot of features found almost exclusively on self–installed platforms that lumping it up with other hosted platforms is not fair. This post aims to cast the limelight at Blogger—the limelight it rightfully deserves but has for so long been deprived of.

As to why Wordpress in particular and not self–installed platforms in general, it has already been stated that Wordpress is almost always the default choice in self–installed platforms. It is what most people mean when they refer to this type of platform. So I decided to focus on Wordpress. But for those interested, there are also other kinds self–installed platforms:

• Movable Type
• ExpressionEngine
• Manila Userland
• Radio Userland
• Drupal
• Mambo
• NucleusCMS
• Textpattern
• Habari
• Serendipity
• Chyrp
• B2Evolution

Some of those enumerated above are Content Management Systems (CMS). As for hosted platforms, here's a partial list:

• TypePad
• UserLand ManilaSites
• Wordpress.com
• LiveJournal
• Windows Live Spaces
• MySpace
• Yahoo! 360
• Vox
• Blog.com

Why I choose Blogger

My research in the best platform for my blog yielded both pros and cons of hosted platforms along with the pros and cons of self–installed platforms. But what made me choose Blogger was not only the pros of hosted platforms and the absence of the disadvantages pertaining to self–installed platforms but also the fact that most of the alleged cons of hosted platforms does not apply to Blogger. Blogger has all of the advantages of hosted solutions but almost none of the disadvantages! It truly should be in a class of its own.

My main reasons are as follows:

• Ease of set up
• Cost = Free
• Simple to operate
• Zero maintenance
• Good in attracting search engine attention and traffic
• Good Adsense and Feedburner integration
• Configurable
• Flexible design
• Control of my URL
• Easy to move to a different host
• I won’t lose traffic if I do move

You read through the list, then raise your eyebrows, stand up, point at me and say—

you: I'm smellin' somethin' funny 'roun here!

me: That couldn't be me.

you: No! Its them bullet points 6^th to last.

me: They're quite pretty, aren't they?

you: Might be, but they aren't what I'd call them hosted. They're fer nonhosted—or whatcha call self–installed. 'N fact, they're precisely the weakness of them hosted blogs. Yer not trickin' no one!

me: Nope, not tricking anyone. While you are correct in pointing out that those qualities pertain more to self–installed platforms and showcases the lack of hosted blogs (instead of their strengths), it is a little bit different in the case of Blogger. Blogger has the advantages of hosted blogs but almost none of their disadvantages, as I already mentioned before, which is why my post became longer than I expected, thereby making me unable to fully expound the reasons listed above as I undertook in my previous post. But no worries; while I only listed those reasons here, I will be discussing them in detail and show that Blogger has the advantages of hosted platforms but almost none of their disadvantages. Really! So just sit back while I deliver it to you in my next post.