I get this question a lot: “I want to start a blog. Which is better: Blogger or WordPress?” I usually refrain from answering this question because there isn’t a single all-purpose best blog platform that will handle everyone’s needs. The answer really all depends on what features you need and what you plan to do with your blog. If you’re just starting out, I say, start simple and outgrow what you know.
If you’re a beginner and you want to give blogging a try, consider these 3 points when choosing your blog platform: Is it free? Is it easily customizable? Is it reliable?
Free
The free blog services have all the features you need to create a great blog and you won’t have to worry about a monthly service charge. You can focus your energy on creating great content instead. One of the rarely mentioned benefits of free blogs is that they have a special kind of persistence that paid blogs do not have: you can take a break from your blog for months, or even years, and it will still be accessible during the time you are away.
Flexible and Customizable
As a beginner, you need an easy-to-use design interface that allows you to customize the layout to your heart’s content. It should let you change the number of columns easily, set the widths for those columns, drag and drop widgets, add your own widgets, change background colors, fonts, etc., without forcing you to get into the heart of the code. Conversely, the platform should make it easy for you to enter CSS customizations by hand if you want to.
Reliable
Another question I get a lot is, “who hosts your website?” Well, if you’re just getting started, stay away from self-hosted platforms. They can be expensive and when there’s a problem, you have to deal with it yourself or pay someone else to deal with it for you. The most reliable, secure, trouble-free blogging service over the last few years has been Blogger. In 2010, for example, Blogger was up 100% of the time.
My Opinion
I think the best platform for beginners is Blogger. It’s free, it has a great, easy-to-use interface, and it has the most reliable up-time. Hey, it’s got Google behind it and that’s worth something. By the way, many successful blogs run on Blogger. I don’t know if these guys actually like Blogger, but they’ve been on it for quite a while and their blogs are terrific. Here are a few:
There may come a time when you feel that Blogger can’t do what you want. When that day comes, you will know that it’s time to move on. That’s the day you start taking a serious look at WordPress, an excellent platform to grow into.
