For business blogs, the Blogger and WordPress.com sites leave much to be desired
People just getting into blogging for business will often start with a Blogger site or sometimes with a WordPress.com site.
In this post I go over some reasons why I recommend against using Blogger or WordPress.com, as far as business blogging is concerned.
I know there are successful blogs on the Google-owned Blogger platform. And speaking historically, if it hadn’t been for the original Blogger making the process of starting blogging so fall-over easy, there might not be so many happy bloggers around today.
And as with Blogger, the WordPress hosted WordPress.com sites are so easy and quick to set up that it is tempting for the time-strapped business owner who may have decided against Blogger, to go with WordPress.com. Many do.
However, my advice to people who want to blog for business or as part of their business is move to a situation where you have more control. Typically this will mean getting a self-hosted site, such as with WordPress.org. The analogy from our offline world is that you have more control if you own your own house than if you are renting (and thus dependent on the continuing good will of the owner).
With Blogger and with WordPress.com you simply cannot have the control over your own online assets that you have with a self-hosted site.
Gautam Hans provides a good list of reasons for anyone blogging professionally to move from Blogger. To his list I would add, as at least one of the commenters on that post does, the matter of control, as explained above. And for anyone contemplating setting up a WordPress.com site, I recommend a thoughtful reading of the terms of service.
I have tried so many blogging platforms I have truly lost count. WordPress.org, self-hosted, works. There are a number of hosting services which want to attract you to set up your WordPress site with them. We use HostGator and are very happy with them, on price and on quality of service (24/7 chat is standard service). To paraphrase an old advertising slogan, we liked HostGator so much we became affiliates.
Some hosting services, such as PressHarbor, will give you more personalised help with your WordPress.org setup and give you specialised support.
And if you don’t like your hosting service, you can move the blog without detriment (assuming you are on a monthly payment).
There are other, perfectly good solutions besides WordPress.org. I’ll save those for subsequent posts. And of course, as always, I welcome comments and suggestions.
About Des Walsh
Thanks Des – not sure when you last checked out Shirlaws, but we’re definitely growing (as you know, coaching works even when you apply it to yourself!).
We actually launched a new website for the Australian business this week – http://www.shirlaws.com.au (though the self-hosted blog is still global at http://www.shirlawsonline.com/blogs)
Next step is social media strategy. I’m now tracking you on Twitter and will be spending more time here I think!
I have tried both Blogger and WordPress. Blogger was functional, but it didn’t really fit my needs.
I moved to self hosted WordPress, and I love it. It is so much easier to customize, and there are a lot of resources out there for it.
The reason I created blogs through Blogger was to claim my name so that no one else could set up blogs there. Both spaces include my Twitter links, so as I post to Twitter, it’s automatically updated on the Blogger sites.
WordPress.com became part of my online real estate when my YouTube account requested an API key in order for me to link it to a blog.
Since I wasn’t able to get the key from my WordPress.org blog, I created a blog on WordPress.com with a template that automatically updates my Twitter and WordPress.org postings, so it never needs my assistance, and the posts also show up in Google Alerts.
So, sometimes there are reasons to create a presence through Blogger and WordPress.com (and upgrade that presence to a self-hosted environment as you suggest, Des), but thankfully neither of them need attention if you embed automatic updates.
Thanks Jacob. One of the motivators for me to have tried so many blogging platforms over the years has been the commitment to being as independent as I could be of specific vendors/service providers.
BTW – Shirlaws has *grown* since I last looked. You guys must be doing something right!
Very timely post Des (as always), given WordPress Hosted Blogs went down for almost two hours this morning (barely two days after your observation!).
http://www.centernetworks.com/wordpress-hosted-blogs-are-down
I will stopping by daily. I love information and i love when people are dedicated to bringing that information to people. If you could provide helpful advice, i’ll definitely be coming back (which i think you can).
thanks,
Eric
Eric
I imagine others would have other opinions, but if you did proceed to WordPress.org, your present setup should translate well. You have Chris Pearson’s excellent Cutline theme (site looks great!) and your permalinks can be the same. In fact, other than for the WordPress.com credit in the footer, your site will look much the same on WordPress.org
Your email has reminded me of my intention to put some links here to resources helping people who want to set up and run a site on WordPress.org. Watch this space.
Hey,
This post is quite relative to what I’m experiencing at the moment. I started blogging last week because I have a desire to help small business owners. I have run business and helped them grow, but I am all too new to this blogging scene. I like the advice you’ve provided. I’m biting my lip wondering if i should cut my losses with wordpress.com and just move over to .org.
-Eric