Comparing Blog Platforms #3: Typepad v. Wordpress.com

Welcome to my big experiment comparing blog platforms to find the one that anyone can understand.  I started this blog over on Wordpress.com, and you can see Part #1 and Part #2 at www.blogcastgirl.wordpress.com. 

Today, I built my first blog on Typepad.com.  Here is a five-point comparison of the two platforms.

FIVE POINTS OF COMPARISON

1. Free Wordpress.com v. Pay Typepad
2. Time to First Blog:  10 Minutes on Typepad v. 1 Hour on Wordpress.com
3. Editing Interface Is Similar; Publishing Differs; No Emoticons or Undo Button on Typepad
4. Help and FAQ:  Typepad Wins By a Nose
5. Domain Mapping:  Available With Both Platforms

1.  Free Wordpress.com v. Pay Typepad

Wordpress.com is a free blog, while Typepad.com charges a monthly or annual fee.  I'm trying Typepad on its "14-day free trial" basis.  I chose the Plus $8.95 service (second from the bottom) so that I could have multiple blogs, advertising, and domain mapping.

>>Why pay?  Both the free and pay services include the web ware, hosting, and support required to maintain a blog online.  There is one big difference:  advertising.

If you want to monetize your blog--run ads or affiliate programs--Wordpress.com doesn't allow it.  This information isn't in any obvious location on their site, but it is very clear in their FAQs that they don't cotton to blatant commercialism.  They target business and personal users who are using the blog to deliver information to their readers, not advertising and products.

2.  Time to First Blog:  10 Minutes on Typepad v. 1 Hour on Wordpress.com

My first metric of comparison is how long it takes to get to the first blog.  In my mind, time-to-first-blog is composed of four steps.

1. Creating an account
2. Choosing a blog title
3. Choosing a theme or template
4. Starting (not finishing) my first post

>>Getting Started on Typepad:  10 Minutes

I have to say that I am impressed with Typepad so far.  It has been much easier to get to the "first blog" than it was with Wordpress.com. The login screen whisked me from account creation, to choosing a blog title and theme, to composing my first post in less than ten minutes. It would have been less, but I couldn't resist looking at the various theme choices despite my personal resolve to just get on with it.

>>Getting Started on Wordpress.com:  1 Hour or More

Now, to be fair, I cut my teeth poking around on Wordpress.com's menus, and so I was a smarter user when I logged into Typepad.  But the point is:  I didn't need to know the process.  Typepad took me through these first three steps automatically.  There was nothing for me to figure out.  Wordpress.com presented me with a "dashboard" menu embedded with a lot of other menus in the middle of the page.  It took me a while to figure out which menu held the keys to the castle. (Everyday people need neon signs that say "click here silly" in order to know where to begin). 

On Wordpress.com, I had to click around to find the things that I was looking for.  As a result, I got side-tracked a lot in areas that I nothing to do with the four steps that I outlined above.  Sure, I learned a lot, but for an everyday person, this is pretty frustrating. For less persistent/analytical folks then me, it would be a show-stopper.

3.  Editing Interface Is Similar; Publishing Differs; No Emoticons or Undo Button on Typepad

The editing interface looks very similar between Typepad and Wordpress.com.  I learned how to create turn text into links back on Wordpress, and the process is similar here. 

>>Publishing Differs Between the Systems

One gotcha for the everyday person:  Typepad handles publishing differently than Wordpress.com.

• In Wordpress.com, there was a "save" button and a "publish" button.  This enables me to save drafts as I go, and it isn't published until I press "publish." 
• In Typepad, there is a "save" button that relies on the "posting status" drop box to either save the post as "draft," "publish on," or "publish now."  If it is on "publish now," your post goes out to the world when you press "save."  I did this by accident, then changed the "posting status" to "draft," and the post was removed from my page.

>>Like The Emoticons (And Special Characters) In Wordpress

Wordpress.com translates emoticons (smileys to some of you) into cute little yellow faces.  It is a nice way to draw attention to phrases in a post.  So far, I haven't found a way to insert either emoticons or special characters like hyphens, trademarks, and copyrights.

>>No "Undo Button" In Typepad

I haven't found the "Undo" button in the Typepad editor.  I have to say that I have become quite dependent on it in Word, and Wordpress.com does have this feature.  I did a Knowledge Base Search in Typepad and didn't find any relief.

4.  Help and FAQ:  Typepad Wins By a Nose

The help and FAQ (frequently asked questions) on both sites are great.  I am finding TypePad's Knowledge Base Search (their version of FAQ) to be easier to understand.  Wordpress.com's FAQs feel a little more like the collection of questions that they are, so the structure is more haphazard and the writing feels techie.

Wordpress.com's tech support is fast to respond.  At one point, I wanted to restore the default theme on my blog and I couldn't find it on the list.  I submitted a question in the evening, and by morning I had a response from them owning the problem.  And, most importantly, it was fixed.  I haven't tested Typepad's tech support.

5.  Domain Name Mapping On Both Platforms

If you are using your blog for any kind of business or commercial purpose, you should own your domain.  In fact, they are so inexpensive, that I think that everyone should have one.  Both platforms allow you to map your own domain to the blog, thereby making "blogcastgirl.typepad.com" look like "blogcastgirl.com" to the outside world.

>>Why Own Your Domain?

• For business users, owning your domain means that you are driving traffic to an asset that you control.  Migrating it later is difficult to impossible. 
• For casual users, it probably doesn't matter a hoot.

>>Domain mapping is inexpensive on both platforms. Both give you the option of purchasing the domain through them, and both walk you through the process.  I can't compare the ease of use, since I haven't done it yet.  But if you want to own your domain, it is important to have this option.

• On Typepad, this service is included in the $8.95 per month Plus account.
• On Wordpress.com, you can purchase an upgrade for $10 a year (a bit more if you need to buy the domain).

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[Angela B]

Hello, I read your blog because it sounds like you could help answer my question with your exprerience with wordpress and switching to typepad. My friend and I started a blog on wordpress.com but switched it over to wordpress.org because we purchased a studiopress template and thought it would be more professional for gaining advertisers, etc.

We were wrong, wordpress takes a long time to navigate through and figure out. Our domain name expires in about a week and we purchased it through wordpress.com. Our question is if we renew it before it expires, can we take that domain name and switch it over to our new TypePad blog or if we renew it are we LOCKED in as a wordpress blog with our domain name. We love our domain name but don't love wordpress, do you have advice on how we can switch this or if it is possible? Thanks so much, Angela B.

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