Since apple picking trumped recipe development this week, I thought it might be helpful to address a few questions I often receive about starting a blog. Namely, what services I use for hosting, backup, and design.
My background is in SEO, so I had some understanding of Blogger versus WordPress and the various hosting providers before I created Pickles & Honey, but mostly I just did a little research, looked at my favorite blogs to see what they were using (you can check the source code and do a quick scan) and asked around to see what people liked and didn’t like. Here’s a breakdown…
My blog is self-hosted on Bluehost and I use WordPress as the content management system. I purchased the domain name through BlueHost, and also set up the WordPress account with them, rather than doing everything separately. One of the benefits of being self-hosted, rather than simply hosting on WordPress, is that you own your content. If you do a free account with WordPress, they technically own anything you publish (same goes for Blogger). If you’re not self-hosted, you also can’t join an advertising network, like BlogHer, for example, or post ads to monetize your site.
Sidenote: the revenue I make through BlogHer is very minimal, but it does cover my blogging expenses.
I have a twelve month plan with Bluehost, and right now I have the cheapest option, which is something like $150 per year for the domain and hosting. The cost for hosting goes up significantly if you need or decide to use a dedicated server rather than sharing one with other sites, but I don’t have the traffic to warrant that (yet!).
One thing I made sure to purchase is WhoIs Security for my domain name. It’s only a few dollars a year and you do NOT want people to be able to look up your home address. So creepy.
For a few months, I actually didn’t back up my blog, but it gave me serious anxiety and it’s just plain silly not to take the time to do that. I ultimately decided to go with VaultPress, which is a WordPress plugin that literally backs up the blog every time anything changes (someone comments, you change a post title, etc.). In addition to having really good customer support, you can also login and choose which backup to install on your own if something goes wrong. Like when your EasyRecipe plugin decides to crash your entire site. VaultPress is $15 per month, but it’s so, so worth it. It takes me hours just to do one recipe post (cook time, photos, editing, writing the post). I would be beyond devastated if I lost all of my work.
As far as site design, WordPress offers a number of “themes” that you can use for your site, but I purchased something called Thesis through DIY Themes for $87 so I could easily customize everything without having to mess with any of the coding. It has an extremely intuitive user interface that lets you control every aspect of the website’s design (fonts, colors, columns, and so on). I’ve used Blogger in the past when I was writing my previous employer’s company blogs, and although it’s simple, I found it to be too basic. WordPress has tons of features and everything is customizable. Plus, lots of my favorite blogs use Thesis, and that’s only available with WordPress. If you’re just getting started, however, you may not need to be spending close to $100 on a theme. There are lots of really nice, free templates available.
The header is courtesy of my very talented husband. I told him I wanted a girly and pretty font and he actually drew this by hand for me. I’ve considered swapping out the background image, but I’m still too attached to the original. Maybe when my blog turns one next month?
Anyway, this is what works for me for now. Admittedly, Bluehost can be spotty at times, and there is nothing more frustrating than having your site go down and having zero control over fixing it. However, that seems to be the case with most hosting providers, especially when you’re paying less than $10 a month. If anyone has found hosting that’s awesome all the time – please share! For now, I will just remind myself that it’s not the end of the world when my latest hummus recipe is temporarily unavailable.
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Thank you so much for sharing. I never even thought about backing up my site! Now, it’s at the top of my to-do list.
Awesome! The thought of losing all of my posts is just awful. I’m happy to pay a little each month for peace of mind.
Thanks so much for sharing! This is very helpful, especially since I’m a fairly new blogger! Just curious, do you mean BlogHer covers your living expenses (rent, food) or just your blogging expenses (hosting, backup etc)?
Just blogging expenses – I wish it covered living expenses! haha I’ve edited the post to be more clear.
Such a useful post! I love learning about other people’s blog set-ups, because even though I’ve been doing this for several years, I still have plenty to learn. Especially after going the self-hosted route last April, I keep making tweaks and changes, and wishing I had the extra resources to just hire a designer!
I’m with Bluehost too, and they back-up the blog data regularly. So I haven’t looked into other back-up services, but maybe I should. I had a mishap when doing one of the regular Wordpress updates, and all of my pictures from 3 years of blogging were gone. Bluehost had an updated version, but it didn’t help. For whatever reason, all of my photos to them were little square boxes. I still had to manually enter everything. Do you think Vaultpress is pretty intuitive in terms of me using it?
By the way, did you know that Bluehost has an affiliate program? Since you’re mentioning their service, you might want to look into it. I think that whenever a person signs up through your site, you get $60.
I wasn’t too confident with BlueHost’s back-up (simply because at the time, I was having a lot of downtime because of issues on their end). I think they also back up once a day, whereas VaultPress backs up literally every time something changes or someone leaves a comment (I can view everything in my main Wordpress dashboard too), and it’s so easy to log into their site and click whatever version of your blog you want to restore. I’m really happy with them – there have been a couple of times where something’s gone wrong and their customer support is right on top of it. Using it is super easy.
I didn’t realize BlueHost has an affiliate program – thanks for letting me know!
Wow, didn’t know your blog was still a baby!! You seem like a seasoned pro.
I really enjoy your writing style, the simple & easily-readable layout of the page and of course your mouth-watering recipes. My vote (in case you care) is to keep your header as is, it’s perfect! The fact that your hubby designed the font brings a personal touch to it. Hope you’re enjoying blogging as much as we’re enjoying reading about your adventures and culinary creations!
Thanks, Laura! I am definitely enjoying blogging – especially the supportive blogging community.
I’m a Bluehost/Wordpress gal too- but my template is through Wordpress.org. I’ve thought about paying for Thesis so that I can design it myself, but it works for now. I am DYING to change my header, but just have no idea what I want. That being said- yours actually inspired me to design mine (white text against a photo)- and I absolutely LOVE your header and don’t think you should ever change it!! It’s so elegant!
Awwww, that’s so flattering that my blog’s header inspired your own. I will make sure to pass that info along to Aaron. I like to tell him that if he ever decides to leave advertising, he can always make a career in healthy living blog design…
So helpful – thanks! I eventually want to make my blog look more professional, and had been wondering how to go about making that happen…
Glad you found the post helpful! Something like Thesis is a good alternative to hiring a designer, which can be $$$.
I LOVE your blog, by the way. Especially the cat stories. haha
Aw, thanks
Hi Amanda, my blog Fit and Fed is also self-hosted using Wordpress. We use HostGator for all of our family’s websites. For the multiple website subscription we have it costs $19/month. My husband has been through about 20 hosting companies over the years, has done his research, and he thinks HostGator is solid. I haven’t had any problem with downtime. For backup we use a script that my husband wrote that backs everything up onto Amazon S3. That costs about $1 a month for the data charges. Like you I use DIY Thesis Themes. Fun to talk blogging ‘meta’ a bit with another blogger!
I’ll have to look into HostGator. I haven’t heard of them before!
Your husband sounds very tech-savvy.
Thanks for this post – I just Stumbleupon-ed to this and as someone who JUST started a blog, I really don’t know all the ins and outs. Right now I’m using a free theme but I really want to upgrade to a premium (I can’t justify the cost just yet) – I am currently using wordpress.com but, in terms of having the blog hosted by someone like bluehost, is it posible to do that once you have already started with wordpress? I’d rather not start from scratch, but I also want to own my blog.
Yep, you can switch from Wordpress.com to self-hosted (known as Wordpress.org) at any time. Here’s an article I found that explains how to do that: http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/ (take a look at the ‘moving to wordpress.org’ section). It seems fairly straightforward, basically just exporting your content and importing it to the self-hosted site.
And congrats on starting your blog!
Cool, thanks for the info it’s greatly appreciated!
Was it difficult to switch over your content from wordpress to the self hosted site?
I started out on self-hosted and set everything up on Bluehost from the start, but it seems simple enough to make the switch. Here’s an article I shared with another reader that explains it: http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/ (take a look at the ‘moving to wordpress.org’ section).
Cool post! So with Thesis, you can design your header? I am through Bluehost as well, but have one of the free themes. Are you able to changes fonts, colors, etc.? I’ll have to look into it! I’m trying to design my own header as well, so this might be a fun investment.
I just re-read your post, and realize some of my questions are answered… :-/ I hate it when that happens! Thanks for the info!
No worries.
Thesis lets you change fonts, colors, column and header widths/heights – it’s great!
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