Which blogger should I choose?

I am planning to create a blog. I want to use my own domain for search engine visibity purposes and branding, so which would you recommend? If I create one with blogspot, would I be able to choose my own domain and host on my own account, I really don't want the (blogspot.com) extension to the domain.

Alternatively, how difficult is Wordpress to setup. Are templates for Wordpress free?

 

I recommend WordPress, it's exceedingly simple to set up
if you have fantastico you can do it in one step

and yes, templates are free

 

I've just made a WordPress and it seems incredibly easy so I definately recomend it.

 

Ok, thanks.

 

Hey guys, I went and registered but they give me .wordpress domain. I want my own domain, nice template and want to host on my own account. I have a host that allows 6 sites and I have 3 to spare and want to host it there. How do I go about doing this. Thanks.

 

download the full package here: http://wordpress.org/download/

then just upload it to your host for whichever domain you own

 

Go with wordpress and install some nice plugins like:

stop spam: http://akismet.com/
ping no wait: http://somethingunpredictable.com/wp-no-ping-wait/ (nice!)
google sitemap: http://www.arnebrachhold.de/2005/06/05/google-sitemaps-generator-v2-final
analytics: http://boakes.org/analytics?v=0.51v

 

Some hosts have one click installs for Wordpress too (through Fantastico or other ways), might want to see if your host has something like that.

 

I am with Bluehost.

 

wordpress is definitely a good choice. there are tons of themes available to download and tinker with to your liking with a few CSS/XHTML skills