WordPress vs. Blogger

I often get emails asking whether or not Google’s Blogger is a good platform on which to begin a blog. My answer to this question is…it depends.

Removing ourselves from the internet for a moment, let’s think about Tommy who just turned 18 and wants to move from his parent’s house. He has a little money saved in the bank and saw a great deal on a house. Should he buy a house or rent an apartment?

Switching back to the cyber world, Sally is new to the online arena and has discovered blogging. She also heard that some folks make money by blogging and she wants to join the ranks. She’s not too familiar with the ins and outs of the internet but is wondering should she create a Blogger blog or should she purchase a self-hosting account?

Ease of Transition

In the above scenarios, Tommy and Sally have the financial ability to purchase the objects of their desire. 18 year-old Tommy who has never lived on his own or paid a bill has enough money and parental backing to purchase his first home, but is it a wise move?

Sally has the cash to purchase a domain name and hosting account, but she doesn’t understand what uploading, downloading, hyper-linking or even URL means. Do you think it’s wise for her to self-host her blog?

Too Much Too Soon

We’re in a microwave society and we want things yesterday. Unfortunately, getting some things too soon is a recipe for failure. Instead of spending time with his friends, school work and the ladies, Tommy is bogged down handling the responsibilities of home ownership. He can always call on his parents for help, but he left home for a reason. The last thing he wants is mom and dad meddling in his private affairs.

Sally will quickly become overwhelmed with the back end requirements of setting up a new blog on a self-hosted account. Feeling overwhelmed, Sally soon realizes that she doesn’t enjoy all of the stuff associated with blogging and  gives up.

Baby Steps

Now let’s get back to the original question. Which platform should a blogger choose Blogger or self-hosing? The answer depends on experience and purpose. If you’re brand new to blogging and don’t feel comfortable playing around under the hood of a blog, then Blogger is the way to go. As you learn and grow, you’ll know when and if it’s time to graduate to self hosting.

Some folks start with Blogger and remain with Blogger just as some folks rent an apartment and never find it necessary to buy a house. You have to do what fits your blogging/living style.

One word of warning. Sometimes tenants are evicted (usually with good reason) and sometimes Google shuts Blogger blogs down.

I knew that at one point in time No Job for Mom was mobile phone compatible but since then I changed blog themes and mobile phone technology also changed. It made me realize that it was time for me to start doing a little research on getting NJFM mobile device compatible again.

My pseudo-nerdy geeky personality ends with computers and laptops. I am not a mobile device aficionado and only use my cell phone in emergencies. I realize, however, that majority of the rest of the world cannot live without their mobile devices and it would be silly to ignore such a large population.

WAP Emulators

There is a lot of information available on making WordPress blogs mobile compatible. During my research I came across the term WAP emulator. A WAP emulator lets you see what your blog looks like on various mobile devices. I found one on the MobiReady website.

Once on the MobiReady site, insert the URL for the site you want to test in the appropriate textbox and click “Submit.” If your WordPress blog is not mobile phone compatible, you can change that in minutes.

How I Made My WordPress Blogs Mobile Device Compatible

There are several products and plugins for accomplishing the task. I tried to find the easiest way to get the job done so I downloaded a plugin called WordPress Mobile Pack. This plugin has several configuration options that I’m still figuring out, but it did the job. I’m not too impressed with the mobile display, but it works (when I have more time I’ll play around with the plugin a bit more to see if I can make the blogs look better).

After downloading and installing the plugin, I checked the blog’s mobile compatibility by going back to the MobiReady site, but this time I used a different URL. I used this URL to test the results.

Although NJFM is mobile device compatible, it didn’t fare too well. My site is too large. Not large by number of pages, but my homepage is large with lots of images, lots of code and slow to load (another thing on my “To Do” list). Some of my other blogs did a lot better.

Making Blogspot Blogs Mobile Device Compatible

I have a couple of Blogger blogs and I looked around for ways to make them mobile compatible. These instructions worked for them. Even though the code worked, the blogs won’t display well at all on mobile devices. Apparently my Blogger blogs use frames in the HTML coding which is a no-no when it comes to making blogs mobile device compatible.

Not wanting to go on a wild goose chase attempting to make my Blogger blogs compatible, I decided to let them be. My Blogger blogs have been dormant since January of 2010 so there’s no rush to update them for the latest technology. However, for folks who do use Blogger on a more regular basis, I’d like to know how and if you managed to get your blogs mobile device compatible. Is there something obvious that I’m missing?

If you haven’t done so already visit the Griz. His blog How to Make Money Online for Beginners is chock full of great information for beginners and veterans alike. His information is free and readily available. You don’t have to buy a book or sign up for membership. You do, however, have to spend a little time reading the tons of information he’s got there.

There, I’ve condensed my Blogging 101 series into three words – Visit the Griz.

Lazy Commenter

I have several Google accounts but prefer not to use them when making blog comments. Each account is used for a different venue and so I prefer to use my name and link to my URL (just my personal preference – you know, a branding type of thing). The remaining alternative, using an OpenID account, is fine, but I never remember my OpenID account name. That means that before I can comment, I’ve got to access the file on my computer with all of my user names and passwords, locate my OpenID account name, then go back to the blog make the comment.

My lazy nature prevents me from jumping through such hoops so I end up not commenting on the blog.

And the Answer Is…

I don’t have an answer. If a blogger using the Blogger.com platform is perfectly happy with the flow of comments being received, then there’s no need to change a thing. After all, the more restricted profile option prevents spam and invites those readers who wish to use their Google account or OpenID.

On the flip side, however, there are a handful of readers (or maybe more), who end up not participating in the blog conversation because of the profile restrictions.

Just something to keep in mind when configuring a Blogger blog.