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Do you have questions about which blogging platform is for you?  Here is a great breakdown of Blogger and WordPress for you. 
To help us clear some of the air and talk about the benefits of Blogger, Kristyn and I got together to dicuss the benefits. She's talking all about WordPress, I'm focusing on why Blogger is best. Let's get started!

Here is why I Kristyn loves WordPress and she wishes started on this platform first:

You own your content and you get to manage a website.

Yes, Blogger is free and hosted by Google. But, I actually love that I get to manage my site. I am in control of the hosting services (A Small Orange is amazing). I learned what a cPanel is and I have actually gotten to play with things in it – like the function.php file when my site decided to not work when I messed up something on it. Super fun.

The designs are mobile responsive

I know that you can get a mobile responsive site on Blogger, but it's not automatic. With Genesis, you can easily scroll through my blog on any device and it will look the same. No scrolling side to side to read my blog on your phone. You are welcome.

The plugins

This might be considered a perk of WordPress, but these plugins are completely fantastic. They can speed up your site, help you with social media scheduling, secure your site from people trying to hack it, to recipe cards, to optimizing everything…the list goes on and on. The plugins that I use are all intentional to help my blog run faster.

The ease of changing up your menu and sidebar

To switch up my menu (at the top of my blog), I can actually do a bunch of different things up there. I can add any category or page to the menu and I could switch things around. I can also move my header over and put the 2nd menu up higher. The sidebar is just as easy to move things around. Nothing is ever stuck in place and I feel like I can change things around or add things as needed.

Google Analytics

I use WordPress stats, but I also have a plugin for Google Analytics. This is linked straight to my account and makes it so easy to see how my blog is performing. I don't have to log into GA separately to see those real time stats. I love that it's a plugin and directly in my dashboard. It's awesome to have that flexibility. 

Now let's talk Blogger.  I've been blogging for almost three years now at Helene in Between. Sometimes I feel like I have the hang of things, other times I wonder what the heck I'm doing. I feel pretty confident in my blogging skills, but there's always been one thing up for debate: Blogger vs. WordPress.

I'm a Blogger girl. I always have been. When I first started it was a “Duh” decision. It felt like the most advanced, cheapest, and easiest to use platform out there. Now, parts of that statement is true, but WordPress has become a huge competitor.

Despite all of WordPress' bells and whistles, here's why I still believe Blogger is best:

It's easy to understand

As far as a blogging platform goes, Blogger is very straightforward. You can immediately jump in and understand how to post, edit, and import pictures and how to gain followers.

Design

Designing in Blogger is more simple than WordPress. Of course, it's nice to have a blog designer but when you're just starting out, you can adjust the website to your liking.

Google

Blogger is owned by Google and Google is basically God. Am I right?

Stats

Your blog's statistics are simple and clear. You can see easily how you got traffic.

Comments

Blogger offers a comment feature that links directly to your blog. While WordPress does the same, you have to enter in your information each time, or you have to use a service like Disqus.

Free

Blogger is completely free, while you have to pay to use WordPress. It's $100 a year to own your site on WordPress.

Google Adsense

You can easily plug into Google Adsense and make money from your blog.
I think bottom line, in my case, Blogger is easier. So the ease of use means that I do miss out on some of the benefits.

Which platform would you choose?

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Now I have a blogger to introduce you to, in fact, she is the perfect person to talk to today, since she switch from WordPress to Blogger! It's Alanna, from Alanna and Company.  She's a dog lover, D.C. girl, foodie, avid book reader, and all around awesome lifestyle blog. Today I have her on the blog today to discuss her blog and life!

 

1. You're originally from Canada, do you find that Americans and Canadians are very different? It
really depends on where you are from Canada. I was from Toronto which I
call the most American-like Canadian city. I think the biggest
differences I noticed are the accents (ya'll come back now!), milk is in
cartons and not bags, it's called soda and not pop, and that Spring
lasts more than just one week. 

2. Why did you start your blog?
I started my blog to pass the time. I was bored a lot and I wanted to find a new hobby. Mission accomplished!

3. What's your favorite subject to post about and why?

I
love writing funny lifestyle posts. I wrote a funny post about
quarter-life crises a little while back and I was cracking myself up
while I was writing it. Second favorite are DC posts! I love my city. 

4. What's been your most popular post? What's a favorite post you've written?

My most popular post is first Stitchfix review. No surprise there. But my favorite post I've written is my Intro to Baking Cherry Pie by Scratch or the Quarter-Life Crisis post. 


5. If you could offer one piece of must-have advice to an aspiring blogger, what would it be?

Communicate
and network! Blogging has a great community and has helped me to feel
more confident about my writing and how to make my blog great!
Check Alanna out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!