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Over the past two weeks I've discussed what to consider when choosing a blog platform and the pros and cons of using Blogger as your platform. Today I'm writing about the pros and cons of using Typepad as your blog platform. Typepad is a paid, hosted platform and is one of the most popular options in the blogosphere right now.
When Robin at Pensieve decided to move from Blogger to TypePad, she "weighed the benefits of TypePad and WordPress. My choice boiled down to my perception that WordPress would require more knowledge to manipulate, and TypePad was user-friendly from the get-go." Robin considers these items some of the top reasons to choose TypePad:
- Fabulous customer support
- User friendly
- Free design templates
- Easy photo uploads
- Easy sidebar manipulation
- Unlimited blogs with a Premium Account
If you are looking at moving to TypePad, you should know that you must have at least a Pro level account ($14.95/month) to change your CSS. You can upload a banner and change the colors via the Design page with the Plus level ($8.95/month), but you can’t make significant changes without the Pro account or higher. In addition, you need to understand CSS and be able to make modifications yourself. There’s a learning curve there, but it can be done.
One of the questions I am asked most often is whether Typepad is worth paying for. Even though the service is reasonably priced, many bloggers aren't sure they want to pay for their hobby, but they like the classic, professional look of Typepad blogs. My answer is I think Typepad is worth the money if you're serious about your blogging. Typepad is fairly inexpensive, allows you to have control over your blog design, you don’t have to get into the HTML unless you want to, and the TypePad Help files are awesome. I can usually find any answers I’m looking for in the Help files. If I can’t, I open a Help Desk ticket and a real live person answers me and walks me through whatever I need.
Commenting and responding to comments is also very easy and intuitive with a Typepad blog. Each time a comment is posted, you will receive an e-mail with the contents of the comment. To respond, you simply click the Respond button in your e-mail client and type your response and send as you would a normal e-mail. I have one complaint here: Typepad users are encouraged to use their ?Typekey account information when they comment. I've found that this makes it hard or impossible to respond to comments as I just described (via my e-mail client). I'll admit I haven't taken the time to figure this out, but it's something to be aware of. Using the Typekey account instead of your name/e-mail/URL info makes it hard for me (as the blog owner) to alert winners of giveaways or respond to comments in a timely manner. I'd love it if you have some solutions for this. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Lisa Hoover at DaniWeb likes the fact that Typepad offers Typepad Connect, a plugin that allows visitors to interact with each other (it works with Typepad, Blogger, WordPress, and Moveable Type):
Typepad Connect is available to all bloggers, not just those using Six Apart's software. Readers can create public profiles, and bloggers can easily manage or respond to comments right from the site. Typepad Connect also offers a strong comment filters to help combat one of the most annoying issues surrounding blogging today -- comment spam.
Also in this series:
Further reading:
- Typepad vs Wordpress vs Wordpress.com by Dave at Business Blogging Pros
- Starting Your First Blog with Typepad by Frank Young
- Why I Love Typepad and How to Make it Work for You by Andrew J. Thompson at America: The Next Generation
Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions for beginning bloggers at Blogging Basics 101.
