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I’ve written plenty about blogging in the past, and I’m still interested in the whole topic. Usually I try to understand what makes people use WordPress or Blogger. Personally, I use both but I keep my main page with blogspot.com.
Still, I read time and time again that to be professional we shouldn’t use self-hosting and that WordPress is where it’s at. The problem is, most people don’t have cash to throw away on domain names and proper hosting anymore. Most people are using Google during the day anyway and, I’d go as far as to say 9 out of 10 of my library/writer/bookwork Twitter friends use Blogger over WordPress.
I do understand the notion of having a professional looking site and I am all for having a front-end site that links to the free hosted blogs on Blogger. I’ve seen plenty of well respected writers do it (plus have Tumblr accounts as well) so I don’t really see a problem with using something that takes a heck of a lot less time to get going.
I do love WordPress and I’m glad they offer the free service now, even if I can’t play with all those nice widgets and apps. I’m not saying I wouldn’t go back to having a site set up with my own hosting and domain name as a professional site – in fact, I’m sure I will. For now I’ll just cross post between the free servers as I have been. Way easier.
The Tales of Missus P. 
I used Blogger when I first started but found it so restrictive and unstable that it had to go. I’ve used wordpress ever since.
I’ve never understood why people think wordpress is harder to use than Blogger. it really isn’t. The basic blog set up is just as fast and simple as Blogger and you can be up and running in minutes. What takes the time is making your blog look like YOUR blog. Something which I found really difficult with Blogger. Also, the more customisation you do with Blogger, the slower it seems to get. But there’s plenty of help out there for people who want to customise their wordpress site, even if you’re using one of their free themes – of which there are dozens.
As for professionalism, I don’t think it matters if you have a self hosted site. I provide hosting space for bloggers starting at £50 per year and it can seem expensive, but with wordpress or Blogger, you can just get a domain and link it to your hosted blog. So, for example, your blog is currently called – http://www.myblog.wordpress.com – if you bought your own domain (less than £10 per year) you can attach it to your blog to make it – newdomain.com – but it would still be the same blog hosted by wordpress or blogger that you always had. It’s a much cheaper option if you don’t want or need full control over your blog.
Having your own domain also means you have a personal email address rather than, say, gmail. And if your domain provider doesn’t provide an email facility, you can attach your domain to your gmail account.
Now that does look more professional.
I use self-hosted WordPress. I like that I can “own” my site, and WordPress is pretty easy to use. Even for a technologically deficient blogger like me!
Thanks for the imput, guys!
I use to have this site attached to just a .com domain but I just stopped bothering. I agree that the .com looks more professional but for personal blogs, I decided to just go with the flow as the majority did and stick with using .wordpress.com and .blogspot.com. I’ll do up my own eventually. Just hope this time I don’t have problems with unreliable web hosting. I’m over that completely.
(Not sure if this went through before, so I’m trying it one more time)
I use a platform called Squarespace (http://www.squarespace.com) and I love it. My site (http://curiousrat.com) has been on Squarespace since the beginning.
Their templates are beautiful and you are free to modify them to your heart’s content using their built-in slider/dropdown menu system, or you can modify the entire CSS file should you feel so daring. Squarespace also has a homebrewed analytics system that provides you just about all the details Google Analytics does, but without the hassle of injecting code.
Your site, be it a blog, portfolio, or something else entirely, is hosted for $8 a month and is almost never down. In the two years I’ve been with them, my site has gone down (maybe) once and only for a few minutes. It’s a very reliable and powerful service.
If you haven’t checked them out yet, please do. You can set up a new site literally within minutes and get a free 15-day trial without needing a credit card. I highly encourage anyone looking to move away from the big two (WP and Blogger) to give Squarespace a chance. I’m not a salesman, just an enthusiastic customer.
Thanks for the info. I’ve used Squarespace before but never paid up to continue the service. Interesting to know that it works so well. I remember Movable Type was a big thing until they started charging as well.
I use Blogger for work and WordPress for my personal writing. There are things I like about both of the free blogs and things I don’t. I think that getting a paid for professional blog depends on your type of buisness. For our buisness we find blogger works great, but I would never use Tumblr, it’s not quite professional enough. 🙂 I’m thankful for so many choices!!
I am too. Tumblr is fine but I use it for posting photos here and there for my shopping and food blogs. It really is an extended version of Twitter in some respects. I even find that the paid-for blogs have limitations. Having to deal with keeping backups in case the site crashes is one of the biggest flaws in using any self-hosting site too.