I've been using Blogger off and on for about 6 months, but I've recently became more serious about the direction I'm going and I'd appreciate some input on a few things.

From the perspective of a guy who isn't up to speed on programming does it make sense to switch to Wordpress.org if I want to accomplish the following.

1) Create a website address brand without having the annoying blogspot.com in my address name? Perhaps I can buy an address and forward it to blogger.
2) If I switch to wordpress.org and find a hosting service is the site building similar blogger?
3) Blogger is easy to maintain when it works. Is wordpress more reliable (Note: I am becoming increasingly annoyed with google blogger because I cannot update my blog as often as I want because it will not save, delete, etc. or save my work. Even though I clean my cache once a day this doesn't solve the problem.
4) Does have a blog with blogger automatically increase my ranking?
5) I created a new account at wordpress.com and picked out a template I like a lot. The only problem is I cannot create ads unless I fork out $300 p/month. I just started using adsense and I'm nowhere near those earnings on a monthly basis, so it doesn't make sense to pay that much money without having everything in place.
6) Are there are other blog builders that I can look into?
7) I posted an issue about adsense's search option and that is a major issue for me down the road as it defeats the purpose of my blog about providing the ability for my readers to search my site for a specific topic I've written about.

I'd like to pick out a template I like, unless I can keep the one I have with wordpress.com and modify the html coding to my liking as I learn how to do that.

I welcome your input.

-J.R.

 

 

 

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1. You can host a wordpress site right here on Trap17. I think you can with Blogger too, but I'm not sure.
2. Well, kind of. It depends on what you mean by "site building".
3. Wordpress is also easy to maintain when it works. You have your own dashboard and everything.
4. Increase what ranking? Please be more specific.
5. I think you're allowed to put your own ads up on your site on Trap17. You don't need to have a wordpress.com account to use Wordpress.
6. Um... not that I know of.
7. (Um, okay...)

Wordpress is supposed to be a PHP blog that you use on your own website. The wordpress.com accounts are only there in case you don't have hosting. If you get hosting at Trap17 or somewhere else that suppors PHP, you can put your blog on there, instead of wordpress.com. Just be sure to copy the databases over while you're at it.

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Well honestly, I find Blogger a bit too limited, but if you're going to sign up to Wordpress.com for an account, you'll end up with more functionalities, but not as much as the Wordpress installation you could download in Wordpress.org. With the wordpress installation, you could just install it to your hosting account (if you have one here in trap, or somewhere else), and make it more personalized. Since it's php-based, you could make your own wordpress theme that you could totally fit your style. If I remember correctly, in Blogger, you have this single template which you could tweak, but it still too limited for me.

1. You could always buy a domain name. You could also get it here in trap in exchange for your credits.
2. Well yes and no. It's similar to blogger because it's a blog. It's not similar to blogger because it's your website, with your own address and not with the dot blogger at the end of the address line. what's even more useful is you could just make subdirectories and place as much wordpress installations as you want and it's still part of your website.
3. I haven't used the new version of the Blogger---the one that requires a gmail account to login---but I believe that the only difference of that from the previous version was the category list. In Wordpress, you will have a lot of options on how you wish the readers would view your website.
4. If I remember correctly, Blogger uses HTML when generating the pages/contents of your website, so it's easier to find it thru search engines. But there are ways to improve your search ranking in search engines. You could read that in a lot of search engine optimization tips here in trap.
5. Well you could just buy a hosting account, then install a Wordpress application which you can download in the dot ORG site. That way, you could have the option on where to place your ads in your blog. I believe the dot COM account doesn't allow you to change the theme for a more personalized look.
6. Wordpress is database-driven. I don't know if there are file-driven blog installations you could find out there. But if I were you I'd stick with Wordpress.
7. Well that's one of the many functionalities provided for you if you're going to use Wordpress. And they have a support forum where you could ask stuff so you could improve your wordpress installation.

The downside of having Wordpress? Well the installation is constantly maintained to prevent problems like hacking and stuff. But that's not really a downside. And besides, you really don't have to freak out every time there's an upgrade. They provide easy steps for people to follow in installing or upgrading your installation.

Hope that helps in your decision.

 

 

 

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As noted above, you will have greater flexibility with your own Domain Name and a Wordpress installation on your own Hosting account.
Options for hosting include Trap17 (of course), Qupis.com ( a sister company, also free, but with ads on the bottom of each page) and Computinghost.com (another sister company, but paid Hosting).
Computinghost has a Plan as little as $9.95 USD per year, that can be upgraded quite simply as the requirements for your site demand.
Xistodomains.com (yet another sister company) is a great place to purchase your Domain name, also.

The paid services (xistodomains and Computinghost) are a big reason the trap17 remains as a free alternative. The profits from those services help keep Trap17 afloat, so buying your Domain from xistodomains and purchasing your Hosting at Computinghost will help keep the Trap17 available as a Learning Centre for new Webmasters, like yourself.

Even if you simply stay here at the Trap17 as a free account, I highly recommend purchasing a Domain-name from xistodomains. The Domain Name will 'brand' your Blog, regardless of where it is Hosted.

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Thank you very much for the input. This is good stuff. What are the benefits about buying a domain name or hosting via the aforementioned links vs. the godaddy.com?

BTW, the http://www.xistodomains.com/ website did not work for me.

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