When I hired a designer to re-do my author website, she recommended moving my blog to WordPress and having it be part of the website for consistency and a professional look. At the time, I was buried under my teaching responsibilities and the writing of Eighth Day #3, so I didn’t research what this change might involve. I just said okay, sounds good to me.
I have no doubt that the designer was right about the more professional look that comes with my blog being part of my website. However, there were lots of things about WordPress I didn’t know.
There’s no Follower button. There’s no dynamic Blog Roll. I don’t have as much flexibility when formatting my posts — such as changing the font size or making links stand out in a different color (or else I just haven’t figured out how to do it). And to make a comment on a WordPress post, you have to click the title of the post — or in my case, I asked my designer to add a “Leave a Comment” link at the top. (Clicking the line that tells how many comments there are does nothing. I don’t know why.)
Blogger is overall more user friendly, I think. WordPress has Akismet, though, which is awesome at preventing spam comments. No word verification necessary!
However, commenting at other people’s blogs can sometimes be an issue.
When Lexa Cain alerted me that clicking my name on the comments I made at her blog directed her to my Blogger profile, which lists my old blog, I first went to the profile to change it. But you can’t add a non-Blogger blog to the My Blogs list on your Blogger profile.
Then I realized that you could change your log-in when you make a comment, and there was a WordPress option. Hurray! But it didn’t work for me. The form would not accept my WordPress username. Which is when I learned that there is a WordPress.com and a WordPress.org. I still get them confused, but basically, I belong to the wrong one, as far as Blogger’s comment box is concerned. It does not recognize my identity.
Some Blogger comment boxes are set up to allow people to submit their name and URL, which works for me, and some are not set up that way. Darned if I know where the setting control for that is! But basically, if you’re on Blogger, and your comment box does not allow me to enter my name and URL, I have to comment under my old Blogger identity. (And I found out that WordPress bloggers who don’t have a Google ID can’t comment on those blogs at all. I researched this problem on WP forums and found that a lot of WP bloggers just gave up visiting Blogger blogs because they were unable to comment on most of them.)
Maybe you knew this? Maybe not. But that’s what I’ve learned this week, and I’m sharing the wisdom!
I know the lack of a follow widget is a bummer. You can’t tell who is following. (Of course, even with a follow widget, I don’t always know, since people often skip clicking it.)
I hope it’s not a problem commenting at my site.
I use WordPress for my Ashelyn Drake blog and I don’t like it as much. It’s definitely not as user friendly as Blogger, but I haven’t really spent enough time trying to figure it out either. As far as commenting, I have the Name/URL option on my Blogger blog so everyone can comment, but that opens up the Anonymous commenting too. I’ve put in a request to Blogger to turn that off, but I’m only one person so I doubt I’ll have much pull in that decision. 😉 Would be nice though.
I noticed a while back I can’t follow a lot of wordpress sites unless I sign up for a newsletter. I can, however, add wordpress blogs to my blogroll. You’d think blogger and wordpress would learn from each other and make available the features everyone wants.
Interesting. Most wordpress bloggers I know swear it’s better than blogger! I did not know there were two different WordPresses. I’ve found the only way to follow wordpress blogs is to subscribe, which does tend to fill up my inbox…
My blog doesn’t allow anonymous comments at all, and I have it set to switch to comment moderation after two weeks, which seems to help keep out spammers. (knock on wood)
Hope you get it all worked out.
That’s too bad the two systems are not more compatible. And sad that wordpress bloggers give up on those who use blogger.
I can add the wordpress blogs on my blogger dashboard and continue to follow blogs like yours.
Holy cow – you’ve been through the wringer on this thing. I didn’t know that not having Name/URL might prevent some from commenting on my blog. I’ve changed that now. The only drawback is that option also allows anonymous comments (spammers). Thanks for the explanation and pointers! Have a great week! 🙂
I haven’t switched to WordPress for the reasons you’ve laid out. . . actually, you added some I didn’t know I’d be faced with. I just knew that there were be a huge chunk of time to change over and I really didn’t have it.
So sorry you went through all of this, but how kind of you to tell us. Information like this is always so helpful. Thanks.
But spam comments are funny! They pretend to know English but really can’t speak it at all!
I didn’t realize there was such a problem with non-Blogger users commenting on our blogs. I don’t want to cut out any readers. Is mine like that?
Well, I just read your comment on my blog, tried clicking on the link, and it brought me here. I guess it means that I have that URL function enabled. I am such a dork because I have no clue about this stuff.
I am sorry that this new site has been so full of hassle.
Question: If you could do it again, would you have your designer work within the blogger format or still make the change?
I find that it’s easier for me to leave a comment on wordpress blogs than blogger though. On WordPress it gets linked back to my website, but on blogger it’s my Google profile.
When I decided to start blogging, I went w/Blogger as I’d heard it was more user friendly. And since me and technology get along about as well and oil and water at times, I figured user friendly was more my speed. =) And since I wasn’t able to comprehend about half of what you were talking about up there, I’m glad I didn’t go w/Wordpress. Lol! 😉
I’ve thought about switching over, but it does seem that the sense of community is stronger within Blogger.
I attempted to change from Blogger to WordPress a couple of years ago, after I read something somewhere, but I didn’t even get past “staring at a blank screen wondering where to start”. In contrast, I designed my website with no trouble at all. WordPress is definitely less user friendly.
Every now and then, I consider switching (I’ve heard so many ppl claim WordPress is better), but the older I get, the less technology savvy I’m becoming (wierd.) Plus, WP seems colder somehow. Maybe because of the reasons you’ve listed above. I hope you aren’t having trouble commenting on my blog. And big respect for tackling the changes!
I know what you’re talking about. There are times when I post in both WP & Google where the system will kick me out. It’s really annoying. I know WordPress has a Follow button though, but I think you have to have a WP login to use it. I know with my business profile, I can follow WP blogs, but I don’t have one for my MB profile. Does that even make sense?
I’ve only ever used WordPress so I have nothing to compare it with. Blogger seems to recognize my WordPress ID. Sorry you’re having so many problems. Maybe the web designer can help you figure some of it out?
Best of luck, Dianne!
Hi Dianne – a timely post .. I haven’t switched yet (just haven’t got there to start the process) .. but now I’m slightly rethinking …
Which is the main WordPress … the .org or the .com?
Interesting … and the problem is that no-one is an expert on all things … so we can get drawn into the WP route via others … though it’s something I’ve favoured for a while – but with the hassles … I’m now not so sure ..
I did know about WP people from the A-Z not being able to comment on blogger blogs – so they gave up …
Interesting .. thanks for posting for us – cheers Hilary
The followers widget is not that great anymore anyway now that Google Reader is gone. All those things you want to do you can do. I promise. I have a WP blog and do most of that already.
What I did is set up a test blog at the .com site to play with and learn all the basic features of WP without messing up my own site. This setup is much more powerful, but you can get a hang of it there first.
As for the Blogger profile. Remove the blogs that show up in your profile, then in your bio add the link there (it takes html) and in the website area. This is mine: https://www.blogger.com/profile/06715450637785127208
I’m surprised your designer didn’t add a feed button as part of the set up. The easiest thing to do is set up your feeds with feedburner.com, then add a graphic and link in your sidebar – you can also add a get feed by mail through them. I recommend adding bloglovin’ and feedly too. And linkyfollowers. (I have all that in my sidebar.)
Yes, get the feed by mail thingie. I really like getting an email notification about a new post.
Great post, Dianne! My biggest beef with WordPress (which I use for my website, though not my blog) is the inability to change the font. I asked my designer about this–I couldn’t believe that I, as the owner of the site, couldn’t change font size, color, etc.–and she told me, nope, she has to do it manually as the designer of the site. That’s about the least user-friendly feature I can imagine, and I don’t see any sense in it either.
Oh – I feel your pain!
I converted a few months ago because every single thing I read about having a professional website said to go WordPress. WordPress.com means you don’t own the blog. WordPress.org means you are the host and you own the blog and it can’t disappear. I loved blogger and was very comfortable using it, but I think I’m glad I switched…even though there were severe growing pains and I still have to ask for help. It’s not user-friendly like blogger. I constantly have to ask my designer (sister-in-law) to help with tech stuff. I also had the same blogger profile problem…I think I switched it like you did but it was such a pain to figure out. Your website does look awesome and very professional!