A number of friends and relatives have recently started blogging and in every case, I noticed they created their blog with Blogger. Being immersed in the world of Wordpress, I found myself a little surprised that it’s still the choice for many new bloggers today.
Curious to discover more, I asked a group of them the following four questions:
- When you started writing your blog, how and why did you decide which blogging tool to use (Blogger)?
- What are the main things you like about Blogger now that you’re blogging?
- What (if anything) have you found hard to use in Blogger?
- Had you heard about Wordpress before choosing Blogger? If so, what made you decide to use Blogger?
Their answers were fascinating.
To those new to blogging, Blogger was actually all they’d ever heard of. I wonder if this a confusion with the term and name; ie. to become a blogger you use Blogger? Many hadn’t heard of Wordpress at all, or had vaguely heard of it but didn’t know anything about it.
They found it incredibly easy to get going and start writing blog posts and adding photos in Blogger. They felt it was great for non-technical type people to just start writing. However, the majority said they found it hard to get the rest of the blog looking how they wanted it to (design and functionality) and complained that they needed to know HTML (which many didn’t) to change things around.
As more and more of the general population (read: non-technical) find a reason or two to start blogging, does Wordpress need to find a new way to reach out to beginners, or is Blogger still an appropriate starting point for someone just wanting to get going? Is Wordpress still too techy for someone new to the world of blogging? And does the name Wordpress need more explaining to people? (“It’s the new Blogger?”)
To me, when I compare Blogger and Wordpress, there really seems no competition. Wordpress is much more powerful, flexible and still easy to use. You don’t have to be a technical person to use Wordpress and benefit from all the vast code under the hood.
However, there’s probably still a long way to go before Wordpress is the first tool people think of when launching their first blog.
your thoughts
Robyn
A few times I’ve had a chat with people interested in blogging. I usually tell them about Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr, but I always say something like “A lot of people use Blogger because of its name, but WordPress is actually a better blogging tool to use.”
For me, seeing someone start a new blog on Blogger is like picking Hotmail over Gmail. Sure, it works, but it’s just not as good as the alternative.
Nic
I am in the process of starting my first blog/website and am lucky enough to have friends recommend Wordpress. Actually they wanted to start me off on Drupal, I think they believe in the sink or swim method of blog creation
Sho
I’m using Blogger because it was the one I heard when I started but the more I blog, the more I connect with other bloggers, the more I wish I had started on wordpress. Am considering exporting, but had a template custom designed by a friend and am worried about impact. Would love to hear your thoughts on that Rachel?
Thx
Trina
I used blogger for about 3 months before heard about and switched to Wordpress. Love it!
Scott
Blogger appears to be easier to integrate with other tools. I’m using Gmail and other Google tools for all manner of online coordination. I have to admit that I really haven’t given Wordpress much thought because Blogger meets my needs, and part of it is familiarity. I can get around most Google tools pretty easily, and haven’t really needed anything more. My blog is low-volume, and I recently was forced to switch from FTP access to Google’s hosted/redirect scheme.
So, I’ve not seen a compelling reason to switch. I’m not opposed, but Blogger is a low-energy approach, it’s got reasonable tools (I use Scribefire or Blogo for most entries), and I can integrate advertising very quickly. If I run into something that Blogger can’t handle, you bet I’ll switch.
Spyros
To be sincere, this does not surprise me a lot. People tend to like using things that are easy. They want to avoid having to install wordpress and the likes. This is why automatic wordpress installation is provided by all well known hosting services nowadays. People love simplicity and even more they love having things ready for them.
Wongie
Although I write a number of blogs I don’t consider myself a pro and like the amateur look of my online spaces. For me it’s not about the bells & whistles. I have blogs on both Wordpress & Blogger.
I started with Blogger because they use plain English to walk you through the process of setting up a blog. There’s no jargon. Wordpress was intifating to read and to look at. Wordpress is where you migrate to once you have confidence with the medium.
Unfortunately while Wordpress blogs look nicer as a free platform it still has limitations as to what kind of 3rd party add ons you can use, Blogger gives you more freedom there.
But the biggest drawcard for Blogger is that it’s owned by Google which also owns feedburner. Your posts go straight into Google search and as Google is the lead search engine it drives traffic to your blog.
Wordpress users have to work harder to drive traffic to their blogs. They also have to wait until they’re discovered by search engines.
rizki
The first time I blog, I used blogger, cause i don’t know any other platforms. After a while, mu blogger blog has quite good traffic. Someone told me to try wordpress, so I tried. It’s nice, but I think the reason why it won’t beat blogger to the beginners is because it needs hosting that blogger doesn’t. The worpress.com is indeed providing the hosting, but it has so many limitations.
With blogger, we don’t have to think about hosting, it’s absolutely free and reliable (almost 100% up time).
and with my believe in google, I am sure blogger will continue to add more functionalities to catch up the wordpress.
Rizki
My blogger blog: http://www.SAPstudyMaterials.com
Thierry Andriamirado
Interesting..
Actually, if the issue is the name ‘Blogger’, you can’t solve it
IMO both Blogger and WordPress are (were?) great, especially for beginners, but WP is better when it is about to drive the blogger from the beginner state to the more advanced one. Blogger is great for ‘quick shots’, but is not the only one anymore.
I started ‘blogging’ with php-nuke, not knowing the word ‘blog’. Switched to Mambo, then Joomla!, tried blogger (my blogger blogs still exist.. uncertainly) and Wordpress. Now experimenting and rebuilding my whole world with Drupal + other scripts.
People tend to try blogger first because of its name, AND because it mainly focuses on being easier and ‘accessible’. But things are changing: many people now understood the power of Social Media and are ‘blogging’ in a way that is not really Blogger’s one. Facebook and other medias are re-educating future bloggers so they can’t go back to Google’s way anymore!
Beware!
)
Bilal
I’ve been converting Wordpress templates to Blogger and also writing some tutorials on it. People really find it easy to start blogging with Blogger. Now, they have also introduced a “Template Designer” tool which is still in beta. That would make it much easier to customize the design without ever messing with the HTML or CSS.
Storytelling Social Media Marketing PR Business & Technology Curated Stories May 2, 2010
[...] Is Blogger still the main entry point into blogging? Published: April 30, 2010 Source: cre8d design A number of friends and relatives have recently started blogging and in every case, I noticed they created their blog with Blogger. Being immersed in the world of Wordpress, I found myself a little surprised t… [...]
Tim Bulkeley
I used Blogger for years, becuause when I started most people seemed to be using it, except the most techie people. Since then I have used Wordpress to help a few people start. All find it difficult at first, despite the fact that now (unlike a few years ago) it is so much easier. I think to really catch up WP needs an EVEN easier interface for newbies that could be stripped off IF people want to start messing with the innards. (I do, but most people don’t care! They don’t even want to add plugins or play with widgets
Rachel Cunliffe
Sho – you can keep your custom design even if you switch to Wordpress. This is a bit of a technical guide, but is useful for information on how to move from Blogger to Wordpress and keep your links: http://www.clazh.com/move-from-blogger-to-wordpress-and-maintain-permalinks-and-traffic/. We’ve moved quite a few people over to Wordpress from Blogger (and MovableType) and it’s been pretty smooth.
Simon Young
I’ve noticed just how ugly blogger is lately. Tumblr and Posterous are putting ol’ Blogger to shame.
I’m surprised Posterous isn’t in your post – I’ve seen a lot of people starting with Posterous because it’s so easy (and yet still very configurable).
utari
I used blogger for a year. And 3 months ago, i moved to wordpress. It’s not a reason. I just wanna know and feel blogging with both.
heidi
Interesting topic.
I’m non-techy and I’ve really tried to use WP a number of times (I have three web/blogs), but each time I would got floored with a term, where to find something – even areas where you enter info are so faint, often it is difficult to see.
Also, the various formats for WP are enough to make non-techies shy away. It gets too cute sometimes with how-tos and I am still left scratching my head wondering how to do something. I’m sitting here looking at 3 WP books and still I can’t figure WP out. Thats’ how much I’ve wanted to use WP.
Blogger definately has limitations. The BIG one for me is format and entering images within a post. However I do see things changing at Blogger. We’ll see.
WP is surely more powerful. But for now, I will stay with Blogger until I don’t have to buy books to understand WP.
http://www.heidispiegel.com/
http://pedalerdanslachoucroute.blogspot.com/
http://www.harpinla.com/
Thanks,
Heidi