When you decide to start your own blog, there are many choices to be
made. The very first choice is which platform to use. The most popular
blog platforms are Blogger, WordPress.com, and WordPress.org. This article will explain the basic differences of these platforms and the pros and cons of each.
When choosing your blog platform, you’ll need to determine whether you would prefer a hosted or non-hosted blog platform. A hosted platform is one that is housed on the platform’s server. In other words, if you have a Blogger blog, your blog is hosted on the Blogger server; if you have a WordPress.org blog, it’s housed on the WordPress.org server.
A non-hosted site is a blog that is housed on your own server (usually a third-party you pay to host your site; I use Hostgator.com and I like them a lot). For example, if you use WordPress.org as your blogging platform, they do not host your blog for you. You will have another company host it. Paying for a host isn’t very expensive — Hostgator starts at $3.96/month.
There are pros and cons to both hosted and non-hosted blogging solutions.
It is widely regarded in the professional or semi-professional blogosphere that if you have a WordPress.org blog you are more serious about your blogging. Blogger or WordPress.com are low men on the totem pole. However, as I mentioned, many bloggers do very well on Blogger blogs. Blogger is also an excellent choice for beginning bloggers because it is free and easy to use. I recommend it for those of you just starting out who aren’t sure if you want to stick with it or not.
Source - http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2009/01/choosing-a-blogging-platform/
When choosing your blog platform, you’ll need to determine whether you would prefer a hosted or non-hosted blog platform. A hosted platform is one that is housed on the platform’s server. In other words, if you have a Blogger blog, your blog is hosted on the Blogger server; if you have a WordPress.org blog, it’s housed on the WordPress.org server.
A non-hosted site is a blog that is housed on your own server (usually a third-party you pay to host your site; I use Hostgator.com and I like them a lot). For example, if you use WordPress.org as your blogging platform, they do not host your blog for you. You will have another company host it. Paying for a host isn’t very expensive — Hostgator starts at $3.96/month.
There are pros and cons to both hosted and non-hosted blogging solutions.
The pros of having a hosted site (like Blogger or WordPress.org):
- A hosted site makes it extremely easy for you to start a blog and see if you like it without spending any money up front. Both Blogger and WordPress are free.
- Hosted sites are generally extremely user-friendly and fairly intuitive (meaning it’s easy to figure out which link to click to do certain tasks like linking or italicizing text).
- Hosted sites also offer WYSIWIG editors. (WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get.) Most platforms offer a way to type your blog post and see how it will appear when it’s published. They also offer a tab that allows you to see the HTML of your post if you need to see the code.
The cons of having a hosted site:
- Blogger and WordPress.org don’t offer domain names by default. For example, if you create a Blogger blog, your URL (or domain) will be similar to http://BloggingBasics101.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, blogs without a customized domain (e.g., http://BloggingBasics101.com) can appear to be less professional. This is a bias in the blogging community. Having your own domain, such as http://BloggingBasics101.com instead of http://bloggingbasics101.blogspot.com, shows people you’re taking this blogging thing more seriously. The good news is that you can install a custom domain on both Blogger and WordPress.com!
- You will generally have less control of your HTML or CSS. Blogger allows you to change various parts of your HTML, but not everything.
- Theme customization is limited. Both Blogger and WordPress.com do come with over 100 theme options, but if you use a hosted platform (like WordPress.org), you’ll find literally THOUSANDS of theme options (some paid, some free).
- WordPress.com does allows limited advertising on your blog, but you have to have a certain amount of traffic. You also can’t run sponsored posts or affiliate links. That could hinder your blogging for profit dreams.
The pros of having a non-hosted site (via WordPress.org):
- You have control over how your archives are managed.
- You have control over all of your HTML and CSS.
- You have control over permalinks. This means that instead of the platform choosing the name of a post, you choose a name. This will help not only with managing permalinks, but with managing your SEO (or search engine optimization).
- There are many plug-ins for the WordPress.org platform that allow you to do everything from managing advertising to managing and responding to comments more efficiently.
- You own it all, you control it all, you do it all. The great news is that there thousands of websites that can answer all your questions
It is widely regarded in the professional or semi-professional blogosphere that if you have a WordPress.org blog you are more serious about your blogging. Blogger or WordPress.com are low men on the totem pole. However, as I mentioned, many bloggers do very well on Blogger blogs. Blogger is also an excellent choice for beginning bloggers because it is free and easy to use. I recommend it for those of you just starting out who aren’t sure if you want to stick with it or not.
Source - http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2009/01/choosing-a-blogging-platform/
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