I am writing this post to mark my switch from Blogger to WordPress platform. Both platforms have their pros and cons and I will elaborate further in this post my reasons for switching over and my thoughts so far writing with WordPress. Hopefully, this will serve as a useful guide for anyone thinking of choosing between these two writing platforms.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through to make a purchase.
Read: HOW TO MIGRATE FROM BLOGGER TO WORDPRESS
- Website Monetisation: Google Adsense versus Word Ads
Google Adsense and Word Ads both run advertisements on users’ websites. Word Ads is exclusive to WordPress but for not for Google Adsense. The latter is available on both Blogger and WordPress platform. However, the catch is you are required to upgrade to WordPress Business plan in order to install Google Adsense plugin in your account.
I personally think that running Word Ads alone is sufficient for my website. Both Word Ads and Google Adsense require an individual’s revenue to hit $100 before they are able to cash out.
I am using WordPress Premium for this site of mine. Hence, I was automatically approved for Word Ads right from Day 1. On the other hand, I took about 8 months and 50 posts later to be accepted for Google Adsense for my blogger account. It all depends if getting advertisements on your website is a priority for you and for what purpose.
2. Tracking Web Analytics: Google Analytics versus WordPress Statistics
I personally prefer the layout of WordPress Statistics as I am able to have an overview of my website’s performance metrics at a glance. WordPress Statistics is integrated with WordPress and you will be able to view the metrics when you log into your WordPress account. On the other hand, the Blogger and Google Analytics are on different sites and one has to log into two sites to view the respective data.
With Google Analytics, I reckon the geeky users will prefer this as Google is able to provide the drill down of each site’s performance, the landing/ exit pages and allows one to customise the reports for further analysis and specific campaigns. In addition, Google Analytics is not exclusively for the blogger accounts. I was able to sign up a Google Analytics for my WordPress site. On the other hand, WordPress’s Statistics is exclusively for WordPress users.
3. The Costs
Google’s Blogger is free of charge while WordPress has a variety of package options for you to start off with. Nonetheless, there is a free option for WordPress too but I do not recommend that option if you are going for a professional blog as the features are limited.
I am using WordPress Premium plan which costs me SGD $240 for two years. It allows me access to premium themes and advanced design customisation. More importantly, I do not have to wait to be Adsense approved. With WordPress premium, I was able to monetize my site right away.
4. Customisation: Themes and Plugins
Needless to say, WordPress offers better and a greater variety of themes to choose from. With the WordPress Business plan, you can even upload your customised theme. The plethora of customisation is amazing as compared to Blogger which has bone dry options for its themes.
I have never used Plug ins when I was using Blogger. This concept of utilising plug ins to “fix” my wordpress site is relatively new to me when i started out. In short, a plug in is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing theme. That means your website is highly customisable. Do note that some of the plug in requires an upgrade to WordPress Business Plan which means some of the features were not available at my level. However, I personally feel that WordPress Premium plan is good enough if you want to use this blog as your personal space.
Read: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR WORDPRESS DOMAIN ADDRESS?
5. Domain and Web Hosting Options
Blogger is hosted by Google and you have no option of having your domain registered elsewhere. You have no ownership of your site and hence the content on the site and Blogger has the discretion to remove your site and I don’t like that. On the other hand, WordPress provides you an option of registering your domain with them with them or your preferred hosting provider.
For my case, I opt to keep my domain and web hosting platforms separate because should I decide that one day I want to blog under a different web host, I can easily go to my registrar, Siteground (affiliate link)and re-direct my DNS settings to a new host.
Read: WHY I CHOSE SITEGROUND AS MY HOSTING PROVIDER
Another reason being I may intend to register more domains under my name in the future. With a dedicated registrar, I can manage my websites easily at one place.
6. Content Sharing
Content sharing is simple and convenient with WordPress. I simply had to link my Facebook and Twitter account to WordPress and whatever I post on my WordPress will be automatically shared to my social media accounts. Thus, saving me time from sharing the articles onto my social media. The downside is that it has no linkage options for Pinterest and StumbleUpon.
WordPress allows easy re-sharing of content as well. I find this feature especially useful for those who wants to promote their business or services. To re-share your content, simply click “reblog” found at the bottom of your posts.
Blogger does not have any built in social media sharing tool. I had to manually share my posts whenever I complete a post on my Blogger platform.
7. User Experience
In my opinion, if you are unsure about writing for the long term, I recommend you starting off with Blogger because it is free and I find it easier to navigate because the features and layout is “beginner standard” as compared to WordPress.
Needless to say, if you are looking for more customisable features and would like to have full ownership of your content, I would suggest registering with WordPress as a web host and purchasing your domain.
Conclusion
The switch from Blogger to WordPress is worth the money, given that I have learnt so much more about setting up a website from scratch. The user experience to me means so much more than the amount of money I have paid. Besides, the cost per day of maintaining the website not too expensive as compared to your daily expenditures.
Also, you own the domain and you have the exclusive rights to this space. You have full ownership of the content and do not have to worry if Google is going to remove your content from its hosting server.
I hope this article serves you well if you are indecisive about what each platform has to offer.
Any thoughts that you would like to share with me? Or are there areas which you think I can do better? Do you have any suggestions for my next posts? Feel free to share them with me!