Random musings: Happy #BloggerDay

Blogger is the platform that I use for my blog posts and it's even more appropriate now since they've launched a new interface effective today.

From Days of the Year:

If you have ever created a blog before, the chances are you have probably used Blogger, especially for your first ever blog! A lot of students will be nodding their heads while reading this. Brings back good memories. Of course, there is a huge blogging community today. Some people blog to get their opinions heard others blog to make money. A lot of these people rely on Blogger to do so! Blogger Day celebrates everything that this platform is about!

What Is Blogger?

Blogger is a blog-publishing service. It was originally developed by Pyra Labs, yet it was then purchased by Google in 2003. You have probably seen plenty of Blogger sites, as the subdomain tends to be blogspot.com. However, a lot of people also use their own custom domains that they have purchased, so not all Blogger sites will end with that subdomain. Users of the platform are allowed to have as many as 100 blogs per account, and so you’re never going to run out of blogs to create.

My subdomain name is http://ricktompkins.blogspot.com. I first came across Blogger in September, 2012 and here's my first blog post, although I didn't really do anything with it until two years later.

The article on Days of the Year then goes into the history of Blogger:

So, let’s delve a bit into the history of Blogger. Blogger was launched on the 23rd of August, in 1999, by Pyra Labs. it is one of the earliest tools that was dedicated purely to publishing blogs. A lot of people credit Blogger with helping to popularize the blog format. A few years later, in 2003, Google purchased Blogger under terms that have not been disclosed. One of the most significant changes in this switch was that Google made the premium features of Blogger free of charge. Google then purchased Picasa a year later, in 2004, and made a move to integrate Picasa into Blogger. The significance of this was that it gave Blogger users the ability to post photos to their blogs.

In fact, 2004 was a pretty significant year all-round for Blogger, as a major redesign was introduced. A number of features were added, including posting by email, comments, individual archive pages for posts, and web standards-compliant templates. In 2007, Blogger was moved over to servers owned by Google. In this year, it was ranked 16 in a list of top 50 domains in terms of the number of unique visitors. Pretty impressive stuff!

The Battle Between Blogger And WordPress

While there haven’t been any juicy catfights between the two companies, it has long been considered that Blogger and WordPress rule the roost in the world of blogging. Yes, things have changed in recent times, with new players entering the industry and a lot of bloggers focusing heavily on social media and integrating the likes of Facebook and Instagram. However, Blogger and WordPress have achieved enough over the years to be considered the matriarchs of this industry!

Unfortunately, we have seen Blogger decline a lot in recent times. It now powers less than one percent of the web. WordPress, on the other hand, is a highly popular platform. However, with Blogger entering the market a few years before WordPress was created, it holds a special place in a lot of people’s hearts, and so traditionalists feel very connected to the platform that is often credited with helping blogging become what it is today. That’s why we have a day to celebrate it after all!

There are a number of differences in regards to what both platforms offer. WordPress has more options, and so most people would agree it is the better choice if you’re looking for a comprehensive blogging solution. Blogger, on the other hand, has fewer features, yet it is a simple platform and so it is perfect if all you want to do is get stuck in and start writing straight away!

I've toyed with the idea of switching to WordPress for a while now. It seems to be the choice of professional bloggers, and it appears to be able to let you build your own website. I may have to take a look at it. I do have my own domain name...www.betterclientretention.com, although I haven't done anything with it yet, however my email there works.

One of the best ways to celebrate Blogger Day is to create your own blog, like the article tells you how to do:

Of course, the best way to observe Blogger Day is to create your own blog on the platform! Luckily, this is something that is really easy to do. All you need to do is create an account on Blogger. You can then head to the left, where you will see a Down arrow, and from here, you can click New Blog. You can then enter a name for your blog and select a blog URL or address. Next, pick one of the templates. Click Create Blog and you’re good to go! See how easy it is!

Use Blogger Day as the perfect excuse for you to express your opinions on matters that are important to you or the subjects you are interested in. This could be anything from our favorite fashions to vegan food, to your favorite sports team, your political views, your thoughts on spirituality, and so on! It doesn’t matter what you choose, so long as it is something that interests you and you are passionate about.

If it ticks these boxes, you are going to find no trouble allowing the words to flow out! You can then share your blog on social media, if you wish, and you can enjoy speaking with other people who have been interested in what you have to say. Learn their thoughts and enjoy a good old discussion! You never know; you may find that you love blogging and this could become a daily thing for you.

If you’re not the sort of person who likes to write and share their opinions, you can observe Blogger Day differently! Instead of creating your own blog, why not take a look at some of the different Blogger sites that appeal to you? There are so many great Blogger sites out there, and you can really get lost in exploring the different content.

Such as this one!

Some blogs are personal blogs, following people’s experiences and travels. There are then blogs that are more focused on news or the subject topic, as opposed to the person writing. All you need to do is a quick search online and you will be presented with many different websites. Bookmark the ones that interest you so that you can enjoy reading any fresh posts that are created in the future.

I hope you've bookmarked my blog, or even subscribed to it!