I admit it, I’m partial to wordpress. But there are so many other blogging platforms out there that it can make a bloggers head spin to decide which is the best way to create a blog that you love. One of the first things you need to decide, is what is the goal of your blog.

Are you looking:

• to just make friends
• blog about your family
• is it a hobby that is part time or full time
• do you want to make money and take in ads
• are you looking to be a professional writer or blogger

Defining your reasons and goals in the beginning will allow you to narrow down where you should go first. While I am used to Wordpress, I did take the time to check out Blogger and Typepad before going back to my old hat.

There are many hosted services like Blogger, Wordpress (.com), Typepad, and LiveJournal . For the purposes of this article, I am going to dive deeper into the most popular, blogger and wordpress.

Blogger:

One of the most widely used blogging platforms, of course, is Blogger by google. Blogger tends to get indexed in search engines a lot more quickly then other spots; this is because its owned by GOOGLE. With blogger, you receive your name for free, but it will include a “Blogspot name (example: http://yoursitenamehere.blogspot.com ) in the title. You also will have access to its very easily used software, and be able to add free or cheap templates to personalize your account. One personal complaint for me about blogger, is that it has no way to create true categorization. This can result in long lists of keywords on your sidebar or having to fix your blog by months, rather then minimized selections, or worse, no categories at all. If someone cannot easily navigate and find material, chances are they wont hunt it down. How often do you go searching through the “old posts” button? I like a very minimized search tool on a blog and a clean set up, and this type of sidebar would drive me nuts.

Keep in mind that when you use free templates, it takes a lot more to define yourself. Its often better, especially if you are branding your blog, to hire a design professional. For under $100, you can make your blog pleasant, easily navigated, and have a presence of a personal touch. This also helps define who you are so you are not compared with everyone else out there. I cannot tell you how many blogs I have come across that use free templates and I start to get confused on which one I am at. It makes them unmemorable. If you want your blog to be noticed AND remembered, its best to invest in it. If you are partially HTML savvy, you can join places like our forum, where we have designers that are part of us, and offer free advice and help for those “stuck”.

Free Blogger Professional Design:

Free Fun Blogger Designs!

For those that want minimized customization, you can also purchase a domain name directly through blogger and continue to utilize their free content hosting. If you decide to purchase a domain name, they configure it all for you and change over your DNS numbers so its an easy change. To get more information on how to get your own customized name through blogger read here.

* A word of caution * I always recommend purchasing a domain name through another site like Netfirms where you have complete control over your domain separate from your hosting. You don’t want a situation where your hoster takes over your domain name. Plus, contrary to the cheesy commercials, GoDaddy is a pain in the ass for domain names.

Some things to remember on free services like blogger.com and wordpress.com:

• its FREE
• the software is about near idiot proof. Already set up, its like a plug and play mentality. You need almost zero knowledge to become a blogger
• No pesky updates to worry about. Every 2 months I notice an “upgrade” button inside my blog since I am self hosted and its FRIGHTENING to upgrade. If you don’t upgrade, you face potential security risks, so either way, its scary
• you have LESS control over your blog. You often times have no control over to monetize your blog if you get to that point or to put in specialized templates. Remember…they own the content there, so they don’t just give you free reign with FTP

If you decide to self host, many hosters already have a Fantastico set up, which also allows a one button set up of your blogging software. This means you wont need to go through setting up a database and connecting it and all of that, just to get it up and running.

Hit a button, fill out your name, save, and Voila!  Blog appears!

Self hosting in a snap.

I like to do things the hard way, so I downloaded my software and set it up on my own.

Self hosting can be very beneficial, especially as your blog grows, and you want to add more features. Right now we host a chat room and a forum which is on our host. Its easy to connect them all together and we have complete control. If you start on a hosted site and want to move to a self hosted, it can sometimes be painful and scary. In the past I have moved my self hosted  blog from one hoster to a self hosted on a new hoster and it was a LONG, LONG day. Its better to make that decision sooner, then later, if you notice your blog growing and you want to stick to this “blogging thing”.

Wordpress

Wordpress offers free hosted and also self hosted software. I personally believe that wordpress is more for the professional blogger then most blogger programs out there. However, that comes with a price as there are less wordpress designers and it can be tricky, and confusing, if something goes wrong with your site. I cant stress enough to keep a backup of your blog before you start messing around. Wordpress comes with hundreds of templates to utilize, that are easily customized by just overwriting the pictures with new ones, or changing the color codes in the CSS template. There are also thousands of plugins to use to customize your blog for whatever your purpose is. From adding in video, to polls, to automatic signatures, its as simple as downloading, adding, and hitting an activate button. What I like about wordpress too, is if something is incompatible, it doesn’t just load it. It shuts off the plug-in and lets you know that it cant be loaded.

Wordpress also has a very easy import button where you can bring over your Blogger, Moveable type, and more right into its software. My only glitch when I was changing blogs from my old one to a new one, was that my exported files were TOO LARGE to actually upload them. You may have to break down your comments and blog posts into smaller XML files to upload. If you dont know what you are doing, make sure you consult a professional.

Wordpress is also set up to have multiple authors. We have over here admin, editor, contributor, author, and subscriber. With a multi person blog like MomDot, or Top Mom Blogger this allows us to give specified blog access to all of the writers, depending on their role with the blog.

I hands down think that Wordpress is the most customizable, personalized blogging software out there, buts it not all roses. Although they have a very supportive community and a forum to turn to should you face a problem, wordpress can be scary to the average blogger once you open the files.  If you are not brave enough to attempt your own coding or HTML (although, I think you should be) don’t forget to consider going Premium. Over the years, Wordpress has expanded to include Premium themes that can enhance your experience and layout on your blog.

Here are a few other places you can search out Premium Themes:

• Elegant Themes
• Photo Blog Theme
• Studio Press Themes
• Woo Themes
• Yamidoo Theme

Here are some samples of FREE wordpress designs:

Other places to snag free wordpress themes:

• New WP Themes
• Fearless Flyer
• Dynamic Wordpress

Again, BACK UP before you start screwing with the HTML. Everything I have learned on Wordpress, I have done myself or with the help of surrounding friends, but it also means that I have “blown up” about 10 blogs before this one. In fact, it’s best to open a test site with dummy content and not use your live site as a way to learn.

Like Blogger, you can get a hosted account with Wordpress.com and get a customized domain name.

My opinion is if you are going to have under 10K unique visitors a month, small to no budget, and are just blogging for fun, its ok to stick with blogger.

If you are going large, want full control on customizations, or want something unique, go with Wordpress.

~Trisha

p.s. go with wordpress