This will be the shortest post ever.
After this weekend’s conference, I am thinking of making the big switch.
I have finally decided to become a man. Just kidding.
Blogger vs. Wordpress. Which do you use and why?
If you have switched from one to the other, are you glad you did it? Did all your stuff transfer okay? What about followers?
Any input you have will be appreciated more than you know.
SUAR
you know my answer to this question. I did it and I could not be happier. I am an advocate for WordPress. Let me know what I can do to help when you make that jump.
ReplyDeleteWhere is your Twitter account?
Jason - no time to get the twatting going today. Way too slammed from being gone all weekend. Hopefully later this week. Thx for the input. And Ken says thanks for the vitamins!
ReplyDeletelost a lot of followers but it's probably because my blog content went downhill and blogs are so TIME CONSUMING what with FB and all now. People don't make time to read my ramblings. LOSERS!
ReplyDeleteI see no reason to switch from one to the other. Is there something specific that is making you consider the change?
ReplyDeleteI have used both, and ended up using Blogger. No real reason that I picked it other than that most of the blogs I read were on Blogger when I started.
I'm curious as to your reasons for thinking of changing...hope you post again on this. And Gosh, tried setting up the twitter thing but don't know how it is different from fb really. I have no clue about wordpress vs. blogger.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a moon, I had a Blogger account. One day it disappeared. I was heartbroken. I had to completely recreate my blog, which I eventually abandoned. When I started blogging again, I went with WordPress. So far I've been happy (a whole year and 23 posts into it). I think your readers will follow you where ever you go.
ReplyDeleteI am an avid Wordpress user, for myself and my clients - for many years. I find it to be robust, and built by a community that "has my back". Switching may pose a problem for you though - losing followers who are on Blogger. I have a Google account dedicated to that purpose - following Blogger blogs. I think you should change your header art, and leave an otherwise good thing alone.
ReplyDeleteI'm on Blogger but Wordpress seems sooo much better. I'm too lazy/busy to make the switch but totally support it!
ReplyDeleteI had this debate when I decided to upgrade to a paid address and considered switching. From what I understand WP is better if you need to host your own graphics, or you do a lot of personalization to your HTML or you're running a business. For general blogs where your layout isn't tweaked, you're not selling stuff and your graphics aren't large or valuable there really is no difference. Again this is what I read. I hear horror stories about blogger blogs going away since google owns your stuff instead of you...but I don't find WP that user friendly (IMHO). That being said....I have thought about making the switch in the future when I have more time/money/and followers to justify the extra effort it seems to need.
ReplyDeleteI switched and I LOVE WP so much better. I also love reading blogs on WP SO MUCH MORE. It's easier to comment, easier to reply to comments and just cleaner IMO :)
ReplyDeleteI paid someone (Ryan from No More Bacon/Revive My Blog) and didn't lose anything. My old blogspot feed still goes to my blog and all my old posts are there. Definitely worth it to get someone who knows what they are doing.
I'm with Julie...
ReplyDelete-if you're looking for more creative control, and if you know someone willing to help you out with the programming, WP would be the way to go.
-if you're simply looking for a graphic update, you can probably stick with blogger and just do some research on more advanced templates (there are tons, just gotta sift through)
If it were me, because of the risk of losses (TRUE fans will always follow you tho), I'd stick it out with Blogger until I was 100% ready for a total overhaul! While you're not a design blog, it never hurts to get noticed by the small community of athletic designers out there ;)
I would definitely pay someone to make the switch for you. I have seen a good number of blogs make the switch and encounter lots of significant problems in the early going. Let someone else handle that headachy part of it so that you can focus on the creative end of things. I really wish someone could break it down for me in a way that my pea-brain could understand why WP is so much better than Blogger.
ReplyDeleteThe reasons I might switch to WP are the plugins and keyword options, plus I love being able to respond directly to comments. I also think WP looks cleaner overall and more professional.
ReplyDeleteI am currently in the process of building my Wordpress site. So far everything has gone well and Kevin from Ironman by Thirty has been helping me with all my questions along the way. From what I can tell when I finally do launch my blogger users shouldn't even notice except the new design.
ReplyDeleteI started on Blogger and went to Wordpress. Blogger, for me, was a lot easier. Wordpress was not intuitive to me at all like Blogger was. I also had a hard time switching over (because my fonts were all weird and my pictures showed up smaller.)
ReplyDeleteI'd highly recommend using Windows Live Writer if you don't already. It makes Wordpress a lot easier.
I switched because I hate how you can't reply to a certain comment on Blogger. Also, Wordpress lets me customize my site a little more which I like.
As for followers, if people want to read your blog, they will follow you. You can also put in code to redirect your blogspot site to Wordpress (I did this.)
I switched in January and still get hits from my blogspot address.
I think WP is way more attractive, but Blogger is so much easier to use and much better integrated with so many other apps.
ReplyDeleteWordpress rocks. And using Windows Live Writer with my Wordpress blog rocks even more.
ReplyDeleteI suggest you read this: http://willwork4followers.danoah.com/2011/03/blogger-vs-wordpress-great-debate.html
ReplyDeletebefore making any major changes. You're doing pretty ok right now with Blogger. You've got a substantial following here. I'm very much in the "why mess with a good thing?" camp.
I've always been on Wordpress, so I'm definitely a little biased....In my opinion, it's much more user friendly and open for design, etc (assuming you aren't a CSS/HTML knowledge queen). I'd definitely say it's worth a switch! I know you can import posts, but not sure about comments.
ReplyDeleteI second Jason's request - Twitter? Ready for it? ;)Or rather, is Twitter ready for SUAR?!
im in the midst of the switch. its a pain, but i think it will be well worth it in the end. commenting is a big part of why i want to switch, along with blogger not being the most reliable lately.
ReplyDeleteI switched from Blogger to WP and love WP so much more. I constantly had issues with Blogger eating my posts, people couldn't comment, so on and so forth. Plus my personal web designer(AKA my husband) can change and play with settings and lay outs when he's bored. :)
ReplyDeleteHa,ha on the Twitter comment from Jason! You know I'm on it too...gotta get cracking. Done with blogger from my end.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for a fabulous weekend. Still gushing about to anyone who will listen!
Well, you are the queen B (B can be for Beth, Blogger, or any other B word you can think of), so I'll just anxiously wait your opinion to see which is better. I've never used WP, myself. Maybe you should ask blogger for some financial incentive to stay since you'd take like half of their traffic with you if you left :)
ReplyDeleteWanna hear something pathetic? Ive had a wordpress blog for about 18 months now and just haven't switched over because I'm too busy/lazy to mess with it. Need to get comfy w/it I guess. everybody says its better but I'm not familiar enough with it to see how.
ReplyDeletei
ReplyDeletewill
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do and . . .
wait to see what you do then do the same.
I use Wordpress for the blog I care about and Blogger for the one i don't. :)
ReplyDeleteI have a personal blog on Blogger(http://susandebruin.blogspot.com) and a professional blog on Word Press (http://healthblog.ua.edu). WP is more professional, versatile, and all around more awesome - but it does require more work and skill to use. I recommend it only if you have some techie friends at your disposal and/or have the time to learn. If you have those - make the leap. It's worth it for a blogger of your caliber.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of switching and the only reason being that you can't reply to a comment that is made on your blog like you can on wordpress. I'm tired of waiting on blogger to catch up!
ReplyDeleteI haven't switched to wordpress for two reasons - (1) I'm satisfied with blogger. (2) I don't know how to do certain things on wordpress that I like to do - like following other blogs so I can read them in google reader, and commenting on other blogger blogs (although I'm sure there is a way.)
ReplyDeleteBlogger is just PISSING me off lately. Suddenly, everything is encoded as I type. That the hell?? Is that happening to you? I am hopeful that you'll switch to wordpress and then tell the rest of us goobers how easy it is. I wonder about bringing my readers (all FIFTY of them - yeah, I'm a loooozer) with me.... Can't wait to find out what you do!
ReplyDeleteThe reasons I might switch to WP are the plugins and keyword options - explain please. Regardless of what you may have heard, Google is THE king of keyword domain and not going anywhere at all soon. Not to rain on any conference know-it-all's parade, just saying...
ReplyDeleteI did alot of research on this with my other job. Wordpress is better for SEO and various other blogger tools. So in that case, you may want to switch. I have thought about it many times.
ReplyDelete"Google is the key of keyword domain" this may be true, but when it comes to blogger versus WP, this is not the case. There are numerous articles on this topic.
ReplyDeleteI switched from blogger to wordpress last fall (after being on blogger for several years). I LOVE wordpress.
ReplyDeleteYour followers will follow you whereever you blog. And if they don't, eff 'em.
Blogger. There is a Window's program that makes Blogger much easier to deal with. One thing I really like about WP is that you can get message threads and responses to comments. That can be fun. But I'm fine on Blogger and don't plan on switching.
ReplyDeleteLong time reader, first time commenter!
ReplyDeleteBetween this epic battle, I have to say I really love WordPress. The support is great, and they make it really easy to import/export entries and comments. I also love their plug-ins (ie. rating systems, key words, spam catchers, etc). However, it's easy to get caught up on all the available tools and just get overwhelmed sometimes. Especially for a non-programmer.
I also want to suggest SquareSpace if you're thinking of doing an overhaul or redesign. A little pricier but I'm a bit of a design nerd. :)
Good luck!
We started on Blogger and moved to WP and I'm happy with the move. I like the plugins, UI for admins and just a better experience for what I was looking for. When you go to WP, you'll have decisions to make about what type of WP install to do, hosted by WP or self-hosted.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you want to chat or want to look around on WP in the Admin section, I can show you next time I see you.
I don't use Blogger nor WordPress, so I can't speak to their relative merits, but I will be reading Shut Up and Run! wherever it goes. I suspect the same goes for other readers who aren't "followers".
ReplyDelete-GR
No matter where you go, I will read! And yes please with the twitter account :)
ReplyDeleteOK - so I guess if you are bothering to get into SEO, keywords, traffic monitoring - why are you blogging? Buy a domain, get a hosted site, make your own web presence and turn it into a business. I guess, for me, I would rather devote more time to fun on the trails than being chained to a full time blogging position. Who cares if it's Blogger or WordPress - both are good. Just pick one, shut up, and run ;-)
ReplyDeleteAre you talking the free WordPress.com or a self-hosted WordPress site? There is a big difference. If you are thinking about .com then you cannot earn any accidental income from advertising, etc. Your choices of widgets will be limited. Other little annoying things, that you begin to notice after the first month or so.
ReplyDeleteI have gone to WordPress.com 3-4 times and get frustrated with the limitations and go back to Blogger.
Going to a self-hosted WordPress blog has its own issues, because you are responsible for all of the backend management (if that is your thing - cool), but if you are just looking to write - it is a pain in the arse.
I ended up back on Blogger, it isn't perfect, you just have to remember to export your blog once a week to minimize any data loss.
Blogger also claims to be coming out with an huge update "soon", so I want to see what that is like.
I like the looks of a WordPress blog better and some of the management is easier than Blogger, that is why I keep trying it.
I guess it boils down to what you want from a blog. Blogger offers a bit more flexibility and freedom, while WordPress.com is a better platform, but limits some of your flexibility and freedom. Self-hosted WordPress is the best of both worlds, but there is a lot more work involved in keeping your blog in tip top shape and you are responsible for the backend management.
Harold
I used blogger for my old blog and it was a pain in the ass to customize it and post pictures, so when I started a new blog I went straight into wordpress and can't imagine ever going back to blogger. It was such a pain in the ass to use it!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I assume you already use Windows Live Writer? It has saved me a TON of time, I love it!
I started in blogger in Jan 2008 then switched to WP in Jan of 2010 - TOTALLY WORTH IT! I didnt realize how much I hated blogger til it was gone.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a wordpress girl. As a matter of fact, I moved my whole professional site over to wordpress this spring as well because I thought the design and management would be easier.
ReplyDeleteWordpress is vastly superior to blogger in terms of power and features and being able to do whatever the heck you want (especially if you host your own wordpress site). Of course, my blog is still on blogger because the flip side of that is that blogger is just drop dead simple and wordpress isn't as simple.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to take the extra time to invest, wordpress is the way to go. If you don't have the time, blogger is definitely good enough for most of us.
I'm a big fan of WordPress. It's got far more functionality and flexibility than Blogger. It may have a bit steeper of a learning curve, but it's well worth it IMHO. It's also very simple to migrate all your content from Blogger to WordPress, so don't worry about that part of it.
ReplyDeleteI've got lots of experience working with WordPress, so if you do decide to make the switch, and need any help with the conversion/customization, I'd be more than happy to help!
Um, I have no clue. Blogger works for me and I have no desire to really grow my blog.
ReplyDeleteI may start to boycott you unless you get a twitter account.
I was on blogger and then switched to wordpress. You may know this already, but there's a difference between starting a (free) wordpress.com blog (no plugins allowed) and a (for pay) wordpress.org blog that you host somewhere. I missed this when I initially switched, and really want to utilize plugins, but since I'm a little ole' blog, I don't know if it's worth my $$ to self-host and be able to use plugins. But the blogs that I read that do this are beautiful, and my favorite to visit/read! No matter what you choose, I'll still be reading yours.
ReplyDeleteI made the switch to a self hosted wordpress blog a couple of months ago and couldn't be happier. I had someone switch me over, Gautam from Blog go down because I was worried about doing it myself. My site was switched completely intact with no down time at all. It's definitely better but there is a learning curve. I am just getting the hang of it. Good luck with your switch if you decided to do it. If you have any questions feel free to email me.
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