Blog Where?

[Kelly Young]

I'm looking into setting up a first-time blog for a client. Several options have been thrown out, including wordpress and blogger. Can this group provide advice on which one to consider and why? Would love your input.

[Jason Nye]

Hello, I actually work at a university and we are having this same discussion. This is what I have discovered. A lot of social media "experts" would point you to Word Press. It is a strong option. The reason being is that it can be much more than a blog, you can build an entire site. Blogger on the other hand is really just a blogging tool. As a result, it does blogging very well but is pretty much limited to that. So, the real decision is for your client, do they just want to do blogging or do they want to ever expand that into more than just a blog. Both are customizable. Although personally I find blogger a little easier to use, just cause Word Press has more options to customize.

Which ever path you choose, I would encourage you to secure a domain specifically for the blog, even if it is a subdomain. Otherwise you'll have blogspot or wp somewhere in your URL.

[Ray Hoskins]

Wordpress is probably your best choice. It has a wide user base, and lots of add-ons. If you have problems, there are lots of folks who can help. I would agree with Jason.

[Sharon Smith, APR]

I too vote for Wordpress. Let us know what you decide!

[Art Hill]

It's worth checking out Compendium Blogware as well, depending on what your client needs. Compendium offers excellent multi-user abilities, is specifically designed for business use, and it is extremely SEO friendly as well. Plus they are local so you've got great relationship potential for support and growth. I believe they still do free demos of their product. Check them out.

[Kelly Young]

Thank you all for your responses. I meet with the client this week and will present the various options.

[Nicki Laycoax]

I'm a little late here, but how did that meeting go? I'd like to offer a suggestion... We use Joomla, a content management system, to develop our websites. Instead of utilizing Blogger or Wordpress, Joomla has it's own blogging system that keeps the blogs a part of the website vs. a free-standing blog.

Let me know if you'd like to learn more. We'd be happy to speak with you about not only this client, but also clients that you meet with in the future!

nicki at squishdesigns.com