My name is Lisa and I am a student in the Digital Media Technology program at AB Tech. This is the first blog I've ever written and it is devoted to a class on emerging technologies.
This post is about my research into three blog hosting companies: blog.com, wordpress.com, and blogger.com (also known as blogspot.com).
Blog.com
Basic Features- simple domain address
- connects with Facebook and other social networks
- track statistics with Google Analytics
- post from your mobile phone, iphone, or 3rd party services
- variety of page themes that can be changed easily
- multimedia support: photo galleries, videos, music (up to 2GB)
- support team: online support center and articles only - no phone help
- earn money by showing ads
- widgets and menus
- $30.00/year: No ads or display your own ads
- $18.00/year: your own domain
- $15.00/year: custom CSS
- $20.00/year: starting price to upgrade storage space from 2GB
WordPress.com
Basic Features- over a hundred themes
- integrated statistics system
- can move a blog from Blogger, LiveJournal, MovableType, TypePad or another WordPress
- widgets for Flickr, Twitter and more
- track replies to comments
- can add pages to create a website
- 24/7 online support with contact forms and forums - no phone help
- easy upload of pictures using Flickr or Photobucket
- embed videos from YouTube or Hulu
- spam blocker for comments
- $29.97/year: ad free
- $59.97/year: VideoPress
- $14.97/year: custom CSS
- $19.97 to $289.97/year: extra storage
Blogger.com/Blogspot.com
Basic Features- many templates
- 100s of background images
- 10s of flexible layouts
- drag and drop widgets
- videos uploaded through Blogger are hosted on Google Video
- gadgets: slideshows, user polls, AdSense ads
- earn money: ads and Amazon product links
- "Follower's gadget" to develop a community
- statistics
- change fonts and colors easily
- spell checker
- editable CSS and HTML included
- HTML editor
- post text, photos, videos and more
- post as often as you want
- online support, help center, help forum, lots of video tutorials - no phone help
- login with your Google Account
- access to Gmail, iGoogle, orkut, etc.
- create new pages - linked from your blog
- post from a mobile phone
- Videos: AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media (100MB max)
- video tutorials on how to embed audio using Audacity and divShare.com
- I did not find any premium charges for additional features
My Choice
I chose blogger.com also known as blogspot.com as my blog host for this emerging technologies class assignment.There are many blogging tools or FREE blog hosts available and more of them that I'm still unaware of; but for the purposes of this class, I was required to review three. I briefly looked at several other blog hosts but I chose to review Blog.com, WordPress.com, and Blogger.com/Blogspot.com because they were closest to the top of my Google search list and I didn't find any glaring reason not to consider them.
All of my research for my chosen blog host was done on blogger.com. It wasn't until I was well into the process of signing up that I realized that I would be given the address http://lparresol.blogspot.com/ so I see that blogger.com and blogspot.com are the same entity.
In regards to blogger.com/blogspot.com the biggest point of attraction for me is the connection to Google.com and the access to my Gmail account. Google seems to provide all of the features for FREE in this blog host, unless I overlooked some details. There is also a connection with Amazon.com with the AdSense way of earning money by displaying ads and creating links to personally chosen Amazon products. This seems like a win/win situation that benefits everyone.
I am disappointed that none of these blog hosts offered phone help in their support systems. I really like to discuss things that are new to me with a living person who can respond to me instantly.
Video Tutorials
However, I am impressed by the numerous links to video tutorials on how to get started blogging and how to use a various assortment of other blogging tools and features. I learn best by watching a demonstration and listening to a human voice.My three favorite video tutorials so far include:
- How to upload MP3 on your Blogger or WordPress step by step
- Uploading a video with Blogger
- Creating a podcast with Blogger
Resources in the Order of Appearance:
1. blog.com: http://blog.com/2. wordpress.com: http://wordpress.com/
3. blogger.com: http://www.blogger.com/home
4. blogspot.com: http://www.blogger.com/home
5. Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
6. divShare.com: http://divshare.com/
7. Google.com: http://www.google.com/
8. Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/
9. AdSense: http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=50288
10. How to upload MP3 on your Blogger or WordPress step by step: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pAoXdkSck
11. Uploading a video with Blogger: http://www.youtube.com/BloggerHelp#p/u/4/fnzlOYaeOwU
12. Creating a podcast with Blogger: http://www.youtube.com/BloggerHelp#p/u/3/Jg2zTRRXry4
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