Blogger has changed significantly in recent years. New functionality is continually added to ensure that Blogger retains its position as market leader. Other blogging software programs have come and gone with several threatening Blogger, but the team behind Blogger continues to improve the product by offering improvements and new technologies. The following list describes some other blogging programs:
WordPress: The biggest rival to Blogger is WordPress, which is known for its wide variety of plug-ins and add-ons, such as contact forms, related posts links, and sitemaps, that allow users to customize their blogs to suit their individual needs. Blogger offers customization, but WordPress
wins the race in terms of giving users the most variety. The drawbacks of WordPress are twofold:
• The free version is far more limited than the version that requires users to pay for their own domain names and web hosting.
• The free version doesn’t allow users to monetize their blogs.
TypePad: Although TypePad is easy to use, it isn’t free. Users pay a monthly fee to use TypePad. It offers a decent level of customization, such as templates and design (although less than WordPress with paid hosting), but its use comes at a cost.
Moveable Type: The program’s biggest drawback is the expensive licenses that users have to pay for in order to use it. The installation process also isn’t as simple as in other blogging software programs, and its features aren’t as vast. On the flip-side, it is extremely easy to add
multiple blogs to the same account with Moveable Type, which made it popular for team blogs in the past (although WordPress is gaining ground in this market).
LiveJournal: Users must pay a monthly fee to use LiveJournal, which provides a limited number of features and customization options.
MySpace: MySpace offers a blogging option, but it’s quite different from Blogger and many of the other available blogging software programs because so much of the success of a MySpace blog comes from the audience of MySpace members who become its “friends”. MySpace is more
of a social network with a blogging platform included rather than a stand-alone blogging
software program such as Blogger.
Xanga: Much like MySpace, Xanga is a social networking site with a blogging option integrated into it rather than a stand-alone blogging software program such as Blogger.
