HELP ME WITH MY SITE
March 22, 2011 8:13 AM Subscribe
Help me with my blog
My blog has been running for some 9 years. I do it for fun and learning and not for money. I have no ads. I had a young woman, tech savvy, set it up, via Dream Host and Word Press. Now she has vanished of late and I find that I have daily problems with Dream Host in getting posts up.
I am considering moving but I need to know this:
1. can I keep my domain name, which I pay for.
2. what is a fairly inexpensive place to relocate, using WP stuff. I can pay about ten bucks per month but need lots and lots of bandwidth for lots of pictures and videos, posted daily.
3. can I get help in moving from the current place to a new place since I am an old guy and have no tech background.
My blog has been running for some 9 years. I do it for fun and learning and not for money. I have no ads. I had a young woman, tech savvy, set it up, via Dream Host and Word Press. Now she has vanished of late and I find that I have daily problems with Dream Host in getting posts up.
I am considering moving but I need to know this:
1. can I keep my domain name, which I pay for.
2. what is a fairly inexpensive place to relocate, using WP stuff. I can pay about ten bucks per month but need lots and lots of bandwidth for lots of pictures and videos, posted daily.
3. can I get help in moving from the current place to a new place since I am an old guy and have no tech background.
I use Dreamhost and have installed Wordpress, but I don't blog very often so I haven't experienced the same kinds of problems.
I don't think you have to abandon Dreamhost just yet. I agree that you should try and contact tech support there. There are two different ways that Wordpress could be installed on your site: either locally, when your friend would have run the installation on your account, or with a 1-click install, which Dreamhost provides. When you have a local installation, you have to manually update Wordpress everytime they release an update. When you have a 1-click install, Dreamhost takes care of the periodic updates to the Wordpress software for you.
So, it's possible that you have a local installation and it's just never been updated, which is causing the problems. If so, maybe Dreamhost can help you convert it to a 1-click install. That might make things easier for you.
posted by cabingirl at 8:38 AM on March 22, 2011
I don't think you have to abandon Dreamhost just yet. I agree that you should try and contact tech support there. There are two different ways that Wordpress could be installed on your site: either locally, when your friend would have run the installation on your account, or with a 1-click install, which Dreamhost provides. When you have a local installation, you have to manually update Wordpress everytime they release an update. When you have a 1-click install, Dreamhost takes care of the periodic updates to the Wordpress software for you.
So, it's possible that you have a local installation and it's just never been updated, which is causing the problems. If so, maybe Dreamhost can help you convert it to a 1-click install. That might make things easier for you.
posted by cabingirl at 8:38 AM on March 22, 2011
It's a nightmare to switch and resolve new problems. Better to figure out what needs tweaking to get you back up and running again, and go from there. It's a much shorter learning curve this way, and you know that it was all working at some point with the setup you currently have. Dreamhost with WP is fab, and their online support is really helpful. Also, look here and search for some YouTube video links to teach yourself the basics of how to set up a WP website with Dreamhost, just so you understand what the terms and processes are. You can do this!
posted by iamkimiam at 8:44 AM on March 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by iamkimiam at 8:44 AM on March 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you want to memail me with specific problems, I can help you troubleshoot.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 9:57 AM on March 22, 2011
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 9:57 AM on March 22, 2011
I went through this a couple of years ago and wrote this guide (self-link) to moving a Wordpress site to a new server.
posted by COD at 10:03 AM on March 22, 2011
posted by COD at 10:03 AM on March 22, 2011
Response by poster: I have been most patient. Alas, the site is down morning after moring. Now, it opens but then later goes down again. And sometimes when it is working, parts do not do what they are meant to do.
Yes. I have been back and forth with tech help and they have told me for a few days that they would move me to something more stable. But now, days later, and same problems.
posted by Postroad at 10:21 AM on March 22, 2011
Yes. I have been back and forth with tech help and they have told me for a few days that they would move me to something more stable. But now, days later, and same problems.
posted by Postroad at 10:21 AM on March 22, 2011
What problems do you have and how much bandwidth do you really need? It's important to be as specific about these things as possible to help people help you. (See How to Report Bugs Effectively for some tips on how to do that.)
Lots of hosts - like Hostgator which I use - have what they term unlimited bandwidth deals for less than $10 pm, but you can still hit other constraints like using up too much of the shared CPU.
If you need more help than people can give via mail or AskMe exchanges, I guess you could post something on Mefi Jobs. There are also sites (like Odesk and Elance) where you can hire freelance WP help, but I think you really need to know more about what you're doing to have a good experience with that route.
posted by philipy at 11:07 AM on March 22, 2011
Lots of hosts - like Hostgator which I use - have what they term unlimited bandwidth deals for less than $10 pm, but you can still hit other constraints like using up too much of the shared CPU.
If you need more help than people can give via mail or AskMe exchanges, I guess you could post something on Mefi Jobs. There are also sites (like Odesk and Elance) where you can hire freelance WP help, but I think you really need to know more about what you're doing to have a good experience with that route.
posted by philipy at 11:07 AM on March 22, 2011
I have a number of WordPress sites hosted on Dreamhost. Have you submitted a support ticket about your problem? Sometimes they can help just using the online chat option but if it gets complicated you need to submit a support ticket. Here's the support area of Dreamhost. I've had good, personable help from the support and they can peek into your account and try to see what's going on. The more precise you are with your problem the better they can help.
Is your entire domain down or does it seem to be a problem with your WordPress installation? I've had a few problems with hosting going down here and there but it's always posted on the Dreamhost Status site which looks clear.
posted by Bunglegirl at 11:53 AM on March 22, 2011
Is your entire domain down or does it seem to be a problem with your WordPress installation? I've had a few problems with hosting going down here and there but it's always posted on the Dreamhost Status site which looks clear.
posted by Bunglegirl at 11:53 AM on March 22, 2011
Postroad said: "1. can I keep my domain name, which I pay for."
Yes. You probably have it registered with Dreamhost, I would assume. At the moment, Dreamhost are directing people to their server where your files reside. You can either leave the name with them and get them to change the details to your new server, or migrate the name to your new host (probably will cost a few dollars).
"2. what is a fairly inexpensive place to relocate, using WP stuff. I can pay about ten bucks per month but need lots and lots of bandwidth for lots of pictures and videos, posted daily."
Can't help you with this. I only use free hosting, which has bandwidth limits in place.
"3. can I get help in moving from the current place to a new place since I am an old guy and have no tech background."
It's pretty simple to move. What I would do is set up a new installation of Wordpress on the new host (try looking for a host that will do this for you, it's often called "one click install" or something like that) and use the Wordpress Export feature to export your posts, which you can then Import into the new install. Your pictures and videos will probably be somewhere in the file structure, and you can copy these over pretty easily via FTP. We'd need much more info to be able to talk you through that, though.
posted by Solomon at 12:46 PM on March 22, 2011
Yes. You probably have it registered with Dreamhost, I would assume. At the moment, Dreamhost are directing people to their server where your files reside. You can either leave the name with them and get them to change the details to your new server, or migrate the name to your new host (probably will cost a few dollars).
"2. what is a fairly inexpensive place to relocate, using WP stuff. I can pay about ten bucks per month but need lots and lots of bandwidth for lots of pictures and videos, posted daily."
Can't help you with this. I only use free hosting, which has bandwidth limits in place.
"3. can I get help in moving from the current place to a new place since I am an old guy and have no tech background."
It's pretty simple to move. What I would do is set up a new installation of Wordpress on the new host (try looking for a host that will do this for you, it's often called "one click install" or something like that) and use the Wordpress Export feature to export your posts, which you can then Import into the new install. Your pictures and videos will probably be somewhere in the file structure, and you can copy these over pretty easily via FTP. We'd need much more info to be able to talk you through that, though.
posted by Solomon at 12:46 PM on March 22, 2011
For Wordpress, I currrently use Lunarpages, mostly for the ability to SSH in when needed. It's been a very stable dedicated server, but I'm sure there's much better and cheaper hosts out there than Lunarpages...and Dreamhost is pretty well regarded if not slightly more expensive. If you're done with DH however it'll take some research before you find a new host (and with that said, hopefully the issues you're experiencing don't follow your Wordpress backups to the new site). From the little digging I've done, iPage looks fairly decent and a little cheaper than most of the competition. I can't personally recommend them however as I've never used them.
posted by samsara at 2:55 PM on March 22, 2011
posted by samsara at 2:55 PM on March 22, 2011
I like Bluehost (dot com) and they have unlimited bandwidth. It's $6.95/month if you prepay for 2 years. The customer service is 24/7 and it's great. I've been with them... 5 or 6 years now? I run a Wordpress blog on their servers and it works fine, no problems. They'll help you transfer your domain, and Wordpress has a good tutorial on moving your blog to a new domain. (I just used this last month and it worked perfectly.)
If you are getting tons and tons of hits to your blog, like enough to take it down, consider the plugin WP Super Cache. It's a lot easier on the server because it serves cached posts instead of having to build the post for each page view.
posted by IndigoRain at 5:07 PM on March 22, 2011
If you are getting tons and tons of hits to your blog, like enough to take it down, consider the plugin WP Super Cache. It's a lot easier on the server because it serves cached posts instead of having to build the post for each page view.
posted by IndigoRain at 5:07 PM on March 22, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Have you contacted Dream Host about the issues you are seeing? Why do you think it will be easier after moving everything to a new host?
can I keep my domain name, which I pay for
As long as you can log into your domain registrar's site and update your settings (which your new host should have instructions for doing) then you can continue using your existing domain.
what is a fairly inexpensive place to relocate, using WP stuff. I can pay about ten bucks per month but need lots and lots of bandwidth for lots of pictures and videos, posted daily
Word Press' site has some suggestions (including Dream Host which you are already using)
can I get help in moving from the current place to a new place since I am an old guy and have no tech background
Your best shot with this is probably to contact tech support at your host. Otherwise you may be able to get help from people at Word Press-related forums (such as Word Press' official support forums).
posted by burnmp3s at 8:25 AM on March 22, 2011