Google is the undisputed king of search. There blogging platform on the other had leaves much to be desired. We will cover why Google’s platform, known as Blogger, is not the best for you and tell you about the best optios out there for you to start a successful blog that you control.
Google Blogger is a blog-publishing service offered by Google. You access the blogs using the “blogspot.com” subdomain. The content management system is also called Blogger and gives you a platform to create blogs or online discussion sites. You can get a free domain, blogspot.com, or buy a custom domain.
Users can also customize their blogs using different templates, hundreds of images, and flexible layouts. To start using Blogger, you begin by creating a Google account or use an existing one. The good thing is that you can create multiple blogs with a single Gmail account.
Blogger is a product of Google, which is a highly respected tech giant. However, the blogs are controlled by Google 100%, and despite being a reliable cms, it comes with numerous shortcomings. They include:
Table of Contents
Ownership of the blog
Google owns your blog as long as you use their CMS. This means Google can and will delete your account for whatever reason they want. The blog is theirs, and they have the right to shut it down or block your access without warning.
It is similar to social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram that ban people or suspend accounts if they feel you have contravened their rules and regulations. There is also the worry of losing your blog without even doing anything because Google may decide to abandon the project.
This company is known to stop supporting such projects without warning, like the Feedburner.
Flexibility and control
Blogger is created and designed for people looking for simple blogging. However, the things you can do are limited, such as not replying to comments and engaging with your audience.
This blogging platform has inbuilt tools that enable you to add features such as subscription links, advertising, contact form, and many others. However, the flexibility and control are limited because Google controls the functionality of your blog.
You will also not get advanced options, including eCommerce features, pop ups, and many others that would make running a blog easier. This hinders you from making money in Blogger like on other platforms.
Design options
Templates and functionality are limited, making it hard to customize your website and make it unique. The design and appearance of a blog play an essential role in driving traffic and keeping it around.
Besides, the first impression is vital because it determines how much time someone spends on your blog. The design must be attractive and easy to navigate to keep users engaged, lowering the bounce rate.
With limited templates on the Blogger, your engagement with potential customers is limited. The templates are basic and use by thousands of other blogs. There is nothing unique about them, and though you can change the colors and the layout, you cannot make further modifications or customize templates.
The limited template options and customization options without any layout choices make Blogger poor in design choices.
Security Management
Google is a secure platform, and therefore using Blogger gives you an added advantage of a robust and safe platform. Google provides the server’s resources and blog security and back up.
However, when Blogger is down, your blog will also go down. There is nothing you can do about it. You have to wait until Google recovers the site for you.
Support
When choosing a host, support services are critical. Ensure they have a reliable and efficient support system because you never know when they need their help. Blogger comes with limited support.
Their documentation is basic and leaves users with minimal choices in terms of customer support.
Portability
Moving your blog to another host from Blogger is a challenging task. In fact, moving comes with numerous risks that can affect the performance of your site.
One of the worst things is that you lose search engine rankings, followers, and subscribers. Besides, the process of moving your content is slow, and it remains on Google servers for a long time.
Pricing
Sometimes free things end up being costly.
But at the same time, you should go for a costly one that will end up draining you financially. Blogger is free and gives you free subdomain and blog hosting.
Even the themes, tools, and many other options are given for free by Google. But you are allowed a few third parties at a cost. For example, if you want a customized domain name, you can buy it from another company.
With so many free features, Blogger lacks some essential options that you need to create a successful blog. It is the reason you should use a reasonably priced blogging platform to access money-making features and tools.
Limited pages and posts
Blogger limits the size of files that you can upload. But you can post as many posts as you want. The length of the post is unlimited. However, each post can only have 20 unique labels, and should not have more than 20 characters. Besides, the post’s name should have 30 or fewer characters, and each comment cannot exceed 4096 characters.
All images are uploaded through post editor and should not be over 8MB. You can also change the background of the template image though the image background shouldn’t be more than 300KB.
Hard to get backlinks
Backlinks are crucial for every blog. They help you earn without spending anything. But when using Blogger, you cannot build backlinks because 75% of the Google Blogspot posts are spam. No one wants to link to Blogger even when the content is excellent.
If you link with Blogspots, your blog may get penalized by the penguin algorithm, and sometimes your reputation decreases. It does no good to a blog hosted on another platform.
This makes it hard for you to establish authority and give your brand maximum exposure as a Blogspot user. Backlinks are the surest way to become authoritative in your niche and quickly enable your blog to rank high with search engines.
No Plugins
Blogger doesn’t have plugins features. This means you cannot add other elements to the blog. It hinders you from getting friendly features such as:
- Content tables
- Social media sharing buttons
- SEO plugins such as rankmath
- Image compressor and optimizer
- Automatic backups
You have to do most of the tasks manually, which takes much time. For example, you have to compress images, do SEO and take backups manually.
Hard to make money with the blog
The primary way to make money when using Blogspot is Google AdSense. Though it is one of the ways to make money online, it is the biggest earner. You miss out on a lot of opportunities that can make you a lot of money.
Besides, it is not easy to get approved for Adsense even when you have good content. There is a high chance of being rejected. Also, when approved, you are required to insert the AdSense codes in each blog post.
It is hard and tricky for people who know nothing about JavaScript and HTML. In short, it prevents you from monetizing your blog in ways like:
- Selling ebooks
- Marketing online courses
- Selling different products
- Providing consultation services
- Affiliate marketing
A blogger that does not allow you to do such things, you cannot make much money.
Blog Limits
The title of your blog can only have 90 or fewer characters. The subdomain name should be37 or fewer characters long. Besides, every blog should have 20 pages and up to 5000 unique labels.
There is a better option – WordPress
WordPress is a better option when compared to Blogger. You can use it to build and host websites and blogs. It comes with plugin architecture and a rich template system to enable you to customize your websites and blogs. The good thing is that thousands of online investors trust it. More than 30% of the millions of websites online today are managed and based on WordPress.org CMS. But does it stand out?
- It is very SEO friendly
- It comes with many plugins that you can use for free to do SEO
- Many free themes for a professional look
- Excellent customer care and support
- You are allowed to monetize your blog or website without being limited
- The many themes and plugins will enable you to customize your website 100%
The best thing about WordPress is that you own the website or blog completely. It is free, and all you have to do is pay the host and buy a domain name. You can choose between WordPress.com or WordPress.org.
WordPress.org is more suitable if you are looking for power more than control and customization. It requires you to buy and set up a domain name, install plugins and a theme, edit codes and manage your site’s security.
Follow our FREE guide to start your Blog right now.
WordPress.com gives you an all-in-one option, and most of the hard work is done for you. It means you do not have to buy a domain, pay for hosting or manage your server. Besides, WordPress.com has both free and paid versions.
A free version will not allow you to upload custom themes and plugins, and you get a subdomain from WordPress.
WordPress is a better option compared to Blogger. It comes with all the advantages you want to monetize your blog or website.