The world needs the right to freedom of speech which is something which should be a human right. But not everyone has this flexibility in today’s world. One place where we let the ideas reach without constraints – is on the web. Blogs on the internet helps us and gives us that freedom to express and reach people, power to be heard. Two of the best free blogging services today- WordPress.com and Blogger by Google hold millions of blogs, exchanging ideas and expanding our reaches. Let us have a look at their basic features.
Contents
First up WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a content management system turned host. If you are aware of blogs such as the very famous- New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Engadget, The Verge and a bunch more of them are based on WordPress.
The free WordPress account gives you the following features:
- Blog- which can be switched between static and hybrid.
- Its own application on over Android and iOS to give you access from the phone.
- 3G of free storage.
- Free themes.
- Statistics to see how your blog has fared throughout.
The “premium” WordPress account gives:
- Custom domains for $13.
- Ad-free WordPress ($30) – So that they put advertisements on your blog.
- Paid Themes.
- VideoPress ($60) – Helps you post and express videos on with custom embedding.
On the contrary, Blogger is a free service completely. It started out independent but was then bought by Google. You can see just from visiting their homepages how much of a difference there is between them. Blogger seems rather less customized but simpler and WordPress, somewhere you will have more control over but a little more complication.
Let us see some key features of Blogger:
- Free templates to give your blog a simple outlook.
- Free hosting, it does not come with surprises or limits.
- Google advertising.
- Mobile access.
Customization and Expandability
So, customization is a big part of a blog. It is giving you the power to set things according to you, the way you want it, the way you want it to reflect. One must see and know what the blog is about without actually putting effort into observing. This is somewhere WordPress remains at par against blogger. WordPress can be largely controlled, from placing of archive directory to the banner to placement of articles etc. Blogger does not have any of the flexibility. It is not a good medium if you want to advertise your writing. Blogger does not have access to the plugins that make WordPress what it is known for- flexibility and expandability. No wonder there are companies that go around just helping people in making blogs on WordPress.
Social Media Integration
WordPress slogs over Blogger on this forte too. WordPress comes with deep social integration. You can share your blogs “automatically” over the social media you choose to share with. You can share it via Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and a load more of social media sites out there. In comparison, Blogger’s content can only be directly linked with Google+. Let’s face it, even as of today, Twitter and Facebook remain the best and most visited and Google+ seems a bit “not so interested in”.
Writing a Post
Writing a post or entry is “the” thing you do. Both, WordPress and Blogger come with HTML editing of the page. You can add tags that are appropriate. You can quote stuff, you can embed videos or images- anything you like. For someone looking for a much easier and simple way to post- blogger is ideal but WordPress gives you more control over the look and presentation of the entry. So the question here really is, do you want it simple or do you want to express even the way of expressing. But, on similar grounds they are powerful.
Wrap Up
WordPress and Blogger remain two of the most powerful tools to express in today’s trend of sharing ideas. WordPress is complicated compared to Blogger but then that is because you get a much firmer hold over it. So it is a very personal choice, for someone who does it casually, Blogger is a good choice but if you are looking to monetize your work, really want to be heard and share something worth listening to- WordPress is the way.
