I’ve been following Lorelle on WordPress for a while now. She blogs about all things WordPress and blogging, and I was delighted to learn Lorelle intended to run a free online course on setting up a WordPress site. The course has just stared and runs for the entire year of 2015. There is still time to start if you’re interested.
Here is a link to all the info for the class:
There is quite a bit of work involved in this course, but I’m excited to learn more about WordPress. I’m off to do my homework!
Do you enjoy learning new things? Are you a Blogger or a WordPress fan?
Thanks for helping to spread the word. It is much appreciated. I look forward to watching you learn and grow as we proceed. Thanks!
No problem, Lorelle. As I said, I’m looking forward to learning more.
I’m a Blogger blogger. I don’t care for WP. Never really saw the appeal of it.
I’ve used both Blogger and WordPress. I ended up with WordPress by default when my web designer did my website in this. Of the two, my preference is for WordPress, but I think each has their pluses and minuses. It’s what you’re comfortable with using, and I have to say I think you’ve done a great job with your blog :)
I very much agree Shelley. The sad thing is a lot of WP bloggers don’t. There are some huge name bloggers on WP who seem to have made it their mission to get bloggers to move there and are constantly making it seem like if you’re on Blogger you’re an inferior blogger and the only way to be taken seriously is if you move to WP. It’s very frustrating to see.
That’s terrible, Anna. I’ve never struck anything like that before. We’re all different, have different needs and should have the freedom to use what suits us best. It doesn’t matter what the product is.
I have to say though, I’m enjoying the class, and recommend it to anyone who is curious about WordPress. :)
@anna: I also teach photography and am a professional photographer. I have many people ask me what camera I use, like that is the magic secret sauce for great pictures. I tell them that it is the dummy behind the camera not the camera that takes the great pictures.
Same applies to whatever web publishing platform you are using. There are good reasons to use either platform, and not to use either platform, though I haven’t found a good reason not to use WordPress yet, but it is the blogger behind the blog that makes the most beautiful music with their site. Who cares what platform they use, as long as they are using it well.
Ah, you said it much better than me. :)
Hey Lorelle–I posted this to Shelley but not sure how replies work on here but…
The sad thing is a lot of WP bloggers don’t have that attitude. There are some huge name bloggers on WP who seem to have made it their mission to get bloggers to move there and are constantly making it seem like if you’re on Blogger you’re an inferior blogger and the only way to be taken seriously is if you move to WP. It’s very frustrating to see. Especially when young/newbie bloggers are made to feel that way and move then can’t figure it out/struggle with the extra costs/etc.
Good point, and maybe the mistake is that they aren’t conveying the real reason why experienced web publishers are not in favor of Blogger/Blogspot in particular. Like the recent silliness over vaccines, people believing in a specific position tend to hang onto their beliefs even stronger when challenged rather than seeing the truth.
To help you understand the truth behind the issues, I’ll give you these two points.
1. The WordPress Community is an energized and active community, very passionate, and with all things people are passionate about, they do tend to get carried away. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of most other web publishing communities. So forgive us our zealous nature. I have danced with all of the web publishing communities and industries as it is my job, and it’s amazing to see the difference just walking into a room.
2. How to explain this without offending? This is a fact, not an opinion, so forgive it for sounding offensive or insulting.
When spammers found that it was easier to use Blogspot/Blogger for their spam sites (splogs) to spread their evil ickies, it became the most popular service with something like 90% of all sites on that service splogs at one time. I reported on this back in 2007. When Google bought Blogspot and blended Blogger and Blogspot together (I’ll just call it Blogspot), this was a huge problem.
Google’s own algorithm penalizes splogs. This penalty is on the domain name. On Blogspot, even if you have a dot com address, under the hood it is still blahblah.blogspot.com or blogger.com. While Google put much work into cleaning out splogs, their own algorithm penalized their owner users by association.
Those understanding this algorithm and SEO nature of the web world dropped Blogspot like a hot cake. It was their money, their “reputation” if you will, that was at stake.
While Google’s algorithm now includes profiling and personalization, thus recognizing that you are on Blogspot and returns Blogspot sites in your search results as a “trusted” user, to the rest of the searchers not on Blogspot, Blogspot sites show up lower in search results due to this association.
Honestly, Blogspot/Blogger has come a tremendous way from their horrible narrow column designs and limited services to be a full-fledged web publishing service, but the ghost of the past decade of splogs lives with it under the hood.
Again, my intent is to educate not influence your decision or slight your web publishing choices. I hope this helps you to understand the reasons behind their actions, even if they do and say what they do without knowing all of the facts.
Again, you sound like a truly passionate and optimistic person, eager to tilt at windmills with your energy and enthusiasm. The publishing platform doesn’t matter as long as your voice will be heard no matter what, and your audience will come, attracted by your passion.
::snort:: Okay. We’ll go with that though I seriously doubt that’s the case since most of these individuals are new to blogging within the last 3-4 years.
Glad you love your platform though.
And Shelly, my apologies for allowing this to distract on your beautiful post. Thank you again for your kindness.