Which blog platform is best for you?
If you read my column last week, maybe you’ve decided your business could benefit from a blog. How do you set it up?
Two major blogging platforms currently exist: WordPress and Blogger. Within WordPress, you can select WordPress.org or WordPress.com.
This article will not discuss password-protected blogging options, such as blogs through MySpace or LiveJournal. These are great for personal blogs, especially where security is important. (For instance, you want to blog about not-so-happy personal events or talk about your kids.) But if you’re a business, presumably you want people who don’t know you to visit your blog – stick with a public blog platform.
Let’s explore the three main blogging options so you can decide which one is best for you.
WordPress.org– This free blogging platform is very easy to use, even for beginners. With no knowledge of HTML or CSS coding, you can select from more than 70 free themes and have a blog running in virtually minutes.
You cannot, however, upload a third-party theme to give your blog a more unique look or upload plugins to add more features to your blog. You also have to pay if you want to edit the CSS coding to fully customize your blog.
WordPress.com is great for beginners to blogging or blog hobbyists, since the company takes care of everything for you, including:
- setup
- upgrades
- spam
- backups
- security
- hosting
- promotions – yes, even marketing is taken care of, to a degree. Features like “Blog of the day” provide added opportunities for new readers to find your blog.
WordPress.org– This free blogging platform requires that you have your own host. Since you are hosting your own blog (or paying another company, such as BlueHost or GoDaddy) to do so, you are responsible for stopping spam, maintaining security, and performing your own backups. Additionally, a huge spike in traffic may cause your server to go down.
However, the benefits to WordPress.org are great, especially if you already have a business website and hosting capabilities. WordPress.org lets you install custom themes and plugins, place advertising on the site, edit the database and modify the PHP source code. (Don’t worry; if this doesn’t make sense to you, you can always hire someone to handle it all.)
If you purchase a hosting package through a third-party Web host, it most likely comes with WordPress.org blogging software included.
Blogger.com – Blogger.com, a free blogging platform created and owned by Google, is more similar to WordPress.com than to WordPress.org. However, Blogger offers several benefits over WordPress.com, including:
- the ability to upload custom, third-party themes
- the ability to edit CSS code
- the ability to place ads on the blog through Google’s Adsense program
Rumors abound that, because Blogger is owned by Google, Blogger blogs rank better on Google. This simply is not true. Your blog will rank well (or poorly) based on your SEO optimization, the traffic, and an array of other factors that search engines use to determine ranking – it has nothing to do with your blogging software though.
Using each blogging platform
From a writer’s perspective, once the blog is set up, all three are equally easy to use. Some handy features common to all three include the ability to:
schedule posts to go live at a specific time
include photos or video in your posts
generate discussion with your readers through comments
improve keyword ranking to your blog through the use of tags
Which one is best for you?
If you already have a website and a host, it’s basically a no-brainer to select the added capabilities of WordPress.org.
If you don’t have a host – and don’t plan to set one up in the future – you may decide Blogger is your best bet. On the other hand, if one of WordPress.com’s templates strikes your fancy, and you don’t plan to make money off your blog with third-party advertising, WordPress.com may be the simplest option for you. It’s also easy to make the jump from WordPress.com to WordPress.org as your need for more blogging capabilities expands.
My good friend and fellow writer, Julie Fletcher, is offering a free e-course on how to set up a blog (using any of the major platforms) at her blog, Not Enough Coffee. I highly recommend it for beginners.
