If you have been introduced to the world of cyber blogging, then you must have heard of WordPress and TypePad.  If you are just getting started, congratulations!  WordPress.com and other blogging tools are available to assist you in sending your thoughts and work into the cyber world. These products have been competing for your attention, but which to use will depend on you and your personal needs. Let me give some tips for you to enhance your knowledge of the most common blogging tools.

WordPress started as software that you can install onto the Web server of your choice, but now  has 2  versions:  WordPress.com which is a hosted turnkey solution, WordPress.org for installation on your own domain.

TypePad has no installation task to be accomplished. Your blog and the control screens through which you operate the blog, all reside on TypePad computers, not your computer. You pay a monthly or annual fee for a chunk of server space and access to the administrative controls.

What are the features of a blog?

Bloggers create posts and share with their cyber networks by using a blogging tool such as WordPress or TypePad. A post is essentially an online journal entry.  It holds a blogger’s thoughts on anything they can think of that includes words, pictures, videos and links.  A significant feature common to blog sites is the facility to sort posts so that they can be located effortlessly. These would increase the traffic on posts and make it easier for anyone who is looking for a specific topic to search an entry; this capability is usually found on either side of the screen depending on your blog’s design. These blogs would have time stamps from the time you uploaded them. This would allow a blogger to properly archive their entries.

What are their similarities and differences on blogger tools?

WordPress is free while TypePad is not, although if you obtain a full version of WordPress  you will have to pay for web hosting and your own domain, unless you opt to go with WordPress.com which provides the service absolutely free, but does not allow you to put ad sense on your sites.

WordPress has wide-ranging theme types as opposed to a TypePad.  TypePad, however, is uncomplicated in regard to CSS codes, as it does the job for you, so without having any  code knowledge, you are able to switch the customized themes.

TypePad does not offer pages, as the system only allows a blogger to select a certain number of words to be published upfront and the rest would have to be accessed via archives.  WordPress offers multiple pages at the bottom of each page you can either go to the next page, if there is one or previous page if you want to go back.

WordPress has made plugins available on their system to improve its function. These plugins include: tags, popular post side bar, lists of related posts, subscribe to other people’s post or to a comment on your post, SEO tools, social media interaction tools, and much more.

TypePad is reliable during upgrades and maintenance as opposed to WordPress.  If a new version of WordPress is released, you can upgrade it to your existing WordPress, however, you have to do this on your own. TypePad, unknowingly to its users, do the upgrades for you so you don’t need to worry about your PC’s configuration.  Latency on the server may be experienced during this scheduled updates.

So if you are still a bit unsure, just try both for the meantime and compare. This will help you decide on which tool to use for your blogging pleasures.