I should have changed the title to ‘I should be writing a review’, or ‘I should be preparing the next Language Tales post’; but hey, not everything always works out as we’d like to.
With that out of the way, I also want to clarify that this isn’t a how-to to go from free platform to self-hosting. There are plenty of people out there who explain it way better than I ever could. This is merely some reflections on what you can expect from your new self-hosted blog from the minute you have it.
You must be on constant alert
Self-hosting means you don’t have the platform you use taking care of all the technical stuff. Of course your host will most likely be your life savior, but still, you must be aware of everything that goes on in your cyber space. You’re the all-powerful Queen (even if you’re a guy, you’re still the Queen), and your host is supposed to be your wise advisor. This means you should pay close attention to which host you choose!
Google becomes your best friend
For better or for worse, and depending on how much your host is willing to help you out with, you will start having to search about how to do some things on your own. It can be as techy as how the hell can you bring your blog back from the dead if you get a white screen, to how to change your headings’ font. Fortunately, there are tons of advice out there concerning this, and specially concerning blog design, it can actually be fun to search for it.
You will probably go crazy with plugins
Seriously. Your eyes will be heart-shaped.
Then you will go on a plugin-deleting rampage
Because you will have found out all the websites that warn you against installing too many and only keeping those which are absolutely necessary.
You will want all the themes
True, platforms offer a lot of beautiful free themes! But a self-hosted blog allows you to install themes you’ve gotten from other sources, and even ones you’ve made yourself. 🙂 Prepare for the pretty designs overload.
It feels kinda like this
But it can also be like this
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But in the end, is it worth it? Do you need a self-hosted blog to become one of the big bloggers?
No idea, and Nope
I think it depends more on the kind of person you are. It probably just boils down to how much control do you want to have over your blog, so it’s entirely up to you!
If you’re a book blogger and do consider playing with us, here are two products you should totally check out once you have that awesome blog set.
[alert type=”info” close=”true”]These are affiliate links, which means that if you do purchase one of these products, I’ll get a comission to help me pay for my books. Thanks for feeding the bookworm![/alert]
Both of these I use myself and I can completely vouch for their usefulness!
Have you considered self hosting? What do you worry about the most? And if have a self-hosted blog already, then what’s your favorite thing about it?
Thanks for these insights – i have been toying with the idea of moving to a self hosted blog but am nervous! partly at all the techie things I would have to learn but also because I wonder if I would lose all my current followers. did you have that experience?
Well, when I made the switch, I made a complete start over from zero. But it’s my understanding that your followers wouldn’t be affected. I would encourage you to keep looking into it to make sure it’s right for you and then make the jump! There ARE some techie things to consider, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not that hard or complicated at all.
With my old blog I started with Blogger then switched to a self-hosted WP platform. Then I ended up deleting the whole thing, and after a year break, I’m now back with a new Blogger blog 🙂 For me personally, doing the self-hosted route wasn’t worth the money and time needed to maintain it, for what I was using it for. I’m a hobby blogger and don’t need anything fancy. Blogger is actually pretty customizable and I don’t think you can really tell that my blog is through Blogger? I spent a grand total of $12 for a year of my domain name (which includes the privacy option to block WHOIS), and then my theme background image ($2 through a designer on Etsy). I’m content to stay with Blogger this time around 🙂
Sara@LibraryHuntress recently posted this awesome thing…It’s Monday! What I’m Reading, Some Blogging Adjustments & A Family Situation
It’s okay if it works for you! Actually, I think Blogger is way better than WordPress.com if we’re talking about free platforms. It lets you do a ton more things.
Oh I Love this post! so ME!!! LOL When I saw it listed at the linkup I know HAD to read it. yup been there done all this and more. If you visit my blog you’ll find many posts about either how I just crashed my blog or how I’m recovering from my last crash. Last one was yesterday! Down 4 hours because of a plug in! A Security plug in I installed to run security backups for my site crashed my site. How ironic! scary question to hear from your host tech support specialist on the live chat trying to help you… “Could you please confirm whether there is a website built in this domain? Because it is currently it is only showing new installation step.” I was like…”OMG YES!!! I had a blog in this site for almost a year!!” 🙁
I just noticed you change the design. LOVE IT 🙂
Daniela Ark recently posted this awesome thing…What a Week [30] – Blogging tip: 5 lessons I learned when my WordPress theme crashed
YIKES be more careful with those plugins! I’m so so scared of my blog crashing. It happened to me once on another blog and it was so TERRIFYING. And thank you so much!
How funny – yes, there are definitely good and bad sides to self-hosting. I loved your comments about plug-ins the most. So true!!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted this awesome thing…Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore – 1/31/16
Haha, yes, self-hosting means I have to pay my dues and handle everything (yes about the plugin love and deleting rampage! And the themes, Lord Almighty!), but it can also be helpful in the long run.
Jee Ann recently posted this awesome thing…#HeistClub Bundles: My Book’s Out and About
Self-hosting has always been a distant goal of mine..it sounds like it’s lots of fun, but really hectic haha xD
I don’t mind that you procrastinated from writing reviews or another Language Tales post haha – this was a pretty cool post! ^_^
Geraldine @ Corralling Books recently posted this awesome thing…Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn | First Five Star of 2016
Lol thanks! And for sure, I’d say in my case, it’s been worth it. A blog’s a blog in the end, but all the customization options are what won me over.