Blogging Platform Comparison: Wordpress Not So Bad
This blog currently sits on a Blogger template. When we first started this blog (almost two years ago), we picked Blogger because it was a simple HTML template. You can make Blogger do anything you want it to (in this case, we matched it up to the navigation of the durbinmedia.com site).
A second reason to use Blogger is they allow you to FTP to a path on your site, which means your blog can be http://yoursite.com/blog. For SEO reasons, it's nice that everytime someone links your blog, they're linking your site. Blogger's limitations are well known. They own your site, so they can do what they want with it, which can include being taken down if they think you're spam, of just bugs, or upgrades, or any other issues.
So we build Blogger blogs, but only for clients who fit those narrow specifications. A path, not a lot of reason to customize site management, and to be frank, less money.
Typepad:
Our main choice is always Typepad. From experience, I can tell you that Typepad shows up in Google faster. The design is clean and easy to use. The site management, including comments, categories, extended posts, trackbacks, widgets, and technorati tags makes it the perfect choice for marketing, small business and PR experts who want to focus on content, community, and message rather than the technical aspects of making the blog. Typepad is less buggy, and not easy to break. That's a great reason to choose it.
Wordpress:
Wordpress is also easy to work with, and I do use it for one client. My concern has always been the look of the interface and the potential for plug-in conflicts. Because it's open source, you have to know a little more than you do with Typepad. I imagine Wordpress is easier for a company than Movable Type, but our main clients aren't looking for another technology platform - they're looking for foolproof content management.
But I'll give Wordpress this. Their import tool from Blogger is incredible. I was having problems converting the template for a client directly into Typepad. So what I did, was sign on to my Wordpress account, and import the files into Wordpress. It took seconds, with no damage to the Blogger entries (titles too!). Of course, no pictures, but no one does that. I then turned aroud and saved the file to my desktop, where it was easily uploaded into Typepad.
That was pretty cool. So maybe I'll give another look to Wordpress.
Although we'll still be converting this blog to Typepad and mapping it to the brandstorming name in the next few weeks.
A second reason to use Blogger is they allow you to FTP to a path on your site, which means your blog can be http://yoursite.com/blog. For SEO reasons, it's nice that everytime someone links your blog, they're linking your site. Blogger's limitations are well known. They own your site, so they can do what they want with it, which can include being taken down if they think you're spam, of just bugs, or upgrades, or any other issues.
So we build Blogger blogs, but only for clients who fit those narrow specifications. A path, not a lot of reason to customize site management, and to be frank, less money.
Typepad:
Our main choice is always Typepad. From experience, I can tell you that Typepad shows up in Google faster. The design is clean and easy to use. The site management, including comments, categories, extended posts, trackbacks, widgets, and technorati tags makes it the perfect choice for marketing, small business and PR experts who want to focus on content, community, and message rather than the technical aspects of making the blog. Typepad is less buggy, and not easy to break. That's a great reason to choose it.
Wordpress:
Wordpress is also easy to work with, and I do use it for one client. My concern has always been the look of the interface and the potential for plug-in conflicts. Because it's open source, you have to know a little more than you do with Typepad. I imagine Wordpress is easier for a company than Movable Type, but our main clients aren't looking for another technology platform - they're looking for foolproof content management.
But I'll give Wordpress this. Their import tool from Blogger is incredible. I was having problems converting the template for a client directly into Typepad. So what I did, was sign on to my Wordpress account, and import the files into Wordpress. It took seconds, with no damage to the Blogger entries (titles too!). Of course, no pictures, but no one does that. I then turned aroud and saved the file to my desktop, where it was easily uploaded into Typepad.
That was pretty cool. So maybe I'll give another look to Wordpress.
Although we'll still be converting this blog to Typepad and mapping it to the brandstorming name in the next few weeks.
posted by James Durbin @ 3:29 AM PERMALINK
2 Comments:
Nice Post! That's a good rundown on the features of those.
I've got mine in Moveable Type right now.
I'm really not even sure how I managed to get it to work. Those three days of modifying Unix scripts are kind of a blur.
But now the MT software I use is way out of date, but to upgrade I have to update my version of mySQL and PERL and something else and i don't know what all that will break and I'm afraid to find out.
I kind of wish I'd gone the TypePad route to begin with.
Chris...
www.clcphoto.com
Hmm... I suppose I should look at Typepad a bit further.
I've managed Wordpress accounts both on their server and using their software on my own and have loved the open nature of it. I can make it do anything. Maybe that's just my web design background coming out, though. The downside of wordpress, I've found, is people tend to be confused by their interface (both when it comes to general using and writing posts). I don't know if you've experienced similar situations with Typepad?
I always felt way too restricted using Typepad given its relatively closed nature and lack (from what I saw) of good plugin support.
I've been trying out Blogger recently and like their template system and back-end. I greatly dislike their captcha, though. Perhaps I'll take another look at Typepad/MT...
Thanks for taking the time to do a writeup :)
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home