Who Else Has Trouble Choosing A Host?
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How do you choose what hosting company is best?
I knew nothing about hosting when moving this blog, and there are so many out there so how on earth do you choose?
You’re talking about hundreds of thousands of hosting companies, with some that are specific for blog hosting, specifications that can boggle the mind and a full range of price lists. This was all a little bit overwhelming for me, I had also heard that Wordpress had minimum requirements from a hosting company to be able to run properly, I got this from the Wordpress site:
PHP 4.3 or higher, MySQL 4.0 or higher, Apache or Litespeed recommended.
Which is fine if I had any idea what that meant. Now the nice thing was that the Wordpress site does give you good information and help, and in their wisdom have recommended a few hosting sites that comply and more with these minimum requirements (how handy). So I decided to use one of them and had a look through to see what I thought.
As I looked through their advertisements they had $6.95 per month or $7.95 per month, now before you get too excited, like I did, thinking that isn’t too much to pay out each month. Be aware that not all hosting companies charge you on a month by month basis, which from the adverts you would guess. It may be that much each month but they want you to pay upfront for the year or even two years to get that price. So fully research before you make your decision. It isn’t a problem if you have some money set aside you can use but not everybody has. Although there are some companies that let you pay on a monthly basis, I think one of them may be Gate.com but from what I have seen they do tend to be a little more expensive than the others.
I chose Bluehost from the recommendations, although I had to sign up for a year (at $7.95 per month) they did give you a choice of how long you could sign for. My reasons for this choice was their support has won awards 3 years on the run (I thought I would be needing the support). And amongst other things they had a one click installation of Wordpress’ latest version and a free domain name. While I am learning I am all for the easy life!
Realistically with so many companies out there with similar features it’s a case of sticking your toe in the water and see what happens. I have read really good reviews for Bluehost and at the same time I have heard some bloggers have had a really bad time and moved their blog. But I think this could be said for a lot of large hosting companies, one blogger can swear by a host while another wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot barge pole. So I went for the one that appealed the most to me and had good features that compared to the others. And so far I have to say (touch wood) I have had no problems with Bluehost and the support has been really helpful with my questions (I’ve put the kiss of death on that now haven’t I). What has your experiences of hosting been?
Hope to see you tomorrow, if my blog doesn’t appear you know what’s happened!
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Bluehost, Hosting, WordpressBlogging Platforms - Which One To Choose?
I could give a normal review of blogging platforms, looking at each of the popular ones in turn with the pros and cons of each, but I’m not going to (whoa that was a short post)!
So what is the difference between, hosted and non hosted?
Instead I’m going to tell you about my experiences of blogging platforms, and I have had two, Blogger - hosted and Wordpress - non hosted. I’m hoping that this will be more helpful and personal than just a straight review that you can find anywhere.
There is always a hot debate and difference of opinion about blogging platforms and which are the best, and it’s generally between hosted and non hosted blogging platforms. You can change you’re mind and swap blogging platforms, but if you’re blog has grown well, you may find that search engine rankings are effected by the move, so make sure you are happy with the one you have chosen. At the end of the day though it’s whatever you are comfortable with, because it’s you that will be having to use it day in day out. Here are my two experiences: Read more
Site Search Tags:Blogger, Blogging Platforms, WordpressIt’s All Women Blog Carnival Time Again!
Just a quickie to say that it’s All Women Blogging Carnival time again and this week it is hosted at the RedSultana Blog. I submitted my ‘free report to download’ post.
I don’t know about you but I did get caught out a couple of weeks ago by the new format change (I was on holiday when it happened). Submissions used to be through Mr Linky but it has changed to the Blog Carnival site. Where there is a deadline for submissions through a form (3pm Sunday EST), this is the same for any carnival submissions through blogcarnival.com (although the deadlines vary - obviously).
I like the new format as you don’t have to wait until Monday to submit your entry, you can do it at any point in the week before the deadline. But I still visit on the Monday it goes live, because there are so many good posts and blogs to have a good nose around at!
Here are 3 of my favourites:
New Chinese Invention: The Amphibious Bicycle!
The Year of the Sand Dollar
Calm you mind and? unplug? your stresses, worries and concerns in two and a half minutes?
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:All Women Blogging Carnival, Blogcarnival.com, Red SultanaHere Is A Method That Is Helping Me Become A Better Blogger!
Do You Need a Mentor?
For me the answer is Yes! This has been the best method I have found to improve my blogging.
What is Blog Mastermind?
If you have downloaded the Blog Profits Blueprint or read this article, then you may have noticed that Yaro Starak has set up a blog mentoring program called Blog Mastermind. For new, beginner or intermediate bloggers that want support and help to grow their blog and earn a full time income from it, by working part time.
I first heard about Blog Mastermind way back when Yaro was asking his newsletter if anyone would like to have a blog mentoring program. Now I had started from scratch with blogs and had learned everything I knew from trawling blogs and websites, trying to find information on how to build a blog and do it right. It was very tedious and difficult doing it all by myself, (this seems true for most ventures on the internet) it took a lot of time and my confidence was lacking because different people had different opinions.
Until I heard what Yaro was thinking of doing, I had not heard of anybody else offering a mentoring program specifically for bloggers, so he had my attention. He also had my attention due to the fact that I had been a subscriber to his Blog Traffic Tips newsletter, and followed his blog for a couple of months, and I new his advice was good and that he knew what he was talking about. So when he released Blog Mastermind in June 2007 I did jump at it, and signed up. Read more
Site Search Tags:Blog Mastermind, Blog Profits Blueprint, Mentor, Yaro StarakMy Blogging Favourites of the Week
I thought I would do a round up post of some interesting things I have come across this week that I wanted to share with you (it’s not breaking news though, just interesting!).
Problogger Redesign
I hadn’t visited Problogger for a while and I had heard that Darren had had a redesigned done for the site, so I headed on over to have a look. It is totally different to the old one and looks really sharp. With a front page showing the hottest information and then you click through to the blog, also there’s a nice resource block for the footer which I have seen before (similar) on some free themes, that I really like. He has also started doing a weekly video post which really adds to the blog and gives it more of a personal feel.
In short it looks great!
Finding Blog Carnivals
Anyway getting back to my search for more blog carnivals to submit to. I have found quite a few already on blogcarnival.com and I’ve not even scratched the surface yet. Here are a few:
Blog to Earn
Blog me cash
Better blogging carnival
I found these just browsing through the list, I did have a list of 6 but these are the ones that made it. I have submitted to all of them and I’ll wait to see if I get in or not. These also look to be some very interesting blogs as well, that’s the great thing about carnivals finding more useful blogs (you never know maybe some guest bloggers!).
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blog Carnivals, ProBloggerHave You Heard of BlogRush?
What is BlogRush?
I don’t know if you have heard about BlogRush or not but it seems to be popping up everywhere. And although it sounds like it’s something you can get from standing up too quickly after blogging, it isn’t. BlogRush is a Blog Syndication Network or a blog traffic exchange widget for your blog!
It’s free and all you have to do is sign up for an account and place the widget on your blog, and your posts will be automatically promoted across the blogsphere on related blogs to your own. They do this by using a credit system, every time your blog is loaded and the widget is generated you earn a credit. Your blog post will then be displayed in the widget on a topic related blog similar to your own, and so on. So every time your blog is clicked on, you will receive a credit and your blog post will be shown somewhere else and hopefully increase your traffic. BlogRush also has a referral system where you will benefit up to a 10 referral downline for anyone you refer, increasing your credits further.
It’s been produced by John Reese the ever popular internet marketing guru, and is part of a grander plan of his at income.com, which I have to say looks interesting and I will be keeping an eye out on what’s going on!
Is It Any Good?
It launched over the weekend, so it’s still very new, but it has really exploded and there seems to be posts for it everywhere (I’m sure this isn’t the first that you’ve seen). All the top blogs seem to have wrote about it, Yaro Starak, Problogger and Daily Blog Tips for example. I’ve also started seeing the widget on blogs as I’ve been surfing the blogsphere (mine’s in my sidebar!).
I’ve never used traffic exchanges before because you generally had to do something, like wade through so many sites and then your blog was seen by the same amount of people, but they seem to not be targeted at all and therefore I don’t use them. This is slightly different because after installing the widget you don’t have to do anything else - I like that bit.
I can’t see it bringing in a lot of traffic like they claim, especially for me as my blog is only in it’s beginning phase, but if it brings in a little traffic then it all adds up and there’s no real effort involved. I’m sure there will be ways you can try and increase the traffic that it generates, say by choosing the category in BlogRush carefully, as it will be other blogs in that category that you will appear on. Or making sure you have an eye catching title as that’s what appears on the widget and people will click on. But to be honest that’s the same rules as for submitting to search engines, blog directories or article submission, and you do it anyway.
Time will tell if BlogRush will work well, it’s only early days and they have a lot of refining to do as it’s a little like Adsense, in the sense that it’s matching relevant posts to blogs and I’m sure that will take some time to perfect. But I have signed up for an account and added the widget to see how it goes. The site itself is helpful for answers and information and there is also a blog. The fact that it has spread so quickly and so many have got involved is a good sign and another good reason for joining in - you don’t want to miss out if it works well. And who can resist the thought of free traffic!
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Mandy
10 Blog Traffic Tips
In my last post I talked about the free report the Blog Profits Blueprint and what I thought about it. Today I thought it would be good for you to read an article written by Yaro Starak the author, to give you a feel for his articles and writing style. It is published with the permission of Yaro, and as usual is full of useful information. Here it is:
In every bloggers life comes a special day - the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else’s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader - you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that’s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.
Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.
It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called “traction”, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth. Read more
Site Search Tags:Blog Mastermind, Blog Profits Blueprint, Traffic Tips, Yaro StarakFree Report Blog Profits Blueprint - Download Yours Now!
Learn How To Make Money From Your Blog.
I heard about this free resource from it’s author Yaro Starak through his email newsletter Blog Traffic Tips. It was released when I was at a low point in my blogging and looking for extra help to get me to the next stage. It’s a 55 page free report that you can download from this link.
I’m always a bit cynical about free reports, they are usually given away in return for you doing something like signing up for a newsletter or capturing your email address. Which isn’t a bad thing in itself, but I find that I spend the time to read through them only to find that they don’t contain any useful information or concrete help, that I can use and act on. Normally it’s just the obvious information presented in different ways and a load of links. Well that’s what I have found so far. What can I say I’m a bit of a cheap skate and I like getting something for free, but I want something useful for free. Is that asking too much?
Well the Blog Profits Blueprint is the exception to this rule. It is the first report that I have read to actually show me what I need to do to build a successful blog. I definitely recommend it as a report that anyone who is serious about blogging should read. If (like I was) you are teetering on the edge, or you have made the decision that blogs are for you and you want to really give them a try, then this is the first step you should take.
What’s It All About?
Yaro Starak (Blogging Inspiration - part 2) is an entrepreneur and has ran internet business’s for years. He has also been blogging since 2004. In fact the first part of the report explains who he is, and what his credentials are for being able to speak about this topic with authority. He knows about running a business as well as blogging, and he talks about blogging from a business point of view and setting it up in that way, which gives you a much firmer foundation to work with. It’s full of solid information and I found myself planning in my head what I was going to do as I read it, it gives you confidence that you can succeed. I’d recommend reading through it a couple of times and then keep it to hand as reference material, I do.
Here’s some examples of what the Blog Profits Blueprint covers:
- Strategies and tactics.
- What is a blog and how do they work.
- How blogs make money.
- How to choose a topic.
- Pillar articles and communication channels.
- How to build traffic…and much more.
If I review something then I like to look at it from both sides the pros and cons, I don’t like just saying it’s great, because that is not objective and only gives you a biassed view. So I’ve covered the pros and now about the cons! And this was harder than I thought.
The Bottom Line…
It can be a bit overwhelming, there is a lot of really good information, but it’s hard to know where to start. But you have to remember this is just a report to get you started and not a course. It’s a lot of work following his advice, it’s not a get rich quick scheme it is hard and intensive work that needs dedication and commitment (and that can be a bit off putting) so if you are not prepared to do that then it’s not for you. The truth is that this report has answered so many questions for me and helped me so much it is hard to pick fault with it. The one thing he doesn’t do is take you by the hand and drag you to the computer to do something about it. It is left to you to put the effort in and that means determination to succeed and putting the time aside to make it happen. Which as all to often happens in life, slips away from you and you don’t take any action. And the report will just sit on your hard drive gathering digital dust. Give yourself a kick, I know I needed more of a kick but more about that to come.
So download your copy of the Blog Profits Blueprint now, after all it’s free. And start to build yourself a profitable blog today!
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blog Profits Blueprint, Blog Traffic King, Entrepreneurs Journey, Yaro StarakHow Do Bloggers Get To Take A Holiday?
All bloggers need a holiday sometime, like me! A break and a rest and then I can come back refreshed. But how do I do it? I need to think about content production which happens on a nearly daily basis, and will it affect my rankings and readership and all the hard work I have been putting into it, I don’t want to see it wasted.
Well as usually happens with me I learn the hard way, by my mistakes (not intentionally may I add). I have recently been on a well needed holiday, and it didn’t work quite like I intended as you may have guessed by the lack of recent posts.
Just as a little aside, I went camping in France with my husband and 2 children and had a great time, the people were lovely, food was fantastic and France is beautiful (picture is the view from the back of our tent). I need another holiday though because we drove all the way and got the ferry, an interesting experience with 2 small children!
Anyway getting back to it, with hindsight (a wonderful thing) there are 2 ways I feel I could have used to keep my blog going while I was away:
- Write enough content to cover the holiday before leaving, and use the time stamp feature of Wordpress to publish it.
- Invite Guest Bloggers to write for me while I am away.
There are obviously lots of solutions to this problem, but these are the two I feel fit me and my style as a blogger the best.
Option 1.
Written down they look simple enough but as I found the reality is very different. Both options involve a lot of work and setting up, and this is what I totally underestimated and I basically ran out of time (there’s nothing like honesty). I chose option 1, I had never used the time stamp tool and I wanted to give it a go. So obviously I had to plan my posts a fair way ahead and double up on my writing coming up to going away. The planning part was fine but I started around 10 days before and this just wasn’t enough time. Next time I would start a month before and also write posts for a few days after I come back. My main problem was I underestimated the time it would take me to prepare for the holiday with packing etc, and the children being off for the summer holidays stopped me doing even that. My only defence is it was their first holiday abroad - next time I will be prepared! So to sum up option 1 does work well, the posts were published automatically when I had asked. The only tip I will add is if you use this option, then start it a month before you go away and overlap it for when you come home, to give yourself chance to recover from the holiday itself before you have to start posting again.
Option 2.
I have not tried so far but would love to, because I think it would add fresh new content and a different point of view to my blog, and would be a nice change of pace. As well as hopefully giving me the chance to build relationships with other like minded bloggers with similar blogs. The hard part to this option would be finding bloggers like that , that are willing to do the guest posts, and then working out the arrangements. It would be more exposure for them and I could also offer to do the same in return for them if they liked my writing style, helping the both of us out . This option is something I will definitely be doing in the future and I won’t wait for holidays to try it. I am going to start building those relationships (and friendships) now.
Another blogging lesson learned and hurdle overcome, it’s all hard work now to make up for my absence and to recover my rankings. Here’s to the next holiday being smoother.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Guest bloggers, holidays, time stamp, Wordpress
