Wordpress vs Tumblr – which blogging platform to choose ?
There are so many people twittering and asking about what blogging platform to choose – wordpress, tumblr , blogger, self hosted wordpress. So I decided that it is time to explain my view on this matter.
Tumblr – Superfast micro-blogging
Tunblr is a micro blogging enviroment for simple, quick blogging with support for posts, images, quotes, video, audio and links – all you need to get your message out as quick as possible. A simple interface for super fast blogging. Not feature extensive as the others.. but that is the beuaty of the beist. Quick and simple, great for personal and quick blogging.
Pros
- Tumblr’s backend is stylish
- 3rd party tools for Tumblr
- large array of themes (but less than wordpress)
- Easy managment from your phone
- Using your own domain on tumblr is FREE
- Can use Google Analytics to measure your traffic
Cons
- Troublesome archives
- Need to tag to support search
- Limited flexability and plugin support
- No direct RSS feed
- Does not expand easly
- No built in commenting
Wordpress – hosted on wordpress.com
For a personal blog that has no commercial value or no intent to become commercial I would recommend using the free wordpress.com blogging platform, it is simple to setup and incldues a selection of wordpress features that would expect to install yourself. The ease of the hosted wordpress.com platform is great if you do not want to pay for your own web hosting and if you don’t want to have the hassle of handling the wordpress installation on your own webhost. Also here you can add your own domain for $15 / year or map a already purchased domain for $10 / year. So if you don’t require custom design, custom plugins and other customizations it would be a good option to start with. Note that there are many popular plug-ins that are highly recommended that are not included on the wordpress.com blogs.
Pros
- Dozens of gorgeous themes
- Integrated stats system
- Commenting with anti-spam built-it
- Good support community
- Mulitlanguage support
Cons
- Using you own domain cost $10 / $15 a year
- Limited plugin support, can not install your own plugins
- Custom CSS / additional storage costs extra
- Ads shown from time to time
- Can not optimize for SEO
Wordpress – self hosted on your own domain
If you have not found your heaven in the above and are looking for more, or looking to start a serious personal or commercial blog, a self hosted wordpress blog is certainly a good solution. You may either signup for hosting that includes pre-installed wordpress that you can start using, or install wordpress yourself. Will a little bit of computer / internet knowledge you could have your blog up and running in 5 min – well it will usally take longer than that, but the basic installation is really simple, it is the customization that can drive a non tech-savy wordpress installer crazy. Feel free to drop us a line for a free professional wordpress installation on your hosting or follow us on twitter via @bloginstall
Pros
- Highly flexable , fully customizable
- Easy installation / updating of plugins (from wordpress 2.7)
- Thousands of gorgeous themes from all over the globe
- Great community support
- Excellent plugins and features for SEO optimization
Cons
- Requires your own domain and hosting
- Requires some technical knowledge and maintanence
- Is not backed up automatically (so make sure you you do)
In the end I would choose from either Wordpress or Tumblr according to the kinds of users and usage. For personal blog I would go for a pre-hosted blog on tumblr or wordpress.com and for a serious personal blog or commercial blogsite I would go for a self-hosted wordpress installation.
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mstoddard: tumblr and wordpress compared: http://tinyurl.com/afj9vx 02/11/09 01:18pm
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to “Wordpress vs Tumblr – which blogging platform to choose ?”
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- Jun 11, 2009: Period Three Blog » Tumblr
- Mar 2, 2010: So You Want to Start a Blog | MakingMike.com
The cons you mentioned about tumblr…
- Troublesome archives
- Need to tag to support search
- Limited flexability and plugin support
- No direct RSS feed
- Does not expand easly
- No built in commenting
These are a BIG deal. I always recommend that if you have the dough or the expertise you should get a hosted wordpress blog. If you’re using it for business, there’s really no excuse to be using a free hosted service (we’re taking this seriously right?). The limitations with Tumblr make it unsuitable for blogging. I have a tumblr account that I feed my blog to, but that’s about it.
Just came across this entry… Wordpress actually has a plugin where you can schedule automated back ups either to your email or on your server. One con removed. =P
Yes, this is one of the great features that can be added to your WordPress installation, one of the plugins that does this is http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-backup/
I’ve started my personal blog around month ago and I immediately decided to go for the Self-hosted solution as it offers practically unlimited extensibility and you don’t really need to have PHP or CSS master to adjust it to your own needs. I highly recommend Wordpress as a blogging solution if you are taking it seriously, just as Colin commented.
The only Con that is correct with wordpress is the cost of a domain name. If someone is that cheap, then they shouldn’t be giving out opinions.
As for the others:
- Limited plugin support, can not install your own plugins – having a community of over 180 million users is limited support? The plugins are almost always supported directly by their coders along with anyone else who understands them via the wordpress forums.
- Custom CSS / additional storage costs extra – As with any website you run yourself you need storage. Custom CSS is not an extra cost unless you don’t know what you are doing. Again if you buy a template from a company they support most requests.
- Ads shown from time to time – No ADS at all if you choose not to use them. This is a statement that is entirely based on if someone wants to make money or not.
- Can not optimize for SEO – Wordpress is out of the box SEO optimized but with the addition of over 50 TOP level plugins you could can choose what you want to use to optimize your site for SEO. All in One SEO is an awesome plugin and as to your point above, is greatly supported by more than just the coder.
I am sorry but you did not do any homework around Wordpress.
Thank you very much for yet another first-rate article. I am always searching for original WordPress tips to suggest to my readers. Thanks for creating this article. It’s exactly what I was searching for. Truly great post.