Hello friends! I am so glad to have you here today. This week on Jump-Start your blog we are going to talk about platforms. If you are not sure what a platform is I will explain in this post.
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What is a blog platform?
In the blogging world there are two platforms that most people use, Blogger.com and WordPress.org. A platform is like a dashboard/hosting that you will use to post your posts to, customize the look of your blog, and more. There is a great debate in the blogging world between these two.
Most professional bloggers use WordPress.org as their platform because it is self hosted (you pay to host) and easy to customize. Blogger.com is owned by Google and hosted by them. Google has the rights to pull any content at anytime without warning. More on that later.
WordPress.org:
WordPress.org is the platform I personally use. I did not understand at all what WordPress.org was when I first started a blog. I quickly went to Blogger.com because of lack of knowledge, but I wish I would have known all of what WordPress.com had to offer me early on. I have since learned everything I could about it, and I am still learning.
WordPress.org is different from WordPress.com. WordPress.com is hosted by WordPress and not self hosted. They can place their ads on your site and more. You don’t have as much control over YOUR blog. This is why I suggest going to WordPress.org.
WordPress.org is a platform that you can install on your own server or through your host. I personally use GoDaddy but there are many more who offer this. Just check around and ask if the host you use offers the WordPress add-on.
Most hosting companies offer a simple WordPress.org plugin/platform that you can activate right from your C-Panel, or you can sign up for managed WordPress.org hosting. I have managed WordPress hosting and it has worked well for me so far.
It is a quick and easy install and you can get started right away. We will talk all about themes and customizing your blog next week.
If you are wanting to monetize your blog I suggest you start with WordPress.org from the very beginning. This is what the professional bloggers recommended and I am so glad I finally listened. You can have third-party ad management companies with WordPress.org. More on ads in another upcoming post.
I hope I have answered a few questions about WordPress.org for you today. If you have any other questions though about it please ask in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.
Blogger.com
Blogger.com is Google’s own platform for blogs. It is a free platform with no host necessary. You just need to go to Blogger.com and sign-up. You can start your blog in minutes and customize it with many free templates on the web. There are some really good qualities about Blogger.com, but they come with a sacrifice as well.
- The pros: Free, easy to start-up, free templates, easy to navigate dashboard, low-cost start-up, you can buy your own domain name through Google.
- The cons: Google owns the blog and you cannot guarantee that they wont take it down anytime they want and you lose EVERYTHING. That’s right. You have no control over it.
Some bloggers disagree with this assessment of Blogger.com and this can be a subject of great debate, but from my personal experience being a user of both I know I want full control over MY blog.
I hope I have answered a few questions about Blogger.com for you today. If you have any other questions though about it please ask in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.
No matter which platform you choose, you can choose to rock your blog! Research your platform options and choose which one is right for you. Only you know what works best for you.
Please follow this weekly blog post series titled: Jump-Start your Blog. Every week I will be answering questions you may have when starting a blog of your own. So check back for next weeks post. If you have any blogging questions please contact me or leave a comment below. I love to hear from my readers!
Find all of the posts in this series here!
You can find more themes and resources on my blog resource page here.
Nice rundown between these two. I’m personally a big fan of wordpress, but I totally see why people choose something like blogger when they’re starting out. WordPress can look super intimidating, and if you get sort of easily overwhelmed by new info, it can be frustrating. Personally though I’d still encourage people to try WordPress (even if it’s just the .com version) before they knock it. Learning your way through it can be pretty fun and not nearly as hard as some might think from just looking at it. Mind if I add a link to this on one of my blog posts?
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A link would be fine, thank you for asking! I would encourage WordPress first as well.:)