Discussions

Google's Blogger for a professional blog or not

Posted by auctionwally • 9/02/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blogger, blogging, google, professional blogging

I'm hearing a lot of people who are running away from Google's blogger, but outside of them hating Google, they don't seem to give any good reasons. My question is: Who here uses Googles Blogger platform for a professional blog, and is it working out for you? Are you going to change and why?
I'm using Blogger because it's so damn easy, but before I get too deep, I want to know more because I hear it's very hard to switch over to other platforms.
Help?

User Comments

9/02/07

MadameX

I do not use Blogger for my professional blogs, but that's only because those platforms were chosen by someone else within my company. I maintain 9 blogs on two different platforms at work and four personal blogs on blogger, and for my purposes I haven't found any clear advantage to the platforms we're using professionally over my blogger blogs. In fact, when on occasion I've blogged about the same topic on one of my personal blogs and one of my professional blogs, I've found that my personal blogger blog almost always gets higher search placement.

[reply]
1. 9/02/07
  
  auctionwally
  
  Yeah, that makes sense. I've used Godaddy's blog software for about 2 months before I found Blogger and it was so full of bugs I just couldn't work with it.
  I keep hearing the buzz about jumping to Word Press because it's so professional and easy to use, but I tried to set up a blog and after 20 minutes, gave up, I just couldn't find anything on it.
  I think I'm going to stick with blogger.
  Thanks so much for your imput.
9/02/07

crkian

Self hosted wordpress is good, so much to d with it if you take the time, not really tried blogger but I may do in future

[reply]
9/02/07

auctionwally

Thanks crkian.

[reply]
9/02/07

PetLvr

Wow. That comment was waaaaaaaay out in left field..

".. outside of them hating Google, they don't seem to give any good reasons."

www.bloggingtips.com/2007/08/01/blogger-or-wordpresscom-which-is-better/
notratched.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/why-i-like-wordpress-better-than-blogge...

That's just the first two in a simple search..

[reply]
9/02/07

auctionwally

PetLvr: The out in left field comment you've referred to is the best I could come up with based on the research I've done so far. I've gone to the first link you provided and there seems to be just as many people in favor of Blogger as wordpress. I didn't bother to go to the second link because it's at a wordpress.com domain and I think they would probably be biased. I guess this debate can be hashed out for centuries,
Thanks for your input.

[reply]
9/02/07

girlshrink

I think it really depends on who your market is and they "expect" from an expert in their marketplace.

If you are into online marketing, small business, hard news, technical info, etc. then your market will expect something from wordpress or typepad.

If you are in a "softer" market, such as health, fashion, fitness, dating/love, etc. then many of those consumers don't really know or care about the differences between blogger or wordpress.

I use blogger for my relationship blogs such as www.askgirlshrink.blogspot.com and I have had offers from very reputable newspapers to run the column - so the platform that they found it on didn't matter much:)

BUT I run my small business blog - www.lisaangelettieblog.com on wordpress because my marketplace views blogger as a platform for "newbies" - not a pro.

Hope that helps auctionwally:)

[reply]
1. 9/02/07
  
  auctionwally
  
  Thanks so much, it makes sense, the next blog I'm going to start is a artists/ music community so I don't think it will matter too much.
  
  I appreciate the input.
9/02/07

purdles

I think its all relative. There are "blog snobs" just like anything else. People want to label and define what "types" of people use which, and it really doesn't matter. It's the CONTENT that matters, not the platform. There's crap on Wordpress just like there's crap on Blogger. There's professional blogs on Blogger and there's professional blogs on Wordpress. They're both FREE, so how can one give a better impression than the other? If anything, if one wants to consider themselves so "elite", then they should be paying for a blog platform, THAT would really set them apart, lol.

I guess its just human nature to always try to separate and one up each other, even online.

www.brokeentrepreneurs.com
www.drivethruonly.com

[reply]
1. 9/02/07
  
  auctionwally
  
  You are all a very knowledgeable group,
  Thanks all.
  
  Auctionwally
9/02/07

jungl

As a reader I don't like blogger blogs at all.
The blogs often loads slow and the commenting system just sucks.

[reply]
1. 9/02/07
  
  clioandme
  
  Does the commenting system have to suck? I mean, I've got moderation turned on, but not word verification. Isn't that good enough?
2. 9/02/07
  
  crpitt
  
  Yep i have a blogger blog that loads very slow
  About the commenting thing, do you mean the thing that if they choose not to have anonymous comments that stops anyone without a blogger blog commenting?
3. 9/02/07
  
  clioandme
  
  Yeah, my Blogger blogs could load more quickly, but you can accomplish quite a bit by keeping scripts to a minimum.
4. 9/07/08
  
  DaneMorgan
  
  Maybe it's better now, but I quit trying to comment on blogger blogs a long long long time ago....
9/02/07

clioandme

I use blogger because it was the easiest way to get going, and it's pretty reliable. Also, I'm not monetizing, so I don't want to invest money if I can help it, unless at some point I can afford it.

My only question about Blogger is scalability. I wonder how good it will be for me in a couple years time. I've run into some older Blogger blogs where the clicking on the archive buttons for a given month didn't work properly. I've also had problems with some older post links. But I don't know if those problems are inherent to Blogger or if people are mixing old and new code in some sort of unfortunate manner. My hope is that the blogs will grow within Blogger just fine over time, but I'll have to see.

[reply]
9/02/07

urikalish

Use your own domain.

[reply]
1. 9/02/07
  
  zawadi
  
  I wont pay a dime to talk to myself buddy!!! that's pure torture...
  
  Eventually I will use the Wordpress blog I have hidden for like 6 months with no content.
2. 9/02/07
  
  urikalish
  
  Professionals need their own domain.
  Would you buy your house from Professionals-Real-Estate.blogspot.com ?
3. 9/02/07
  
  clioandme
  
  "Professional" meaning what?
4. 9/02/07
  
  urikalish
  
  A web site serving a business, I guess.
9/02/07

rileycentral

YES!!! Because I hate business blogs and so I can spot it quicker when it's a blogger.com layout.

[reply]
9/03/07

savoryfan

For professional blog desirable to have own domain and good hosting.

[reply]
9/07/08

wehireu

I think it is more important to have your own web address so it appears professional than having a specific platform.

[reply]
9/07/08

ChicaX

I think it certainly shouldn't matter, as long as what your delivering is well received. People shouldn't discriminate against the platform. Even though if I had the choice, I'd get my graphic service site off of blogger, but my blogs no.

[reply]
9/07/08

chrisskoyles

My only two problems with blogger are that annoying bar which runs across the top, and the commenting system.

That said, I do use blogger simply because, from a publishing stand-point, it's just easier to use.

I've used Wordpress in the past and just found it too hard to deal with. Their help sections are really not for your standard newbie. I always found they required a good deal of knowledge to be able to follow them.

I'm no expert with PHP either and just found trying to edit layouts etc on there way too difficult.

[reply]
9/07/08

PotatoChef

@ auctionwally I have been using a GoDaddy blog for about six months. I get a fair amount of traffic and run google adsense ads on it.. Not once in the six months that I have been using QuickBlogcast by Godaddy have I experienced a single bug. It has worked exactly how it should. Maybe you didn't take enough time to figure out the correct way to use it.

I am not a GoDaddy lover. But the facts are the facts.

[reply]
9/07/08

ooozzzie

Good question in the first place, and some cracking answers. I am very new to this, and using Blogger, which I have found pretty good, I am struggling with sitemaps at the moment. However I am indexed on google so I suppose thats alright then? But I was thinking of looking at other platforms, but I think I will keep going, its far too early for me to change. Great replies though folks.

[reply]
9/07/08

Anniepooh

Like Tiffany, my professional blog platform was chosen for me. My personal blogs are on Blogger and I prefer it over the pro platform. I have much more control on Blogger.

[reply]
9/07/08

DaneMorgan

Blogger blogs have their uses for sure. But for your main blogs, you have to remember one thing. When some one else owns the domain, the software and the network, you DON'T own your blog.

Never put anything on ANY hosted blog service that you are not prepared to walk away from.

[reply]
9/07/08

axiomww

So far we've had no difficulties with our corporate blog & blogger. It's extremely simple to maintain in my opinion.

I must agree that wordpress seems to have a world of options not available through blogger.

Great point though Dane.

[reply]