Comments on: Which Blogging Platform is Best for Writers?

By: thecassidyexpedition.com

thecassidyexpedition.com — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:47:51 +0000

I’m all about Wordpress. I feel that Matador is good if you are not familiar with coding and what to join an awesome community. However, if you want to start your own website up, then I think a person should use Wordpress. Just my two cents.

By: Adam Roy

Adam Roy — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:21:01 +0000

I’m definitely a WP man. Love the community at Matador, though.

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:16:09 +0000

Thanks, Michelle! Now… must find self-discipline and get started.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:26:40 +0000

Linda: I have a Wordpress blog and a Matador blog. I use Wordpress for my personal and music related blogs (which do include travel stories), and Matador only for travel. It’s not too much to keep up with both!

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:03:55 +0000

I was thinking about getting a new blog at Wordpress with my own domain but am also interested in a Matador blog for the community. Double-posting? Is that just too much?

By: Brittany

Brittany — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:41:10 +0000

I have to say WordPress is the best! It’s so easy. That’s what I use for all my websites.

By: Angela Corrias

Angela Corrias — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:14:57 +0000

I have Blogger for my blog and Wordpress for my website. Wordpress has more options, but Bloggers is much easier to use.. Before Wordpress, I had Joomla CMS installed on my website and I couldn’t go beyond the “About me” page: way too complicated for my tech-abilities…

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:14:40 +0000

What a ridiculously helpful article! This confirmed what I thought about WP and Blogger, but I was unfamiliar with Tumblr. Really great breakdown of info here.

By: joshywashington

joshywashington — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:41:55 +0000

Solid break down, great advice.
I have jumped around and have tried to adapt as best as I can but ultimately your sentiments about smaller community with an affinity for focussed subject matter is the most rewarding for me.

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:17:38 +0000

David-

Great, practical article.

I think the other consideration folks should take into account when they’re deciding which blogging platform is best is whether they ultimately want to have multiple blogs– and what each blog is for.

I have my Matador blog, which I don’t plan on giving up, because it’s really my online home for my travel writing. As you mentioned, it’s an ideal platform for finding a community, not only of readers, but of people to form friendships with.

I have my own Wordpress hosted blog with my own domain name that my husband and I use as a sort of online portfolio for all the writing/photography we do but don’t publish elsewhere. I really like that WP has as many plugins as it does– you can roll your Flickr feed on there, a Twitter feed, whatever.

And then I have a Wordpress hosted blog with the basic WP extension that I use for blogging about pregnancy (and parenthood, soon!).

Each of these blogs have a different function, and require different capabilities, so when you’re making a decision about the platform you ultimately want, do take the purpose of your blog and your target audience into consideration.

And as Alan says, Drupal and Joomla are other options (Joomla seems to be particularly popular in the Spanish speaking Caribbean and in South America).

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:00:28 +0000

Can’t forget about Drupal, Joomla, and Mambo. Although I think they’re suited for more advanced users. Doesn’t hurt to check them out, though!

By: Christy

Christy — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:17:08 +0000

I have a Blogger and a Live Journal. No one seems to use Live Journal anymore though! Every time I discover a new blogging site I want to join it but I don’t want to have posts all over the place so am sticking with these…I think I should use the Matador one too though!!

By: vmcalves

vmcalves — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:54:00 +0000

I switched from blogger to wordpress a while ago, after buying my first domain. the only thing I regret is not having done it earlier, as wordpress gives me a lot more freedom to make it look the way I want.

I’m not a code-ninja so I learn little bits here and there. My blogs need a lot of work still (and really, they should become one singular blog…) and blogger wouldn’t allow me to do what I have in mind for them. I guess it really comes down to what people want to do with their website – if they don’t want to have a go at playing with the format and just want to use it for quick posts, for example, to update friends & family on their lives, then blogger might be just what they need. If they want to go a little bit further, then wordpress is a much better option.

I also agree with Megan – blogger looks “more informal” than wordpress.

By: Marissa

Marissa — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:31:33 +0000

What a helpful breakdown, and great timing since I’m considering finally starting my own travel/preparing-for-travel-while-enjoying-my-city blog. Thank you for this!

By: Paul Sullivan

Paul Sullivan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:42:01 +0000

I have to agree with Megan here. I prefer WordPress in terms of both looks and functionality — and the fact you can add it to a domain makes it a really great, cheap choice for ppl who want a pro-looking website but don’t have much cash. Learning about CSS is a reasonable trade off for those results I feel…

By: Megan Hill

Megan Hill — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:37:31 +0000

I recently switched from Blogger to Wordpress and am happier with WP. It took some getting used to, but it’s a much better format, ultimately, for my needs. Blogger seems to produce a much less professional, more informal product.