Few days ago I made the move to my own self-hosted domain, it’s not really hard, but not as easy as I expected.. There’s a lot of options and you just don’t know what to choose and what to avoid.. And the hardest part is, its isolated when compared to here!
But please take a look and visit me there 🙂
Thank you ^_^
It’s really early to think about it but I’m starting to look into having my own self hosted website/blog. It’s too early like I said and it’ll cost me a little but it has it’s advantages too. And looking in the long run it won’t cost much at all. I looked up the most popular web hosts that are well known and support easy WordPress installation and I ended up with 4 names: Bluehost, Justhost, Hostgator and Godaddy.
Personally, I ended up with Hostgator and Godaddy as my best options. They both offer really cheap plans that are simple and enough for a simple blog or website. And they both have good discounts right now. But with Godaddy you can get your domain for as little as $2 for the first year which beats the others. So you can switch to other host when you want while keeping the domain that you got for a low price. Of course you can buy just the domain but their hosting plans are good too!
But why make the change?
It’s simple, for few reasons. More freedom, you get your website which for visitors, is better than having a .wordpress.com or .blogspot.com at your domain name. Because people tend to have this idea that most blogs are not useful and bad.
You can do much more than just blogging. The possibilities are endless. You can do anything you want. And your content is yours. Anything on the website belongs to you.
Therefore, whether you just want to have a website with these benefits or you plan to profit from it, I think it’s a good idea and it’s a good future investment if you’re welling to pay for the upgrade because it’ll most likely attract more visitors and look better to people.
Here’s what I have learned so far..
I learned few things in this little time and reading information all over the web and I would like share them with you:
It’s Overwhelming
The amount of information you’ll find online is overwhelming. All the things you can do, designing, self-hosting, monetizing and attracting readers. It’s a lot to take in, and usually it’s the reason to give up.
What I’ve learned: Have a plan for the future because it’s going to take time and effort. Nothing is easy. Only focus on what’s important, posting new content and slowly fixing your website step by step moving towards your future plan.
Post New Content
You always have to post new content. When viewers come to your site they want to see that you have something useful! People can tell if your blog was abandoned and that’s gonna reduce the number of visitors because the more you post the better your luck of getting your website noticed by people and search engines. And most importantly:
Post Regularly
Once a day, every two days or once a week. As long as you’re putting new content regularly it will show that you care about your blog and your readers/future readers. Showing that you’re making an effort and being active means that your readers will always want to come again and see what’s new.
Running Out Of Ideas
After writing a few posts or even once you start your blog and want to write, you’ll feel that there’s nothing to write about and then you’ll start delaying it, because “you don’t have time” even when you’re not doing anything, there’s always something better to do. But once you start typing on your keyboard, or your phone, you’ll overcome this feeling.
Notes, Notes, Notes!!!
Whenever you come up with a new idea write it down. Even if you think its so simple or not good enough. If you don’t, you’ll defiantly going to forget it and it just won’t be the same when you recall it. If you do write these simple ideas down then whenever you want to write you’ll have something to write about and once you start writing you’ll have more and more to write about as you expand. And in the same time you’ll post regularly and that’s kinda sums this post up.
Don’t Spend Until You’re Ready!
Don’t spend on WordPress or other websites unless you’re sure that you’re ready. Because if you spend a lot hoping to speed up the process you might end up giving up and quitting when things don’t go as excepted.
Have a Friend
It’s really nice to have a friend with you, whether they’re just supporting you or going through the same thing as you. Working together is fun, you won’t be alone and you’ll have someone share your ideas with and have feedback and support whenever you’re stuck and ultimately making sure that you won’t quit easily.
After you decided your hosting services and you’re ready to blog you’ll face some hard, time consuming decisions.
What Will Your Blog Be About?
First of all, you need to decide what your blog will be about. Gaming, marketing, blogging… You have to find a topic you’re passionate about and have the ability to write, and keep writing about. Try to be different and noticeable.
You’ll always find yourself running out of ideas just don’t worry. It happens to everyone. But as long as you’re talking about something you like and see yourself doing in the future then go ahead.
What’s it Going To Be Called?
That takes the most of your time.. Coming up with a name is never easy. For me at least. When you come to this stage you’re probably thinking about an awesome name that looks cool and would look great in the future when you get famous and attract a lot of visitors; and still have a name that’s related to what you’re writing about. Actually, that’s not entirely true, it can be more general but still makes sense for your blog content. Just think of what how would the people visiting your blog think?
How Can I Make It Look Cool?
Assuming you’re not a designer and new to this. You’ll spend a lot of time thinking about how to make your blog looks better! And all those awesome looking websites will come in your mind and that’ll be your goal. And when you finish editing it would probably look plain and not like what you imagined. Don’t be underwhelmed. I mean, you don’t even have posts or viewers yet.. You don’t need to over think it. Use a template you like, edit it a little and you’re done. Move on to the next step.
KEEP POSTING
All you can do now is posting. The more you post the better your chances of getting noticed. Traffic will come in time.. And as the days go by and you keep posting, you’ll learn slowly new things to do on your blogs, and step by step you’ll have a better looking blog, with more content.
Hello and welcome to this blog about….
Hmm..
I’ve been thinking a lot about that. What should I write about?!
I like technology and video games and like 90% of the blogs online are about that.
But also I like to try new things and keep myself busy. Whether it’s products or learning things.
I tried learning programming. Video game making. Video editing. And I’m pretty good with computers and I’ve tried making forums, websites and blogs apparently.
I get “alright” at all of them but I’m never “very good” at any one of them. And I really don’t like that, how everyone knows what they’re good at but I’m just not sure.
Maybe the flexibility and ability to try and get along doing all sort of things is what I’m good at. I don’t know.
What I’m currently trying is blogging, so I thought that’s what this blog should be about.
I’ve looked everywhere to see how to start blogging. I’ve read dozens of tips and ways to start blogging or making money out of it. But I’ve never seen how to start blogging for real!
I’m a beginner and will post about what I learn or think as I go along. How thing change from this first post to future posts maybe one year from now?
I hope it’ll attract viewers in the future to help people see blogging from a beginner’s prospective.
Until next time 🙂
The Blogging Journy 