How is Blogspot, Really? (Your Opinion)

1. 98

   EricDockettposted 8 years ago

   Despite all that's gone on, I still consider HubPages my online home and the place where I'd prefer my content live. In fact, I've been extremely impressed and excited about the niche sites, and my traffic for Hubs moved over has looked really, really good. However, I still have concerns, namely about what will happen to content not moved to the niche sites, or content moderators decide they are unhappy with.
   
   Therefore, it seems wise to have an alternative plan for content that gets scrapped from HP. I have no intention to move my content from HP, unless it is doing very badly or unless the moderators decide they hate it. I just feel like I need a backup plan for my own peace of mind.
   
   To that end, I've been working on a WordPress (.org) blog. I've also been developing a Blogspot blog alongside it, just to see what it would look like. Either of these are intended to work alongside my HP content, unless of course HP goes nuclear at which point it would become my main site. Neither site is live at this point.
   
   Things is, I've kind of come to the conclusion that I like Blogspot better than WordPress. It seems faster, more secure, less glitchy, and cleaner. I guess if I were building a complex site I'd feel differently, but for what I want to do Blogspot seems perfect.
   
   Of course there are downsides, most importantly that I wouldn't own my site and bad things could happen to it outside of my control. But that kind of seems true with WordPress too. There are risk management issues on either side.
   
   The conventional wisdom is that WordPress is better, but honestly if it weren't for that wisdom my decision would be super easy. I simply like my Blogspot blog better.
   
   So, how bad is Blogspot when it comes to traffic and everything else? Am I really at that much of a disadvantage if I go that route? (I'd be using the subdomain, not a custom domain.)
   
   All I really want is a place to write that I enjoy, with a fighting chance of getting some traffic.

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   1. 0

      promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I have worked with both for many years. Wordpress has more template choices and better reach within its community of users. Blogger gets better reach on Google and allows automatic updates to a Google Plus account.
      
      But it's clear to me that having your own domain is much better than having mysite.wordpress.com or mysite.blogger.com.
      
      So either buy a unique domain and host it on those sites or buy one and get a self-hosted site.
      
      Also, don't maintain two blogs with similar content. Search engines favor larger sites. Two blogs will dilute your time and results.

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      1. 93

         Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, you can track your blogger likes on the Blogger platform, and I think that Google does like it's own likes!
         
         When I moved my site from blogspot to its new domain, Google stripped out all of the likes and shares except my own. GRRR. That I think accounted for much of the immediate 75% decline in page views. I reshared, but I had lost 1000 Goolge +s. It took 3 months to recover, and I am still only at 80% of pageviews after 5 months. 
         
         Decide now what URL you want it to reside at; Google is cruel to those that jump ship.

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   2. 60

      iamalegendposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Blogspot is not bad when comes to traffic. Here's my blogspot blog traffic which i started 2 year ago. then after a year i moved to custom domain.
      
      
      

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   3. 74

      Misfit Chickposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You've been extremely impressed with HP's changes? Wish I could say the same. It looks to me like they are doing so many things back*sswards; and the names they have come up for the niche sites hardly seem SEO compatible - among other things. I have a list, ha!
      
      I've looked into Wordpress and Blogger/Blogspot and found Blogspot to be the most user-friendly. I've been using it for roughly five years. I have not found anything that I cannot do with it; and even without having my own URL, I get good hits from the search engines since they are on niche topics to begin with - but yeah, acquiring a URL is better.
      
      I'm trying to motivate myself to moving all my stuff over; but I'm such a procrastinator - I won't do it until I'm desperate and wishing I had finished it months ago, ha!
      
      Good luck to us all.

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2. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   Do both. Personally, been having a field day with Blogger; racking up views daily; did do my own domain thing.

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3. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

   I have also used both but prefer Blogger. It is just a matter of taste and which features are most important to you.  I find that when starting niche blogs to test the waters, the process with blogger (including monetizing) is easier for me.

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4. 49

   GiftsByDianaposted 8 years ago

   I have used BlogSpot for many years and like it !
   I add to it now and then, a note about my gift shop or a local event and also add a few of my links to my pages (most are my old Squidoo links which I HOPE are still being forwarded as there are too many to find and change over and I have a few of my HP links there now as well) and/or vintage jewelry pieces or other goods.

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5. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 8 years ago

   There's nothing wrong with Blogspot, I know many people who use it.
   
   My big complaint about Blogspot is navigation.  It is SO critical to reader satisfaction, and Blogspot's navigation is limited.   No one looks at monthly archives, ever - so they are a complete waste of time. That means you have only two options for navigation - using "Labels" as categories, or manually creating a page for each category and updating them every time you add a post.
   
   If you want sub-categories, you're out of luck unless you're up to editing your theme (and of course, you're going to have to do it all again if you change your theme).  Also if you use your Labels as categories, you've got nothing to use for tags. 
   
   On both my blogs, I have four separate menus, each providing a different kind of navigation.  I couldn't do that on Blogger. 
   
   I also find that if you use affiliate code to create ads (e.g. Amazon ads), they're almost impossible to line up nicely on Blogger.  They can be fiddly on Wordpress too - but then, all you need to do is use a plugin to create them for you, and that's a lot less work as well!  If I was going to use Blogger then I'd go for Skimlinks and create my own ads using product images.
   
   I would never, ever use a .blogspot address - it screams "rank amateur".  It's going to cost you less than $10 to attach your own domain name and you'd be mad not to.
   
   Final note - I'm sure you already know that whichever platform you choose, the content must be on one topic only (otherwise you'll get no traffic so it will be a waste of time).   So one blog can't be a home for ALL the Hubs which aren't moved to the niche sites.
   
   Oh, and BTW if you're using Wordpress, don't use Jetpack.  It's too complex for what it does, and it will slow your site down far too much.

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   1. 71

      makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You want to take a look at the labels on my blog some time. I've never ever had a problem with categories. I use the labels as if they are keywords.  Every now and again I go through them to determine what the maximum 100 on display are.
      
      They key thing to do is to put the Google search box very high in the right hand column. Then people just put in the term they are looking for and the labels help them find it.

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      1. 83

         Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         True. I never had or having any problem with categories and labels. I already have eight categories on my blog which open up in pages and each page displays the articles in that category. You can click on your article and view it in the new windows. It is very nice if you can experience it. And my labels are presently 50 and I think crowding with more labels is not smarter. Only thing is I should improve my style of presentation which is a problem with me.

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   2. 89

      NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I didn't know that about Jetpack. I started some new sites recently and when you install Wordpress now, they automatically give you Jetpack. I like the features it has but not liking the fact that it might slow my sites down.

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6. 83

   Venkatachari Mposted 8 years ago

   I also like blogspot more than wordpress. I can't explain it. But, maybe it is because of the attachment to it since 3 years. Lately, I am receiving some traffic also on it (daily 70 - 80) due to some religious prayers and hymns that I posted. It is on Lifestyle Tips. I like the blogspot for easy navigation and easy posting options. Customising also is very easy and friendly.
   I have one domain name also associated with one of my blogs on economics subject. But that is not doing satisfactorily. Only 10 views are there daily. Goes upto 30 when I share on social media.
   Wordpress is also good and most recommend it than blogspot. But, my activity on wordpress is much less. I underwent the blogging 101 course there and posted one post per day for 3 weeks. At present, it came down to two posts a month, that too not so interesting ones. Simply for keeping it live.
   I uphold blogspot.com and it is a very good platform to do something worthy with not much effort. Adsense is there, if you want to earn income, if you are good at niche content.

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   1. 96

      sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think that is the question everyone wants to know, can you make money from writing on your own site?  I have a site, which I know I should work on more thank I do but don't.  Part of the reason is that the platform does not work quite as I would like it to.  If it did, I would do more there.

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7. 71

   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   The convention that Wordpress is better is marketing.
   
   The reality is that Blogger has never marketed itself - however that hasn't stopped very many people (many more than Wordpress) using it for their blogs.
   
   Never really had a problem with traffic using Blogger - nor with using .blogspot.com. Lots of very old and venerable Blogger blogs use blogspot.com
   
   My blog is more than ten years old.
   
   If you write good content people just turn up and take a look - and if they like it they come back!
   
   According to Blogger's pageview count, yesterday it ticked over to 8.9 MILLION pageviews since 2008 when Blogger started to count.
   
   I get about 50k visitors per month (54,272 visitors in March according to Clustrmaps - which I really like as I can see where they come from.)
   
   However the big bonus for me about Blogger is that it is really easy to use so you never waste time on the techie side of things.  I cannot emphasise to people how important it is to focus on creating content rather than resolving techie problems!
   
   
   PS If you've got a MEGA NICHE to move use Weebly and the Starter Pack and it gives you everything you need plus a blog if you want one.

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8. 93

   Solarasposted 8 years ago

   I have heard it said  that Google might look upon blogger sites more favorably than others... I would begin by purchasing your own domain when you are ready to fire it up and redirect your blogspot content there.  A move at a later date will hurt your traffic 75% even with redirects etc...
   
   Wordpress has some very fancy recipe templates that would be tempting at $75.00 if I had a cooking website to fire-up.  However, blogger is pretty easy to use.  For sales, I put in my own image (large size), and beneath it "BUY IT NOW" in blue large text with a yellow highlight underneath with an affiliate link to Amazon. That seems to be working better than the crappy looking Amazon ads hugging the right of the screen while blocking any text to the right of them.
   
   Creating categories is rough, but I do use labels, and I think I read that you can reorder them by changing the published date when you are in edit mode.  I have not tried that yet.
   
   For a series of articles, I plan to have an image at the bottom of the article, flanked by PREVIOUS and NEXT buttons, for navigation in the series.
   
   Edit: Sometimes I have at the bottom of the article "Suggested Further Reading" or "Other Articles You May Enjoy" with a small image floated left and 3-5 links to articles on the same/related subject.

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   1. 71

      makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You can reorder labels my alpha or numberical use or use a cloud to indicate their frequency
      
      ALWAYS cross reference to your archive of related posts. Even if nobody looks at them Google spots them and reckons you are an authoritative writer because you've written more than one article on the same topic!

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The idea that Google favours Blogger sites never goes away, but it's a complete and utter myth.
      
      Think about it - 90% of the blogs on Blogger are written by complete amateurs or spammers. Google knows that,, so favouring Blogger blogs just because they're Blogger would do horrible things to their search results!  A Blogger blog has exactly the same chance as any other platform to do well.

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      1. 0

         promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I agree. It's easy to prove by how often you see a blogspot / blogger site show high in search results. I never do.
         
         That being said, when I gave my blogspot blog a unique domain name, it started getting more traffic, which indicates some value to a unique domain even if it's hosted by Google.

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            sabrebIadeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I see Blogger show up in search results about as much as I see HubPages.
            So I look at it as fairly even.

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9. 84

   julieann26posted 8 years ago

   One of the problems with Blogger is that you have to be there for six months before you can attach your Adsense account to it.
   
   Other than that the big plus is that since Google owns it will probably get more prominence on its search engine.

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   1. 71

      makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It's just plain silly to try and have advertising on a site with no content. It just makes you look like you're in it for the money at the point where you are trying to build some status as an authoritative commentator.
      
      The trick with websites and blogs is to be DISCRETE and at the same time transparent if you want to avoid offending against all the Federal/EU/Etc ecommerce regulations
      
      ...and if you don't know what those are don't even think about putting advertising on your site!

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   2. 84

      psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I open blogs and put ads on them the same day.  If you apply for your adsense *account* for the first time with blogger you have to wait a while (not necessarily 6 months if you get some content up). This will be true for most blog hosts and is not specific to bogspot. But if you already have an account there is no delay.
      
      The 6 month rule per se has more to do with what country you are in than what host you are using.

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      1. 71

         makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         No - the 'rule' I'm talking about is entirely to do with the impression you give

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         1. 84

            psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            The supposed rule I quoted in my reply from Julieann of having to wait 6 months for adsense on a blogspot blog?  I'm confused because you didn't make that claim at all--and I have never waited that long.

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10. 98

    EricDockettposted 8 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback everyone! I really appreciate all of the insights!
    
    A lot of people seem to be saying you need to use your own domain with Blogger. This is something I've heard before, but I've never been quite clear about why.
    
    Is this because:
    
    1. Search engines treat Blogspot blogs with their own domain name better? If this is the reason it makes total sense, and that would certainly matter to me.
    
    or
    
    2. Human people regard sites with their own domains more highly and look down on Blogspot sites? I am dubious about this. I think people who work with websites may have a bias toward certain platforms and against others. But I don't know that the average internet user knows or cares about the difference between a main domain and a subdomain, as long as they are finding the information they want.
    
    One other point: Blogger currently enables SSL implementation on Blogspot . com  blogs with one click. They don't allow this for custom domains. The process of getting an SSL certificate through my host appears annoying and expensive.
    
    In the past this really wouldn't matter for sites that don't transfer sensitive information, but now apparently Google is pushing HTTPS as a ranking signal going forward. This is far from the only reason I am considering Blogspot, but it is on the list.

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    1. 71

       makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       A lot of people talk about stuff based on data which "applied" in the past. That doesn't mean to say it carries the same weight today when other newer factors are also relevant. The SSL implementation is one such.
       
       You need to look at the pros and cons of different options and make your own mind up.
       
       Bear in mind that there also an awful lot of very old Blogger blogs which have never ever moved off their original blogspot domain name and it hasn't harmed them in any way.
       
       At the end the day it's all about the content and the way in which you operate your blog.

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11. 84

    psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

    Google's contracts all stated that they cannot favor their own websites or platforms in search, and I don't think they do.
    
    That said I think Blogspot blogs do at least as well as any other type. Not that I think anyone could tell which of my own-domain sites are blogspot or not.  Since Wordpress put some pressure on them they have made their formats highly modifiable.
    
    It's a bit like American tourists having a bad reputation because people only really notice the obnoxious ones.  If it is blindingly obvious the blog is blogspot (no domain, common template, badly used) you will notice, if not... not.

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12. 89

    NateB11posted 8 years ago

    Very educational thread. I've never made money from a Blogger blog, nor gotten that much traffic to a Blogger blog, but I like the interface of it so much that I have blogs on Blogspot just for fun. So, that tells you something about it. And, also, to be fair, I haven't put much effort into my blogs there, like I said I started them for fun, not money or fame.
    
    I decided to go with self hosting a few years ago because I felt it would be more professional and give me more control. And it is true, Wordpress offers more versatility in terms of themes and interface/navigation, etc.

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13. 79

    Sam Montanaposted 8 years ago

    I have had several blogs on Blogger and I do like the platform. One negative I just recently found out about is that you cannot submit anything from a Blogger blog to StumbleUpon, they have blocked all articles from all Blogspot blogs from being submitted.

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       Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Is it all Blogger sites or just those with the Blogspot address in the URL?

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          Sam Montanaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          I'm not sure I know there is a difference and StumbleUpon has barely answered the hundreds of questions about this on their help forums.
          
          It certainly applies to any URL with Blogspot in it.

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14. 86

    paperfacetsposted 8 years ago

    Blogspot is Google and they favor it, it seems. My updated and new blogs always get some visits. I use Wordpress too, as a website with pages and blogs. The website is strictly a niche and the blogspot is blogs about anything. I like them both, but write mostly on the niche. Wizzley is where I move my Hubs that have been tanking on HPs. I do get sales there for Amazon and eBay. I have plenty of pages about gardening and I think I will be starting a new website for those.

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15. 73

    sassygrrl32posted 8 years ago

    I've used blogspot for years. Over 10 now and I do like them very much. I have a couple there that I try to update at least once a week. However, recently I went with bluehost with wordpress and I like it very much(love the 1 click install). I purchased a domain for my main site but then wanted one for a personal blog/articles and instead of getting another domain decided to have a subdomain of my main one.
    When I went with self hosting rather than move my old posts I just started creating new ones and keep the old posts at blogger where they've been for years. I may move some depending on how good they are but I have so much content(photography) that it's going to be awhile. For 2 yrs I pretty much abandoned my blogspot blog and lost most of the traffic I'd had so rather than try to rebuild it I decided it was time for my own domain and host.
    That said, aside from how easy wordpress is to use I've found that I'm ranking higher in google than I ever diid with blogger. Some of my articles made it to the front page 3rd or 4th one down within a couple of weeks of posting and this is a brand new blog with brand new content. I'm leaving most of old content at blogger unless it's really good then I may move it but right now I'm writing a post almost every day and posting every 3rd or 4th day for the days when I don't feel like writing anything I don't run out of content. I did that with blogspot blogs too. Sometimes I'll write 2 articles in a day.
    I have all of my blogs connected to my social media accounts with google+ and almost all of my articles show up on the front page with google+. I don't like the layout that much though.
    I still like blogger and how easy it is to use but I have no complaints on wordpress. It's super easy to use. I purchased a hosting package and had my new blog up that night.
    I found that by going with a host it gave me incentive to work on the blog every day or every other day. Since I paid for it the consensus is the only way to make it pay for itself is to write and work on it. With blogger since it was free I'd sometimes go for months without posting without it hurting my traffic. BUt recently google must have adopted a dim view of that and I lost a good 70% of my traffic and couldn't get it back even when I started updating every day. That's when I decided to go with a new one.
    One of the things I like about blogger is how easy it is to put adsense on it. BUt wordpress is easy too. They have a bunch of plugins but I chose the official adsense plugin from google and I like it. I've also opted to use amazon affiliate program again but I'll probably go with a text link since I don't want too much advertisement nor to offend adsense. They're very picky.
    I chose a fairly simple template, nothing really fancy. I just want to write and have a template that looks nice.
    Something else I discovered recently was moderating the comments because google(adsense) takes a dim view on spammy comments. I got hit with a few and got hit with some as soon as I got my new hosted site up. Wordpress has a plugin to eliminate spam comments for you. But I won't pay for it until I"m getting enough traffic that I can't manually handle it all.
    Like most of the other posters I like both but can say now that I'm using wordpress every day I probably like it better. And as far as I can see google likes wordpress too.
    You can get hostgator or bluehost, probably others too but these 2 seem to be the most popular(my adsense ads are always advertising them) quite cheap. But it's what will work for you. However, I agree with another poster don't create one at blogger with the intent of moving it later. Just get a self hosted site from the start.

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    1. 71

       makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I think maybe you are confusing the fact that Google likes new content with which sites Google likes
       
       If your old posts are properly set up (eg good title, sound URL, excellent first two sentences and meta description) then they're going to keep coming up when people search for that topic.
       
       I've been writing my blog for over 10 years and still get huge traffic for my archive - which still turn up in the two half of the first page of Google - even if they are five or six years old. However it depends on the topic and how much competition is out there.

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16. 88

    WryLiltposted 8 years ago

    Blogspot is great for niche sites you'll never touch again - I have a few like that, that just get a few hundred views a day and bring in a few $$ a month.
    
    Blogspot is better than Wordpress.com
    
    Wordpress.org (Hosted Wordpress) is THE best for any longterm website and the only option I'd choose after building over 30 sites with it.

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       makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       However the big difference between Blogger and Wordpress.com and the hosted version of Wordpress is the cost - which is not irrelevant.

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          WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          It works out to about $6 per month for me... not hard to make that back.

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             makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

             Maybe not for you - but it will be for some people which is why it's worth highlighting the difference in financial cost between free sites and those that cost money.

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17. 60

    jaribhaiposted 7 years ago

    Wordpress has 2 versions, one is free wordpress.com and the other is selfhosted wordpress.org that is used by most of the professional bloggers. Blogger has only a free version. Well I have been using blogger since two years and found it quite easy to use yet it lacks some plugins and support for PHP where Wordpress comes on top.

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