What is a better format for bloggers?

[Felicia Chien]

Hey all, lately I've been seeing a lot of bloggers move their blogs from Blogger to Wordpress. I tried wordpress once, just to see what it's all about, but I didn't really like it. Can anyone give me their insight if I should leave my blog at Blogger, or should I change to Wordpress or LiveJournal, or any other website that might be more suitable for book bloggers and follower friendly? 

Thanks.

Livin' Life Through Books

[Jeff Clough]

I used LiveJournal back in the Bad Old Days, but gave up on it a couple years back. I found it was growing far too spam-heavy and the company behind it now seems much more interested in putting advertising in front my eyes (and my readers') than in providing an actual service.

After that, I moved to Blogger. It was okay, but I didn't really love it. I found the interface to be unintuitive in some places, pleasant in others. Inconsistent, if that makes sense.

Now, I use Wordpress, hosted on my own domain and a server I pay for. It's the more expensive option, but I'm happy with the results. Most hosting providers give you a point-and-click system to get Wordpress up and running. Once you're at that point, it's fairly smooth sailing in my experience.

[Carmen Knight]

lol You all making me stay with Wordpress. I absolutely love Wordpress its flexible and very organized (which is A+ for me) Currently I'm using Wordpress for this group blog I admin for. (btw currently looking for more writers on it)

Ive recently started using and learning blogger because html aspect of it and to start my own platform, of sorts. But I still miss Wordpress.com

I'm hosting a poll for this subject to share with everyone at http://inkgypsy.blogger.com.

Hope you choose the best format for you. But if you like where your at dont change it.

[Patricia Gligor]

I'm personally very happy with my blog through Google. I'm a believer in the "keep it simple" philosophy. I see so many blogs that are cluttered and/or difficult to read or comment on and they're a turn-off. I would suggest a simple, easy to maneuver format and posting regularly.

[Beccie]

I say this all the time but start a facebook page for your blog, more people are on facebook everyday and you'll get much more interaction.  Visit mine to see what we're about =)

Beccie

www.facebook.com/Bookiesfan

[Joann H. Buchanan]

I have a group for one and a page for the other. It really does work to increase traffic and also for those who don't know how to make comments in the blog, they are able to make them here. That's a cool thing I think. :D I just liked your page because I like the suggestion...lol.

So good to meet everyone here. :D

[Bookish Hobbit]

I used Blogger for years. However, I do enjoy Wordpress better. I wish I could do more to customize the look of my blog (I miss the free tinkering that Blogger offered), but I will make due because it's not really about what you're blog looks like but how you write that keeps people interested.

It's probably a good thing that I don't clutter my sidebar with widgets that no one really cares about but myself.

[Janiera Eldridge]

It is a personal preference but I find blogger to be a lot simpler to use and I can still customize it the way I want. Plus, it offers more customization for free than wordpress. Wordpress is only worth using if your self-hosting. Wordpress for free doesn't offer a lot of customization.

[Nina D'Angelo]

I used to use wordpress but I found i didn't like it so switched to blogger. It's easier to use, easier to format and there is a much more comfortable feeling with it.

[Michelle Hughes]

I can't do wordpress which is why I'm staying with blogger.  I managed to find templates online and since I was already familiar with the blogger format it made changing my blog a breeze.  I don't do complicated LOL 

[narj salazar]

I'm using Blogger/Blogspot since 2004 and I plan to stick with it. I made 3 blogs---a personal, a short story, and a book blog from it. I learned how to tinker with HTML from it and to customize widgets according to what I wanted. It all becomes subjective per user when it comes to the aesthetic aspect (simple look vs professional look vs grafix loaded look) but the important thing here is, the user controls what he wants to post in his blog and it's easy and much simplified with blogger.

I saw a lot of blogs with professional looking templates but the content speaks differently (mostly candy-coated childish posts and memes). I saw blogs with apparently avant garde look, loaded with grafix but what I like about that blog is not the grafix but what she writes. I tried Tumblr and Posterous and both are okay as alternative formats. Tumblr is ideal for a photoblog and I tried making a random blog from it. I am using Posterous for my career blog (I am an engineer by profession).

At the end of the day the bottomline in blogging is about the CONTENT-- the real essence of what you write.

[anieva]

I had a blogspot blog and I liked it, but my computers have become 'allergic' to blogger. Any time I go on a blogspot blog, my computers freeze. It's mysterious. Hopefully, it will stop happening some day so I can get back to all the nice book blogs I'm missing. : (