You must be logged in to post Login


Lost Your Password?

Search Forums:


 






Minimum search word length is 4 characters – Maximum search word length is 84 characters
Wildcard Usage:
*  matches any number of characters    %  matches exactly one character

starting a blog with free wordpress blog

UserPost

1:51 pm
October 12, 2010


retireby40

USA

Member

posts 1381

Hello everyone,

I joined the Yakezie challenge and just started a blog last week at

http://www.retireby40.org

The blog is now on the wordpress free blog and I am focusing on building the blog, writing new posts and increasing traffic for now.

Is it ok to start on a free webhost first then move to a paid host? Will it be difficult to do this?

When do you think I should move to a new host? I'm thinking once I get 50 or so readers.

Any tips will be appreciated. Smile

Thanks!

retire by 40

Twitter: @retirebyforty

Facebook: Retire By 40 

2:02 pm
October 12, 2010


Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Member

posts 3048

I started at Blogger in February for free with a blogspot domain, bought my domain name a month after that, and then moved to Wordpress 2 months after that.  If I could do it all again, I would have just started with Wordpress (but I didn't know anything about blogging then – nothing).  Free blogging sites are great if you only want to blog for fun.  If you want to build readership (and monetize at any point), a hosted site is the way to go.

BUT, if you really rather start for free and see what happens, it is pretty easy to change to a paid host later on.  I don't know how to do it myself, but I am sure there are a thousand articles about it.  I paid Blogcrafted.com $125 to transfer my site from Blogger to Wordpress three months after starting, so it isn't too expensive.  The hardest part for me was re-learning how to blog since Wordpress and Blogger are so different imho.

Crystal

Crystal

Yakezie Member Site: 

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Ebook:  How I Make Money Blogging:
The Beginner's Guide to Building a Money-Making Site

Email:  budgetingfunstuff *at* gmail *dot* com

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook

2:27 pm
October 12, 2010


justheather

Member

posts 160

Post edited 2:29 pm – October 12, 2010 by justheather


My husband does WordPress transfers & setup, if you should need to switch. I'll be sure he gives you the Yakezie discount. ;)

That said, it is easier to switch from WP.com to WP.org than it is from any of the other platforms. I'd say you should be okay for now, but self-hosted WP will give you more options for plugins & themes. You're also limited in what advertising you can display, so I guess you'll want to move when monetizing becomes available.

Heather Sokol, niche blogger

Founder of Inexpensively

7:17 pm
October 12, 2010


retireby40

USA

Member

posts 1381

Thanks for your advice. I'll start shopping for a hosted site. I'll transfer over by new year at the latest! That's the goal.

I got the domain name already so at least that is taken care of.

I subscribe to both your sites too. I'm starting to get overwhelm by the number of blogs to read though, so many interesting things to read.

-Joe

retire by 40

Twitter: @retirebyforty

Facebook: Retire By 40 

7:20 pm
October 12, 2010


Khaleef @ KNS Financial

Fat Guy, Skinny Wallet

Member

posts 3149

I would say that if you want to do anything serious with your blog, you NEED to self-host! I don't like the idea of gaining traffic and viewers and then making a huge change – like your website address. Also, whatever traffic numbers you've gained (Alexa, page rank, etc) will go out the window once you switch!

I paid only a few dollars to register my domain with GoDaddy using a promo code that I found online, and another $4.95/month to host ($60 for the year)! I say, go for it now and you'll have no regrets (unless you are only doing it for fun).

Khaleef "Fat Guy" Crumbley

My Battle to Lose 100lbs and Pay off $100k in Debt:

http://fatguyskinnywallet.com

http://twitter.com/FGSW

http://www.facebook.com/fatguy…..innywallet

Personal Finance From A Biblical Perspective:

http://knsfinancial.com

http://www.facebook.com/knsfinancial

http://twitter.com/knsfinancial

7:40 pm
October 12, 2010


Mike – Saving Money Today

Member

posts 520

Do yourself a favor and get yourself a self-hosted domain.  You can get shared hosting and a domain for less than $100 a year and you'll have full control.  I've heard too many horror stories of people having their blogs deleted without warning.

4:29 am
October 17, 2010


Forest Parks

Cairo, Egypt

Admin

posts 1337

I agree, start on self hosted and own domain if money allows.

Vist me at Frugal Zeitgeist…. Frugal and Sustainable Living for the now…

4:18 pm
October 17, 2010


retireby40

USA

Member

posts 1381

Thanks everyone for the encouragment to move to selfhost.

I went ahead and moved to justhost. It was a pain, but I think it's done now.

Better to feel the pain now rather than later.

Hopefully I didn't lose subscribers.

retire by 40

Twitter: @retirebyforty

Facebook: Retire By 40 

10:27 am
October 18, 2010


Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Member

posts 3048

You'll be happy you did it in about 3 weeks.  The first week you'll still wince at little stuff you have to work out.  The second and third weeks, you'll be working out the last kinks and stretching out and getting to new people.  By the fourth week, you'll be happy you self-hosted – that's how it was with me.  :-)  Good luck!

Crystal

Crystal

Yakezie Member Site: 

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Ebook:  How I Make Money Blogging:
The Beginner's Guide to Building a Money-Making Site

Email:  budgetingfunstuff *at* gmail *dot* com

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook

11:56 am
October 18, 2010


Aloysa

Member

posts 910

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

You'll be happy you did it in about 3 weeks.  The first week you'll still wince at little stuff you have to work out.  The second and third weeks, you'll be working out the last kinks and stretching out and getting to new people.  By the fourth week, you'll be happy you self-hosted – that's how it was with me.  :-)  Good luck!

Crystal


I just moved mine over the weekend. What a pain it was! Well, I better be happy in 4 months! Wink

Creator of:

11:57 am
October 18, 2010


Aloysa

Member

posts 910

retireby40 said:

Thanks everyone for the encouragment to move to selfhost.

I went ahead and moved to justhost. It was a pain, but I think it's done now.

Better to feel the pain now rather than later.

Hopefully I didn't lose subscribers.


I moved mine too! I am afraid I will lose subscribers but if I do… maybe they were not serious subscribers after all.

Good Luck!

Creator of:

12:25 pm
October 18, 2010


Eric – PersonalProfitability.com

Portland, OR

Member

posts 2120

You will surely take a hit to your PageRank when you move to a new domain, which hurts traffic somewhat.  But you should not lose any subscribers.  Are you using Feedburner to manage your RSS feed?  If not, be sure to sign up ASAP.

12:49 pm
October 18, 2010


Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Member

posts 3048

Aloysa said:

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

You'll be happy you did it in about 3 weeks.  The first week you'll still wince at little stuff you have to work out.  The second and third weeks, you'll be working out the last kinks and stretching out and getting to new people.  By the fourth week, you'll be happy you self-hosted – that's how it was with me.  :-)  Good luck!

Crystal


I just moved mine over the weekend. What a pain it was! Well, I better be happy in 4 months! Wink


WEEKS not months, lol.  If it took months to be happy, I'd still be waiting around, hehehe.  It is a pain in the butt but ends up being WAY worth it.  I get more traffic by a long shot and like the control I have now.

Crystal

Crystal

Yakezie Member Site: 

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Ebook:  How I Make Money Blogging:
The Beginner's Guide to Building a Money-Making Site

Email:  budgetingfunstuff *at* gmail *dot* com

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook

12:51 pm
October 18, 2010


Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Member

posts 3048

I lost subscribers when I migrated and have no idea why to this day…I went from 50-60 to 14 overnight.  Now I have about 160 and climbing and all of this happened in the last 5 months.  Self-hosted is the way to go and I hope you two suffer way less glitches than my non-techy self did…most of it was my problem, lol.

Crystal

Crystal

Yakezie Member Site: 

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Ebook:  How I Make Money Blogging:
The Beginner's Guide to Building a Money-Making Site

Email:  budgetingfunstuff *at* gmail *dot* com

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook

1:08 pm
October 18, 2010


Aloysa

Member

posts 910

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:


WEEKS not months, lol.  If it took months to be happy, I'd still be waiting around, hehehe.  It is a pain in the butt but ends up being WAY worth it.  I get more traffic by a long shot and like the control I have now.

Crystal


Hahaha! I meant weeks! I can't believe I wrote it.

Creator of:

1:26 pm
October 18, 2010


retireby40

USA

Member

posts 1381

Aloysa said:

retireby40 said:

Thanks everyone for the encouragment to move to selfhost.

I went ahead and moved to justhost. It was a pain, but I think it's done now.

Better to feel the pain now rather than later.

Hopefully I didn't lose subscribers.


I moved mine too! I am afraid I will lose subscribers but if I do… maybe they were not serious subscribers after all.
 

Good Luck!


I had a bunch of problems, but I think most of them are solved now.

Don't forget to update your feedburner. I went to your old site and the RSS there still point to the old site.

retire by 40

Twitter: @retirebyforty

Facebook: Retire By 40 

1:56 pm
October 18, 2010


Aloysa

Member

posts 910


I had a bunch of problems, but I think most of them are solved now.
Don't forget to update your feedburner. I went to your old site and the RSS there still point to the old site.


Retire by40 – how do I do it? Surprised

Creator of:

3:58 pm
October 18, 2010


retireby40

USA

Member

posts 1381

Aloysa said:


I had a bunch of problems, but I think most of them are solved now.

Don't forget to update your feedburner. I went to your old site and the RSS there still point to the old site.
 


Retire by40 – how do I do it? Surprised
 


go to http://feedburner.google.com/

and log in. (in my case I must have signed up with two emails so I had to fix two accounts.)

Click on your feed title (mine is retireby40.org)

click on edit feed detail than put in the correct feed from your self host site.

 

I think this will fix the feedburner side.

retire by 40

Twitter: @retirebyforty

Facebook: Retire By 40 

7:58 pm
October 18, 2010


Aloysa

Member

posts 910

retireby40 said:


go to http://feedburner.google.com/

and log in. (in my case I must have signed up with two emails so I had to fix two accounts.)

Click on your feed title (mine is retireby40.org)

click on edit feed detail than put in the correct feed from your self host site.

 

I think this will fix the feedburner side.


Great! Did that and hopefully it worked! Thank you so much!

Creator of:

1:27 pm
November 27, 2010


Sunil from The Extra Money Blog

Member

posts 362

i'd say asap – better yet get on it to begin with.  get a blog theme you like, and get it up on a cheap host to start off (HostGator i have heard is very cheap)

The Extra Money Blog– Expedited Wealth Building Through Multiple Streams of Active & Passive Income (Entrepreneurship, Internet Marketing, Personal Finance)


About the Yakezie.com Forum

Forum Timezone: America/Los_Angeles

Forum Stats:

Groups: 2
Forums: 9
Topics: 6383
Posts: 84794

Membership:

There are 13651 Members
There have been 20 Guests

There are 9 Admins
There are 8 Moderators

Top Posters:

My Personal Finance Journey – 3159
Khaleef @ KNS Financial – 3149
Budgeting in the Fun Stuff – 3048
Sustainable PF – 2759
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter – 2213
Eric – PersonalProfitability.com – 2120

Administrators: The College Investor (1935 Posts), Financial Samurai (1803 Posts), LaTisha @YoungFinances (1715 Posts), Forest Parks (1337 Posts), 20s Finances (1147 Posts), Money Reasons (697 Posts), Chris Johnson (78 Posts), Sydney at Untemplater (0 Posts), Suba (0 Posts)

Moderators: Suba @ Wealth Informatics (1876 Posts), sooverthis (1041 Posts), PK @ DQYDJ (361 Posts), jmichelsen (208 Posts), Ramona (13 Posts), JeremyNJohnson (4 Posts), Moderator (0 Posts), rackgeek (0 Posts)