In this post, I would like to introduce Google's free service, Blogger, to those who want to use it.
By the way, this blog is also written using Blogger, and I am also an affiliate. Let me give you 8 reasons why I recommend Blogger for starting a blog.
1. Basic information about Blogger and WordPress
Blogger is a blog hosting service provided by Google, which has been around for about 20 years since Google acquired it in 2003.
Blogger is not very popular in Japan, but it is widely used around the world, and its appeal is the ease with which anyone can start blogging as long as they have a Google account.
So, Blogger is a service that I would recommend to anyone who wants to try blogging for free or to those who want to try affiliate marketing for the first time.However, for some reason, Blogger is not recommended for people who are just starting to write blogs. First, let's consider the cause.
Why 「WordPress」 is recommended in many posts
About 30% of the world's websites are built using WordPress, a CMS (program that makes it easy to create a blog).
WordPress is the most famous, and many sites will recommend using WordPress as an affiliate.
In most cases, the posts recommending WordPress are themselves for affiliate purposes.
This is because, to use WordPress, you first need to sign up for a server and buy a domain name (such as .com).
Recommend 「WordPress」
⇒ Recommend a rental server etc
⇒ Affiliate
In other words, many bloggers don't recommend free blogs because they make very little money.
As for me, rather than trying to make much money as an affiliate, I want to tell you about services and products that I can recommend, so I recommend 「Blogger」.
Of course, it doesn't mean that WordPress is bad. I also started blogging with WordPress, and it is indeed a very easy-to-use service.
Is it suitable for starting a blog for the first time?
However, I can't tell someone who is thinking of starting a blog that WordPress is excellent, and if you sign up for this server and try it, you will make money.
There is a possibility that you can make money, but I'd instead tell you that there is a good service that allows you to start blogging or affiliate marketing for free.
I think it's better to use them to experience what blogging and affiliate marketing are like and then use WordPress or other paid services.
I'd like to give you 8 reasons why I recommend starting a blog with Blogger.
2. 8 reasons why I recommend Blogger
1. Free and easy
As I have said many times before, Blogger is free. There is no paid plan. You will only have to pay if you get your domain (.com, etc.) and link it to Blogger.
(My blog is running on Blogger + my domain, and it costs about 1,400 yen per year or about 120 yen per month. I'll tell you why I run my site on my domain even though I can continue to do so for free in the second half of this post).
You can reduce the risk of starting a blog for a fee.
This is the most significant advantage of being a free service.
For example, if you want to build a WordPress site, you will have to pay at least 500-1000 yen per month for the server.
Moreover, to get a cheap contract, it is often necessary to sign a contract for a year or more, which means that the total cost of the server and domain name will be about 10,000 yen (for one year) or more as an initial investment.
Of course, it can be said that you will start writing seriously if you invest that amount of money, but there is a possibility that you will not get your money's worth at all and end up wasting your time and money.
I recommend that you try Blogger first to see if you can keep writing a blog.
If you don't keep writing, it's impossible to make money.
It's easy to start writing.
Compared to paid blogs such as WordPress, where you need to rent a server and connect your domain name to start writing, it takes less than 10 minutes to begin writing on Blogger.
Go to Blogger, click 「Create Blog」, select your Google account, set your blog title, display name (user name that will be displayed), and URL. Now you can start writing.
2. No unwanted ads
Even though Blogger is a free blog, it doesn't contain any advertisements.Some other free blogs allow you to turn off the ads, but it is impossible to turn them off completely.
Even if you can turn them off in the PC version, most services inevitably include ads in the smartphone version, or rather, almost all free blogs except Blogger.
I have tried other free blogging services such as Hatena Blog and Livedoor Blog, but none of them allow you to turn off the ads on your phone. (There are many services out there, so it may not be zero, but I've checked with the major ones.)
The Importance of No Ads on Smartphones
Having ads on a smartphone is fatal. Nowadays, smartphones account for more than 60% of the devices used for browsing.
"You probably get most of your information on the Internet from your smartphone."
In other words, having advertisements on your phone means that most users will receive information that is detrimental to their interests.
You can say that other free blogging services know this when they leave ads only on smartphones.
So, miraculously, Google's service, Blogger, doesn't have any ads at all, even on smartphones.
3. You can use an affiliate
In addition to the fact that you don't get ads without permission, the fantastic thing about Blogger is that you can also make money as a regular affiliate.
Of course, other free blogging services allow you to use an affiliate. However, there are still many patterns that are not all OK.
In the case of Blogger, you can freely use an affiliate as long as you don't violate Google's policy, and Google's AdSense help page mentions that you can use Blogger in conjunction with other advertisements.
4. You can pass Adsense
Most free blogging services do not allow Google Adsense, a 「pay per click」 advertising service.
In the first place, each free blog service itself distributes Adsense, which interferes with your earnings.
Also, if you have your domain (.com, etc.), you can apply for Adsense, but most of them are limited to paid plans.
With Blogger, you can use Adsense ads as your revenue even though it is free. (You will need to go through a screening process before you can put Adsense ads on your site.)
Please refer to the following post for more information about the Adsense screening process.
For more information on Adsense screening, please refer to the following post.
I passed the screening using Blogger and my domain name, but the standards are the same, even with a free subdomain.
By the way, I don't like to have a lot of ads on my blog, so I only put one Adsense ad at the bottom of each post.
5. Easy to manage
In the case of WordPress sites, there are problems with the server, compatibility issues with new plugins (auxiliary functions), and the security aspect is also vulnerable to attacks.
Since WordPress is a service with many users, it is inevitably vulnerable to attacks.
This security risk is surprisingly easy to overlook, but it is essential.
In this respect, Blogger's server is Google. You don't have to do anything yourself.
This is a significant advantage for people who start blogging on the side. Anyway, no one will read your blog if you don't write anything, so you want to make sure you have time to write.
So, dealing with problems with the server is just a waste of time. This means that there is no time to waste (except for Google's trouble). 6.
6. Difficult to customize but very flexible
Most free blogging services are difficult to customize, and what you can do is limited.
However, with Blogger, you can customize the theme (template) and even edit the HTML of your posts quite freely.
However, the hurdles are higher in that Blogger has its code and requires knowledge of HTML and CSS to begin with.
Even so, the fact that you can tweak the structure of your site so freely even though it is free is what makes Blogger stand out from other services.
One of the reasons Blogger is not famous in Japan is that it is difficult to customize.
However, on the other hand, it can be said that it is an excellent way to learn HTML, etc., and deepen your understanding of site structure.
7. the security of being a Google service
As I have mentioned many times, Blogger is a blog service provided by Google. I am genuinely indebted to Google.
Google is one of the GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon) search engines with a 70% market share and sued the government for antitrust law.
It is one of the GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon). There is a sense of security that Google creates the service. This is just a feeling, but I think the risk of sudden termination of service is low compared to other free services.
Of course, Google has a history of discontinuing various services, unsafe.
8. You can use your domain name for free
If you want to set up your domain name, you need to upgrade to a paid plan with most free blogging services.
However, Blogger allows you to set up your domain name for free (although you will need to get your domain name from another service).
However, you may feel that you can do so much with a Blogger subdomain (...blogspot.com) that you don't need to spend money on your domain.
Let's look at some of the advantages of using your domain name for Blogger.
You can grow your domain.
Blogger loses some of its domain power (site strength) by changing your domain name.
You will be able to grow your site gradually with your domain.
And in the long run, having your domain is almost always better for your SEO.
Smooth transition to other services
Having your domain makes it easier for you to move to other services. All you have to do is transfer your posts to the same domain. (It's not easy)
If you want to migrate from Blogger to WordPress, some plugins (like apps) for WordPress and some sites explain in detail.
If you try to transfer your free Blogger subdomain (...blogspot.com) to WordPress, you will not move the subdomain.
A real mistake
"It's impossible to think about it now, but to move from WordPress to Blogger, I copied all my posts to Blogger, published them, and deleted them on the WordPress side.
Naturally, all the posts were instantly unreadable. It is because Google recognized the copied post as a duplicate (low quality) new post.
To prevent this from happening, you must first operate on your domain and ensure that you redirect (old posts to new posts)."
Use your domain for future-proofing
"Running your Blogger site on your domain name will ensure future proof.
Even if the Blogger service is discontinued, you will be minimally affected.
Also, if you continue to run your domain, your domain itself will gain value.
ain for a while, and if you think you can continue, get your domain as soon as possible."
How to get your domain
Using your domain will cost you around 1 dollar per month, depending on the domain. However, the benefits are more than worth it.With Blogger, you can easily buy a domain directly from Google using Google Domains. The price is average, and you can use it to migrate to other services.
I wouldn't usually recommend Google Domains as they are not an affiliate.
3. Advantages of WordPress
I've written about the advantages of Blogger, but of course, there are some areas where the paid service 「WordPress」 is superior.
Easy to edit the theme (template)
With WordPress, you can choose the theme (template) to make your blog look like you want it to.
Also, by installing a paid theme, you can easily create a complete design.
Easy to install the latest features such as AMP
You can add various features to WordPress by using plugins, and it is easy to achieve fast response time by installing AMP-compatible themes.
WordPress can be updated frequently, so you can keep your blog fresh and updated.
In the case of Blogger, supporting AMP is also a hurdle and requires a lot of knowledge and experience. WordPress is more adaptable to new technologies.
What is AMP?
"AMP is an abbreviation for Accelerated Mobile Pages, which Google considers essential for making mobile pages appear faster."
Easy to use for blog editing
Editing screen of WordPress
An example of editing screen of WordPress
WordPress can be operated 「as you see」. Of course, there are some things you can't reproduce without entering codes, but basically, you can see almost as you play with the control panel.
In addition to text-decoration and underline design, it is also easy to link to external services such as Twitter.
There is no need to write complicated code for these things, which is a significant advantage for beginners.
One of the weaknesses of Blogger is that you have to use HTML editing to insert balloons and borders. This can make it difficult for beginners.
4. Blogger is an excellent place to start a blog
If you are a beginner blogger, I recommend Blogger.
If you are serious about making money from your blog, you may want to consider switching to WordPress eventually.
Here's a list of 8 reasons Blogger is the best choice for you.
- It's free.
- No unwanted ads.
- You can use an affiliate.
- You can pass Adsense.
- Easy to manage.
- Difficult to customize but very flexible.
- The security of being a Google service.
- You can use your domain for free.
Starting a blog with Blogger is safe and low risk.
Primarily, it's free, and you don't need to manage anything, which is a significant advantage for beginners.
If you consider the following points, you will see that starting a blog on Blogger is one of the best things you can do.
The content you write is far more critical than the overall design of your blog.
When I started blogging, I spent much time on the design of my site. Of course, a well-designed site will make a better impression on your readers.
But the most important thing in blogging and affiliate marketing is the content.
This is especially true in the mobile world, where the site's design is largely ignored.
In other words, the key to blogging is to keep writing. There is no difference between paid and free blogs in this respect.
WordPress is not more SEO friendly or easier to make money
Some people say that WordPress is better for SEO, so starting your blog there is better.
But that's because WordPress has many features that can be easily implemented with plugins, and you can do the same with Blogger if you study a little.
And Google judges the content of your posts and your site as a whole.
Again, the content is far more critical than the design and structure of the site, so write the posts first.
To learn more about blogger, check out the post below.
