BellaOnline Forums Computers Blogs & Social Networking Blogger or Wordpress

For all of the experienced (and not so experienced)- which do you think is a better platform - Blogger or Wordpress?

Dianne, they say Wordpress is the better one and BOTH are free. I have BOTH.

I also have both. So far, they are about equal in my eyes.

I have Blogger and Wordpress also. Both are free and both are good. I like blogger because I can make some decent money with Adsense.

Keep in mind there is a difference between wordpress.com and .org - it all depends on how much effort you are willing to put into having your own domain.

.com is the version that is like blogger/blogspot.

.org is the one that where you own your own domain.

If you don't care about owning your own domain, I do prefer Blogger - it's super easy and you can have adsense, as BB said.

Jilly, I did not know about the .org and .com. Thanks for the lesson.

Hi BB, can you pass some AdSense tips our way? I am stuck at $52 and have yet to make my first $100 to get my first check (lol).

Thanks!

I was using Blogger and then I switched to Wordpress. I wanted to give my blog a more professional, articles, news column looking feel. I think Wordpress does that for me.

Di, do you have AdSense on your blog?

The best thing for adsense is to have a lot of rich content targeted to a niche topic, all linked together so navigation is easy and people can really use the site as a resource. You want it to be a useful destination that people link to.

The more people link to you as a resource, the more Google will direct people at you. More eyeballs, more clickthroughs.

Thanks Jilly!

Not yet. Just started my new blog. Still looking at all the things available. How do you use AdSense?

Hi Di!

It is a form of revenue that Google has - I gues they call it a "plug in" (lol-I am NEW to all this).

If you get a chance, do a Google Search and it will explain. Alot of the FREE blog sites have this "option" as you have to make sure it is AlLOWED on the site. Amazon may work better for you as a writer from I have read on this site. I hope someone with more experience will answer your question. Jilly - you there? Tks!

HiDianne,

I just started filling mine in last night. I need to find a book on how to use Blogger. I clicked on help and nothing helpful came up. It took awhile to figure out how to make my first post. Turns out I was not in the right spot. Took me an hour or so to figure that out.

I want to get a couple of articles filled in before I start the Adsense part.

Can you do affiliate links to Amazon from there too or is it a separate account if you already have one for Bella Online?



Angela,
What are gadgets on Blogger and how do you add them?

Hi Dianne:

Congrats on starting on your project, once you get it set up you have to send me your url.

I am going to go check my blogger account and get back with you on the questions you mentioned as I have not touched it since setting it up (lol).

Went with weebly for my active blog as Wordpress(which seems to be popular) and Blogger was taking too much time and TESTING my patience(of which I have ZERO/lol).

Be right back!

This is going to be "confusing" if I don't use "Di" for one Dianne and "Dianne" for the other Dianne (lol).

Okay, Dianne (Career) - since it has been awhile since I dealt with blogger, does your url have "blogspot" in it? Want to make sure I am on the right site as I had created several blog "possibilities"(lol) when I first started out before I decided on ONE (Weebly).

You can call me "d" if it'es easier...lol... I'm always so happy when I meet another Dianne with two "n"s in their name.

U funny and trying to CONFUSE me further (lol). Nope, sticking to "Dianne Career" (for you) and the other "Di" as that is what I started to call her in the Walking Forum and since I FORGET stuff - she has "Di" in her screen name - yes, I cheated (lol).

How is your leg doing? Back to exercising and life in general?

lol...whatever works for you babe...giggles.
No - actually it's bothering me more. I might need to go back to the doc next week. The good thing is that I have more time to work at putting together my blog...

Well, keep us posted and take it easy. Your leg has to heal before go back to doing your normal stuff.

So who is setting up a blogger blog? Blogger is super easy - it literally only takes a few minutes, and they hold you by the hand for each step. It's very much set up for people with no coding knowledge.

Dianne Career is. I do not like it.

Hi Jilly,

Yup it's me. I finally posted a first "article" last night. It took me awhile. Would you be able to answer a couple/few questions for me?
1. I'm trying to figure out what "gadgets" are.
2. Can I use affiliate links like Bella Online or do they need to be Adsense, can I do both?
3. Can I do lists - like great career books to read?

Thanks Jilly!!!

Any assistance would truly be greatly appreciated!!!
thanks!!!

Dianne - give us the link! Want to seeeeeee.

1. I don't remember what gadgets are but my guess is they are the blogger equivalent of applications (apps) or widgets. Wordpress uses widgets.

Let's say they are like widgets...in which case you can choose what to put in your sidebar, like a weather app, a calendar, your categories, Recent Posts, Top Commentators...etc.

Does this sound like what you are looking at? I can give more guesses if this isn't close.

2. When i had a blogger blog i am pretty sure I used affiliate links and adsense. Stick in an affil link and see if it goes through. Let me know if it doesn't work and I can dig into this more for you.

3. When you say lists, do you mean is there an app/form for lists like on Amazon? Or are you asking if that is appropriate for a blog post? if the latter, YES, it's a great idea for a post. Lots of bloggers make lists. I make lists on my blogs. People love lists! if the former, then see the answer to the Widgets question. I bet there is an app for that.

You beat me to it Jilly (lol).

Yes, Dianne, I want to SEEE!!!!

Blogger has recently added lots of new features. The gadgets are a list to choose from like adding favorite links, adsense, coding, like Amazon ads and other things.

Blogger also had an Amazon tool right in it where you can type in a keyword and products come up to insert right into your post.

I have both blogger and Wordpress.org. Wordpress.com can't be monetized, I don't think.

I second this. I have a wordpress.com blog, and there are a lot of things I can't do that can be done on blogger/blogspot. I've decided to stay there for now, as eventually I would like to go to my own domain, and once I do that, I've heard wordpress.org is the best, and porting from wordpress.com is the easiest transition...

Ok, Well, I go by Di. LOL! As for adsense and blogging and amazon. I've very new to all the add ons and ways to make money etc... I will be reaching out to each of you when I start exploring that. I'll look into it all this weekend and try and familiarize myself with it

I have a book on amazon that is released Sept 18, 2010 but there is still so much about amazon.com that I don't know...

My blog doesn't have blogger in it. I'm on wordpress. It's www.transformation247.wordpress.com

I have my own website also
www.royaltreasurespublishing.com

I'm still learning and all of these website etc.. are pretty new to me. But I'm growing and expanding.

The student is eager to learn...

I prefer blogger if I'm not hosting the site. That being said, It really doesn't get much better than wordpress hosted. Of course, that's not free. Just my opinion!

Hey Di, Beautiful articles on the one site and gorgeous graphics on the other. Very, very nice. I signed up too!

Hmmm...

I had a blog on blogger, but I didn't like that everytime I went in to check the stats, it counted my visit as a visit.

I switched to word press, and my traffic actually increased.

Then I got a personal website, and have my blog on my site.

But I'd really like an ad or two. Man, it would be GREAT to make money on my blogs!

Deanna,
I would like to do that too and then I can give up writing for Examiner. That's gas/lunch money right now.

Thanks Angela!

In the past I used personally coded blogs, but I just converted one of those over to WordPress. I found the process very simple and easy, and the result is far more feature-rich than my original hand coded blog was!

You actually make gas/lunch money with the Examiner? LOL! I guess I could say that too (once every three months) HA HA!!

Hi Angela, I would like to add something. I think it'd be great to make a little money.

My site pays all my bills! Why blog for pennies when you can C2 your way to a real income.

Deanna you write for the Examiner? What's your site?

Ms. M. I've GOT to learn your secret...lol...

No real secret just a good system that works. You're already doing all the hard work for somebody else. What benefits does writing for Examiner have?

For me, the benefit is simply getting to write about a topic that I love. Which I love my topic here too, but ya know, I love lots of things

What do you write about at Examiner? I looked into it but as a traffic source but am already spread too thin with two sites here, two of my own sites, ehow, wellsphere and now livestrong too.

I think I'm a contentaholic. Is there a better word for that? I need to cut back ; )

I think that's a great word. I write for DC careers and DC job search. I don't spend nearly enough time over there as I should and my sincerest wish is to take that traffic to my blog.

Bella Online is definitely a keeper. I get a lot of recognition from this site. Most people know my work from here.

Sorry Dianne. I know what you write about. Been to your site and your examiner site too. I was asking Deanna. I actually don't know what she writes about at bella either. Yeah I'm a dufus sometimes. Sorry! See I even spelled your name wrong.

I'm the worst speller ever. Today I spelled ballin insted of bawling and got a funny message from a n.l. subscriber about it. I spell checked it too.

I totally agree Dianne! My examiner site doesn't get a fraction of the traffic I get here. If I found a second site here to write for, I'd let the other one go.

I keep up my personal blog just because it's more about me, and stuff my Inspiration peeps really probably would have no interest in LOL.

Angela, As soon as I post more then 2 articles, I'll send the link...lol...

I missed the DC Blogger meeting last week where I was hoping someone would provide further insight on that gadget thing...lol... there is a blogger buddy session next week - I'm going to that.
Plus Ladies Who Launch - DC is having a seminar next week called Why Write? Books and Blogs and everything in between..
It's $15 for nonmembers - unless your a first time guest then it's Free, I'm a first timer so yeah on that.
Plus - on Sunday one of the writer meet up groups I belong to is having a seminar on writing e-books.

Now with attending all these seminars, working full time and other junk - it's a wonder that I get any writing done...lol...
But I'm hoping what I learn there, plus the help of all you fabulous ladies - I will arm myself with knowledge to keep it moving forward.
I have to keep in mind that spending all of my time "preparing" and not DOING, is in itself, a form of procrastination.

Ah Monica - I get it! Content vs. Blogging. A content driven site (such as BellaOnline) will get more traffic that a private blogger writing about the same topic.

So, now I'm glad I have my own website - and even though I am technically blogging there, it's also content for my topics that don't fit in my BellaOnline site.

Though I've made no money there yet LOL!

OK. This is what I'm working on... Still a work in progress at the getting it set up stage. Last night I think I added adsense.

The Career Creation

HOw do I get those little tool symbols out of there?

I checked out your website Dianne! Coolness with the adsense.

Thank you!!! I'm excited about going to the blogger buddy session meetup next week. So I can get face to face help from some of the experts in the DC Blogger group.