Hi, I'm painfully new to Bloggeries...

[thatgirlwithablog]

Hey everybody. I'm Amanda, and I just made this account to take the next step with my blog and get some serious advice from other bloggers.
I've had my free account over on Wordpress (thatgirlwithablog.wordpress.com) for almost a year, and it's getting pretty big, so I'd like to start doing things on my own. There's so many questions!

Where did you guys find the best information? Currently, I'm looking at Go Daddy for my domain, but I'm still not sure where to host. I'd like to continue with Wordpress possibly as a host, because I really do like their set up. I want to be able to use AdSense and organize my own ads, but I'm not really all that savvy to that sort of thing yet. I know I can't use things like that on my free account.

So, who uses Wordpress.org?

Where did you get schooled in ads?

Any sites or books or whatnot that I should be looking at?

[stephen todd]

Originally Posted by thatgirlwithablog

I'm still not sure where to host.

Hostgator is the only low cost web host I know of that will not "limit" your hosting account by CPU throttling once you start to get a few thousand visitors a day, and you've already got lots of wordpress plugins installed and using up resources

Once a web host starts throttling your account, your blog slow down greatly, plugins fail to work properly, ads fail to load, etc. - then you've got to try and move the wordpress database to better hosting, which isn't much fun

[thatgirlwithablog]

Originally Posted by stephen todd

Hostgator is the only low cost web host I know of that will not "limit" your hosting account by CPU throttling once you start to get a few thousand visitors a day, and you've already got lots of wordpress plugins installed and using up resources

Once a web host starts throttling your account, your blog slow down greatly, plugins fail to work properly, ads fail to load, etc. - then you've got to try and move the wordpress database to better hosting, which isn't much fun

Hey, thanks for the advice! I've also heard things about making sure I find a reliable host. How long have you been using them for? I don't have much in the way of plugins right now...well, actually I have none, and no ads because it's a free account, but obviously, these are things that I'm going to have to look into. Thanks again!

[maccam87]

i like your blog its got a nice feel to it but the thing is you have been blogging for a year or so you have proberly got some commited readers, your a pagerank 3 if im not correct here fair enough but if you get your own domain now wont you loose all that and have to start all over again? is that really worth it?

[thatgirlwithablog]

Originally Posted by maccam87

i like your blog its got a nice feel to it but the thing is you have been blogging for a year or so you have proberly got some commited readers, your a pagerank 3 if im not correct here fair enough but if you get your own domain now wont you loose all that and have to start all over again? is that really worth it?

I think (and I'm not sure, but thanks for prompting me to look into it) that I can export that information from Wordpress. Or I'm sure I could link back to it on the new site. I see that a lot on the free Wordpress blogs, actually...people will move and just make their last post the new web address.

That was one of the hardest things when I was thinking about making the transition to my own site...did I really want to make this a job or do I continue doing it just for fun? I really enjoy blogging and I don't want to change that by making it a "job", you know?

[stephen todd]

Originally Posted by thatgirlwithablog

How long have you been using them for? I don't have much in the way of plugins right now...well, actually I have none, and no ads because it's a free account, but obviously, these are things that I'm going to have to look into. Thanks again!

I wasn't sure whether to go with hostgator or hostmonster - and I went with hostmonster

That was a big mistake as I install 25 plugins per wordpress blog - and my 5,000 visitors a day blog slows down all the other blogs on my shared hosting account

I wish I'd gone with hostgator, as I've read forum posts from other people who were throttled by hostmonster, not having any problem when they moved to hostgator

I'll probably move one of the smaller wordpress blogs on the hostmonster account, just to make sure there are no problems, before I even think of moving my big wordpress blog

[thatgirlwithablog]

Originally Posted by stephen todd

I wasn't sure whether to go with hostgator or hostmonster - and I went with hostmonster

That was a big mistake as I install 25 plugins per wordpress blog - and my 5,000 visitors a day blog slows down all the other blogs on my shared hosting account

I wish I'd gone with hostgator, as I've read forum posts from other people who were throttled by hostmonster, not having any problem when they moved to hostgator

I'll probably move one of the smaller wordpress blogs on the hostmonster account, just to make sure there are no problems, before I even think of moving my big wordpress blog

Wow, well I'm certainly nowhere near 5000 visitors a day, but hopefully soon! Haha. Right now, I'm just looking to have the one site, but I think I'll be going with Hostgator, just in case!

Let me know how the transition goes!

[ChickenFreak]

Originally Posted by thatgirlwithablog

I think (and I'm not sure, but thanks for prompting me to look into it) that I can export that information from Wordpress. Or I'm sure I could link back to it on the new site. I see that a lot on the free Wordpress blogs, actually...people will move and just make their last post the new web address.

That's the hope, and hopefully your committed long-term readers will just come right over, but even that one extra click may deter a lot of readers. As well, I think that any links to specific posts will be lost.

I'm not saying that all of this is enough reason not to do it, but I think that you should be prepared for the possibility of a loss in traffic.

[thatgirlwithablog]

Oh, absolutely. I know there's going to be some loss in traffic, at least for a while.
It's also going to be weird leaving the safety net of a free Wordpress.

I really do like this forum, though. It's shaping up to be quite the resource center!

[rnningfool]

I spent 150 for a year to host at wordpress. I'm pretty much a noob but it's simple to figure out. I still don't think I take full advantage of it but it's well worth the money.