Have you decided to start your personal blog? There are plenty of blogging platforms available, but two that are consistently recommended are Blogger and WordPress.
Whether you are blogging for fun or planning to earn money on your blog, this guide will help you determine which platform is better: Blogger vs WordPress. Get started on the involved costs, customization options, SEO tools, support, and monetization features.
By the end of this post, you will learn how to start a blog on Blogger vs WordPress and find the best one for your blogging goals!
Blogger vs WordPress: The Best Blogging Platforms
You may have used Google for searching for everything you need, but besides its search capabilities, it also owns Blogger. It is a favorite among beginner bloggers for its simplicity. As long as you have a Google account, you can get started building your blog.
WordPress is considered to be for serious professionals due to its customization options and scalability. Now, you might be confused between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. The prior is a free platform that you can install yourself, providing your own web hosting for full control and customization. Meanwhile, WordPress.com will host the website for you with plans for additional features.
How to Start a Blog on Blogger vs WordPress: A Comparison
Before you get looped into Blogger’s and WordPress’ fan bases, consider all the things you want for your blog. What can you afford, and how much time are you willing to spend customizing your blog for your brand? Here are all the features comparing Blogger vs WordPress, and hopefully, help you find the best one!
Setting Up Process and Ease of Use
Do you want to get started on your blog as fast as possible? Whether you are tech-savvy or not, you want to set up your blog as smoothly as possible! Blogger lets you set up your first-ever blog as long as you have your own Google account.
All you have to do is sign in and create the name of your blog. Next, choose a template for your blog and start uploading your draft, or start writing. You do not need to set up your hosting and domain registration. Blogger makes blogging simple. There is no need for installations and downloads. But if you do want your own domain, you can still register it.
Meanwhile, WordPress.org requires you to set up your domain and a hosting provider first. There are other hosting providers that offer one-click bundle installations, like Hostinger and Bluehost, to make things faster. After installing WordPress, the learning curve for setting up and personalization is steep compared with Blogger.
But do not let WordPress’ features deter you from using it. Although it takes almost an hour to set up your blog, the website’s flexibility is impressive. Now, start by asking yourself how much time and effort you are willing to invest just in setting up your blog.
For a fast build, go for Blogger. If you want something with more customizations and features in the future, the ideal choice would be WordPress.org. Try considering WordPress.com as well. It takes care of your hosting and maintenance. You can go for WordPress.com and start with their lowest subscription, and you can transfer it with ease once you want to scale and have more customization options.
Free vs Flexible Investment
A blog can be a time or a money investment. When you start with Blogger, you can start blogging immediately with only your time to invest. You already have hosting, domain, security, and themes available for use.
If you can spend around 10 to 20 USD a year, you can customize your domain on Blogger or choose a third-party template. You can personalize the templates, but it may require some coding skills to make those tweaks.
WordPress has a different cost range. Although WordPress.org is free, you need to spend on hosting, a domain name, and plugins. There are free themes but the premium ones may need to spend about 30 to 100 USD as a one-time payment.
As your traffic increases, you may need to upgrade your hosting. You are paying for the overall control, scalability, and customizable features to make your blog have a more professional appearance.
WordPress.com, on the other hand, offers a much more affordable spending range from 4 to 45 USD. One of the advantages of WordPress.com is that it offers a free plan, similar to Blogger, for users to utilize. If you want to get your blog running or simply create your own portfolio, WordPress.com is a great option.
Blogger and WordPress.com are for budget-friendly options, while WordPress.org is an investment for scalability. Want to turn your blog into a business? Spending a little will pay off long term.
Creative Freedom vs Simplicity
Customization options make the ultimate Blogger vs WordPress debate interesting. Although Blogger offers an ease of setup and plenty of templates, modifications are limited. You can slightly update the theme, fonts, colors, and layout. The limitations can be enough for bloggers who want to get started or write casually.
If you are planning to make significant changes to Blogger, you can use third-party templates. But you may need to make serious updates with HTML or CSS. If you are not tech-savvy enough to make these changes, you just have to get used to the limited updates that you can apply.
WordPress has free and premium themes for you to use. It is a designer’s haven, even if you do not have the experience designing a blog. The premium themes also come with impressive customization options.
Some themes have the drag-and-drop blocks, so you don’t need to code to make impressive changes. Opt for builders like Elementor and WPBakery for the ease of use. Besides themes, the library of plugins is enormous! From social media buttons or e-commerce functions, you can update your blog from writing alone to selling your products.
There are also plugins for animations and contact forms. WordPress is not just for blogging but also for businesses and professionals who want to take their passion for writing, photography, and business to the next level. You can choose from over 60,000 plugins available on WordPress.
To apply your branding and style, WordPress is a far superior option. The customization capabilities are endless, but take note that it may take some time for you to apply your branding to your website. Meanwhile, Blogger is for bloggers who prefer to keep things simple and want to get things going without making too many personalizations.
Features and Scalability
Now that you have learned the impressive capabilities of Blogger vs WordPress, it is time to think about scalability! Let’s start with what you can do with Blogger while also thinking of the future.
- You can create blog posts and static pages with ease!
- You can also schedule content for publishing.
- You can add labels so that your readers can easily find similar posts on your blog.
- You can also add images and videos.
- You have access to basic stats via Google Analytics.
- You can instantly monetize your blog after enabling AdSense.
If you plan to scale your blog on Blogger by adding an online store or a newsletter, you may need some coding skills to do the work. Overall, if you want to blog and aim to generate revenue through affiliate marketing and AdSense, Blogger is the best platform.
If you are looking into creating a business out of your blog and adding a couple of plugins in the future, both WordPress platforms are the way to go. You can edit blocks and provide access to multiple users if you start hiring people to manage it. Besides these, you can also…
- Turn your blog into a full-fledged website!
- You can turn it into an e-commerce store using WooCommerce, complete with various payment options.
- You can also make a portfolio out of the free WordPress plan.
- You can also turn your website into a private membership.
If you change your mind over time and want to take your blog to the next level or turn it into another business, WordPress can grow with you. There are also new plugins, themes, and integrations that become available for you to use, released every year.
SEO Capabilities
What scares bloggers and business owners about their website? People are not able to find it. Although SNS sharing helps with visibility, working on SEO is vital. It is also another reason why, between Blogger vs WordPress SEO, the latter triumphs.
But don’t let it scare you from using Blogger. As mentioned above, you can have basic access to Google Analytics! Blogger also comes with SEO tools, like customizing permalinks, meta descriptions, and alt tags. As long as you have applied the right content, these can help your Blogger site rank up in the search results.
Blogger, however, does not have the advanced SEO features like schema markup and technical SEO audits. WordPress has a library of SEO plugins, like the popular ones, Yoast and Rank Math. They both offer recommendations to improve your blog titles, words, format, and more!
Although SEO plugins do not guarantee higher results, they provide extensive data to improve your website’s visibility. Once you have SEO plugins into your WordPress blog, you can now do the following:
- You can optimize posts for specific keywords.
- You can create sitemaps.
- You can also update meta titles and descriptions.
- You can add breadcrumbs.
- You can also perform SEO audits.
- Lastly, you can add schema markup for rich results.
If you want a massive difference in your traffic, WordPress has all the SEO tools you need! Blogger gives the necessary SEO capabilities you need, while WordPress lets you go pro on your SEO strategies.
Earning Potential
Both platforms allow you to earn money from ads, affiliate links, and sponsored posts. With Blogger, your income potential is limited. WordPress, on the other hand, provides more opportunities for monetization.
You can add other display ads on WordPress, like Ezoic or Mediavine, ideal for blogs with high traffic. For Blogger, you can use AdSense with ease. WordPress also has marketing plugins to manage your affiliate links, and you can turn it into an e-commerce store with WooCommerce.
WordPress allows you to sell your services and products, such as paid memberships and digital downloads. Want to sell online courses, coaching, and consulting? Tutor LMS and LearnDash are also part of the WordPress plugin selections.
If you are considering turning your blog into a business, WordPress offers far more options for flexibility and scalability in earning potential. You can diversify with your side hustles beyond writing. However, Blogger also offers the necessary options for earning money from blogging.
But think about this: Do you want a business, or do you want to make writing a hobby? Once you have made your decision, you can now start writing on WordPress or Blogger!
Support and Security
The next, but most important, thing you do not want to happen to your blog is for people to gain access to your vital information or experience downtime. The great thing about Blogger is that it is on a Google platform. It rarely experiences downtime, which is a huge struggle among bloggers.
Meanwhile, the support options are limited for Blogger. You have access to forums and documentation, but direct support for custom troubleshooting is nonexistent.
WordPress has a broader support system. When using hosting companies, they offer 24/7 support for any related issues. Additionally, you have access to community forums, online documentation, and third-party experts and freelancers who use the platform.
Besides e-commerce and SNS plugins, you can also choose among the security plugins from Wordfence to Solid Security. These plugins may be responsible for security, but the responsibility for installing them is all up to you.
If you want a set-it-and-forget-it approach, Blogger’s connection with Google makes it the safest option. When you have the budget to hire or learn all the ropes in your blog’s security, turn to WordPress for more options and better long-term control.
Security matters for your blog. Whether you just want to write or turn your blog into an e-commerce website, you get improved small business cyber defense strategies when you choose to learn or hire someone.
Blogger vs WordPress: Which One is Right for You?
Which one is the best for you? Blogger is a fine choice for casual bloggers who want to set up their own blog with ease. It is free and quick to set up with a short learning curve. Although you may need some coding skills to make heavy changes. It is also ideal for journaling and a quick portfolio.
If you plan to turn your blog into a brand and include multiple monetization options, WordPress is the better choice. It may require a lot of effort, but the pros like scalability, SEO tools and plugins, and design customization. Consider your budget, time, goals, and comfort of use, and whether you can start a blog on Blogger vs WordPress.
