It Can’t Always Be About The Money
Excuse me while I gripe about bloggers being taken for a ride.
In my blog moving adventures I’ve found that I’ve moved several blogs off reseller accounts to bigger brands.
Bigger, more expensive hosting plans.
It’s sad, because these bloggers didn’t need unlimited this and unlimited that.
They just needed a host who understood WordPress and Hosting.
Many bloggers, when making the move from Blogger to WordPress, go with their designer and signed up for the designer’s hosting.
Not a bad move, unless your designer doesn’t understand hosting.
And that’s what has pissed me off a lot lately.
Yesterday I moved a blog from a hosting plan where the designer sold a fellow blogger with a picture heavy blog a 15MB plan.
A fresh install of WordPress is 11.6 MB alone. What exactly are you suppose to do with 15MB?
So this blogger, let’s call her Sue, found herself continuously upgrading her plan to a bigger space.
Bad for Sue, money in the bank for the designer.
Guess what?
This is wrong.
I get the need to expand your web based business.
But it’s not only about making money.
A few weeks ago a blogger reached out to me to save her blog.
Let’s call her Mary.
Mary had decided her blog was too big for her current hosting plan and learned that moving to Bluehost was less expensive then upgrading to her host’s bigger plan.
She mentioned to the host that she would be moving to Bluehost.
After several emails where the host tried to convince her to stay (Mary sent me the emails) the host finally “agreed” that Mary should move and sent Mary a link to download her blog from a drop box.
Huh?
WordPress has the export option right?
You can export your blog posts, import it somewhere else.
The host exported Mary’s blog posts and then shut down her blog.
Guess what?
When importing blog posts into a new WordPress environment, you need the old one still up.
That export files doesn’t include your pictures or your theme.
Just links to where your pictures live so the files can be downloaded to the new WordPress install.
Mary lost 2 years worth of pictures.
She also lost the theme she paid the designer for.
It can’t only be about making money.
It can’t be about making a continuous income from a past client.
That’s internet marketer thinking.
You might as well be Empower Network.
Having a web based business does not allow you to take people for a ride.
When you expand your web based business, it should be to provide a service your audience can benefit from too.
A blog designer’s audience can definitely use hosting.
But just providing hosting is not enough.
You need to actually understand it.
Now, I recently signed up as a Bluehost reseller so I can offer affordable hosting to my fellow bloggers and clients that I design for.
I mean really affordable.
Especially for newbies to WordPress who are unsure about taking the leap from the free platform to the paid one.
The basic package offers 1000MB of storage for $3/month.
Again, a fresh install of WordPress sucks up less than 12MB of that.
So lots of space to start with the ability to grow.
Did I offer to move Sue to my hosting?
No.
Her blog?
Huge.
Pimping your services is important yes.
But it’s also important to do what’s best for the customer and sometimes what’s best…isn’t you.
I’m all for growing your business.
Gawd knows this blog has gone grown a lot.
But keep in mind, the customer comes first and it can’t all be about the money.
Side note to fellow bloggers: Many artists offer their services as a WordPress designer because StudioPress and Thesis has made it easy to build a website. Do not automatically assume that because a person offers WordPress Design it means they are host side savvy. Ask questions first.
By the way, After Bedtime Blog is hauling ass over to Bluehost today. Wish me luck.
OMG, loooove this story, Vanita.
When I ran Power & Beauty Design, I dealt with this soooo much.
I’m a brilliant artist/designer/brander and I’m relatively tech-saavy, and the # of people confused by the fees and service levels in webhosts was nuts.
And the amount of crap I had to deal with from ‘past designers’ was hilarious
I feel you
Thanks for helping for REAL.
Jason “J-Ryze” Fonceca recently posted..The Story Of Randolph The Rebel Ant
thanks Jason. it can be a huge issue. i think that’s why we need more and more people who know their shit to step up to the plate and get things done the right way.
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
Ugh, hearing these stories make me slightly ill. That someone would try and profit of someone who doesn’t know better.
Thank goodness we have you.
Good luck with the move today!
Alison recently posted..Are You Judging Me?
it’s awful isn’t it girlfriend. pisses me off constantly. Constantly.
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
I feel like shooting “Mary’s” ex-host. What a piece of shit!
Go kick Bluehost ass for Afterbedtimeblog! I know you’re going to rock!
Hugs! I love what you are doing!
Vidya Sury recently posted..What My Son Taught Me About Parenting
tell me about it. and sue’s host? very slick. the way she configured sue’s blog, every picture sue uploaded was linked to the domain as we normally do with wordpress. like my pictures are http://afterbedtimeblog.com/wp-content/xxxxxx.png Instead they were linked to the ip address. so when i moved her, the pictures were all pointing to the old host. we spent a lot of time fixing those links. so people sis. either sue’s old host was very slick or very stupid
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
Good for you! I hate people that are all money money money.
Amanda Jillian recently posted..The real Little Mermaid
lol u and me both girlfriend
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
I know this all to be true Vanita. And I know how you operate with integrity and honesty…you only have to look at how you write to know that! And you know what I think about you…you’re the greatest. I recommend you to everyone who’ll listen to me…I think there’s something of the preacher girl in me.
Love Elle
xoxo
Elle, motivational blogger recently posted..How To Live A Life Of Promise And Possibility.
awww thank you Elle. you are always such a great source of encouragement. thank you.
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
And this is why we need more people like yourself, Vanita! So glad you’ve helped my move without any glitch. All the best with the move, sistah!
Maureen recently posted..Little Faith
blah it didnt go well. we tried to “pick up the whole site and move it” since we’re not changing domain names and godaddy just twarted me at every turn. seems my blog is too big. grrr. i’m going to have to move it piece by piece. its gonna suck girl. lol
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
Keeping it real as usual, that’s why I keep coming back
!!
Laura Cyra recently posted..Sunday Social – Deep Thoughts With Ashley And Neely
thank u girlfriend. i just had a thought. i can visit empower network blogs and leave comments saying “keeping it fake!” lol. sorry, on that first cup of coffee now
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
You should! That would be hilarious. So excited about your new bluehost venture, can’t wait to hear how your move goes.
Laura Cyra recently posted..Cook’n Recipe Organizer 10 Review and Giveaway
yeah i cant wait either. lol. i start tonight. i think. blah
Vanita Cyril recently posted..Taking a step back
Good luck with Blue Host. I used to be on Blue Host but about a year ago they had a series of outages where my blog was down way too much. I actually got an email from their CEO b/c I complained so much. Good customer service recovery but poor web hosting stability. Sounds like they’ve fixed their issues if you are going with them! He had said it was a series of weird things that happened.
PragmaticMom recently posted..The Container Store Inspires
I think we’re always going to find technical issue with some host…remember my blog was down when godaddy got hacked? yesterday as a tech genius friend and i worked on moving it, which we were unable to though we moved 5 other blogs this weekend, we found 2 viruses on my site. I know those we’re there 6 months ago. and godaddy’s mail server are super slow. hostgator was great but there was a time where my blog went down a few times and turns out the server was faulty and they’d make changes without notifying anyone. dreamhost…be pain in the ass to work with on the backend and their customer service sucks. and network solutions is a nightmare on wheels. i asked several mom bloggers who’s blogs i’ve moved to bluehost in the past 2 years how they liked it and not one has ever had an issue. i’ve dealt with bluehost customer service via telephone and chat and they’re pretty darn good.
but again, i say we’re always going to find some issue with some host. it’s the dangers of being a blogger. lol.
Vanita Cyril recently posted..It Can’t Always Be About The Money
Enjoyed reading this. I am a new blogger and am not “savy” but I am starting slow and with the help of my brother (works in IT) have been having fun along this new journey. Since I didn’t “know” much, I assumed I needed stuff I didn’t, and my brother guided me. If my blog becomes bigger or “popular” we can revisit things but for now this simple approach is working for me and saving me money. I was lucky I didn’t go with advice from others who were trying to “sell” me stuff I didn’t need. Your integrity and kindness is great to see.
really paper and ink is new? your blog is pretty darn good to me girl (all pro-ish). you are very lucky to have your brother. thanks for the kind words Winnie and thanks for stopping by
Vanita Cyril recently posted..Taking a step back
Oh no, that poor woman! I am sure a lot of people starting out don’t know what they don’t know!
Ann recently posted..Light Bulb Leaves
it’s hard girl. it’s really hard on newbies and sadly you can’t trust everyone.
Vanita Cyril recently posted..Taking a step back