I started out creating one Blog. Then the idea formed to clone that Blog into another. Why? To see how different hosting companies will work.

Along the way I learned about different Blogging platforms. Lets not forget about all that new jargon. Made my head spin.

I have run a photo site for a few years. Blogging capability was added by the hosting company last year. I found it to be a great addition to the photo site. So much so that I wanted to expand and enhance the Blog. Unfortunately that was not possible. Hence my search for the perfect blogging platform and hosting company.

The first hosting company loved to send me emails. Update this and upgrade that. A day or so after I started that blog up, I received an email full of congrats about the great visitor stats the site was generating. What stats? No one knew about the site. It had a basic framework setup and only an into post.

Next up came WordPress. Very flexible. Enjoyed setting the blog up. It was interesting to see the results from Google. My WordPress blog was picked by Google. Not so much for the first site.

Looking further I came up with Google’s Blogger. Very similar, in some ways, to WordPress. Also very flexible. I liked the look and feel of the WordPress and Blogger blogs, so decided to shut down the first blog. Sadly that means, I will no longer get those fine emails suggesting that I upgrade this or that from the first hosting company.

Moving along, I find that the Google search engine seems to like my WordPress Blog. The Blogger Blog is getting visitors but apparently not from Google.

Setting up Google Analytics is frustrating. Both services incorporate visitor tracking. Both have ways of setting up Google Analytics. I can’t get either to work. I take the blame for that. Will try again next week.

Now I’m at a stage to make another decision about chopping one of the blogs. I like both. The Blogger setup has three columns. The WordPress only two.

The Blogger setup has a Translation Widget which I feel would be useful for the Blog. There is a way to do something similar with WordPress, but no handy widget. That and the 3 columns. I like the WordPress theme, but would prefer to have three columns. Decisions. Decisions. I don’t speak HTML nor CSS, which does not help matters.

My Blogger Blog address is uniquelytoronto.blogspot.com

The WordPress blog is of course uniquelytoronto.wordpress.com

If you have a minute drop by both. Similar content, just a different look and feel. If Google starts sending its bots over to the Blogger Blog then I think that might tip the scales. The Translation widget and a couple of other widgets are great additions. I will have to see if I can find something similar for WordPress.

Another option has also opened up. That being self hosting. I had figured it would be better to get my feet wet before diving into the deep end called self hosting. A good idea, as it turns out I can’t seem to swim very well in these waters.