5 Responses to Setting up Blogs and Professional Sites – What do you Want to Know?

1. Kristi Holl says:

   March 12, 2008 at 4:49 pm

   I have heard a lot of talk about moving your blog from something like blogspot to your own website, using a free service like WordPress. My question is this: is there a simple way to move from one kind of blog host to another one? Or will I have to copy/paste each blog entry, one at a time, and move it?

2. Moving a Blog from One Platform to Another : All Freelance Writing

3. Erica Johansson says:

   March 29, 2008 at 11:31 pm

   Hi Jennifer,
   I would love to buy my own domain name and move my travel blog to another web host instead of having a free wordpress blog. I have no idea which web host to choose though. Do you have any experience from different web hosts? And is it really possible to import all my old blog posts to my new blog? Hope you can help.
4. Julia says:

   March 30, 2008 at 8:03 pm

   After working on my three other self-hosted blogs, it’s finally time to get down to my writing blog, and the issue I’m having right now is trying to find a theme that’s “professional” enough for this site, yet that’s still “me”. I’ve been playing around with a couple so far, but am really struggling with this question. Do I go with one that has bold colours? Or do I go with one that has more of a “magazine” style? Should I take one theme I like and modify it myself? Or do I buy a premium one that I could use as-is? Or do I shell out some cash and have someone design a custom theme for me?

   These are the things I’ve been struggling with over the last several weeks.
5. Jennifer Mattern says:

   March 30, 2008 at 9:07 pm

   Erica – Personally I host most of my sites with HostGator. I’d recommend them to anyone. :) If I were going to suggest steering clear of any companies, it would be GoDaddy and 1&1 for hosting – I had nothing but problems with their hosting in the past (although I do still use Godaddy strictly for domain registrations once in a while). I’d suggest you not register your domain and host your site with the same company. While it’s never happened to me personally, I’ve heard more than enough horror stories about hosts holding domains “hostage” (not letting them be transferred away) to make me live by that rule.

   Julia – I’m a fan of using free themes and simply editing them for my needs if I want to. I believe I have two that have little to no edits, some have been minor, and I’ve also done major edits in the past. What I love about this is that it gives you a chance to learn as you go on the design / coding front. :) I’d say the same rule should apply to premium themes – while you can technically use them as-is, it’s probably best to make some edits to give your site at least a little bit of a unique look (even if it just means changing a few colors). I haven’t had a custom theme done for me yet. For me it wouldn’t make sense, b/c I tend to get tired of a theme quickly. I certainly wouldn’t say it’s a bad idea though, especially if you’re not that interested in doing the changes yourself.