Well, I’m inclined to say that price would be the biggest difference. That’s right, SquareSpace will cost you $8/mo after its two-week trial whereas you’ll never have to open that wallet (or purse) after two weeks of hosting your site on WordPress.com.

I’ll more-than-willingly admit that I’m one of WordPress’ most fervent proponents. That said, SquareSpace is… well, it’s just plain slick. 

Now, both the free version of WordPress and the $8/mo SquareSpace plan offer any introductory blogger exactly what they need:

• site stats,
• a plethora of designs from which to choose (and subsequently customize),
• comment spam prevention,
• easy WYSIWYG post authoring capabilities,
• support for multiple authors/editors/users,
• import/export options,
• social integration (hey it’s all the rage these days),
• ability to post from your phone, email, etc.,
• RSS,
• very good built-in search functionality,
• and much, much (much) more.

So, what about the differences? Well, like I said, one of the main differences comes down to CHC. (That’s “cold hard cash” for those of you that aren’t as completely obsessed with abbreviations as I am.)

Right off the bat, for what any beginnier – or even intermediate – blogger needs, you’re shelling out $8/mo to SquareSpace when you could be paying nothing at all with WordPress. Even with the SS plan, you won’t have access to a custom domain name. So, at this point, you’re either going to be hosting your blog on something.wordpress.com or something.squarespace.com.

Custom domain names are extra with both providers.

From then on, it’s still all about cost differences. 

SQUARESPACE ADVANCED OPTIONS

SquareSpace offers FIVE different monthly plans ranging from that $8/mo plan all the way up to a $50/mo plan. Besides for the ability to have a custom domain name with the latter four plans, the main things for which you’ll be paying with each of the plans include the ability to handle more incoming traffic, handle more members, more editors and more storage space. 

A few other interesting features that start to pop up with the $20/mo and $30/mo plans include:

• DropBox modules,
• form builders,
• FAQ builders,
• email template control,
• SSL and a few others.

WORDPRESS ADVANCED OPTIONS (a.k.a., “Premium Features”)

WordPress offers a different perspective when it comes to advanced functionality – in the form of yearly add-ons. For instance, for $15/year you can have your own domain name. For “VideoPress” (an excellent video/podcast publishing option), tack on about $60/year. For additional storage space, count on at least $20/year, unlimited users: $30/year, the option to go ad-free (or have your own ads): another $30/year.

Yikes… those look like some scary costs. Well, yeah, but if you add ‘em up and calculuate them, instead, as monthly fees, you’ll find that $15 + $60 + $20 + $30 + $30 = $155 per year. So, if you were to divide that by 12 months, you’d be looking at a whopping $12.92 per month.

That’s not so bad in comparison to SquareSpace’s “Advanced” or “Business” plans at $20 and $30 per month, respectively.

Then again, SS throws in a couple of unique features like those FAQ & form builders… and even that DropBox module – features that are nowhere to be found on WordPress.com.

One other thing in SquareSpace’s corner: beautification. Seriously, SS has, in my humble opinion, much better templates/themes than the ones offered by my beloved WordPress. Just take a peek at the release of SquareSpace’s Social Widgets to get a feel for the crisp, clean look of the interface in which you’ll be working.

(The comparison of WordPress to SquareSpace makes me think of the the comparison of Mac vs. Windows. One looks nice and doesn’t give you many hassles but the other one just plain gets the job done at the end of the day. I’ll let you decipher which is which.)

THE CONCLUSION

In the arena of hosted blogs, I’m going to ever-so-carefully wrap things up by stating the following: if you don’t mind shelling the amount of money per month equivalent to that of 2.5 fast food meals, I might sign up for SquareSpace’s 2nd plan (the “Pro” plan at $14/mo.) and be on my merry way. 

Odds are, for most bloggers, you’ll appreciate the expansive flexibility and it’ll be a long way before you have to worry about “yearly add-ons” or upgrading.

If, however, you just want to hop on that thing we call the Information Superhighway and blog ’till your heart’s content, all without sacrificing this month’s groceries (or this month’s Starbucks Venti Soy Lattes), please, by all means, sign up on WordPress.com today. Don’t even hesitate. 

It’s ridiculously flexible and despite what I’ve said about SquareSpace being “slick,” the WordPress interface has been in development for over seven years now and certainly feels like it. It’s fine-tuned, to say the absolute least.

THE THIRD AND INFINITELY BETTER OPTION

“What? A third option? You didn’t tell me you were gonna have a third option! I’m outta here, man!”

Hey, guess what. WordPress has something else you might be interested in. It’s a “self-hosted,” open-source version that you can install on your own space out there on the Interwebz. A version in which you have complete control over ads, design, accessibility, search engine optimization, statistics, backups, images/videos/pictures and just about anything else you could possibly want from your blog. 

If you do happen to find a certain type of functionality missing from your version of WordPress, just check out the Extend section of WordPress.org for thousands of themes and plugins – all free.

Speaking of free, what exactly does this magical version of WordPress cost? 

Nada.

That’s right, you can download every wonderful element of WordPress in a ridiculously easy-to-install .zip file (at http://wordpress.org) for the low cost of zero dollars and zero cents. Then, just find a host on which to install it. 

As a freelance web designer, I manage each and every one of my clients’ WordPress sites throughMediaTemple (which I HIGHLY recommend) but you can find plenty of other companies that offer hosting and 1-click installations of WordPress sites. Even GoDaddy does a pretty good job at WP hosting.

Overall, the self-hosted version of WordPress is, by far, the best option out there if you plan on taking your participation in the blogosphere seriously.

Let your fellow readers know what you think is the better service. Post in the comments below.

The first, FBLook, provides you with a toolbar which allows you to easily update your Facebook status as well as keep track of your friends’ statuses. You can also check out any requests, messages, notifications, etc. that might be waiting for you online.

The second utility, OutTwit, provides you with alot of the same functionality (and then some) but is instead aimed at the Twitter network.  Here’s a full list of features you’ll find in OutTwit:

• Update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.
• Receive your friend updates as Outlook messages.
• Archive, manage and search your tweets the same way you manage your email.
• Track keywords. OutTwit will automatically download ALL tweets matching the keywords you specify, even if you are not following the tweet sender. This feature is perfect for keeping up to date with the the Twitter buzz on your name, brand, interests, etc.
• Assign custom folder and categories to new messages.
• Automatically sort new tweets into per-sender folders.
• Shorten URLs with tinyurl.
• See graphs of your Twitter usage statistics.
• Tweets sent to you (@replies and direct) are marked with high importance, so you can see them at a glance.

Both utilities, which appear to be actively developed, feature quick and clean installations and are completely free.  Next up, the company plans to offer a brand new utility, dubbed OpenLook, which will allow you to monitor and engage with ALL of your favorite social networks right inside Outlook:

“If you are an Outlook user, you probably have it open all the time. Now you can interact with all your social networks without leaving Outlook. OpenLook seamlessly integrates Social Network experience into Outlook using the power of Open Social APIs.”

I, for one, am looking forward to that one.  So, if you’re a frequent Outlook user (be it by choice or not,) being able to keep tabs on your two favorite social networks listed above without having to worry about a separate, 3rd-party product like Digsby (which we’ve covered before,) might be something worth checking into.

ThemeForest.net, part of the Envato network of sites designed to provide designers with a plethora of site design resources, has been around a while but we’ve yet to cover them – until now.

ThemeForest provides designers with a chance to submit and sell unique HTML, WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla designs while simultaneously giving site owners an easy way to purchase those designs for implementation on their own sites.

As a member of the latter group of users, I can attest to the ease in which one can purchase a product from the site.  Basically, you can sign up for an account, purchase some credits and then instantly purchase any of the designs available.  Afterwards, you can immediately download the design you just purchased and then interact with designers and users alike via the forums.  You can even communicate directly with the designer whose resource you’ve purchased – for general feedback or design-specific questions.

You might also want to check out some of the other Envato sites like PSDTUTS for Photoshop tutorials and FlashDen.net which, like ThemeForest, provides an online resource for buying and selling products…royalty-free Adobe Flash resources to be specific.

One of my favorite online magazines on the Interweb today, Smashing Magazine, is featuring an article today which details how you can improve the look of your own blog by downloading free Weblog header images (often times with their respective source files – e.g., .PSD, .AI). 

The site also has plenty of other resources including links to free Wordpress templates, free fonts, Illustrator/Photoshop tutorials and plenty more where that came from.  If you’re a graphic and/or Web designer, I’d highly recommend checking out the site if you haven’t already.

Firefox is the best browser out there, in my opinion, because of its’ extensibility.  So many various extensions allow for so many various things and I ditched all of it months ago so I could have one feature that won’t even be available in Firefox 2.0: search-as-you-type of the Web, your favorites (del.icio.us or Shadows), and your browsing history.  Fortunately for me, many more extensions are now available alongside the new beta release and, before too long, I’ll be able to officially (as opposed to un-officially) convert Firefox extensions for use in the Flock browser.

Give it a spin.  I highly encourage it.  Perhaps, if enough people moan and groan with me, Firefox will bring “Places” back into the Firefox 2.0 release.

Oh, and I must mention that, without Flock, I may not have ever gotten around to my first post here at WordPress.  You see, when WordPress.com first launched, the only way you could get an account (with the exception of a very rare invite) was by downloading Flock.  I don’t regret that download one bit.  I found my browser and blogging software of choice that day. 

(Although…I’m in perfect health and I have a beautiful wife, wonderful family, and a loving God who cares for my well being so there’s plenty more to be excited about than just Flock…that’s for sure.  Just something to keep in mind as you hit the Blogosphere head on tomorrow.  Yep, I said “blogosphere.”  Nerd out.)

Blogged with Flock

Once I get my hosting together, I’ll be moving Fans of Tech BACK over to my own domain (www.fansoftech.com) and I will be working with this new release of WordPress to get it up and running.

My move to WordPress.com came about for two reasons. First, I had an immediate desire to switch over from the Nucleus blogging platform. No complaints, really, as it had a plethora of cool features but I guess I just wasn’t impressed with the interface – at all. Second, I was DYING to give the invitation-only WordPress.com a try. I figured that I could do a temporary switch and then I could move FoT back to my own home once I got settled in with a custom install of WordPress after I got my own hosting situation worked out and after WP released 2.0.