Whether you have been blogging for years or you're just getting started, it makes sense to compare your options. There are dozens of blogging platforms worthy of your consideration. The one that you choose will depend on your preferences and what you want to accomplish. If you feel that you're stuck in WordPress Land, use this guide to decide whether it makes sense for you to stay there or move to another platform.
Why People Get Stuck in WordPress Land
Image via Flickr by theanthonyryan
Before exploring other platforms, let's look at WordPress to see why so many people choose it. Currently, WordPress says that over 62.6 million sites use their platform. A map on the company's website shows WordPress activity all over North America and Europe with plenty of activity in South America, Asia, and Australia. Other than the occasional comment or like, few people in Africa seem to care one bit for WordPress.
There's a good reason that so many people use WordPress: it's a great platform. It offers:
- Flexible themes
- Social networking tools
- Traffic analytics
- Blog platforms for mobile devices
- A dashboard in more than 50 languages
- Tons of WordPress plugins help you take control of your content and analytics
Clearly, this option has plenty of great features to offer. Now let's look elsewhere to see what the online blogging competition does better (and, in some cases) not nearly as well.
Blogger Offers Similar Features With More Money-Making Potential
Blogger, a platform run by Google, has many similar features as WordPress. When you create a blog with Blogger you get:
- Flexible themes
- Plenty of traffic analytics tools
- Easy-to-use controls, even for people who don't have much Web design experience
OK, so they have a lot in common. But where do they differ?
Many people choose Blogger because it has more money-making potential than WordPress.org. Since Google owns Blogger, it's easy to implement Google AdSense to start making money from your site. WordPress.com also uses ads, but it keeps the money for itself. With Blogger, you get to keep a portion. That's great for anyone who wants to start a side-career in blogging.
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Some people find that they can integrate video, slideshows, and other types of media into Blogger posts. WordPress is actually pretty flexible about this, but it takes a lot of tinkering before you get the hang of it. With Blogger, you can put your media anywhere on the page without any problems. That's a big advantage considering that readers like blogs with video content.
Joomla Works Great for Big Websites, If You're Experienced
Image via Flickr by fsse8info
Compared to WordPress, hardly anyone uses Joomla. Still, Web-users visit approximately 394 million Joomla pages a month. That makes it a pretty serious contender worthy of consideration.
The thing is that Joomla will never become the most popular blog platform. WordPress and Blogger will always attract more people because they have the smallest learning curves. You can learn to use WordPress and Blogger fairly well within an hour. Joomla, however, asks for more of your time.
If you already have plenty of experience working with computers, Web content, and intensive media, then you should consider learning how to use Joomla.
Many designers who use WordPress for basic blogs turn to Joomla when they want to make larger sites with games, e-commerce functions, and intranet management features. (eBay currently uses Joomla to manage an intranet used by more than 16,000 employees.
If you know your way around a computer and you want to create a unique website that stands out from everything else you see online, this is a good option. If you just want a simple blog, then you probably don't need to spend your time on Joomla. Still, it's a great resource that designers should experience. It might not apply to you now, but next year you could find that your expectations urge you to venture outside of WordPress Land.
Joomla is a good place to start experimenting.
Tumblr Lets You Get to the Point and Get Out Fast
Not everyone wants to publish blog posts that run on for thousands of words. Some people don't even want to write posts with more than 100 words.
Those people will love Tumblr.
In some ways, Tumblr is more like Twitter than WordPress. It focuses on microblogging, which doesn't have to include words at all. You could simply post a picture, video, or other media format.
It's quick, it's easy, and it's versatile… But that doesn't mean it's overly limited.
Tumblr actually has some pretty cool features that make it look impressive next to other platforms.
First off, Tumblr doesn't post ads on your blog. If something is one your blog, it's there because you put it there. That lets you keep a clutter-free experience. Despite this, Tumblr is free. You don't have to pay anything to use it.
Secondly, Tumblr has a great collaboration feature. If you have a Tumblr account, you can allow other people to post content to your blog without any micro-managing. WordPress purposefully doesn't work this way. Like most content management systems, it gives one person control to publish content. Writers can submit posts, but they won't get published into the admin approves them. With Tumblr, anything goes. That makes it fun for people who aren't trying to keep a reputation or make money from their blogs.
Tumblr also gives you interesting ways to update your blog. Some options include:
- Publishing audio posts that you make with your windows phone
- Publishing posts via email
- Publishing posts via text messages
You can even set Tumblr to instantly share everything tag online. That's a comprehensive way for you to keep track of things that interest you and letting the rest of the world get a look inside your head.
Chances are that WordPress will dominate the blogging industry for several years. These three alternatives, however, have features worth looking at. What are some features that you like about Tumblr, Blogger, and Joomla? Could they ever pull you away from WordPress?
I never used Tumblr. After reading your blog post, I would like to give a try. Thanks for the share.
Google adsense is not a money maker any more, however it is very recommended to have another blog at Blogger to help you generate more traffic to your main blog and increase search engine ranking.
Hi Teddy,
You mentioned some good alternatives to WordPress, however most of bloggers don’t use Blogger and Tumblr because of monetize limitation. I mean your account can be suspended if they found any violation from your side, it means you’ll lose all your hard work.
Tumblr is really good to use. I have used that. If you post really funny images they can spread like wild fire. People love funny animated images on Tumblr the most! I have used blogger as well. What I like about blogger is that it is free, you can customize your themes and you can rank really high on the search engines for articles.
I have used both blogger and wordpress. I like blogger more because it is easy to use and is totally free. WordPress have some benifits over blogger but if you are using a well designed template for your blogger blog then you can obviousely make your name on internet. Many websites are running on blogger which are far better than WordPress sites.
Wordpress is a little complicated for newbies but if once you are habitual, you will love it. Only thing is you have to spent some money to keep it alive.
This sould be WordPress.COM 🙂
“WordPress.org also uses ads, but it keeps the money for itself. “
I love wordpress a lot in terms of web developing. Lots of plugins also easy to use and user friendly. I used wordpress almost 7 years.
WordPress rocks! Though blogger is for the beginners. 3 cheers for wordpress.
Hi Teddy,
Nice Post with latest news. My favorite Blogging Platform is WordPress. It is always better than others, Easy to use with amazing plugins. In previous days i used to work on Tumblr and Joomla. But i wasn’t satisfied with them. WordPress is more powerful and impressive platform than others.
Teddy Hunt I don’t know about you but Google Adsense has disappoint many of us including me over from last year or so. I recently experiment with blogger blog and it was a good experience.
WordPress is the best.. Have used Tumblr and blogger.. but the kind of ease i experienced in WordPress was no where. WordPress vs Blogger is still a hot topic to write upon and most of them results in concluding the wordpress as an option to go. Don’t know about the joomla and i think probably i won’t have to know about.. WordPress definitely rocks.
Thank you so much for a Good post. Personally I dont like joomla sites. WordPress is more good than joomla
Most important thing is that WordPress is SEO friendly, thats why most of people are using wordpress. plugins can be used and themes are easiliy installled.
Thanks for review
Thank you all for the feedback. I think it’s an interesting topic regardless of where you fall. I appreciate all of your comments.
Best,
Ted
I love wordpress because It is very easy to use and there are a lots of useful plugins.
i always find blogger very user friendly and easy to use but your article gave so much info about tumbler so i think i might try it once, thanks for sharing.
I’m loving WordPress land! There’s no land like this one! C’mon…this land is your land, this land is my land…I think I’ll stay.
I don’t know why people believe in CMS. As per my experience it’s content and your SEO strategy that will make you to stand above crowd.
I love Blogger still and just started a blog over on Tumblr too. I like them all but find Blogger easier to use than WordPress. With WordPress there are many more security and plugin issues to deal with but you can do more with the sites made in WordPress. Plus we own them. You made some great points Teddy!
I do use wordpress and am hesistant to use other means to blog. Although your article has opened my eyes and has made me want to look into these other sites you mentioned, I am open to change.
Well, I have been blogging on WordPress since past 7-8 months and I don’t think that I am stuck but instead I like to explore it more with each new day. Also it has got awesome plugins and easy to use dashboard and admin panel system.
Happy to work with it.
Thanks a lot for sharing the reason of choosing options other than WP.
Regards
Tumblr is quite good as it allows you to quickly post in minutes. I am not sure about Joomla, there seems to be a steeper learning curve compared with WordPress. Blogger is a great choice and I think it has many features.
Hi Teddy. Yeah the points which you have mentioned about the WP platform are the real reasons of why people stick with this platform. And the other two platform which you have mentioned like Blogger & Joomla are also really great and people should try something new instead of traditional blogging platform.
Good read! I know WordPress is an awesome blog platform on the market. I personally don’t use it as my platform. I have been using Typepad since I started my online business back in 2008. I went through brief struggle deciding if I should switch to WP.
I consulted with Michael Stelzner, the King of Social Media Marketing, about a year ago about the situation. If it wasn’t for me speaking to him, I could have made a huge mistake switching platforms.
Keep up the awesome content on Basic Blog Tips!
Best,
Stacie Walker
Woman in Leadership
I never stuck in WordPress because it is most easiest and user-friendly CMS of the world therefore i always enjoy it and use if for my business purpose. However your shared information is very effective and helpful to understand the technicalities and easy ways to get off from any kind of stuck.
Thanks for such a beautiful and detailed article. I am so used to wordpress now that it quite impossible for me to come out of it. but i would think about it. 🙂