Are Free Blogging Websites Really Bad, or Are We Just Repeating What Everybody Else Says About Them?

by Chris McGinty of AccordingToWhim.com

I was trying to find a way of easily searching Blogger from their own website. This seems like a simple and intuitive, mutually beneficial feature to have prominently displayed on the user dashboard. It would help users find other blogs on Blogger’s website, which might create a community. If the feature exists anywhere, I can’t find it.

This put me on the path of trying to figure out what I was doing with Blogger, and I kept coming across an odd theme. One writer claimed that Google never links to Blogspot. It's as though they’re attempting a reverse nepotism by not linking to their own website, so no one believes they’re abusing their power. Then as I was listening to people on You Tube talking about the dos and don’ts of blogging, I noticed that practically every one of them said the same thing, no matter how diverse the rest of their list was. It was something like, “Don’t ever use a free blogging website for your blog. People find it unprofessional and will click away.”

I don’t know what the source of that wisdom is, so I don’t know if it’s right or wrong. If there was exhaustive (or maybe even mildly taxing) research that showed that a majority of users didn’t read free blogs, then maybe it’s right. If it was made up by the sales force of one of the professional blogging software companies, then maybe it’s wrong. Maybe people click away from free blogging websites because the bloggers aren’t as consistent posting to something they didn’t pay for. Maybe the content is below average because the bloggers get less practice writing compelling material. But maybe people are using a logical fallacy where they used a free blogging website and didn’t get results, but when they invested some money in their own setup they got a little more serious, which led to better results. In that scenario, it wasn’t the platform, but their level of engagement.

I’m not invested in a belief here. I’m not going to take the side of free websites because we use one. If there was hard evidence, I would do a segment called “Chris Convinces Nathan… To Get Real Blogging Software.” But all I have to go on are a number of people repeating something. That’s not a bad thing by itself, but I have a few of points to make about what these people are saying.

They’re Saying It On YouTube – It’s hard to hear someone say, “Don’t use a free platform,” when they’re giving you this advice on a free platform. In fact, the number two repeated advice of what I heard was to use Pinterest to promote your blog. I believe Pinterest is also a free platform. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, HotGrandmasWant… um, you get what I’m saying. Those are all free platforms. Why then is it ok to use those free platforms, but free blogging websites are a no go? The answer is probably in my second point.

What If Blogger Was Instagram Size? – It’s probably correct that in the current online environment there is no advantage to using a free website, except the low cost; but if we all woke up tomorrow and Blogger was as big as Instagram, every single one of these people would be setting up a free blog to drive traffic to their primary blog. I can say this with certainty, because if having blogging software was by itself a traffic magnet then these people would only need YouTube for video purposes, and they wouldn’t need other social media to get attention. We just don’t refer to other social media as blogging platforms, but in their own way they are. A blog is just a form of web content, just like Snapchat videos.

This Blog Is Great, But… – I just feel like once someone finds your blog that they’re more likely to judge it by their enjoyment of the content. As long as my Malware software doesn’t spring into action, I’m not really all that worried about where the content is housed. In fact, I’ve blocked suggestions from some major websites, because I start reading an article and they want me to subscribe to finish reading it. That’s very professional, on the other extreme side of professionalism, where someone is saying, “But we’re not seeing any direct money from this.” I just have trouble with the idea that someone would find a blog that they like, but decide that they’re just not coming back until the author is willing to invest in WordPress, like they have a vendetta against free blogging websites. And if that really is the case, I guess they can go read other blogs. I really don’t care.

The Traffic Snare – I’m not being aloof to make you think I’m a rebel. I just view traffic in a different way. I would rather have 4 followers who get great enjoyment and benefit from reading my work than to have 4 million followers who maybe check in once a year when they remember they subscribed. I truly mean it. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t want to continue to increase my number of followers, but I am saying that I would prefer slower growth if it meant a stronger community around my work. I don’t believe it’s the platform, but rather the work. They suggest following up on comments and likes when you’re creating web content, and I’d rather not get into a traffic trap where I spend my whole day DMing people who don’t want to hear from me. I’d rather have meaningful interactions with people who gain something from my work. You may have heard of the 1,000 true fans concept. If not, look it up. If you were part of a social network that had only 1,000 members, but they were super supportive of your work, it would be better than trying to keep up with millions on Twitter who barely remember you exist from day to day – which brings me back to my first point.

It’s interesting to me that Google+ failed recently, and using Blogger feels isolated because it doesn’t have a simple way to connect with other bloggers on the same platform. It’s almost like Google has no idea how to run a social platform. Before you point to YouTube, they didn’t create YouTube, and YouTube doesn’t have the same social elements of Snapchat. There are people who have created communities through YouTube, yes, but Snapchat pushes the social element harder. Maybe it’s not just the content creators that need to think of social media websites as a form of blogging, but that blogging websites should maybe start thinking of themselves a little more as social media.

Chris McGinty is a blogger on Blogger who wasn’t the one who chose Blogger to be his blogger haven, but he’s also a blogger who doesn’t mind being a blogger on Blogger.