Top 10 Reasons Not To Use Blogspot

When Blogspot, otherwise known as Blogger (blogger.com), was launched in 1999, it quickly became a huge deal.

Suddenly, everyone could log-on to the internet and create their own webpage. It became so popular that in 2003, Google bought it from its creators for an undisclosed, but assumingly massive sum.

How blogspot.com looked back in 1999

Since then blogging has taken over the world. There are millions of blogs in existence on every subject imaginable.

If there isn’t the exact blog you’re looking for, you can create it. But blogging is no longer just a hobby.

For a considerable number of people, blogging is a full-time and very lucrative job.

Why Was Blogspot So Successful?

It’s free. When it comes down to the basics, Blogspot had everything you need for free.

Of course, it didn’t have the best of everything, but can you complain when it's free? Before blogging became the world-wide phenomenon it is today, no one knew if it was possible to make money from it, or if it was just a fun hobby.

Nowadays, bloggers make vast sums of money from sponsored posts, advertisements, and product placements. But in the early days, you would have been crazy to buy or pay money for something no one would see.

And so, Blogspot grew.

Because it was free, it attracted a variety of users, covering a myriad of topics. The ease with which anyone could create an account, customise the templates and upload content made it attractive for everyone.

What Changed To Make Blogspot (Blogger.com) So Bad?

If it was such a success, why has the original blogging website has fallen out of fashion?

Well, the keys to its success are now the reason any self-respecting blogger will never choose Blogspot.

Nowadays anyone looking to make money from blogging, or at least get a decent audience, avoids the website like the plague. But how did it fall from grace, and why should you avoid it?

We’ve broken down everything you need to know about Blogspot:

1. Google's Meddling
2. SEO Failure
3. No Support
4. Comments and Community
5. A Little Bit Boring
6. Limitations
7. It's Tough To Make Money
8. Stuck In The Past
9. Spam Everywhere
10. There Are Better Options

1. Google’s Meddling

To start with, Google buying Blogspot was great for users. The massive financial investment meant some features which were previously extras and had to be paid for, became free to use.

Fantastic!

But now, Google is a weight around the neck of Blogspot.

Google has a list of terms and conditions as long as you are tall, and if you break these, your blog is deleted. Gone. With no warning.

Yet with Blogspot, you can spend years cultivating a perfect blog and growing your audience only for it to disappear overnight because Google doesn’t like it.

While this may sound alright if it only happened to a few people over extreme posts such as racism, online bullying, or hate speech, it regularly happens to ordinary users. For many, they don’t even know why their page was removed.

If this happens to you, there is literally nothing you can do about it.

Part of the reason Blogpost is free is because Google owns the blog. You can buy a domain name, but your blog is Google’s property, which is why, if they remove it, you can’t get it back.

If you are serious about investing in a blog, you need to make sure you own it.

2. SEO Failure

While you may think that being owned by Google gives you an advantage when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the appearance of your blog on the search results pages, you’d be very wrong.

Google shows absolutely no favour towards blogs created on its own platform.

Now, this does make it fair for those using other platforms such as Squarespace or WordPress, so overall it is a good thing. It’s just no good if you thought using a Google platform would give you a good standing.

Google might interfere with your blog but only to remove it, rather than boost it.

3. No Support

Again, you might have thought that being bought by Google would give Blogspot a wealth of support and knowledge to draw on when you do, undoubtedly run into issues.

Wrong again!

Aside from some basic manuals and explanations on how to actually use the site, there is very little support.

This isn’t a major factor for many people but compared to other hosting sites, it's yet another red flag for Blogspot.

Most other sites offer community forum pages so you can ask other sues for help, explanations, and advice. This is part of what makes blogging so amazing; the community and collaboration.

Blogspot doesn’t have this.

So, if you have a problem, you have to go directly to Google. And as we’ve seen, if they don’t like it or can’t resolve it, they will get rid of the problem by getting rid of your blog.

Simple for them, endlessly frustrating for you.

4. Comments and Community

Talking of no community support from other users, do you want to reply to comments?

Do you want to chat with your readers, take an active role in connecting to others, and growing your audience? Well, tough luck.

Blogspot lets you turn comments on or off.

That’s it.

You can reply to comments but only after going to each individual page and searching for the comments. It’s not super complicated, but compared to other hosting platforms, it’s unnecessarily long.

5. A Little Bit Boring

Even if all these reasons don’t make you run away from Blogspot, this one should. In all honesty, it’s a little boring.

The standard templates can be customised to a certain level, but really, all the blogs kind of look the same. While this does make it fairly easy to use, it also makes you blend into the crowd.

There are several designs to choose from, and you can change the colours and layout to a certain extent, but there are only so many combinations you can pick. With the millions of blogs that already exist, chances are, your exact style already exists.

Not only are you limited in terms of options - the options themselves are not that great.

They all tend to be a little bit bulky and amateur rather than professional looking websites. This is fine if you don’t plan on making money from your blog.

However, if you want sponsorships or advertisements, no self-respecting company wants to appear on a clunky, childish website, unless it’s an advert for clunky, childish products.

6. Limitations

Blogspot comes with so many limitations.

Not only in terms of design but also word count and images. Blogspot has a page limitation of just 1MB.

This means one high-quality image or a couple of low-quality pieces. Additionally, you can’t post more than 100 posts on a single page, and there’s a maximum limit of 20 pages.

Assuming you want to start a blog because you have something to say, it seems a little ridiculous to place strict character limitations on blogs.

Yet Blogspot manages to do this anyway.

The “about me” page is limited to just 1,200 characters. You might have lots of hobbies, but you can only list them in 2,000 characters or less.

What is your blog about? Tell me in less than 500 characters.

Limiting how much you can actually write on a blogging platform is as insane as it sounds.

7. It’s Tough To Make Money

As we’ve already mentioned, the design of Blogspot blogs is not great.

Blogspot now has such a bad reputation for hosting amateur blogs, companies who see a Blogspot domain name will automatically turn you away. This means that even if you somehow manage to create an awesome blog on Blogspot, it’ll never be seen by people who matter.

And then even if you manage to get some decent views and companies are interested in your blog, unfortunately, Google has slapped some pretty serious restrictions on how you can monetize Blogspot.

You can get money from ads but not in the same way other blogs can. Why is this? Because Google owns your blog.

With few views, an unprofessional reputation and clunky design, turning your blog from a hobby to a job is almost impossible if you use Blogspot.

That’s not to say it is totally impossible. Especially when it first started, many people did make it big on Blogspot.

But time has moved on and Blogspot hasn’t. Why struggle to make money on Blogspot when you can easily monetise your blog using another hosting service?

8. Stuck In The Past

Blogspot really is stuck in the past. Technology moves fast these days, which means tech companies are continually releasing new programs and services to help make everything easier and smoother for the user.

Other hosting services update at least once a year. Blogspot doesn’t.

This could mean that Google has recognised its blogging reputation is in freefall is preparing to give it a massive overhaul.

Alternatively, it could mean that Google has seen the writing on the wall and will axe the service. A blessing for all.

Either way, Blogspot is currently about two years behind other hosting platforms in terms of updates and new technology.

If you’re looking to contribute to your blog over several years, you don’t need a platform that refuses to join the modern world or is about to change everything completely.

Just pick an easier option.

9. Spam Everywhere

Because it is so quick and easy to create a Blogspot page, lots of bots use Blogspot to create and link to their actual website.

Websites get boosted up search engine result pages if another site links back to them. It’s like someone else saying your site has lots of good points, and others might want to read it.

So robots automatically create Blogspot sites and then link to the real site which is hosted elsewhere. When Google sees this new link and then boosts the other site up the search engine rankings.

Part of the reason people are able to run these spam accounts is that Blogspot has no plug-in protection again viruses and spam content.

So, if you have entered your email address into Blogspot to create an account, that email address will be spammed with unwanted emails.

While this won’t directly affect your blog, it does mean that Blogspot is associated with being a hosting platform for scams, cons, and spam accounts.

Not a great start if you want a reputable blog. Also, don’t be surprised if no one wants to link to your page. You might not be creating spam, but others don’t know that.

10. There Are Other Better Options

Despite all the many reasons to not use Blogspot, it would still be better to use it than not have a blog.

If blogging is your life’s passion or a fun pastime, the fact that Blogspot lets you do for free is excellent. Better to do it badly than not do it at all.

The thing is, there are now so many other options that you just don’t need to put up with Blogspot’s hassle.

WordPress is increasingly popular, as is Squarespace.

Both platforms offer more customisation, more creative freedom, more support, fewer negatives and a more professional end result.

My Conclusion On Blogspot

With so many other options, there is no reason at all why you should choose Blogspot.

But if you do opt for Blogspot, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

If you were considering using Blogspot as your blogging website platform or you know someone who is considering blogger.com, please share this blog post to warn others.

About the author

David Reid

David previously worked with Europe’s No.1 Marketing Agency & the World’s No.6 biggest Integrated Marketing Agency, seeing first-hand how £150 million+ campaigns are executed to create household brands. Now he is the CEO of YewBiz and is focused on helping small businesses.