Blogger vs WordPress: Review for the Newbie Blogger

I am still a newbie blogger. When I started, somehow I naturally get to the Blogger. However, moving forward, I am trying to define is the Blogger platform right for my purposes. There is a choice, and all the alternative solutions should be investigated. Usually, you can find anything on the Internet, but it appears to be challenging to locate a comparison tables, highlighting vital features of different blogging platforms. The best comparison I found on the Online Journalism Review page. The table updated for the last time on May 18, 2006. For the blogging platforms development, almost two years are ages. So, what is new there? In the PC World top blogging platforms review (January 22, 2007), the only two free platforms presented are Blogger and Wordpress with slight Blogger priority. Based on that post, and in order to limit the spec of this review, I will focus on these platforms comparison.
There are indeed serious differences between platforms that might influence on your informative decision on using one or another. Bear in mind that I am referring to the developer hosted wordpress.com, not the self hosted wordpress.org. So, let’s review several factors on the platforms differences:

1. Blog Import: In Blogger - limited availability to import and export only in the same blogging platform; in WoordPress - you can import from several other platformd, including from Blogger.
2. Image Storage: In Blogger - 300 MB; in WordPress - 3 GB.
   
3. Static Pages: In Blogger - not available; in WordPress - static pages can be listed in separate menus.
   
4. Post by Email: In Blogger - accepted; in WordPress - not.
   
5. Categories: In Blogger - not available; in WordPress - arranged with no problem.
   
6. File Uploading: In Blogger - not available; in WordPress - files can be uploaded.
   
7. Indexing Time: Here Blogger produces far better results, as due to the tight connections with Google, it can appear in the Search Engines very fast.
   
8. Blog Monetization: WordPress has serious restrictions on the publishing ads, so if you plan to use AdSense, your preferences will probably lean more to the Blogger.

If you are shooting for the blog monetization, there is no doubt that it is much easier to get started with Google Adsense if you have a Blogger account. In fact you can now apply for Adsense from within a Blogger account. Not entirely surprising considering the fact that both are owned by the same company.

With Wordpress, it can get tricky. The default installation is not enough. You’ll need a couple of plugins and even a better theme to really maximize the Adsense potential. However, this seems to be getting easier and there’s even “Adsense revenue sharing” plugins around that allow you to share ad revenue with other contributors and writers for your blog.

Based on all information available, I would definitely recommend Blogger for all the beginners, while WordPress might be considered preferable for more experienced bloggers.

Additional Reading:
http://onestoryeveryday.com/blogger-vs-wordpress-10-features-for-beginners.html
http://pulsed.blogspot.com/2007/07/blogger-wordpress-chart.html
http://michaelsync.net/2007/04/01/wordpresscom-vs-bloggercom
http://www.searchforblogging.com/index.php/2008/03/11/blogging-wars-wordpress-vs-blogger/