Wordpress vs. Blogger

Due to my involvement with a writing group I belong to, I've become quite a bit more familiar with Wordpress as of late.  For those of you new to the blogging world, there are two major (free) blog hosts that seem to consistently dominate the heap: Wordpress and Blogger.

Well, I apparently can't commit to just one so I freely admit to being a switcher-back-and-forther.  The general consensus between the two hosts is that Blogger is more user-friendly while Wordpress is more customizable.

This is sort of true.  Sort of.  If you've never blogged before both platforms are going to have a learning curve.  I also feel that the general consensus is somewhat flawed because Wordpress is only more customizable if you switch over to the paid version.

To help you decide which is for you, I decided to make a more detailed list of what I like and don't like about both.  Keep in mind that this list is only of noticeable differences.  I'm not going to list things that I like that both platforms have.  Also keep in mind that I am only comparing these two platforms.  

So here it goes:

Wordpress

• Overall, the blog will look sleeker. 
• You have the ability to make a static site (like a regular website, not a blog)
• There aren't a whole lot of free themes (the way it looks) to choose from.
• If you're using the free version, there's not much about the theme you can adjust (so you're stuck with default fonts, colors, etc.)
• You can automatically have your blog send new post updates to a Facebook fan page
• Lacks the ability to upload pictures from your computer and place them in your sidebar(s).  Requires you to get your image from an online URL.
• Dashboard that you use to make blog changes is not user-friendly at all (this is coming from someone who already knew how to blog). 
• Spam filters are really good at default setting.

Blogger

• Can look sleek but takes a lot more work.
• Dashboard is far more intuitive.
• Requires you to find a third-party program in order to send updates to Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Owned by Google so easily syncs with other Google programs such as Google+.
• You can adjust just about anything you want with your free blog (background, colors, font, tab sizes, etc.).
• EasiER to monetize.   Google AdSense is already built in.   
• As the blog ages, you get lots of spam comments.  Can be avoided but requires some tweaking with the security settings.

Those are the main things that come to mind.  Do note that this list is my opinion of these platforms as of right now.  There is certainly a possibility that features can be added and taken out in future updates.

To sum up:  Even after becoming comfortable with both platforms, I find I still prefer Blogger.  The only real advantage Wordpress has is the swankier vibe.  But overall I find myself annoyed with how limited the free Wordpress blog is.  If you want to pay the small yearly fee, however, the number of Wordpress options does increase.  But I think it's saying something that you have to pay money to get features that Blogger already offers for free.

How to Use Blogger's Labels

Should Your Blog Title Ask a Question?

I don't always do this with my blog posts but it is a useful trick for attracting attention to a blog post.  People are curious and if they see an unanswered question for a topic that interests them, there is a higher chance that they will click on the link to find out more.

Don't believe me?  Use my go-to default realty check: how would you respond if you saw these two articles:

Giant Shark Found on the Beach

or

Giant Shark Found on the Beach, Researchers Puzzled

Ok, so yeah, maybe you'd click on the first title.  But all the information is already given to you in the title.  So the only reason why you'd want to read further is to find out which beach or maybe a picture of the shark.  Very little is left to the imagination.

The second title is more open-ended.  Researchers puzzled?  What the heck?  Puzzled over what?  So now you have more motivation to read that article because you not only want to know which beach and maybe see a picture but you also want to know if researchers are puzzled over the possible alien glyphs they found written on the fin (or whatever).

Point being, that your blog post title is going to be the selling point for most readers.  It will be the first thing they see and it will be the deciding factor in whether or not they want to read more.

How To Get Blog Traffic: Have a blogging schedule

A blog can be approached one of two ways:

• As a personal diary OR
• As a source for public news

If your blog is more like your diary, feel free to update it whenever you like.  It's for writing down your own personal thoughts so whether or not anybody reads the posts is not important.

Regardless of topic, if you do want people to read your blog, you must treat it as a source for public news.  A blogging schedule is crucial if you want to increase your readership.

Think about it: a magazine or a newspaper cannot become a trusted source of information if the news they provide is sporadic.  One day they report on a political announcement, you don't hear from them in months and then they decide to report on election results.  This is not the way to gain readership.  Even if the readers neglect to read every article, they need to know that the articles are at least there.

The difficult part is that a blog is usually run by a company of one: you.  It's exciting when first starting up a blog but eventually life will get in the way.  Hence, the blogging schedule.  It is better to have your posts follow a predictable schedule rather than posting at random.

Why?

If your readers suddenly receive a slew of email notifications from you saying there have been four new posts, chances are they will only read one or two.  So much of your hard work will be lost on them.  It's ok to have a space of time between posts, so long as your readers know when to expect the next one.

A blogging schedule also makes your blog look more active when new potential readers stumble across it.  If you post all four at once and then nothing for the rest of the year, it's discouraging to see that the last entry you made has last year's date on it.  Why read a news source that has already shut down?

A blogging schedule will also help from an SEO perspective.  When people type in keywords, search engines are looking for the latest, most relevant content.  A blog that has updated recently will be more desirable than one that last updated years ago.

In order to establish a blogging schedule, start small.  Take what you think you can handle and then cut it in half.  Think you can post every week?  Aim for every two weeks. Every day?  Every other day.  Start easy because you are planning for the times you don't feel like blogging.  Take advantage of the times when you feel inspired to write.  Write several posts in one sitting and then schedule them to appear at future dates.

What you want to ideally happen is have posts scheduled out for several months.  This will give you the leeway to write when you feel inspired and not have the blog consume your whole life.

How to Get Blog Traffic: Twitterfeed.com

The site twitterfeed.com is a useful tool for those that use Blogger.  On Wordpress you can have an option to push your posts through to Facebook.  Blogger has no such feature, unfortunately.  As the site's name indicates, twitterfeed may also be used to autopost links to your blog on Twitter.  As of right now, you can use twitterfeed to update Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and App.net.

The way it works is you input your blog's feed to twitterfeed.  Then you tell where you want the feed sent and how often twitterfeed should check for updates.  When you post a new blog, twitterfeed will detect it and then send the post's title and a link to your FB page or Twitter (or whatever).  That's it!  So it's a really easy way to get extra blog traffic and save you the hassle of manually posting the link everywhere manually.

As far as third party programs, twitterfeed is fairly reliable.  I use it for all my blogs and only occasionally do I have problems.  It sometimes forgets to "check" a blog for updates so the latest post does not show.  However, the problem usually corrects itself by the next post.  I've investigated several other services and so far twitterfeed has been the easiest to use/most reliable.

On the most basic level, people need to know about your blog if you want more blog traffic.  Having your blog merely exist in cyberspace will eventually get keyword-related traffic but if you want to speed the process up, you need to share your blog link with PEOPLE.

Blog Author Bio

The "about you" portion of a blog is extremely important if you are trying to brand yourself.  If you enjoy basking in anonymity, then by all means please ignore this post.

For those of you that eventually want others to talk about your blog, the bio should but be placed prominently either close to the top of your blog or with its own page.  Your explanation of yourself does not have to be especially clever or funny but it should be succinct.  If your blog is about cooking, say something about your interest in food, not that you live with fourteen cats.

As you blog you can share more about yourself but the author bio is a quick way for people to get a 2-3 sentence impression of you.  Allowing people to associate an author name with a blog will also help if you choose to expand in to different projects such as starting another blog.

So don't be ashamed.  It's your blog and you should let people know it!

Slow Load Time = Less Readers

Blogs with slow loading times are a pet peeve of mine but with good reason.  First, consider why people read blogs: they want to be momentarily entertained/informed by someone's opinion.  This means that the most important content is the blog post itself.  Everything else is extra.

Slow loading times happen when there is an excess of widgets/gadgets on the blog.  Honestly, I'm not going to be looking at someone's tag cloud or scroll through all the latest movies they've seen and then later play a cute mini fish game while reading about their latest posts on Twitter.  I want to read the friggin' blog.  All the extra stuff looks fun but it is preventing readers from reading the content that could make them come back for more.

When adjusting the layout of your blog, always keep in mind the reader, not you.  Your blog should load quickly and the main content should be easy to find and prominent.  Any extra features added should only be there to help the reader more easily navigate or follow your blog.