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Thread: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

  1. #21
    FPG Donor ♕ KrazyIvan's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    I use Wordpress, don't forget that Wordpress will charge you a monthly fee if you want to use your own domain. I get around it because my domain registrar lets me forward my domain to any address. So while I do have an inktronics.wordpress.com address, I just forward inktronicsblog.com to it. It also helps if I have to setup the blog on another service, I just change the address where my URL points to.
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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Thanks Ivan. I have already tried buying a domain, then established that Wordpress won't give their free version if you want to use your own domain.

    Also, even though I can download Wordpress on the site I used when I bought the domain, I have to buy a hosting package from them before I can do that, and that would include a domain.

    I'm now cancelling the domain and getting a refund, then I'm going to look into either buying a hosting package that includes one, or getting free Wordpress.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Thanks Ivan. I have already tried buying a domain, then established that Wordpress won't give their free version if you want to use your own domain.

    Also, even though I can download Wordpress on the site I used when I bought the domain, I have to buy a hosting package from them before I can do that, and that would include a domain.

    I'm now cancelling the domain and getting a refund, then I'm going to look into either buying a hosting package that includes one, or getting free Wordpress.
    Hi Chrissy,

    You can register through company A and get the hosting from company B. There's no reason to cancel the registration. You need that regardless of WHERE you host the domain.

    Which company did you use for registration?

    alex

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    Chrissy (November 12th, 2018)

  5. #24
    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by alexwi View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Thanks Ivan. I have already tried buying a domain, then established that Wordpress won't give their free version if you want to use your own domain.

    Also, even though I can download Wordpress on the site I used when I bought the domain, I have to buy a hosting package from them before I can do that, and that would include a domain.

    I'm now cancelling the domain and getting a refund, then I'm going to look into either buying a hosting package that includes one, or getting free Wordpress.
    Hi Chrissy,

    You can register through company A and get the hosting from company B. There's no reason to cancel the registration. You need that regardless of WHERE you host the domain.

    Which company did you use for registration?

    alex
    There is if they charge you £11 to remap it to them. I started off by using Fasthosts, a Company I previously used in the UK. In order to get Wordpress, I had to buy cluster hosting and that includes a free domain. So I cancelled my domain.

    I'm now completely free on Wordpress. My domain lasted less than 24 hours before I got my money back. My website is now : inkyfountainpens.wordpress.com A bit of a long domain, but free so far. If I run out of space, I can pay for hosting and get a free domain later.
    Last edited by Chrissy; September 12th, 2018 at 06:13 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Senior Member Deb's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Congratulations!
    Regards,
    Deb
    My Blog

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Deb View Post
    Congratulations!
    Thanks Deb.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Well done!
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Chrissy (November 12th, 2018)

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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    There is if they charge you £11 to remap it to them. I started off by using Fasthosts, a Company I previously used in the UK. In order to get Wordpress, I had to buy cluster hosting and that includes a free domain. So I cancelled my domain.

    I'm now completely free on Wordpress. My domain lasted less than 24 hours before I got my money back. My website is now : inkyfountainpens.wordpress.com A bit of a long domain, but free so far. If I run out of space, I can pay for hosting and get a free domain later.
    I just checked on their web site. REGISTERING something.co.uk for two years is £11 (I believe that this is what you're referring to). That would be just the registration, and then you would host the content wherever you want, for an additional monthly or yearly fee. That's the way it's supposed to be.

    You can also follow Ivan's strategy and register chrissy.co.uk and have it forward visitors to chrissy.wordpress.com, which results in free HOSTING, but if you want to have your own domain name (whether you host like Ivan or how I described), so people can find you easily, you NEED to REGISTER the domain name somewhere (fasthosts, dotster, etc.).

    Fasthosts' registration prices are a bit above industry averages, though. A cursory read on bluehost yields $12/yr for registration of the domain name, $4/mo for hosting for the first year and then $9/mo.

    If you HOST the content at fasthosts, they give you the registration service for free. While £5/month for their Cluster plan isn't prohibitively expensive, you could probably do better.

    Regardless of how you choose to host your content, I strongly recommend that you register whatever name you want as soon as you can, even if you can't put it to use immediately. Domain names have a tendency to be snatched up.

    alex

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by alexwi View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    There is if they charge you £11 to remap it to them. I started off by using Fasthosts, a Company I previously used in the UK. In order to get Wordpress, I had to buy cluster hosting and that includes a free domain. So I cancelled my domain.

    I'm now completely free on Wordpress. My domain lasted less than 24 hours before I got my money back. My website is now : inkyfountainpens.wordpress.com A bit of a long domain, but free so far. If I run out of space, I can pay for hosting and get a free domain later.
    I just checked on their web site. REGISTERING something.co.uk for two years is £11 (I believe that this is what you're referring to). That would be just the registration, and then you would host the content wherever you want, for an additional monthly or yearly fee. That's the way it's supposed to be.

    You can also follow Ivan's strategy and register chrissy.co.uk and have it forward visitors to chrissy.wordpress.com, which results in free HOSTING, but if you want to have your own domain name (whether you host like Ivan or how I described), so people can find you easily, you NEED to REGISTER the domain name somewhere (fasthosts, dotster, etc.).

    Fasthosts' registration prices are a bit above industry averages, though. A cursory read on bluehost yields $12/yr for registration of the domain name, $4/mo for hosting for the first year and then $9/mo.

    If you HOST the content at fasthosts, they give you the registration service for free. While £5/month for their Cluster plan isn't prohibitively expensive, you could probably do better.

    Regardless of how you choose to host your content, I strongly recommend that you register whatever name you want as soon as you can, even if you can't put it to use immediately. Domain names have a tendency to be snatched up.

    alex
    The charge just to register a domain on Fasthosts was £16.79. Wordpress wanted an additional £11 to map it to their site. Then they said don't offer a free web-site with an existing domain, so I would have had to go for their cheapest package at £5 per month.
    That was the point where I went back to Fasthosts. They wanted £2.50 per month special deal for their cheapest package, which would have given me a free domain, but I had already purchased it by then. So I was already somewhere I didn't really want to be. I didn't want to commit to paying £X per month for some number of years while I don't have a clue what I'm doing.
    Wordpress free fits me well enough for the moment. If I run out of space I will have to rethink the plan.

    The $$ prices you quoted don't apply to UK addresses. Tax is added on. I already checked Bluehost for their price. That's the one I wanted to go with.
    Last edited by Chrissy; September 12th, 2018 at 11:46 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    The charge just to register a domain on Fasthosts was £16.79. Wordpress wanted an additional £11 to map it to their site. Then they said don't offer a free web-site with an existing domain, so I would have had to go for their cheapest package at £5 per month.
    That was the point where I went back to Fasthosts. They wanted £2.50 per month special deal for their cheapest package, which would have given me a free domain, but I had already purchased it by then. So I was already somewhere I didn't really want to be. I didn't want to commit to paying £X per month for some number of years while I don't have a clue what I'm doing.
    Wordpress free fits me well enough for the moment. If I run out of space I will have to rethink the plan.

    The $$ prices you quoted don't apply to UK addresses. Tax is added on. I already checked Bluehost for their price. That's the one I wanted to go with.
    A bit convoluted, but I think I got it.

    Unless you upload a gazillion pictures or videos, it's unlikely that you'll run out of space any time soon.

    If you haven't done so, and are committed to this project, register the domain and keep the free hosting you have as it is right now. You can call the company and ask them if they provide forwarding with the registration. If they do, setting that up should be simple. Calling is better than emailing in this case.

    If you registered the domain, look for instructions on how to set-up forwarding or call to have someone help you.

    I do this for a living, and can tell you that you're doing great. At least you are DOING, which leads to problems, which leads to questions, which leads to learning.

    alex

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    FPG Donor ♕ KrazyIvan's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    The free Wordpress account has very little space for hosting photos. I use my Flickr account to host my photos then use the HTML share links to add them in the HTML editor in my Wordpress posts.
    Fountain Pen Sith Lord | Daakusaido | Everything in one spot

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by alexwi View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    The charge just to register a domain on Fasthosts was £16.79. Wordpress wanted an additional £11 to map it to their site. Then they said don't offer a free web-site with an existing domain, so I would have had to go for their cheapest package at £5 per month.
    That was the point where I went back to Fasthosts. They wanted £2.50 per month special deal for their cheapest package, which would have given me a free domain, but I had already purchased it by then. So I was already somewhere I didn't really want to be. I didn't want to commit to paying £X per month for some number of years while I don't have a clue what I'm doing.
    Wordpress free fits me well enough for the moment. If I run out of space I will have to rethink the plan.

    The $$ prices you quoted don't apply to UK addresses. Tax is added on. I already checked Bluehost for their price. That's the one I wanted to go with.
    A bit convoluted, but I think I got it.

    Unless you upload a gazillion pictures or videos, it's unlikely that you'll run out of space any time soon.

    If you haven't done so, and are committed to this project, register the domain and keep the free hosting you have as it is right now. You can call the company and ask them if they provide forwarding with the registration. If they do, setting that up should be simple. Calling is better than emailing in this case.

    If you registered the domain, look for instructions on how to set-up forwarding or call to have someone help you.

    I do this for a living, and can tell you that you're doing great. At least you are DOING, which leads to problems, which leads to questions, which leads to learning.

    alex
    Thank you for your encouragement. It's been a very stressful time, and I'm old. I just wanted to get something up and running, and free seemed the way to go at the moment.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyIvan View Post
    The free Wordpress account has very little space for hosting photos. I use my Flickr account to host my photos then use the HTML share links to add them in the HTML editor in my Wordpress posts.
    This is a concern. I will have to wait and see if I run out.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

  16. #34
    FPG Donor ♕ KrazyIvan's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyIvan View Post
    The free Wordpress account has very little space for hosting photos. I use my Flickr account to host my photos then use the HTML share links to add them in the HTML editor in my Wordpress posts.
    This is a concern. I will have to wait and see if I run out.
    It sounds scarier than it really is and the HTML editor is easy to understand once you have your text, inserting the HTML code is easy as copying and pasting. Then you just switch back to the WISIWIG editor and you can double check your photos are in the correct position, edit the photos, add tags, etc.
    Fountain Pen Sith Lord | Daakusaido | Everything in one spot

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    Chrissy (September 13th, 2018)

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyIvan View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyIvan View Post
    The free Wordpress account has very little space for hosting photos. I use my Flickr account to host my photos then use the HTML share links to add them in the HTML editor in my Wordpress posts.
    This is a concern. I will have to wait and see if I run out.
    It sounds scarier than it really is and the HTML editor is easy to understand once you have your text, inserting the HTML code is easy as copying and pasting. Then you just switch back to the WISIWIG editor and you can double check your photos are in the correct position, edit the photos, add tags, etc.
    Thanks Ivan, I did it your way, and eventually got it to work. Now my review image is hosted on my Flickr account, so I assume that, according to Wordpress, it's just text.

    In fact, the image is now slightly larger and fits the page width better than the original image did. So your tip made a great improvement.
    Last edited by Chrissy; September 13th, 2018 at 03:03 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    KrazyIvan (September 17th, 2018)

  20. #36
    FPG Donor ♕ KrazyIvan's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pick the best platform to write a blog on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyIvan View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyIvan View Post
    The free Wordpress account has very little space for hosting photos. I use my Flickr account to host my photos then use the HTML share links to add them in the HTML editor in my Wordpress posts.
    This is a concern. I will have to wait and see if I run out.
    It sounds scarier than it really is and the HTML editor is easy to understand once you have your text, inserting the HTML code is easy as copying and pasting. Then you just switch back to the WISIWIG editor and you can double check your photos are in the correct position, edit the photos, add tags, etc.
    Thanks Ivan, I did it your way, and eventually got it to work. Now my review image is hosted on my Flickr account, so I assume that, according to Wordpress, it's just text.

    In fact, the image is now slightly larger and fits the page width better than the original image did. So your tip made a great improvement.
    You're welcome.
    Fountain Pen Sith Lord | Daakusaido | Everything in one spot

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