Lately, I am under a lot of pressure to move this blog to one of my own servers. I have thought about this before. I even have moved parts of it - like BinnyVA and OpenJS - but never moved the site entirely. Moving has its advantages and its disadvantages. Before I make the decision, I thought I will ask the site's readers for some feedback. So, what do you think guys? Should I move to my own domain?
Advantages of Moving
- More Serious
- A blog that has its own domain will be considered by many to be more serious than a blogspot site.
- WordPress!
- A self-hosted WordPress blog is a better blogging platform than Blogger
- Control
- WordPress gives the user a lot more control than blogger
- Easier Commenting
- I can take the captcha out of commenting - Akismet will protect me from spam - even though there is some problems - like false positives.
- Google Juice Sharing
- If I move, I plan to move my blog to http://www.bin-co.com/blog/.
- So all the SEO advantage for the blog will be available for Bin-Co.com and all its SEO advantage will be available for the blog. A nice setup.
Disadvantages
- SEO
- I have many links pointing to this site - this includes one Digg Homepage appearance. I will lose all those advantages if I move away. This is the main reason I have not moved away yet.
- Maintenance overhead
- even though there is automatic installation and updating for WordPress in Dreamhost.
- Server Capability
- In the event of a Digging, a blogger site has more chance of staying alive than a smaller site. But I believe my hosting can take a beating before going down. But still, Dreamhost has its, how shall I put it..., issues.
What do YOU think?
I am forced to consider this move because many people have asked my why I am still on Blogger - despite having many sites of my own. Look at the comments on my last post - Benedict Herold has only one thing to say. Can't blame him - he already has made the move - from Blogger to WordPress. He even has a neat picture to explain which is the better platform.
Then there is Ajay. Says he won't comment on my site unless I move to wordpress. When ever I chat with him, he wants to know if I will move to wordpress ;-). So, Ajay, here is your chance to have your say - should I move or not. Comment on this post, OK? Even if you think it is a bit slow for you.
Think of this as a voting system. If enough people ask me to move, I will move. I am sure that many of my readers will have some thoughts regarding this as well.
So, what do you think? Should I make the move? Leave a comment. Do you have any experience to share about moving your blog? Let me know.
14 Comments:
I would recommend that you make your move now. Later on with more number of posts on this site, I am sure it will be a tough decision to make.
I don't need to tell you about so many advantages that you will see when you move to WP. There is a lot of difference between staying in a rented apartment and moving to your own house, isn't it?
I recommend you to move your blog to own domain. I too had this feeling when I was using blogger domain. Its always a tough decision and once you have lot of posts and lot of readers, making a move would be difficult.
Thanks guys.
@Raj - it is already a tough decision. Nice analogy by the way.
@Nirmal - I thought you had a wordpress blog before you moved to your own domain.
I think it would be a better idea to move now. If you wait longer, the problems would only keep increasing.
Besides you list more issues in the advantages section....
As a reader, the only thing I care about is your ideas and opinion. Hence obviously it doesn't make any difference whether you host on blogger or wordpress to me!
Using your own domain will give it a more professional touch. But even the best of the hosts (dreamhost) has major problems.
Every week I am encountering downtime and on top of it there are restrictions on number of queries dreamhost shared hosting can handle. So blogger is good when it comes to huge traffic.
But if you plan to move to your own hosting anytime in future, this is the time to move! :-)
With a section of this post totally dedicated to me, ofcourse I would comment :)
Well, I have found blogspot slow to load, maybe just my internet or maybe on a general level.
With a good server you shouldnt face a big problem with Digg.
As for antispam, I prefer SK2.
And, you're right about the other Advantages.
My suggestion is to keep this blog as is and startoff the wordpress or another platform blog, with the posts imported.
With all the comments, you might have made a decision to move. I'll once again encourage you to make the move.
There will be certain disadvantages in moving the blog at all times. But they have to be sacrificed now or you can't think about it later. And about Advantages you all know. So final word "move it"
Even I'll suggest you to make a move as fast as possible. Not only, it helps in building a better brand. but, you will get access to some of the most beautiful themes ever created for wordpress.
Apart from that...your last post about your blog not being spam will also be fine. You dont have to import the posts, you can simply keep these posts here and make sure that you create a big header or something that from now on you are going to blog @ a particular domain. That way you won't be loosing any visitors too!
Great! So, everybody (atleast those who commented) wants me to move. That made my decision much easier.
I will move!
Over the course of this month, I will move the blog over to http://www.bin-co.com/blog/. Details in the next post.
My suggestion is don't use a subdirectory, but keep it on the main domain itself.
Blogger gives you the option of using your own domain name. It's how I set mine up. Just a little FYI.
Oh boy I am facing this decision too ,move now because it is very tough decision at least for because I have been years in blogger!!
It is great to know that you are shifting this blog to a new domain. I think that shifting the to a new domain will affect the Google and Alexa Page ranks. Ofourse those who are very much concerned about ranking, it will be difficult decision. Does any one has suggestions or more information on how to tackle this?
regards
Once upon a lifetime in kerala
I think it would be a better idea to move now.
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