Challenge accepted

~ msgracefulnot

Why switching to self- hosted was a bad idea for me.

Before I tell you why it was a bad idea, let me first tell you why I tried to switch.

The pros of going self hosted

  1.  You have more control of your site.
  2. You can choose different add-on and plug-ins etc.    I was most interested in the updrafts plus plug in which does continuous back ups of your entire website for free.  I also wanted to check out the Yoast SEO plug in. Finally, I needed options to control the bots and spam that were attacking my blog.

On July 19th, I made my decision to make the switch to Siteground.  On July 20th, I jumped.  Siteground said, “we will do all the work for you”.  They didn’t 😦

The first thing that happened is I lost my theme.  Okay that I knew might be a possibility, no biggie.  The next thing that happened was I got an email from siteground that I needed to this and I needed to that with no direction on how to do the things they were asking.  Hours were spent on google and wordpress support channel, and the forums at wordpress.org.

After I finally got all of my content moved to siteground, I lost 98% of my followers.  My posts were no longer appearing in reader, nor were emails being sent.  Once those issues seemed to be functioning at 50%, people were unable to comment, and the ones that were able to comment, couldn’t see when I responded to them.  I don’t sell anything on my blog, the whole reason I write a blog is the interaction with all the great people I have met, and without that there is no point.

On August 7th, I wrote that the verdict was still out on whether switching was worth it and gave some reasons I was struggling with the change.  After reviewing my stats since I made the change and seeing that I was getting an average of 10 hits a day versus the usual 100 or more I normally got each day, I found some liquid courage (Yah Coors Light)  LOTS OF IT and transferred everything back to wordpress.com, ALL BY MYSELF.  Since I did learn alot during this process I won’t call it a total waste.  But I also can not on any level recommend siteground, nor risking the loss of your followers by making a switch.

^400 words Billy 🙂 and no more Bitching….  Can we call it a draw? Instead….

Thank you to all my friends both in real life and in the blogosphere that have helped me test the changes and have stayed by my side.  I have missed everyone so much!

 

Unknown's avatar

Published by msgracefulnot

So hard when someone says tell me about yourself...what do you want to know?

17 thoughts on “Challenge accepted”

    1. I could have called names and shown screenshots of the ignorant and useless responses that I got, but really what’s the point? I’m sad that it didn’t work, since I really wanted the perks, but when having to choose losing friends and followers it was no brainer.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  4. Ok I lol’ed at several parts 😂 Girl you have a way with words! Awesome storytelling; thank you so much for sharing your experience! I’d been thinking about making a switch to a domain but now I’m holding back…way back 🖐🏼💓

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I don’t mean to discourage people, but in my case it really was a nightmare. If you do decide to try, I would go with someone other than siteground. I would let your followers know what you are trying to do and BACK UP EVERYTHING!!!!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  6. Welcome back!

    I had no idea you couldn’t get Yoast SEO on WordPress. I’m hosted on BlueHost and I love Yoast!

    But, hey, nothing ventured nothing gained, eh? You’re wiser from the experience and drunker from the frustration. I call that a win/win!

    I also say that Superman owes you $5. What’s the exchange rate for Kryptonian currency? 😏

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Eugh, so sorry you had such an awful experience! I moved last time to Kloudhost and have found them to be quite good, but it’s swings and roundabouts and even reading other reviews isn’t always a guarantee at how the provider is going to be and what your experience will be like. As you say though, you’ve learned a lot from it (seeing the silver lining there!) xx

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. You my dear sweet friend can bitch as much as you want! We all have those moments we need many words to finish our bitch fest and you did a great job. It is always important to try something new. If it doesn’t work out, that does not mean failure. If you did not try that would be a failure, but you tried and that is amazing and you should be proud of yourself. I know I am proud of you for trying something new!! Live and learn my dear!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  9. Hi Grace…I noticed the void when you were gone. I’m too lazy to go looking for people and I hate all the emails I get from blog sites !! I’ll look ya up when I’m there – jeesh.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.