Wordpress vs Blogger: Which is Better?

1. Installation

The big advantage of blogger is that it is easy to add on to your existing site; files are then uploaded by FTP. When creating a blog – just choose “advanced set up” – You will need your FTP username and password. Wordpress, on the other hand is a little more complicated to install. However, if you choose a hosting domain which supports Wordpress, they will have a script which makes installation very easy.

• Overall, If you host supports wordpress – little difference.

2. Search Engine Indexing.

The argument is that since blogger is owned by Google, they will index Bloggers very quickly. From my experience of using bloggers I find this to be true. Within 24 hours a new post can be indexed and receiving traffic. On standard web pages, it can take upto 2 weeks. However, I don’t think Google are just favouring their own blog software; this blog got indexed very quickly, and is already getting traffic via Google, after 2 weeks. There are also concerns that exampleblog.blogspot.com have the highest % of spam blogs.

• Overall, I don’t see much difference.

3. Design.

With regard to design I think Wordpress is the clear winner. The default choice of Kubrick is better than the most popular blogger templates. But, the real advantage of Wordpress is the huge choice of themes. (Official: Wordpress Themes) It is also very easy to switch between skins, and you can do it without knowledge of html and CSS.

• Overall: Wordpress better

4. Plugins.

Plugins is another great feature of Wordpress; there is a dizzying range of plugins – There is almost a danger you can get distracted by keeping upto date with all the latest plugins. Blogger by contrast doesn’t seem to have many of these (non-essential) features.

• Overall: Wordpress better (though some people may find these non essential to blogging)

5. Support

When I was having FTP problems with Blogger, I didn’t find Google Blogger Help Group, particularly helpful. I’m not sure anyone from Google reads it. When you have problems you feel it is hard to get support, or even acknowledgement of the problem.
I eventually found this for Submitting problems related to google blogger.
Wordpress Forum, on the other hand seems well maintained, but to be honest I haven’t had any problems to report.

• Overall: Wordpress seems better supported.

6. Errors.

The impression I get is that Blogger is still a work in progress. For example, there seems to be a problem with using labels. Whenever I publish from my 7 blogger blogs and use labels, it always says published with errors ( – a little disconcerting to say the least) Wordpress feels like a finished product without these bugs. In this regard, one could even make a comparison of saying wordpress is like using an apple, Blogger like using a PC.

• Blogger popular, but with bugs. – Wordpress works straight from the box.
• Overall: Wordpress better (but this is just my experience)

7. Features.

Another big benefit I found of Wordpress is the “More” and “next page” features.
It is invaluable to be able to show only part of a blog entry on blog home page. Also when you get to the bottom of a blog page, you can choose the next page. It is like reading a book. Blogger doesn’t have these features as standard. There is a hack for the “more” feature, but its work to install it.

Overall: Wordpress the Clear Winner – I think these small features, actually very important

Conclusion

Overall I favour Wordpress, but these are only my experiences of using wordpress and blogger. I am relatively new to both blog publishing platforms, so I am interested in other people’s opinions and experiences.

Also, if you are looking for a fairly simple blog, without plugins e.t.c blogger can do a good job. It’s simple to add to a site and add content. – Hopefully the problems with labels will be sorted soon.

Please leave feedback for which blog platform you prefer ( maybe its neither!)

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• Wordpress vs Blogger