2 Year Blog Anniversary and Self Hosting Panic!

- Cheryl

Today, Valentine’s Day is my 2 year blog anniversary. Happy blog birthday to me! I was going to write a post about the stuff I’d learnt in the last 2 years of blogging but a week ago, after just a year of procrastinating and thinking about it for far too long, I finally took the leap to self-host my own blog.

Reasons I Wanted to Self- Host:

  • I’d seen so many of my other blogging buddies do it and take their blogs on to bigger and better things
  • Brands won’t consider working with you unless you’re self-hosted. I’ve no idea if this will happen to me in the future, I only know that it wasn’t going to happen as it was
  • I felt fed up and constrained with the design and layout of my blog

Reasons for Not Doing it or Putting it off for Another Year:

  • I’m a huge technophobe and the process of switching made me wince every time I thought about it
  • Was any of it worth it? I started my blog to write and the basic WordPress site allowed me to do that

I’m in a bit of a dry spell with my freelancing work so if ever there was a time to do it, it was now. I’d seen how a few bloggers had recommended TSO. Even better they did most of the migration for you and I heard they were very good at support.

So last Monday I set about becoming self-hosted. I religiously and slowly followed this post by Wendy at Nap Time Natter who had some great advice. Despite a little bit of confusion relating to domain names, I managed to get through the process fairly easily and painlessly.  I’d read horror stories by other bloggers who had said they’d not backed up any of their work and some had lost a lot, and so I was a little bit panicky when I got to the end of the process and waited for TSO to work their magic.  I was amazed when I had an email the very next day to say that the migration had occurred and I was no self-hosted! Shouldn’t it take weeks?

Panic

My first thought on seeing the new site was that phew! All the blog posts were there. But then I realised that none of the comments had switched over. Not a major deal, but it just looked like no one had ever read my blog. A few panicky emails to TSO and they did something which brought back the comments. I also had a crazy moment where I thought that I’d been logged out of the new site but realised I was trying to login to the old WordPress one with my new passwords. (Yep told you I was a technophobe).

Then the fun began as I realised I had to get to grips with a new way of working. A slightly new WordPress system, a new theme, faffing about with widgets and plugins. Setting the blog up all over again with new menu, headers etc. etc. the list goes on and on. It can be fun, but also overwhelming, consuming and infuriating all at the same time.

For instance, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of themes with the new site. I’d seen some I’d already liked but it turns out you need to pay extra to get these. Which I did. There is still so much to do and a lot to learn, but I think the only way I can cope with it is to do a little bit at a time.

Two Years

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I wrote about what I’d learnt in my first year of blogging. Not much has changed, it’s still something I love and at times I can’t be bothered with. I can lots of inspiration for blog posts and then go for weeks with nothing. Despite 2 years of blogging, I still have so much to learn about it. I’m never going to be one of those bloggers who make a career of it, but there is still a lot I can do. I love the blogging community and how friendly everyone is. Below is a list of everyone that helped and supported me through the self-hosting process either directly or indirectly after my many worries last week. Thank you so much ladies!

Charlie at Mess and Merlot

Laura at Five Little Doves

Wendy at Naptime Natter

Mrs Lighty at All Things Spliced

Emma at Island Living 365

If you don’t hear too much from me in the near future, it’s because I’ll have my head down trying to figure out just what the hell I’m doing!

I’d love to hear about your experiences of going self-hosted with the blog, please let me know in the comments below.

 

 

 

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43 thoughts on “2 Year Blog Anniversary and Self Hosting Panic!”

    1. Yes, I felt that way too. Thought about it for a year and then surprised myself at how quickly and fairly easily it all was. Good luck!

  3. Happy Blogiversary! I went self hosted a few months after I started blogging and I honestly have no idea why I did it cus I don’t work with brands but I think I just wanted my own website name. Rubbish reason eh? #bigpinklink

    1. No not a rubbish reason at all! That was another thing that I hated – having the .wordpress.com at the end of my site address.

  4. Congratulations! It looks lovely. Good luck with figuring it all out.

    The brands won’t work with you unless you’re self hosted isn’t quite true – although it’s repeated over and over. Brands won’t work with bloggers who don’t have their own domain name. They also look for a decent readership and social media following that’s the right fit for them as it’s all about driving sales.

    Self hosting does mean you completely own your content and gives you access to better templates and more gadgets. Blogger is very basic and that’s what frustrates me about it. It’s the main reason I ponder shifting every so often.

    1. Oh thanks for the advice! I’m not sure what will happen in the future, but I’m happy just tinkering with it all for now!

  5. Well done for taking the plunge. A very lovely, sleek theme you have too! I’m glad you got all your comments back, you put in so much effort to get them it qould be a shame to loose them all X
    #BigPinkLink

    1. Thanks Kirsty. There’s still a lot to do, but in between juggling kids and work and my technical fears, I’m taking slowly! X

  7. When I started blogging over 3 years ago, I knew I wanted to make this my career so I started with a paid WordPress site, picked my domain address, and spent the money on the packages I loved. It was a big bite to start with, but I chewed until it was manageable. Now I’m looking to make the move to self-hosted and I am worried, to say the least. Great luck, you’ll get it exactly the way you want it to look! #bigpinklink

  9. Happy Blogiversary! I must admit that I am a big technophobe and have not dared to make any tech changes at all. I started out as self hosted and someone helped me set up from Day Go BUT I have no idea, okay, no courage to make any changes to the design or plugins etc. I am afraid that I may “break” it. Good on you for giving it a go! Thanks for sharing with #bigpinklink

  12. When I did it I don’t think I slept for a week haha. PAN.IC! It’s all good now though. Congratulations on 2 years, and many more to come! X #coolmumclub

  14. I really need to up my blog design game. I intended to do some more later too, and have watched everyone elses blogs get prettier and prettier… One step at a time though eh?!
    Well done lovely – you’re doing fab so keep up the good work!
    #coolmumclub xx
    MMT recently posted…#coolmumclub week 57My Profile

  16. Wow, congratulations and well done for taking the plunge. I read a lot of horror stories when I was getting ready to set my blog up so I went self-hosted from the start and I’m so glad I did, the thought of going through the switching process would scare the c**p out of me!
    #KCACOLS

  17. Congrats on 2 years and going self hosted! 🙂 I’ve just started up really, I keep pondering if I should go self hosted or just wait it out a bit longer…how have you found TSO? I’ve seen lots of people talk about them too. Think I’d go with them too! #KCACOLS Becky x

    1. I’d definitely recommend TSO as they have such a good support system. They do a lot of the work for you and respond quickly to email queries. I mailed them a lot!! X

  21. Well done for taking the leap.
    I did too and after weeks spent cursing myself and nearly throwing the laptop at the wall, it all came together and I’ve never looked back.

    #KCACOLS

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