Overview

Blogger is a social media platform that allows people to create blogs for free. Blogs are online journals where people can write about any topic they want. Blog topics can range anywhere from a cooking blog to a blog completely dedicated to dogs. People also use blogs as a way to express themselves. Businesses use blogs to keep their customers informed about what is going on in the company. Blogger focuses on “helping people have their own voice on the web and organizing the world’s information from the personal perspective” (“About Us”, n.d.).


The Platform in Brief

Blogger got its start in August 1999. It was created by Pyra Labs, a small company in San Francisco, CA, by Evan Williams and two of his friends (“About Us”, n.d.). In February 2003, Google officially acquired Blogger. Williams, and his six developers also became part of the Google team. (Reuters, 2003).  In2014, Google, which is based in Menlo Park, CA, had approximately 53,600 employees (Statistica, n.d.).

Blogger is one of the most popular blogging sites because of its ease of use. To get started, all you need to do is sign in with your Google account. Once that is done, you need to enter a display name and accept the website’s Terms of service. Then you can start creating your blog. When creating your blog, you have to pick an URL address and a blog title. Then you have to designing your blog. Blogger offers many different blog templates for you to choose from. When you are designing your blog, you made add text, images, and videos (Google, n.d.). There are so many possibilities when creating a blog. Google Expert, Marziah Karch (n.d.), states, “You can use blogs for everything from updating your friends and family about your life, giving your own advice column, discussing your political views, or relating your experience in a topic of interest.”

Like most traditional social media platforms, more females than males use Blogger. Also, most people that view Blogger have little to no college experience. According to Alexa.com, Blogger has a global ranking of 18. Blogger is ranked 19th in the United States.


The Platform in Operation

Blogger is a social media platform that could be very useful to companies. According to the Marketeering Group, companies can use Blogger to “save money on hosting costs – as it is a free tool – while building more visibility to their main websites” (“How to Leverage Blogger…”, 2013).  Because Google owns Blogger, your business will also rank higher in Google’s relevancy considerations. Blogger is also useful to companies because it helps keep your main website from getting to cluttered. Another great Blogger feature that benefits companies is the ability to view and create blogs on mobile devices. This will help companies reach a wider audience (Quayle, 2013).  

According to Powerup Social, a SEO and Social Media Agency, businesses should focus on writing about the “Super 7” in their blog. The idea behind the “Super 7” is to stay in constant contact with your customers. Customers are more likely to stay loyal to a company if they feel the company cares about them. Number one of the “Super 7” is to promote new products and services on your blog. This will help keep customers up to date on what is happening in your company. Number two of the “Super 7” is to position you as an expert by offering tips, advice, and guidance to readers. This helps companies to stay connected with their customers. Number three of the “Super 7” is to announce new or recently completed projects, launches, etc. This will help drive traffic to your blog and main site. Number four of the “Super 7” is to share flattering stories about your company (for example, how you went out of the way to provide great service). This will show that your company cares about the customers. Number five of the “Super 7” is to answer customer questions. Again, this helps the company stay connected with their customers, and it shows that your company shows great customer support. Number six of the “Super 7” is to publicize accomplishments, awards or industry recognition. This shows your customers how you stand compared to your competitors. Number seven of the “Super 7” is to advertise job openings. This gives customers a chance to become a part of the company, and could lead to very valuable employees (Power Up Social, n.d.).


The Platform’s Pros and Cons

There are several pros to using Blogger. First and foremost, Blogger is a completely free. It is also very easy to use. Another reason users like Blogger is because it is customizable. Users can either use one of Blogger’s templates, or they can design their own. Another great feature of Blogger is the ability to monetize your blog. This is great for businesses that want to sell their products directly from their blog. Blogger is also accessible from mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. This comes in handy for people who are always on the go. Many of Blogger’s likable features are due to the fact that Google owns Blogger. If a potential user already has Gmail, then they are automatically signed up for a Blogger account (Giessl, n.d.). According to David Kennedy, Online Communications Manager for The Arc, Blogger “integrates well with other Google blogging services like Feedburner, and various Google products [Google+, Google Hangouts, etc.]” (Kennedy, 2010).  Blogger also saves businesses money on stamps. Angie Mohr of Demand Media states, “customers subscribed to the blog will get an automatic email notification when you make a post.”  Because of this feature, blogs “have begun to replace newsletters” as well (Mohr, n.d.).


There are also several cons to using blogger. Users are not allowed to import blog post from another platform. Post can only be imported from another Blogger blog.  Users also cannot host a Blogger blog on another web server. For users who use Picasa Web in conjunction with Blogger, they are only allowed 1GB of storage space. This could be a problem for users with a lot of pictures. Another feature that users do not like is the inability to edit comments. The main reason people do not like Blogger is due to the fact that they do not actually own the blogs they publish. Google owns their blogs, which gives them the right to “shut it down if they think you are spamming or violating the rules (Giessl, n.d.). Many users, especially businesses, do not like the fact that they do not have complete control over their blog.


Analysis

I honestly did not find Blogger as easy to use as most people say it is. Creating a blog seemed to be pretty straight forward, however, I found it very difficult to search for other blogs. I also believe that Blogger is more suited for personal use or for smaller businesses. The ease of use and customizable templates make it easy for them to use. However, bigger businesses might be hindered by Blogger’s limited control. They need to be able to have complete ownership of their blog. Overall, I am disappointed with Blogger. I feel that Google could have done so much more with it. I just feel like it is lacking that little something extra needed to make it a great blogging tool. Unless Google adds some new features to Blogger in the near future, I do not see them expanding much. They are starting to fall behind in the blogging platform race.


References

About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from https://www.blogger.com/about

Competitive Intelligence. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/blogspot.com

Giessl, J. (n.d.). Blogger Pros And Cons. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://www.writingwebworkingmom.com/blogger-pros-and-cons.html

Google. (n.d.). Blogger Getting Started Guide. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en

Karch, M. (n.d.).What is Google Blogger? Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://google.about.com/od/googleblogging/fr/bloggerreview.htm

Kennedy, D. (2010, June 28). The Pros and Cons of Four Major Blogging Platforms. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-four-major-blogging-platforms-for-writers/

Mohr, A. (n.d.). Do Businesses Use Blogger? Retrieved February 18, 2015, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/businesses-use-blogger-21628.html

One account. All of Google. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://www.blogger.com/

Power Up Social. (n.d.). How to Use a Blog to Promote Your Business - Power Up Social. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://powerupsocial.com/how-to-use-a-blog-to-promote-your-business/

Quayle, M. (2013, September 20). How to Leverage Blogger to Build Your Brand and Business | Marketeering Group. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://marketeeringgroup.com/leverage-blogger-build-brand-business/

Reuters. "Search Engine Google to Acquire Pyra Labs, Developer of Weblogs." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb. 2003. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.

Statista. (n.d.). Google: Number of employees 2014 | Statistic. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/273744/number-of-full-time-google-employees/

Contact Information

To contact the author of this article, “What You Need to Know About Blogger: An Executive Roadmap for Social Media Success,” please email the author at [email protected].     

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The mission of the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University is to provide educational experiences for personal, professional and intellectual growth, enable the creation and sharing of knowledge to enhance learning and to advance the practice of business, and engage communities through service to positively impact their future. The Accounting and Business programs in the College of Business are accredited by the AACSB International.