I started my first blog (“andyinkorea“) on March 31, 2005. (Check out my 1st 2 blogposts which were within 6 minutes of each other here.) That was 5 years, 6 months and 15 days ago today. I stuck with “blogger” for quite some time but eventually I switched over to wordpress. I am much happier with wordpress and whenever I meet a new blogger or someone thinking of starting up a blog, I tell them why I prefer wordpress. I thought I’d share that list (or at least part of that list) with you today:
1) Font/Theme/Template Styles & Choices: There are so many options with wordpress to give your blog the look you desire! It’s also super easy to change your theme anytime you want with just a click of a button.
2) Easy to Use: Wordpress is really great and they pretty much make it “idiot proof” for somone who wants to start up a blog of their own. Some options take time and patience to figure out but like I always tell the potential blogger, “If I can figure it out, anyone can!” 🙂
3) Headers: The option of using one of your own pics as your blog header or using a few standard wordpress headers gives the blogger options. In my case, I like to change the header every now and then to give a “constantly changing look”.
4) Side widgets: I LOVE the widgets that are extremely easy to add to a wordpress blog. You can add side options like “recent comments“, “top posts“, a calendar, a search box and “top clicks“. I think it makes any blog more interesting (and again constantly changing) to have such cool options!
5) Stats!: This option is SO awesome perhaps it should be listed as reason #1 (but these are not listed in any particular order, dear reader! 🙂 )
I must say that even though numbers aren’t anything to go by, it is motivational to see how many people are popping by your blog and where your blog has been linked in from.
6) Comment Moderation (Muhaha!): Some people like to keep their blogs open for anyone to comment but I think that’s about as intelligent as the naive Canadians who leave their doors unlocked and trust anyone, ha!ha! What I LOVE about wordpress is that you can leave it open to anyone (as I do) but you can have a secret list of words that if anyone puts any of them in their comments, the message is automatically held back from being posting until you “moderate it” and click “accept it”. Awesome option! (I have had dozens of extremely bizarre and rude comments from being posted as a result. WordPress is also great for protecting your site from spam!!!)
7) “Freshly Pressed” Blogs!: Whenever wordpress bloggers sign into wordpress on the homepage (www.wordpress.com) there are 10 blogs introduced each day which wordpress has considered interesting or fascinating for the day. I have been introduced to some pretty cool blogs (and some I despise, ha!ha!) and some pretty cool new people this way. This is a daily habit for me now-to check out the “freshly pressed blogs”. Who knows, someday (but not likely with my beliefs…) I might make it as a freshly pressed blog! 🙂
8) WordPress Support: Every now and then on the homepage, they give you updated help such as tips for bloggers with writers block, information about new options and other helpful tips.
9) Upgrades Made Easy: I never could figure out how to add space if my old blogspot blogs reached their limits. I was often reduced to starting up a new blog once the maximum limit was reached! WordPress, on the other hand, keeps you up to date with how much memory space is left. In addition, they make it super easy (with a click on “upgrades” on your member’s page) to upgrade. You can add memory for photo blogs (like mine) or you can even upgrade to a video blog! Again, cool options!
10) Search Engine Results: I LOVE this extra feature of WordPress. I know a lot of other bloggers pay big money for companies to tell them who is searching their website, from where, what search results lead them to their blogs and such. WordPress provides all that as an automatic option for all their bloggers! You can see what the most popular search terms for your blog are from the past day, 7 days, quarter, year or all time. For example, 936 people searching for “demons” found my blog, 894 for “anger managment”, 842 for “Andy in Oman” and 291 for “Oman”. There are some extremely bizarre search results that led people to my blog but I’ll save that for a blog on its own, haha.
So if you have never started a blog yourself, why not go to www.wordpress.com and try one out for yourself. It’s a lot of fun and like me, I’m guessing that you’ll meet a lot of interesting people along the way! 🙂 If you’re using blogger, do yourself a favor and “make the move”!
Andy in Oman 