I wouldn’t mind making the leap to WordPress, but what I have works (has worked for 5+ years) and as a new Dad, spare time for web dev stuff is in short supply these days!

Rob O.s last blog post..September 2008 Blogtipping

Blogspot is not more flexible than a hosted wordpress. It may be easier to do a few things to start, but there is so much more of a variety than blogspot.

However recent themes for blogspot have impressed me, id easily choose wordpress.

Eds last blog post..Porn spawns another funny quotes site

Jess @ NBP/MomDot/MCCs last blog post..Would a few prayers for a friend.

Aside from me. I don’t know about others, but even though I have my own domain and hosting, I prefer having my blog on blogspot because of security; I’ve been hacked more than once. I learned to my cost that I had to be up on security issues. Well, I’d rather spend that mental effort on creating content.

Now, I could use hosted blogger – I used to do that – but I really need the abilities for formatting and adding items that blogspot gives. It’s pretty simple (and cheap) to have your own domain and point it to blogspot, though, and I think everyone should do that, starting out. OTOH, if you have a lot of links pointing at a blogspot address, it’s probably both too late and beside the point. That would apply to wordpress and typepad as well.

What I would actually suggest is a compromise: host your blog on blogspot, where your data is really pretty secure if you are in compliance with Terms of Service. Use your hosted domain space for a catalog store or other money-makers, and use your blog to refer to and draw from.

Bob Kings last blog post..Links for 2008-08-07 [del.icio.us]

Nothing wrong with blogspot.

http://lorelle.wordpress.com/

Jennifer, we started on blogspot, the sooner to move off the better. Think a year down the road with how many more links etc you will get. Then it will be even harder to move. I would suggest to at least register a domain and have blogspot redirect it to that. This way you will stay on blogger, but you can start to establish your own dot com.

While I encourage using own domain and installing WP/MT, I can’t force everyone to have the willingness to learn how to setup and manage their own blog software.

WordPress.com allows you to map your blog to your own domain. Blogger.com has an option to transfer files to your domain through FTP.

It solves some of the problems, but you don’t have 100% control.

Services like Blogger are the perfect solution, since they are free, they host the blog for you, and it is quite easy to set up a blog and jump right in and start posting.

Sure, there aren’t that many default templates available for the newer type of Blogger blogs, but who says you have to use their templates? And who says you have to use the newer type? Why not go classic? There are actually a lot of classic templates you can use available from 3rd parties. You could also opt to make your own, either classic or new style, basing it on a pre-existing template, tweaking and altering it to suit your needs and style.

Unlike some other blog hosting services, such as Wordpress.com, Blogger doesn’t forbid you from using javascript, nor do they forbid you from having your own ads. They even make it easy to add your own adsense ads.

Speaking of ads, they don’t force you to carry their ads like some other services do. They don’t stick their banner ads all over your blog, taking advantage of your visitors and content to line their own pockets without compensation to you.

And when you are ready to invest a little cash into your blogging experiment, you can use your own domain name, depending on where you get your domain name from and what type of forwarding services they provide.

And when you are ready to invest a little more cash, you can pay for hosting and move your blog quite easily, especially if you have been using a classic template. You can still log into Blogger and post, and it will be published to your web space rather than on blogspot. The Gene Expression blog (gnxp.com) is a perfect example of a well respected science blog that uses Blogger to post to their own server.

For someone that just wants to blog and not have to learn about how to be a webmaster as well, blogspot hosted blogging is great. You don’t have to learn how to install software, or how to upgrade it, and you don’t have to worry about learning your way around cpanel, or how to backup a database. It’s all taken care of for you. You don’t even have to learn how to use an FTP client.

How often do you hear about wordpress exploits being discovered and how everyone must upgrade now? When is the last time you heard the same about Blogger? If an exploit is discovered, Google fixes it. You don’t have to lift a finger to apply a fix to your blog.

You don’t have to worry about bandwidth limits if your blog becomes popular. Or your server getting killed should something you post make it to the front page of digg. Your blog will be there, standing strong through it all, with no surprise bill at the end of the month for exceeding your bandwidth quota.

And should you decide midstream that you would like to switch to your own hosting, with your own domain name, and use wordpress, you can import all your posts from blogger to wordpress.

Can you sell a blogger blog? sure…it’s quite easy. Transferral isn’t as hard as you think. Remove all your ad codes, invite the buyer to join your blogging team. Make him an admin, demote yourself, he removes you from the blog’s team, it is now his and you walk away. He can move it to another server, buy a domain name for it, import the content to wordpress, whatever he wants. All the posts and traffic are now in his possession.

So blogspot isn’t as bad as some make it seem. Until your blog starts earning enough to support itself, it is a solution that just makes sense.