New to WordPress I am
I have been using WordPress for two months now and I felt the need to publicly make an evaluation of the pros and cons. Doing that publicly has advantages for myself and could help out others. always believe and will believe in sharing knowledge. On the other handI have understanding of the concept ‘Knowledge is power’, but to hell with that!
I started blogging back in May 2011 and went to my good friend Mr. Google for some advice on where to start and what to do and what not to do. That’s how I ended up using ‘Blogspot’ as my first blogging platform. Things were going pretty good but I reached a point (somewhere in December 2011) that I wanted more. I Guess that’s a built-in thing in me, I always want more!
Don’t get me wrong, Blogspot is a good platform for a blog. It works OK and leaves you some room for experimenting with java. Like I told you, I wanted more.
WordPress Free Account
I started getting information from friend – bloggers and decided to get a ‘regular’ WordPress account, to get used to the WordPress blogging User Interface. You can get yourself a free account at WordPress. There are some other free blogging platforms, like Blog, Blogger and Tumblr. Click here if you want a recent top 10 list of free blogging platforms.
I heard it again… Somewhere in my brain it started buzzing about self hosted WordPress. Personally I blame Sonia from LogAllot, Vanita from After Bedtime Blog, Brenda from P&HH and Lisa from Inspire To Thrive. I practically had no saying in the whole deal, There was a conspiracy going on. Rumor has it, that they used some ancient Voodoo spells.
Paid In Full
Switching to self hosted WordPress
So there I was. I found myself a hosting company, located in The Netherlands. There were a few butt’s. I wanted to have total control of my newly rented – hosted space on the Internet. FTP support, Mailboxes, extended logging and some other ‘El Neato’ features. And Oh. I needed a domain. Presto, the birth of The JanBierens dot Com.
Installation of the WordPress installer was – as the people from WordPress promised – a breeze. Importing the contents of ‘the old Blogorama site’ was easy too. So far, so good… I was already familiar with the WordPress user interface. Remember I took a free account there? That helped.
Plugins, Plugins and then some…
WordPress has an open design, that allows for plugins. Plugins can be seen as little scripts, designed to perform a certain task.
WordPress Plugins
They are usually for free and from within WordPress you can perform searches for a specific task you want on your blog. A few of the plugins I chose are: CommentLuv, Google XML Sitemaps, Navayan Subscribe, Social Sharing Toolkit, Subscribe to Comments Reloaded, W3 Total Cache, and WordPress SEO. The blog itself is based on the ‘Suffusion‘ theme for WordPress and has around 254,892 quadrillion options…
Now What?
Good question. I tend to want ‘too much’ sometimes, if there’s such a thing. For now I am – for the most part – happy about the lay-out of the blog. I might be piddlin’ around with color settings and fonts, and that should be it.
My TODO list:
- Get me an awesome contact form manager;
- Blog more + add more quality to my blog;
- Get the Google Analytics plugin to work properly (The numbers it shows is waaaay off my hosting provider);
- Blog more + add more quality to my blog;
- Add more free tools on my blog for helping people out;
- Blog more + add more quality to my blog;
- Get (and keep) the interaction going on my posts;
- Blog more + add more quality to my blog;
- (…)
Offer Quality
Lessons Learned?
Lots and lots. It’s mandatory now, run a blog without participating in the ‘Social Networking Circus’ and you’re doomed. This sounds harsher than it really is. Networking gives you a chance to meet some awesome people, people like the ones I mentioned earlier.
If you are blogging for fun it should be – and stay – fun to blog. If you are blogging to earn buckaroono’s it should be fun too!
Learn to listen to critique and listen to people that obviously know what they are talking about.
Never ever give up. When I switched to self hosted, I was (and still am) struggling to get things going again. The number of readers need to go up, as well as the engagement of my readers.
Don’t be scared to jump in the blogging pool, even if you can’t swim. If you survive you can add ‘I learned to swim’ to your bragging rights.
Read everything about everything that interest you. Impossible? Yes. Still do it.
Oh and there’s something about this ‘make backups’ thing. Just do it. Especially before you prepare to make some major changes to your blog. Keep (at least) 2 copies, stored on different media at two different locations. Did I mention you should make backups before you prepare to make some major changes to your blog? Do I hear “Yes sir!”?
Your blog is your unedited version of yourself.
Happy WordPress’ing
// Jan
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Great post my friend, especially the “Brenda from [last seen at:]“. LMAO Am I truly that bad? haha I’m trying to find my niche!
WordPress is a fabulous thing. I’ll go back to it after I get both blogs merged. Goal set, 2013. BUT, who knows. I may eventually enjoy learning all this blogger css crap. 
Your blog is looking fabulous! There is lots to do with wordpress and fun learning it. Keep up the good work Jan! Have a great weekend!
Brenda recently posted: Furbaby Friday #1: Sleepy
Thanks, Brenda and ‘don’t be a stranger’. Please contact me when you got things sorted out the way you want, k? Knowing you, you’ll be back in a way that makes Schwartzenegger ‘I’ll be back’ sound pathetic!
I’ll see you around on Twitter or somewhere else in this little world called ‘The Internet!’
Interesting and informative. Your blog is looking good, Jan and I always enjoy your posts! I have been too cheap to get the paid version and my frustration with the free one is mounting, so maybe…….
As for the backups; of course, I will!
Debbie recently posted: MAGIC MAN ♥♥
Thanks, Debbie. Well the thinking about the changeover was caused by maybe some of the frustration you’re experiencing now with WordPress. On advantage: IF you change over to self hosted WordPress you’re already familiar with the WordPress user interface. With all it’s (hidden) options that’s a big advantage!
Something to think about, for sure. I WOULD like a few more options. Will do some more research into it.
There are so many options and tools it will make your head spin. Be sure to backup before you do any major changes.
I’m seriously thinking of switching..but I’m kinda scared/lazy. Hopefully I’ll make the move soon.. (:
This post was encouraging…thanks!
Larissa T. recently posted: Follow Your Heart?
Hi, Larissa. Thanks for stopping by. Before you make any decisions br sure to take a look at some of the alternatives too. Find one that suits your needs and you find nice to work with. WordPress seems to be the standard, but you call the shots. It’s your blog.:)
// Jan
I saw your post on Google+ and could not wait to read this one as we both switched from Blogger to WP but I didn’t know I’d be part of a conspiracy. LOL with Vidoo to boot!
Some days I miss the Blogger platform because it was easier. And there is a great community there. I still have a photo blog on it.
I do love the professional look that WordPress can offer you and I love some of the plug-ins. My 3 favorites are CommentLuv, DiggDigg and Social Media Widget.
I too lost traffic from switching. My switching was not so smooth. I click too fast (didn’t follow Vanita’s instructions to the tee) and have some broken links still. According to Google some duplicate titles too.
I’m thinking about deleting some old posts that I really don’t like anymore but am not sure yet what that would do in the scheme of things.
I switched prior to you and traffic is almost back to where it was. It is coming from social media and the communities I have joined like BlogEngage, BlogFrog and HerSocialNetwork.
I just have to be careful not to spread myself too thin. It’s hard not to jump on board to a new site or community.
WP has taught me to back up daily as I lost my homepage to a plugin one day. Not pretty! But the experience has given me more to blog about to help others not make the same mistakes.
Lisa recently posted: Inspiring Mothers of Special Need Children
Hi Lisa! And yes… Voodoo. But I have to say that after switching I was not disappointed. It works for me. I like the User Interface of the WordPress platform. I was familiar with it because of the ‘freebie’ account I had.
What I like about self hosted WordPress is the amount of freedom you get in return for a relative small investment. Uhm small investment? Not counting the hours and hours of tweaking, writing, thinking.. Well you know what I mean. I would be a rich man if I got paid for that.
I haven’t looked into the DiggDigg plugin, but I sure will. See what that can do for me.
And if I grow up I want to take a look at programming in PHP. Just another language. Heh. Have a grat one, Lisa and thanks for stopping by!
// Jan
So Jan, did the ladies make you do it? Had to laugh when I saw your list. But, they do know best.
Glad to see that this was a good report and that you had a good experience with this switch. I’ve been on WordPress.org for about three years now and I’d never go back. Blogger was okay but I hate their commenting platform and I don’t like logging in to comment. I prefer this platform so much better.
Enjoyed your honest take on this and welcome to the self hosted WordPress platform..
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted: The Most Powerful Network Marketing Tip
Hi Adrienne. In retrospect the switch-over has been a good thing. I am one of those people that set a target, investigate what’s needed and ask the people that *know* for their advice. Call me slow…
Self hosted WordPress offers so much more than any other platform i’ve seen. I like the freedom of (eventually) being able to design and make my own WordPress themes.
Helping people. I find that a very satisfying way of spending ones time off from work. Right now I won’t be able to make much of a difference, but when I really get the hang of things it will!
Thanks for stopping by.
//Jan