Pros + Cons of Using Blogger as a Blogging Platform

When I first started blogging, I immediately went to Blogger to use as my platform- it's the best for starting out on, it's run by Google (Google is bae, in case you didn't know), and it's completely free. Lately, though, I've been considering converting to Wordpress because it looks so much easier to use, although it's sad to say goodbye to Blogger whom I've been using for so long, and they work so well. But if you'd like to switch to Blogger, then here are the pros & cons I've noticed over the years. 

(also- sorry for not posting on Thursday! I was really busy all week.)

PROS

-It's completely free, no catch (unless you pay for Google AdSense)

-It's really easy to use and get used to, you don't really get confused at all.

-It shows you how many page views you have, the countries that view your site the most and what posts are the most popular.

-There are TONS of awesome widgets to add to your site, also all free to use and ridiculously easy to add. 

-So far, my blog has never crashed or not worked, though the blogger dashboard has been down a few times, but not recently. 

CONS

-There are a couple of limits when it comes to customization. This doesn't mean you can't make a professional-looking beautiful blog, it's just that it won't look exactly like what you were going for- which is why downloadable templates are your best friend. But if you're not up to downloading a pretty template (they're usually free, here's where I got mine)

-They have an app, but it's not free! No siree, it used to cost nothing to blog on the go, but now they've come out with a new and improved app with much better features than the old one- but they charge you for it?!

-You don't own your site with Blogger, Google does. This means they have the right to shut it down or restrict your access to the site at any time, so that kind of sucks.

-Blogger has not been updated in a very long time, and Google may or may not shut it down in the future (hopefully not, oh my god!). 

I've decided I really don't want to move my blog to WordPress, Blogger is where it belongs and I don't plan on just abandoning Blogger anytime soon. It's like Blogger is this cute little Starbucks, and everyone loves the coffee and the atmosphere, but just down the street is another coffee shop, but this one is independent (AKA WordPress) and everyone goes there all the time, and they like it because there's more of a variety of coffee selections. It's way bigger and there's way more people, so they get a lot of business! It's okay, Starbees, I'll never leave you.

xo Savannah