What I needed was a system that was both easy for me to design sites with, and easy for my clients to use. WP is that. So far I haven’t needed any extra functionality for a site beyond what WP offers.

As for the title of the post – I know it was too definitive, but a) I really find that 99% of professional bloggers use WP, so to me that’s pretty definitive and b) I was being provocative in a bloggy type of way

Anyways, thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for the response. In the time since I posted the original comment, I have come to understand WordPress’s superiority over Movable Type regarding many things.

I also now see your point about using WordPress over Blogger from the start. I sent Jeremiah an email asking him about his transition from Blogger to WordPress and he responded (as you suspected) that he did wish he had started with his own domain on WordPress.

I still believe, however, that blogs using either WordPress or Movable Type or the latest rival, Joomla, would get the same respect in the business world, even though WordPress is more popular and easier to use.

I think what threw me off with this post is that you had the theme of the definitive “Really professional bloggers…” As there are many exceptions to using self-hosting and the WordPress platform, I think using “Really professional bloggers tend to…” would be more clear.

Thanks again for responding.

Lisa

I actually own a domain name (since before I started the blog) and want to switch, but I don’t have the technological expertise.

Thanks for your kind words about my blog. I hope they come true.

Maya

As for blogger, many people who started blogs there and later became successful say that they regret starting there. I suspect if you asked Jeremiah if he’s happy he started on blogger, he’d probably say no, since moving a blog from blogger to WordPress is no easy task.

That’s why my point in this post is that bloggers might as well start out on WordPress, because while blogger is ok for minor blogs, a successful blogger can quickly outgrow it. So you might as well start off on a platform that allows you to grow with it.

Maya – thanks for stopping by. Your blog is really impressive.

You have started off on the right foot. I do recommend that you buy a domain name already and use it on your WordPress.com blog, since I think that your blog will become very successful due to the high quality of the content. Better to implement the domain name earlier rather than later, because moving a blog to a different domain name can be tricky if you want to retain all your search engine traffic.

Anyways, good luck and happy blogging!

I think you are absolutely right on all three counts. I am hoping to transition my own blog as soon as possible, so it was interesting to hear your take. (That’s part of the reason I was visiting your website anyway, so it’s nice to see the parallels.)

Maya

The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy

Very interesting post. I think which platform a blogger starts out on really depends on who the blogger will be blogging for. If the blogger is starting a corporate blog, than right away a professional blog platform such as WordPress or Movable Type should probably be used, but if the blogger wants to blog about a topic that is related to his/her professional interest but is independent of a company, using Blogger (which is the easiest to use) probably won’t negatively impact attracting an audience or any first impressions. After all, professionals, such as Jeremiah Owyang, started out on Blogger before switching to WordPress.

Regarding the overwhelming popularity of WordPress, it’s very important to note that not all professional blogs use WordPress. John Battelle and several others use Movable Type which is on par with WordPress and — considering its move to open source last summer — has the potential in the next few months to even move ahead of WordPress. That said, as you have exhibited in this post, perception is reality, and in the professional blog platform world, WordPress certainly seems to be the best.

For anyone who wants to read a comparison of the WordPress and Movable Type, here’s a link to a post on the Mashable website: http://mashable.com/2007/08/15/movable-type-wordpress/#comment-980202

For anyone who wants to know the basics of blogging, here’s a link to a website that I have found to be invaluable for blogging advice: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/