WordPress.org – WordPress.com – Blogger: how to determine the right platform for your first blog?

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org vs Blogger

To start a blog or website you need to have the tools to do that.

Blog is a form of website so in this article I will call the website for convenient.

With the power of technology, creating a website has become very easy, no need to learn a lot, no code, programming, … And anyone can create their own website.

If you like to learn & invest a good time, you also have the ability to make a professional web site not inferior to anyone.

For this purpose, there are three well-known platforms: WordPress.com, WordPress.org & Blogger.

2 platforms: WordPress.com (limited feature) & WordPress.org (open source) are completely different. Do not confuse the two.

Finally, I will conclude & give you advice on what platform to use.

Related post: 3 Reasons Why You Should Start a Blog in 2018

choose-wordpress-blogger

Distinguish between WordPress (.com & .org) and Blogger

On the Internet there are articles about the limits of WordPress such as:

  • WordPress is free, but limited to full stuff.
  • WordPress does not allow you to install external interfaces and utilities
  • WordPress does not allow you to add ads, tracking code.
  • Data from WordPress is not yours & you are dependent.

Please distinguish WordPress.com from WordPress.org

These two platforms are completely different, do not think .COM domain is the main site, .ORG is the secondary site.

WordPress.com is strictly limited as above, while WordPress.org is open source & you can freely customize it.

WordPress.com is the platform for you to build a free website based on WordPress.com’s server. You do not have to spend your hosting costs but be limited to many things.

WordPress.org - WordPress.com - Blogger

WordPress.org is open source. Allows you to independently build website, self-operating server hosting server, customize all configuration & content to attract traffic or make money from your website.

WordPress.org - WordPress.com - Blogger

Blogger (formerly known as Blogspot) is also a platform for users to create websites or blogs for free. Blogger was acquired by Google in 2003.

WordPress.org - WordPress.com - Blogger

I will go into the analysis of each factor has the ability to compare.

Ability to manage your data

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is an open source software that helps you create a professional website and blog.

You will need to have a database on 1 server and load source code to be able to run the site. You will have full control over your site from installing, maintaining, uploading, and backing up your data.

With the use of WordPress.org, you will not depend on anyone, for example you are using server A, you do not want to use anymore, you can completely move your site to a server B stronger.

All the data you have full control, so the ability to manage is 100%

WordPress.com

Unlike WordPress.org, WordPress.com only allows you to build websites on their own database.

That’s pretty easy, you do not need to know about hosting management. However, this means that WordPress.com has the right to delete your data if they feel you have violated something or your content is not appropriate.

In addition, WordPress.com will enforce & restrict you to a certain range of usage if you do not upgrade. For example, it is required to display ads on your website, not to allow you to interfere with the source code or add many features, …

You almost depend on the server WordPress.com that you can not fully manage your site.

Blogger

You will not have control over your data on Blogger. All this data is saved by Google, when Google still exists, your site will remain active.

But Google has the right to delete your site at any time if your website violates their usage policies such as spam, copy articles, provide sensitive content without permission, etc.

Cost to start & maintain

WordPress.org

The WordPress.org source code is provided free of charge. But you need a hosting to store the data. You also need a domain name for your website. You need to pay about $ 25- $ 50 a year to maintain these costs.

Also, when your website generates income. Depending on your needs you can purchase more premium themes and plugins.

These are beautiful and highly customizable themes. Or the plugins bring many good features to you website. If your website is profitable, you should invest.

WordPress.com

You only need to sign up for a free account to start creating a website based on the templates. The templates are quite nice but not many and varied.

However, the important point is that you only get a maximum of 3GB of data storage.

That is, during the construction of the website, if you add more articles, decorate more multimedia medias, when exceeding 3GB you have to pay extra to upgrade the account, not free any more.

Price as follows (Not cheap at all):

  • Personal plan: $ 48 / year
  • Premium plan: $ 96 / year
  • Business plan: $ 300 / year

WordPress.org - WordPress.com - Blogger

Blogger

All free. You do not need to buy your own hosting because Google is your server for storing your data.

Your blog will be .blogspot.com. You can also buy your own domain name (.com, .net, .org, …) to add.

You can create as many websites as you want, because Google’s servers are endless.

Difficulty level

WordPress.org

To use WordPress.org to make a complete website, you will have to go through two main steps:

  • Step 1: Choose hosting, buy domain name and install WordPress.org
  • Step 2: Configurable interface & functions as desired

If you are new, then WordPress.org will be hard and easy to use:

  • Hard because: You do not know what to choose hosting to buy, buy domain, how to manage hosting, add domain, install WordPress.org, install theme, install plugin.
  • Easy because: All have tutorials online, just go to Google search.

WordPress.com

Easy to use because with free account, you will only customize some basic stuff available.

This is suitable for people who only want to write blogs to kill time, store their emotions, or to confide in themselves instead of writing in paper diary or writing on Facebook.

Blogger

If you just make a site to share common posts, or basic sales website. It’s easy to use Blogger, simply register, choose the template is available.

But if you want to make a professional website for sales optimization, web services with many features, or you want to customize to your liking then you have to know the code to write or refine the template.

Like WordPress.org, Blogger has many template developers, you can download for free or buy paid versions.

But you want to optimize then you need to edit pretty much about code.

Ability to optimize for Digital Marketing

Making a website will have its own purpose.

90% is the website to serve business needs, make money online, promote products, services, …

If you have a commercial purpose (meaning more or less profit oriented), then you need a huge support from Marketing.

And between WordPress.org, WordPress.com, Blogger – Which platform is the best place for you to maximize the benefits of building your website?

WordPress.org

Have the best optimization. Because it is open source, attracting a lot of application developers, the level of customization is endless.

You will be able to easily find all the professional applications for website development according to your needs. Examples include SEO, landing page, email marketing, banner advertising, UX / UI, …

WordPress.org - WordPress.com - Blogger

WordPress.com

To be able to remove ads on the page, you must use a paid plan. This fee is quite high.

At that cost, you can make a website with the theme, plugins much better support with WordPress.org.

In addition, you are only allowed to place ads when your website has 25000 monthly pageviews traffic and must share revenue with the wordpress.com system.

You also can not place your own ads on the site.

You can not install or use analytics tools. And with me, doing website without tracking, managing and optimizing traffic sources, means you have lost 80% chance of success.

Blogger

Blogger has servers located on Google so the page load speed is very fast. You can customize the SEO very well but the development community of applications and features are much weaker than WordPress.org.

Backup & security

WordPress.org

All of the data is yours so you have a responsibility to keep your belongings away from thieves.

There are many reasons a website is attacked, but in general the cause is from the manager:

  • Easy Password: 123456, iloveyou, full name, date of birth, …
  • Download null themes and plugins on the internet then install on your site
  • Download the unknown softwares to computer, computer virus, trojan,…

If you know how to use and protect your site, back up every day, you will be extremely safe.

WordPress.com + Blogger

You do not have to worry about security because the team of WordPress.com or Google takes care of this task for you.

All you need to do is secure your email, do not install strange software on your computer.

However, as I said before, WordPress.com & Blogger have the right to remove your site if they feel the content is inappropriate.

And worse, they will not send you any backups.

Community Activities & Support

WordPress.org

WordPress.org has the largest user community in open source for website development.

With the huge community, almost all big bugs you can find a tutorial / fix on Google to solve.

WordPress experts share a lot, you can find countless tips of using WordPress.org from them.

WordPress.com

Only this place is active, but support performance is not high.

In addition, there is no forum dedicated to discussing WordPress.com. Because it is also very easy to use.

Blogger

Blogger’s community is growing well, but it’s getting smaller and less active. Google has its own forum for users of Blogger, but the level of activity is not high.

Which platform should you choose to get started?

Through the above analysis, you should be able to imagine in your mind about which platform to start with. If not, let me give you advice.

WordPress.org, WordPress.com and Blogger are all useful products that developers have created to help the community.

It can help you make personal blogs, sales, services, make money online, etc. Many individuals have changed lives thanks to a website.

If you like simplicity, simply want to make a blog to save images, memories, personal thoughts and do not go to the goal of making money by selling products, MMO, then I think you should use Blogger or WordPress.com.

Although there are many limitations and if you need to do professional, you must intervene by code pretty much. But it does not require you any cost and is easy to get started, you can use your gmail account right now and create a blog for less than 5 minutes.

If you make a website for the purpose of making money (Even if it is just a blog), make an online store, promote products, services, … then WordPress.org is the right choice. Since you can easily optimize everything as desired.

Although it is open source, there are available online tutorials. WordPress.org has a large number of applications, plugins, and themes developed to cater to your every need.

Specific examples like my blog – flashreviewz has only been built 2 years ago, but now it has become my main source of income.

Related post: 5 Reasons Bloggers Should Start Affiliate Marketing Immediately

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