Writer Pages: Do it right the first time
Hi friends!
It's time. I am taking the plunge! This subdomain on Wordpress.com will soon be redirected to my own domain. But whyyyyy?
I don't like ads, and I already pay for my host site, so why not go for a more professional look.
It's painful, I know. But followers have multiplied faster than I thought they would, and I don't want to risk losing them by making this move too late in the game. I intend to migrate everyone with the transfer so nothing should be done on your part.
Please let me know if you receive errors. It should be about 24 hours before everything propagates, so I'm trying to be patient! Hopefully you get to see this post!
Here is why I titled this post the way I did
Moving everything, paying for the redirect from Wordpress.com, tracking down broken links, navigating SEO damaging 502 errors, all these things are a pain in the butt. If you start an author page, do something more like this:
Pay for a domain name. Preferably get one separate from your hosting since they can be moved from one host to another this way. If you plan on staying with your host, no worries, just buy the domain with hosting. This is about $7-17. I use GoDaddy for domains, for no particular reason other than I trust them and they are easy to use.
Pay for hosting. If you are going for Wordpress, check out: HostGator, BlueHost, Siteground, even paid Wordpress.com. Do this to avoid ads on your page, and to get more control over the look and feel of your site. It shows you are serious about writing.
Point your domain to your website via name servers (if your site is not a subdomain), or forward it to the hosted site. Your domain seller and web host will most likely help out.
Build your site. Simple and to the point at first, or it will never get off the ground. Avoid complex and distracting background textures. Also, avoid light text over dark backgrounds as they can be hard on the eyes, and we writers like to write a lot of words.
Start writing!