louisgray.com - Latest Comments in http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

technogran — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:56:51 -0000

I'll be looking forward to these updates Lois. I want to blog in a more 'geeky' way and have been toying with using either blogger or Wordpress to do so.
I still can't make up my mind which platform to use, because its all about how you get readers to know about your blog isn't it? there are so many blogs out there, so how do you get your blog noticed?
I agree that it must be a constant struggle for any blogging platform to keep the spammers out.....I'm on Windows Live at the moment with two blogs over there, and its a real problem!
Very interesting read...

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Josh Chandler — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:06:59 -0000

I was tempted to stay on Blogger when I ran Josh Chandler's Blog at joshchandlerblog.blogspot.com, I did like the interface and plethora of options, but I really switched to Wordpress for joshchandlerblog.com when I found out how extensive the plug and play functionality of the themes, plugins and interface changes were.

So, in one sense I agree with many that you should move to Wordpress, however I am sure Google will be keeping hold of Blogger just that little bit longer, now that Google Wave has emerged!

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

ChangeForge | Ken Stewart — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:07:56 -0000

Louis, it never ceases to amaze me how I you can write an article comparing Wordpress and Blogger and I come away thinking I keep my eye on Blogger - after I had written them off. I use both, and Wordpress is clearly a much richer blogging platform currently.

What strikes me more than the technology is your simple, candid, and approachable tone that you consistently deliver in your content.

Great write up! Why, b/c you, as the author, made me do a double-take about the platform I had written off. Good on you!

Warmest Regards,
Ken

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Jim Connolly — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:07:00 -0000

I think Blogger deserve praise for offering a free platform that's optimized out of the box and (unlike a wordpress.com hosted blog) allows the user to monetize their blog. Wordpress.com hosted blogs have so many restrictions - allowing wordpress.com to monetize YOUR blog, but not the blog's owner!

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

AJ Kohn — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:41:00 -0000

@Rick: Good to know. Appreciate the response. And please do think of affiliate idea of profiles ... heck you can even split the revenue with the blog owner. From a purely marketing and commerce perspective (which is my background) I just see so much rich content that naturally lends itself to affiliate commerce - books, movies, music - and almost be a service of sorts to make it easy to access and purchase these items. I think it follows the overall Google ethic of not making users do work that Google can do for them.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Rick Klau — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:38:00 -0000

@AJ Yes, users have complete control over their page, and can include any code from any other ad network. AdSense is quite popular, but affiliate programs and even a few other ad networks get a lot of attention from our users. I like the affiliate idea on profiles - will have to give that more thought.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

AJ Kohn — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:37:00 -0000

@Jack: Yes, three fulfilling years at Alibris, leaving as Director of Marketing for both consumers and sellers. I am still passionate about books and think Alibris is a great site.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

AJ Kohn — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:36:00 -0000

@Louis: Does Blogger allow you to flight other ad network ads? Rubicon etc.?

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Jack Carlson — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:36:00 -0000

AJ, you worked at Alibris? Cool. I've spent a fair sum there.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

AJ Kohn — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:35:00 -0000

The ads bit I get ... though WP has very easy AdSense plugins and does Analytics in the same way. I just think that they have a huge opportunity via affiliate revenue on profiles. If I'm on a Blogger profile of someone I like and I see they like a certain band ... why make it tough for me to go and find that band and purchase their music. It's probably my own personal nit since I worked in the book space for so long and saw such a missed opportunity there.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Louis Gray — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:29:00 -0000

AJ, interesting you say that. Rick says Blogger is monetized, and they, unlike Wordpress.com, make it easy for bloggers to post ads. The product has also integrated directly with Analytics.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

AJ Kohn — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:27:00 -0000

I've played with all three platforms and went with (and continue to) WP. I'm still shocked that Google hasn't monetized Blogger. The profile area (rich with Books, Movies and Music) would be an easy place to do this. (Trust me, I tried to convince them while at Alibris to put links there!) That, along with the lack of flexibility and plugins etc just makes Blogger a very bland platform. It might be more stable more ... accessible ... and that might be enough. *shrugs*

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

DGentry — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:22:23 -0000

Did you talk about specific technology directions for blogger.com, such as support for the SUP protocol (for more timely friendfeed import) ?

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Gumer Liston — Sat, 30 May 2009 06:57:00 -0000

I have several blogs, some are self-hosted WordPress blogs but my main blog is with Blogger. Though I love the power of WP, I could not get off Blogger because I just love it, period.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

charlesneville — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:13:57 -0000

I heard a stat in a podcast recently that based a comparison of the usage volume of Blogger and Wordpress by comparing their Alexa rankings (Blogger.com is 7, Wordpress.com is 17). That doesn't give anything like the true figure however. Wordpress can be self-hosted - that ranking of 17 therefore doesn't fairly represent the reach of the Wordpress platform.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Louis Gray — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:56:00 -0000

The hard part about summarizing the discussion is not discussing what's next too early. But there's enough there that I'm not jumping to WordPress, Nicholas.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/googles-blogger-challenge-win-marathon.html

Nicholas James — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:48:00 -0000

I'm glad to hear they're still working on Blogger and its interesting to hear that they have to have 3 people constantly watching it to stop Dos Attacks and Spammers. It would be interesting if they opensourced it like Wordpress have and released a self-host version