Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with blog and hosting

Hosted Blog or DIY?

heavenstobetsy — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:05:14 -0800

My boss would like to start a blog. He already has a domain. We're unsure as to whether to use something like Wordpress to host, or to install it (or Moveable Type?) ourselves. Opinions? He is also a bit concerned with search engine optimization. The concern is that google (and others) will not recognize that a hosted blog (pointing to his domain) is a PART of the domain, but appear as another domain altogether (Wordpress'?). Basically he would like the blog to come up when people google our business name. It would be tagged appropriately, he is just concerned that using a partially hosted service would dilute the connection to the domain. Hopefully that makes sense!

He will be using the blog for weekly/monthly/etc newsletters, posting pictures, links, etc. He is also concerned about being able to use his own fonts. It seems to be that this should be possible, but I'm not so up on the server side of blog hosting (or any hosting). What is our best bet here?

Is there a blog host that won't bogart my Amazon links?

RogerB — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:21:24 -0800

Book-blog hosting: Is there a free and easy blog host that allows me to use my own Amazon affiliate links? I am thinking of starting a personal book and movie blog. It should make it easy to add books (ideally with a cover image and an Amazon link) to my posts – I'm quite enamored of Vox's super-easy interface for this, but they use their own Amazon affiliate links and forbid you to substitute your own. It seems like all the big free blog hosts do this, in fact (or at least Blogger, Wordpress, and Vox), unless I'm missing something.

I would really rather not have to host my own blog, or use a paid blog host like Typepad, just to avoid giving away the three to five bucks a year my blog will probably make off Amazon referrals. Is there a free blog host or social networking site, or whatever else, out there that will do this?

How can I host an anonymous Wordpress blog, and not get unmasked?

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:38:36 -0800

How can I set up and host an anonymous Wordpress blog? I want to write about stuff, and I don't want other people to know who I am. How hard is this? I have read the EFF guide to anonymous blogging, I've got tor, Portable Firefox, and all that stuff... what I am concerned about is the actual domain registration and hosting.

The blog has the potential to get some real traffic, and to have some fairly determined people trying to figure out who I am. Or maybe I am just deluding myself, but I want to be very careful regardless. I'm not going to be doing anything illegal, so I don't need to be subpoena-proof, just amateur-sleuth-proof.

Do you trust regular wordpress hosts, or do you think I should go to some shady offshore host that won't ask me for any identifying details?

Do you think is there anything else I'm forgetting?

Email me at anonymousblog-askmefi@gmail.com if you want... thanks very much!!

Help me make my website easy

healthyliving — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:04:39 -0800

What do you recommend for easy to use, do it yourself, no html, professional looking websites for my small business and community site? I've looked at threads and searched on google, and haven't found the answer yet. Currently, I have two sites. One is for my small business that is hosted on Website Source, which is in html made by a designer. I want to switch it (basically for looks, so I can change content whenever, and have a blog with it). I'd prefer to find an all in one deal that hosts, blog is attached, has email accounts (myname@mybusinessname.com), and can create my own website or use a nice template. I've had a horrible experience with Powweb, not so great with 1and1. I've looked at Squarespace as a possibility, but would like to know if anyone has any personal experience with it, and/or any other recommendations.

The other website is a GoDaddy template that is connected to my GoDaddy account which I do not want other people to have access to. Yet, I want to turn the site itself into something that can have multiple authors, similar to a blog, yet with a website feel that has a calendar of events, bios of members, featured member, etc. This site if for students and alumni of a particular graduate program as a way to network with each other, and also share info about our peers from this program (as in, to a friend or potential client, etc. "I don't have the answer to that, but check out this site where one of my colleagues might have some resources for you.")

Pardon these next novice questions-
You buy a domain name, the site/blog associated with that domain name has to be created (by me, a template, or a designer), then hosted somewhere. Is that correct? What about the emails? Once I find a host, how do I direct my domain name to my new location that has the new look? Both of these sites are in health related fields, are there any specific companies that cater to this? Are there any "green" or sustainable companies that offer packages like this?

Thank you!

Can't deal with blog's explosive growth

krark — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:12:55 -0800

My topic-oriented blog got more popular than I ever expected and I don't know how to handle the growth (this isn't spam, I'm not even linking to the site). I started a blog at the start of November 2006, believing that I could make it somewhat popular because I'm a fairly good writer - and I can write a lot.

The growth was rapid and immediate - I saw 40% growth each week for the first three months of the blog's existence.

By early February, the blog was getting 20K hits a day, and then earlier today I had a post appear on digg and reddit.

It was already in the top 2800 on Technorati as well.

Also, I launched this blog with no promotion - it was basically intended to just be a place for some self-exploration that apparently hit a chord.

Anyway, this was apparently too much traffic for my host provider (dreamhost), so they simply turned off my site, changed the permissions on the files, and I can't access a thing, even if I wanted to move it.

I'm at a point right now where the site is really popular - but it's also really new. I simply don't have the money right now to afford dedicated hosting for the site - I might be able to if I had a sponsor or advertiser of some sort, but the ridiculously explosive growth of the site meant that it wasn't on the radar for a lot of potential advertisers yet.

My site is now inaccessible both by the web and by FTP, though I have a day-old backup of everything, so that's not a major issue (I would just lose a few days of posts). Unfortunately, it's not up anywhere at all.

What should I do? I honestly don't know where to go from here.

Super easy, foolproof web design and hosting?

krudiger — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 18:41:40 -0800

I need an easy (free or very cheap) way to make and host websites. I've been using blogger since it is free and easy, but I'd ideally like more of a website format, rather than a blog format (no comments, and being able to keep my main messages right at the top). Any advice appreciated. I'm extremely clueless when it comes to webdesign and hosting. Which is why blogger has been so nice. I've designed this blog at:

www.pickingupafterthepeacock.blogspot.com

for a campaign i'm working on (i'm not trying to be self promotional, just so you get an idea of what I'm trying to do.) I'd like to do this kind of thing often, but could really use an easy way to make and host a website. Any help appreciated.

good site, bad site?

reklaw — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:36:22 -0800

Is this website legit? By which I mean, why would they offer me all this hosting and stuff for free for a cut of my (presumably puny) AdSense revenues? Are they just going to run off with my ideas, or try to scam me in some other way?

Mac OS X Blog Hosting Software?

kdavies — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 07:53:26 -0800

I am looking for a software package to host a blog for our public schools. It would need to a) run on Mac OS X b) allow multiple users c) be incredibly simple for the users to use d) not cost an arm and a leg...or even an arm OR a leg...we're public, you know. As an alternative, we are looking for a very simple way for teachers to share curriculum via the web. There are services out there for this, but most are beginning to charge more than our poor little county can handle. Any suggestions?

Setting up a Sex Blog

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 18:35:46 -0800

What's the easiest and cheapest way to set up a sex blog? I am female and find myself being extremely anxious in sexual situations to the point where I'd almost prefer not to be in them at all (even with partners I'm comfortable with). I'm not unexperienced, but feel that in order to overcome my crippling anxieties, I need to explore my sexual thoughts and feelings more fully.

I'm interested in writing stories, or preferably keeping a log of sexual fantasies and the voyuer in me wants to post this anonymously to the world wide web in blog format. There will be no dirty pictures, just dirty words.

I'm finding most the hosts I come across list "pornography" as something against their TOS and the adult friendly hosts I have found so far seem very difficult to work with.

Is there a cheap, easy and anonymous way I can start this blog without worrying that the site will be pulled for its content?

Alternatively, if I went with a mainstream host with the typical anti-pornographic stance, would I be able to get away with a sex/fantasy blog by toning down my content? If so, how much would it need to be toned down? It seems like I come across many blogs focused mainly on sexually explicit content and they're on mainstream hosts. Do they have a secret to getting away with it or are they playing Russian Roulette with their hosting services?

Domain name retention

teem — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 17:44:16 -0800

My current host is closing down, and since I bought my domain through them it will be transferred into my name before they finally close at the end of the year. However, my domain expires on December 12, and they are so far unresponsive to my emails and have not transferred the domain (it has been two weeks since my initial request). I am worried that if I'm not able to renew it, it will be snapped up by a domain-sitter and I will lose it. In case it isn't transferred in time, is there a way I can beat the domain-sitters to it and reserve my domain? What are the more affordable options for doing this? Will I be guaranteed to get it?