So if any of you have been with me on my blogging journey since the start, you probably know that I started my blog with google’s Blogger.
Blogger is a free platform with a super simple layout that makes getting into blogging easy peasy! Really!
I started my blog back in January of 2019 and have been working on it since. I only recently switched to WordPress back in April 2020.
Why? You ask. Well, good news! I’m going to tell you why!
Here are the reasons I left Blogger for WordPress.
1. To own my content 100%
I had been reading up on other blogs about self-hosting for months before I made the switch. With a self-hosted site, you are able to own 100% of your content without a platform being able to tell you that they technically own your site.
Or at least, that’s what I’ve been told…
I’ve been trying to do more research into this subject to see if this statement is true. Sadly, I haven’t come to any conclusions.
I will say however, that there is more freedom that comes with self-hosting. Is it 100% my own? Hadn’t it already been 100% my own prior due to U.S. copyright law? This is something to think about.
I can’t lie. Sometimes I wonder if bloggers just write this to convince other bloggers to purchase say, Bluehost or WordPress services through their affiliate links…
Is self-hosting honestly worth it? I’m not sure yet but I’ll let you know!
(I self-host through BlueHost!)
2. More options to decorate my blog
This is the MAIN REASON that I moved my blog. Remember how I said that Blogger was super simple? Yeah, well, it was extremely simple!
With blogger, there wasn’t much room to “decorate” or “re-order” the blog layout. Blogger has a great setup, don’t get me wrong! But opportunities are limited.
I wanted a slideshow on the homepage of my blog AND a small Instagram widget on the right hand side. To do this in blogger, I had to go to outside sources and copy the HTML code and paste it into my Blogger blog.
This was tricky and very time consuming. Though I was able to learn HTML from the experience, I wasted a lot of time trying to code when I could have used a better blogging format.
(If you want to see how I coded my blogger blog from scratch, check out the link above!)
I chose WordPress because it has a number of functions for customizing a blog. Also, the themes were so much cooler than the few that blogger had.
3. Opportunities to monetize
This is a BIG reason I left blogger. Blog monetization is super important if you want to make blogging a career. Honestly, back in 2019, I didn’t even know I could make money blogging! However, once I learned, I thought it’d be cool to invest time and energy into making that idea a reality for my own blog.
The problem?
Blogger worked great with Google Adsense (as they’re both operated by google) but beyond that, it didn’t do too well.
Google Adsense is not really a bloggers best friend. It can look spammy and often doesn’t bring in a whole lot of revenue.
Unlike YouTube which pays for how often the ad is seen, on blogs, you only get paid if someone clicks on the ad or purchases whatever it is the ad is advertising.
This wasn’t very useful when trying to monetize my blog. Moreover, affiliate programs like amazon associates and shareasale weren’t properly optimized.
Which brings me to my next reason for switching:
4. Better SEO functions
SEO IS CRUCIAL TO A BLOGS WELLBEING!
Wow. Blogger had almost no Search Engine Optimization functions. Zip. Zero. Nada.
I moved to WordPress because there are so many more opportunities to properly optimize a blog.
Yoast SEO is one of my favorite tools in WordPress. It allows you to check the readability of your blog, change the meta description, add tags, and so much more.
Moreover, wordpress allows you to add Alt text to Every. Single. Image. On. Your. Blog!!
This is amazing for so many reasons.
I can talk about all of this technical stuff in another post, but for now, please understand that great SEO makes or breaks a website and blogger had no ways of editing any crucial functions.
5. Less html work
As I mentioned before, HTML was a big issue for me when customizing my blogger blog. At first, I really liked that I was learning a new skill and creating a blog that I loved for free! Over time, however, the HTML work began to become excessive and I always felt as if my blog didn’t look quite how I envisioned.
There were a number of things I couldn’t do properly on my blog that I desperately craved. Also, HTML was time consuming and tough to work with.
WordPress offered plugins for practically anything I could ever need. In addition, there were thousands of free layouts to choose from and so many more widgets to add to my blog than what blogger provided.
Moving to WordPress meant that I could make my blog look EXACLY how I wanted it to!
Take-a-ways:
- WordPress offered more SEO opportunities
- More room to edit and design my blog how I wanted
- Less HTML work
- And better monetization strategies
I won’t bash blogger however. I think Blogger was a fantastic platform. It was super easy to use and was great for my first year into blogging. Also, moving the blog from blogger to WordPress was a breeze since the two are quite compatible!
I’m still not sure the full benefits of self-hosting, nor am I convinced yet that $3 a month for BlueHost is worth it.
I will say however, that WordPress is amazing and I can’t wait to play around with all of the plugins over the summer!
If you like this post, check out some similar posts of mine below:
Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what platform you use for your blog!
You can also email me with questions or concerns you may have at info.amelia.wilson@gmail.com
Also, check out my poetry book, The Lights are on but Nobody’s Home, available now on amazon for $6.99!
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post includes affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you.
Thanks again