I’ve had a couple of readers reach out to me about my recent move from Blogger to WordPress. Is it worth it? Do you think I should do it? Which one is better if I’m starting my own blog? I figured I’d compile a post (even though it’s not food related) of my pros and cons for Blogger vs WordPress.

I originally started my blog out on Blogger. The reasons were simple:

1. It’s completely free. I didn’t have to pay an initiation fee, to have my site hosted, or for a template. Since I was originally starting my blog out for myself to keep track of recipes, I didn’t want to pay for something that I wasn’t going to make a profit from. There were many layouts to choose from and it was easy to customize my background and header with just a few changes in the HTML. A simple aesthetic for a simple blog.
2. It’s easy to use. Learning how to write posts was a cinch. Click “new post,” scribble away, and then publish. Blogger has an easy interface that anyone could use.
3. Let’s be honest. WordPress scared the crap out of me. Everyone said that WordPress was for the pros and the big dogs. Since I was a newbie and had no idea what I was doing, why would I jump into that? I wanted to ease into the process. I prefer stepping into the pool one step at a time instead of diving in head first.

As the years went on, I found some cons of having my blog on Blogger:

1. There are limits. All sorts of limits. Your photo account can only hold up to 1GB of storage. Once you reach that limit, you have to find another party to host your photos on. That could be a problem if, say, I don’t know… you’re a photography blog? Your labels also get capped. You can’t have more than 2000 labels per blog and 20 labels per post. Your blog description can only be 500 characters and your “About Me” has a limit as well. That may not be a big deal, but I just don’t like being restricted.
2. Your blog is as the mercy of Google. I’ve only heard horror stories about this and have never personally experienced anything myself, but it’s like a recurring nightmare that you have every month. You don’t really think about it, but the possibility of it happening just lingers in the back of your head. What if every single one of my posts just vanished into the black abyss?
3. There was only so much I could do with my layout. I was always frustrated because my blogger layout was generic. I couldn’t add things where I wanted to. This seems like a lame excuse, but it’s true. WordPress blogs are just prettier.

Now, I’ve only been on WordPress for a couple of days, but I’ve already started noticing a huge difference. Some of those pros include:

1. Widgets. There are hundreds, thousands of different widgets you can download to customize your website. It’s like having an app store for your blog. Need a widget for popular posts? How about one for ad revenue? Simply download one of your choice and let the creators work their magic. It’s amazing.
2. The WordPress Forum. Never have I ever seen such a supportive group of users. Simply ask any question you have regarding your WordPress website and there will be a user out there to help you. Can’t get your header right? Don’t know what to do to add a favicon? They’ll tell you. Step by step, even sometimes with picture tutorials. It’s like I’ve found my third family.
3. It’s a lot more accessible to ads. What this means is that having a WordPress blog opens up the doors for more revenue.
4. You have complete control and ownership of your blog. As the words in Finding Nemo, “Mine! Mine! Mine!”
5. My blog is finally pretty! Yay!
6. Being able to link to your blog posts within the draft. This helps me a ton for my Recipe Index since I don’t have to go back and forth all the time now.

And the cons of WordPress:

1. Obviously, it’s not free anymore. Although the fee is pretty small ($5-$15 a month, depending on your host), it’s not free anymore. If you’re just blogging diary entries, then having to pay a bill every month isn’t exactly ideal. It may be little, but it adds up in the end. For example, if you’re paying the premium of $15 a month, that’s $180 dollars you’re losing a year. You can do a lot with $180 buckaroos.
2. If something goes down, you have to fix it yourself. Before, Google would be the one to blame for any glitches going on in Blogger. Now, you have to do the dirty work and fix your own problems because your blog is all you. Literally. You run it, you self-host it, you fix it.
3. The amount of spam I get. Goodness gracious. Whoever invented spam is the worst! I have only been on WordPress for three days, and I’ve had 140 spam comments. Thank goodness for spam widgets, but still! How is that possible?!

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On to the next part: how did I go about moving five years of posts from Blogger to WordPress?

Since I didn’t feel like I was tech savvy enough to make the move myself, I confided in a pro to do the job for me. I was terrified of losing my posts, comments, RSS feed, and even worse, my entire blog!

After a bit of research, I found my way to Blogelina. She charged the least and seemed to be pretty reputable. She took care of the entire migration process and kept me in the loop every step of the way. Everything went flawlessly, except for my blog layout. Blogelina only guaranteed to carry over my current layout to the best of her ability, which is exactly what she did. I was in the market for a new layout, anyways, so it wasn’t a big deal for me.

Next, you’ll need to find someone to host your blog. I’d recommend Bluehost for their low prices and unlimited space.

Anddddd… that’s all I’ve got for now. Bottom line: If you’re starting out, want something simple, and don’t plan on having a large blog following, then I’d recommend using Blogger. If you’re comfortable with HTML, are pretty tech savvy, crave customization, and want to utilize your blog for ad space, then I’d recommend signing up for a self hosted WordPress site.

What are you more partial to? Have you thought about making the switch either way?