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Should I Switch from Blogger to WordPress?

I recently got asked, “Should I switch from Blogger to WordPress?” The short answer to this often asked question I get is, “Yes” you definitely should. WordPress is a superior and much better blogging platform and content management system than Blogger. There are a lot more features and 3rd party supported plugins which make the functionality of WordPress 1000 times better than Blogger probably ever will be. Honestly I could go on for a long time listing reasons why you should switch from Blogger to WordPress.

Even if WordPress is a better blog software to use I don't' necessarily see a reason for everyone to make the migration over to WordPress. It sort of depends on your needs and goals with your blog.

Most people use Blogger for their blogs since they just wanted something quick and easy. Since Blogger integrates with Google and all of their products it definitely is simple to use. A lot of Blogger blogs are mainly for sharing family photos, updates, and happenings privately with a family and friends. Or it was something that was just needed for a short time period of time and it wasn't worth it to register a domain name to use and buy web hosting. Other examples would be classes, soccer teams, school projects community bulletins, etc. In my opinion if this is what you are using Blogger for you may not want to hassle with switching from Blogger to WordPress.

Blogger also runs in a cloud environment which makes it a stable software and secure blog platform. (WordPress.com does as but self hosted WordPress blogs depend on what host you are using.) While it definitely doesn't have as much functionality and there are not as much 3rd party development going on with Blogger it is still a great platform for those that want something simple.

If you've landed on this article I am going to assume you are considering switching from Blogger to WordPress and you've probably read about Google's changed Terms of Service. Google's changed ToS basically states you may not own the content you make, which some people don't really like. Even Matt Cutts, Google's head of WebSpam, uses WordPress over Blogger. I wouldn't be surprised if Google's ToS was one of the reasons.

Also if keeping up a blog and your website is taking up more of your time and you looking for ways to monetize it, than you definitely are going to have to switch. WordPress has a lot of plugin options and greater flexibility for you to try different ways to make money blogging. Blogger has Google AdSense for monetizing a blog and that's about it except for getting private banner ads. Keep in mind your theme would need to be able to handle placing them.

If you do want to switch from Blogger to WordPress Automattic, the company that developed and maintains WordPress, makes the process pretty straightforward and easy. There is a Blogger Importer plugin which should work without a hitch (most of the time.) There are a few issues I've had when helping clients switch over to WordPress to be aware of though. For instance high quality images can be a bit of a pain especially if the person is picked a bad web host. (Most of the time HostGator or an EIG company.) Usually even with a lot of images and posts there are a few plugins for grabbing images and pulling them which make the process easier.

If you are happy with Blogger and it fits your needs for a personal or family blog and you are happy with it I don't see a reason to spend time switching to WordPress. If you want greater functionality and flexibility a switch from Blogger to WordPress is probably in the cards for you.

I'd love to hear from my audience. Have any of my readers made the switch? Was it hard or easy for you? Have you switched a blog or website over from other CMS platforms? Let me know in the comments below.

WordPress 3.7 Basie comes packed with Automatic Updates, Improved Search, & better Foreign Language Support

WordPress 3.7 Basie was just released and while they are not as many upgrades to WordPress 3.7 as there was in WordPress 3.6, the world's most popular content management system (CMS) just keeps getting better and better. New and notable features in WordPress 3.7 Basie includes;

Automatic WordPress Updates

Maintenance and security releases in WordPress 3.7 are automatic and most sites will be able to apply updates in the background. Wordpress updates are also now a lot more secure and reliable, according to Automattic developers, with new checks and safeguards.

Some configurations will still require more manual updates though. System administrators and WordPress developers can fine tune controls though for major releases and automatic plugin updates. This should save a lot of people time and hassle.

WordPress Search Results Improved

If you are using the WordPress search system to find posts and content on your website and have been frustrated with the fact it sorts articles by date, they've changed it. Search queries are based on how well the keywords match the relevant content and post titles and now will not be sorted by dates.

Advanced search queries are also supported. What does that mean? Only want to see posts that went love on specific date or date range? This will make finding older content a lot easier.

Stronger Passwords

Having a strong password is important and WordPress developers thinks so too. The WordPress password meter has been updated in WordPress 3.7 to recognize popular mistakes that can weaken a site's password. What does this include? Names, keyboard patterns (123456789), and even pop culture references will be considered “Weak” under the WordPress password meter now.

Better WordPress Support in Foreign Languages

Do you speak another language besides English? You will be happy to hear that WordPress will receive faster and more complete translations in foreign languages. WordPress 3.7 has added support for automatically installing the correct language files and keeps these language files updated. This make it easier to manage a WordPress site in a foreign language for millions of WordPress users around the world. “Parlez vous Francais?”

WordPress Multisite

wp_get_sites()

Allows those running WordPress Multisite installations allows developers and administrators of large WP Multisite installations to get an idea of all the sites on the network. This makes so that you do need to do do a direct database query to get that information.

WordPress 3.7 Basie

It should be noted that WordPress 3.7 Basie is named in honor of the Jazz great Count Basie. Since Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress, is a Jazz saxophone player this isn't surprising. WordPress 3.6 Oscar was codenamed after the Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.

What's impressive about the WordPress 3.7 launch is the timetable of it's release. Wordpress 3.6 was unveiled at the 2013 State of the Word at released at the beginning of August, 2013. For WordPress 3.8 Automattic anticipates it will release in December which is just 2 months away.

What do you think of WordPress 3.7 Basie? Are you hoping for any new features in WordPress 3.8?

2013 State of the Word with Matt Mullenweg

The 2013 State of the Word was recently presented at WordCamp San Fransisco. State of the Word is an annual presentation given by Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress. He talks about the developments and progress WordPress has made in the past year and the future plans and hopes for the platform.

Even if you don't personally use WordPress and use another content management system (Joomla, Drupal, etc) it is still good to watch the State of the Word's to know what is going on with WordPress. Keep in mind WordPress is the largest content management system (CMS) out there and is getting more popular and more powerful everyday. I don't see this trend changing anytime soon and I don't think any other CMS can catch-up with it's rapid development.

So what is new with WordPress? Apparently the Automattic team has reworked the plugin review system. “Now all ratings are attached to reviews.” commented Mullenweg. Essentially this means nobody can give you 1-star without saying why they think it deserves that rating. Also the plugin author can now respond in a thread to a negative review. If the plugin improves a reviewer can change it. Matt Mullenweg did many 1-star reviews have been changed to 5-star reviews.

Another interesting development is that there will be a WordPress book coming out soon. According to Matt Mullenweg it will the first book to be written on Github, which is for sharing coding databases.

There was also talk about the fact that WordPress will start to become not just a blog/CMS platform but an application platform. Automattic will be focusing more on becoming a developer resource (developer.wordpress.org). Mullenweg thinks of WordPress as a platform that with different building blocks such as a CMS, blog, or e-commerce blocks you can build in or take out as you need.

Matt also talked about the MP6 plugin project within Automattic. I have never heard of this but apparently it changes the user interface administration in the backend of WordPress. You can change colors, it is responsive, and it looks pretty slick from what I could tell.

WordPress 3.8 apparently will feature Luke Skywalker and Automattic hopes to release it sometime in December this year (I think). Mullenweg also said he would like to start releasing the default WordPress theme like automakers. (Automakers release the new model before the year even starts often.)

At the time WordCamp San Francisco took place WordPress 3.6 was not released but was on August 1st, 2013. WordPress 3.6 “Oscar” was named after Oscar Peterson, the great Jazz pianist. In State of the Word 2013 Matt Mulleweg highlighted some of the rising “WordPress rockstars” as he called it that have helped with it's continued development. They did show the video for WordPress 3.6 (which I am running now) and it is sweet!

“Be the change with WordPress.” said Mullwenweg at the end of the presentation. He really encourages people to get involved with helping out in the WordPress community.

You can watch the State of the Word right here or by visiting WordPress.TV. There was also a Q&A session after the State of the Word presentation.

Some of the most interesting parts of Matt's State of the Word presentations is when he mentions the growth of WordPress along with some WordPress Stats and numbers. I've tried to organize them here;

WordPress Stats

18.9% of the web now runs on the WordPress platform. This is a 2.2% increase from last year. (Matt mention it should be as popular as Justin Bieber.)
46 million WordPress downloads from (46,355,774) in the last year. 175,000 everyday. (That number does not include automatic scripts installations only downloads from WordPress.org.)
In a WPEngine survey they asked US adults, “Have you heard of WordPress?” 29.7% of survey respondents said “Yes.”
336 WordPress Themes were added to the directory this year. That is 2.3 as many as last year. Impressive considering each theme goes through a theme review process.
1,500 people were active in WordPress Core development over the past year.
30,000 respondents from 178 different countries took part in the WordPress survey. “Community” and “ease-of-use” are what people like the best about WordPress. The least? “Plugins” are the least favorite along with “updates” and “security.”
15 updates for the WordPress mobile apps were released. There were 3 updates for iOS, 6 for Android, and 6 for Windows phones. (Who wants a Windows phone?)
Make.wordpress.org blogs have received 10,945 posts and comments in 2012, which is double the amount since last year.
50,000 blogs that were created 7 days ago on WordPress.com will be active today. That is only a 96% rate of attrition rate of bloggers. They believe this number is higher for WordPress.org users because of the extra steps. Since you have to buy a domain, hosting, and setup a few things yourself.

WordPress Plugin States

Over 40,000 plugins have been relaunched.
9,334 plugins requested to be reviewed in the past year and 6,758 were approved for the WordPress plugin directory by Automattic.
There are now 26,000 WordPress plugins in the directory.

WordPress Usage

98% of people use WordPress on web.
31% use WordPress on an iPad or iPhone
30% use Android mobile phones
18% Android tablets
13% Desktop Apps

What do you use WordPress for?

69% use WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS)
20% Blog/CMS
6% as a Blog
7% as an App platform (new entry this year)

WordCamp Stats

314 WordCamps have been held to date
72 WordCamps have taken place in the past year.
1,026 people have given talks at WordCamp over the past year.
Videos of WordCamp presentations on WordPress.TV have been viewed 1.4 million times. So you better prepare a good talk at WordCamp! 🙂

WordPress 10th Anniversary

4,999 people showed up to WordPress 10th Anniversary celebrations around the World according to Meetup.com.