2018 address advice blogger

Moving to a Self-Hosted Platform

Tikeetha TMby
17 Comments on Moving to a Self-Hosted Platform

Help! One of my goals for 2018 was to move to a self-hosted platform and I’m struggling to make a decision. For those of you that may be new to blogging, moving to a self-hosted platform will allow me more control over my blog with regards to customizing functions and style. It’s daunting as heck, but oh so worth it.

I know this. I’ve watched my blog grow from about 100 followers in 2014 when I first started to get back into blogging to 700 in late 2016 and now I’m almost at 2,500 WordPress subscribers. There has been growth.

In that time, I’ve contributed to two books being published and many posts. I’m working on my craft and working on turning my passion into profit. To that end, I want to be able to have more control on my blog and website. It’s time.

But, I’m overwhelmed by it all. I know that I can’t be alone. Were you overwhelmed when you started researching the move to a self-hosted platform? How did you make the choice to move? Which platform did you select? Was it hard to implement? What was the cost? I’m looking at cost, ease of use and unmetered storage.

It’s just me. Doing it on my own, but I’m hoping to have an interactive blog/website running by year end. Did you get overwhelmed by doing it yourself? What are some of the things/thoughts that I should be thinking about?

I really need your help. All advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Want to keep in touch? You can find me on social media at the following links: Twitter @mskeeinmd, Facebook page A Thomas Point of View and my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/mskeeinmd/.

17 comments

  1. I started my blog owning my domain name. I use WordPress as my template and ipage as my hosting. I can’t lie there been problems along the way but luckily I’ve had my ipage and they’ve helped me along the way. I never went the other route so I can’t compare.

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    2. I’m the same and to be honest I don’t even understand why you’d want to self-host. What does that actually mean? I could probably research this but at the moment it’s so far down my to-do list it’s invisible! Best of luck with your decision 🙂

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  2. Self-hosting is overrated. I would rather WordPress.com do all the heavy lifting of maintaining the nuts and bolts of the blog and frees me for creating and connecting. There are no limits to people connecting to you through WP.com and they do give you lots of freedom to monetize too.

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  3. I recently upgraded from a basic wp account to self hosted and I love it! I use bluehost and so far everything has been great.

    It only cost me a little over $100 for three years with a deal I got from a fellow blogger. I feel it’s totally worth it for me with all the plug-ins I’m able to add and my site feels more legit without WordPress tagged on at the end. Yeah there is alot of research involved and words I had no idea what they meant but once you figure it out it’s pretty easy. I’m definitely happy with my choice.

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  4. In case you didn’t know, my site relationshipetcetera.com is self-hosted. I chose self-hosting because .com truly controls way too much, and the “real” WordPress is ,org, not .com.

    Pros:
    – control
    – plugins,
    – coding flexibility (if you know how to do that), email and more. There are tons of “how to” vids on Youtube for the template you ultimately choose, or if you’re working from the ground up.
    -Free templates available to get the job done.
    -Social media plugins to help gain more site visibility.
    -ME! You can always reach out whenever you hit a bump in the road or have any questions.

    Cons:
    -Way more complex to learn than .com. A million options that you can choose from that make it difficult and confusing.
    -Customization. Can be challenging at times, and confusing.
    -Cost. You have to purchase upgraded security because the default does a decent job, but the upgrade can be much better. (but not cheap at all) Some plugins are absolutely free. However, the best ones you have to pay for the best features like Yoast.

    Overall I love self-hosting. HostGator and BlueHost are very solid. I’d go with one of them. They are the most well-round in terms of uptime vs downtime, customer service, price and promotions.

    Hopefully that helps.

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  6. I have to self hosted sites. Jay made an excellent list of the pros and cons. I’d say if you’re looking to turn your passion into a full-fledged business, then self-hosting is the only way to go. I use Bluehost. And my theme is by themify. Me I like them because you don’t have to know a lot about coding and it’s all drag and drop. I can make all the changes to my website myself. Good luck and I’m here for you if you have any questions. I’m so proud of you

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  7. I’m at your beck and call anytime you have a question :). I started out self-hosted from the beginning in 2014 but that was more of a product of going through a divorce and I wanted something I could call mine and not have to split it with her. That being said self-hosted you can pretty much post whatever you want and own it :).

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