blogger or wordpress?

[David Jackson]

To me, it's the difference between renting and owning.

I prefer to own my web properties, not rent them.

On the Internet, none of us own anything.

We're all just renting space - all of us!

David Jackson

[NicoleDean]

Hi David,

As I said, I meant WordPress.ORG, not WordPress.com.

WordPress.org is hosted on your own hosting and is tied to your own domain name, not controlled by Google.

You have more control over your properties.

Hope that clarifies my point (and my opinion).
Nicole

[David Jackson]

Hi David,

As I said, I meant WordPress.ORG, not WordPress.com.

WordPress.org is hosted on your own hosting and is tied to your own domain name, not controlled by Google.

You have more control over your properties.

Hope that clarifies my point (and my opinion).
Nicole

Hi Nicole:

I understand what you're saying, and my point is whether we choose to admit it or not, we're all just renting space on the Internet - all of us. We own nothing. We only think we do. I am under no such illusion.

I hope that clarifies my point, and my opinion.

David Jackson

[NicoleDean]

Gotcha. Just making sure we were on the same page with WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com since it's a common mistake that our original poster may have been confused about.

Best wishes,
N

[lindastacy]

For me it's all a matter of degrees of control and degrees of risk.

Installing WordPress on my own domain and hosting gives me at least the illusion of more control and less risk than using a free service. But as David suggests, none of us really own anything on the net... we're all renters. There are plenty of horror stories about web hosting companies that simply disappeared.

There are many long-term, successful blogs hosted on free services like Blogger. I think it's a good choice for beginners who are willing to follow the rules to the letter. Even though I find WordPress easy to install and use, I think it requires a level of comfort with techie-like tasks. It's my understanding that Blogger is a little less techy (I've never set up a Blogger blog so I can't say for sure).

The key for me is backups. No matter where I host my sites and blogs, I'm prepared to transfer them to a new hosting company in a matter of minutes. If one of my hosting services locks the doors and turns out the lights today, I'll be back in business by tomorrow.

[cindybidar]

Those are good points (especially about the backups...must remember to do that more!) Linda, and you're right. IF you own your own domain.

If you don't, then you would still be able to rebuild your site, but your traffic would be gone. There is no way to redirect from a free account like Blogger or Wordpress.com. I think a lot of people start out thinking "Oh, I'll just move when I get lots of readers and I'm making some money" but it's not that easy. Better to invest a little money now, than lose a lot of money later.

[lindastacy]

.....IF you own your own domain.

It's funny... my mind never even thinks about the possibility of not owning my own domain names. It's just a given to me. But yes, many people start out without their own and if I didn't own mine, it would be much more devastating if my hosting company disappeared.

[TraciKnoppe]

This reminds me of the analogy I use in my WordPress blogging course:

A domain name is like your mobile home, you have to buy it and then in order to keep it, you have to pay tax on it.

Web hosting is like the trailer pad rent you have to pay so you have a place to park your mobile home. You have to pay pad rent every month in order to keep your trailer pad. If you are fortunate enough to 'own land' to put your mobile home on, you still have to pay real estate taxes every year to keep your land.

So virtual real estate is very much like offline real estate: it costs you every year to keep what you 'own'.

[deniseoberry]

Traci --

What a great explanation! That should make it easy for anyone to understand.

[TraciKnoppe]

Thanks Denise. Folks in my workshops like it too.