Note: Also see
This is a continuation of my Blogging 101 and Blogging 102 posts which seemed to be quite popular, so here’s Blogging 103. What follows are my opinions only, of course:
11. Buying your own domain name. Do this.
This means your site is known as: www.loveveggiesandyoga.com
Rather than
www.loveveggiesandyoga.blogspot.com
or
www.loveveggiesandyoga.wordpress.com
You do not need to be self-hosted to buy your domain.
You can do this for about $10 bucks, or less, per year with companies like GoDaddy
It’s so reasonable to do this, and of course do your research. (remember in Blogging 102, Google is your best friend.)
Why do you want to own your domain?
Here’s a nice synopsis but in a nutshell:
credibility on the internet
more recognition with others
brandability
more professional looking. Does anyone you know who’s really running a business have the word “blogspot” in their business’ URL? Didn’t think so.
Something to think about it you’re wanting to grow your blog or just appear more professional.
Not to mention, the less keystokes someone has to type to hit your site, the better it is. I admit that typing in the extra words: blogspot.com or wordpress.com rather than just .com has occassionally prevented me from linking to a site or keying it into my browser. Over time, this could be tens of thousands of hits you’re not getting.
12. Free vs. Self-Hosted WordPress. (perhaps the most requested topic I cover in this series based on reader’s requests)
Summary of the info I found here
The main 3 Pros to being Self-Hosted as I see it:
- Ability to upload themes
- Ability to upload plugins
- Complete control to change code if you’re technically minded
The cons that are listed but I don’t see any of these as a big deal. At all. And I “de-bunk” each con.
- You need a web host which generally costs $7-12 a month (I use BlueHost and pay $15 a month for their VPS option and there are BlueHost plans for 5.99 per month. Another popular one is Dreamhost and unless your site is getting tens and tens of thousands of views per day, this is probably sufficient server bandwidth for you. And if you are getting that many views, you’re already self-hosted and you’re not reading this anyway)
- On this matter, if you are going to self host and you don’t already have your domain name purchased, i.e. you’re www.suzy.wordpress.com and you want to become www.suzy.com, when you sign up with your host, in my case Bluehost they also sell domains. So you can get your domain name + hosting = all in one stop shopping.
- Requires more technical knowledge to set up and run (maybe but see Blogging 102 about knowing when to hire things out or Blogging 102 for research + google are your best friends. If you do hire it out, a complete site makeover and migration to self-hosting is probably going to run you anywhere from $300 to $750 depending on what your exact needs are.)
- You’re responsible for stopping spam (see this post at the bottom, not hard, and it’s free)
- You have to handle backups (yes and I pay for them through an outside company; however many people don’t back up. Not advised but if you want to cut corners you don’t have to backup your site)
- You must upgrade the software manually when a new version comes out (takes 2 seconds and it’s like updating your Microsoft programs or your iTunes. Asks you, Do you want to update? You click yes and it does it’s thing and it’s done in two seconds.)
Again, if you are serious about growing your blog, turning it into somewhat more of a “business”, wanting to add plugins or themes to your site, or ability to customize it in any way, just self-host.
I don’t see it as hard or a big deal in any way. Since I went straight from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress, I never had the free WP and if I can make that jump, anyone who’s already on WordPress can easily make the jump to self-hosting.
However, for both of these items, buying your domain or becoming self hosted, if you don’t care about your domain name or if free WP or even Blogger works for you, and you’re not interesting in making any changes…don’t!
Do what works for you in food, in life, with exercise and with regard to your blog and blogging style and platform.
Just handling those two topics was a mouthful so guess what, Blogging 104 will be next in this series.
From my last post, Braids, thank you so much for the compliments on the photos!
A second time around, for me.
Thanks for telling me which images you liked, and why.
As I mentioned, I have ulterior motives why I posted so many images.
Time for chocolate!
How about a Chocolate Macaroon
Vegan, GF, one bowl + spoon, and you don’t even need a dehydrator.Questions:
1. If you blog, are you self-hosted? Why or why not? Any plans for any changes with that?
2. Did this post help clarify things if these were topics you wanted more info about?
3. Yes, there will be a blogging 104.
Topics to be discussed based on previous reader requests include:
Product Reviews
Running Reader Contests & Giveaways
How to handle revealing yourself to the world when you start a blog
What other questions do you have or would you like to see me cover?
I don’t want to bore those who don’t have blogs but so many people have written to me privately and have said these posts have inspired them to start a blog, so hey, maybe you’re a reader now, but will be a blogger, soon.
And if you have no desire to blog? Great, don’t! Blogs are wonderful but they are time consuming, and all bloggers need readers.
I heart all my readers, so much. Thank you for reading my blog and anyone else’s you read.
This post was auto-published. I am probably flying over the Gulf of Mexico right about now en route to Atlanta and then San Diego.
Self-hosted! I may have pulled half my hair out getting there, but it was so worth it. Like you mentioned – I wanted more flexibility. But even if you don’t want to self-host, as you mentioned, getting the domain is easy.
Another reason why not to use blogger: I can’t tell you how many times I’ll decide not to comment (even when I really want to!) because of how difficult it is to comment on blogger blogs (more often than not, at least.) I can’t use open ID anymore, and if the user doesn’t allow the “Name/URL” option, I have to use my (ancient) google account. AND enter in that darn captcha. May not seem like a lot, but those extra steps are total deal breakers for me.
Sorry, a little late to the party with this :P
Averie,
I need all the help I can get with my self-hosted blog. Your 104 post is definitely helping. One thing, can you recommend a good e-shop plugin ?
Darren
As soon as I decided to start my blog I bought a domain name that day … I figured if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it right.
I’ve been pondering a lot of these questions lately, so I was pretty psyched to see this post this morning. Thanks Averie!
I don’t really have a blog, but I love these posts! I feel like I’m learning a lot. In fact, it feels like I’m getting a “behind-the-scenes” tour :)
glad you’re enjoying!
Once again I am amazed at all that bloggers do & juggle on a daily basis – and they still have their lives to live. You make it look so easy :)