Self-hosted blog

[Christine]

I am seriously thinking of moving up to a self-hosted blog. I want to stick with Wordpress but I am not, by any means, a CSS or HTML guru. I have learned a little and will continue to learn more. Would it be impossible or more of a nightmare to work within a self hosted blog without extensive knowledge?

[The Book Faery]

I found it no different (other than having more flexibility to add more features) as I was still able to keep a WP platform for my book blog when I went self-hosted with HostGator.

There are many WP themes you can now tweak to suit your needs. I know a little HTML but not enough at the moment to start a new theme from scratch. WP has MANY themes you can work with.

Farrah from The Book Faery Reviews...http://tbfreviews.net

[Christine]

See, this is good to know that one doesn't have to have a degree to still have the chance to get the flexibility in designing their blog. I actually narrowed down my themes and one of them is the one you use for your blog. Love the look of it. Now I just need to figure out who to host with.

[Mary @ The Sweet Bookshelf]

By trial and error you will learn most about how to do it. There are plenty of sites that will teach you what you need to do. There are also PLENTY of pre-made templates out there. If you don't mind paying a small fee you'll be able to get something custom to your site ad they will take care of everything. If you need help finding these places let me know! I have a list!

Mary
The Sweet Bookshelf

[Christine]

Your blog is so wonderful Mary. It is very inviting and completely matches the tone of your blog. There are almost too many pre-made templates!!!

[Anysia]

If you go with self-hosted, make sure to read up on security issues. A lot of the one-click install scripts that hosts have to make it easy for people to install WordPress set the blog up so that other people can easily get into it as well.

I tend to bookmark a lot of sites and articles useful for self-hosters in my StumbleUpon account for anyone who is interested.

[Christine]

Wow, thanks for the advice (and for sharing the sites/resources from you StumbleUpon). Very helpful.

[The Valet Reader]

Hey Christine,

My blog is self hosted and I never really considered not having it that way. Like you I had a little experience with css and html before I got started but I've quickly learned that everything can be learned, solved and accomplised with a simple online search. That and usually whatever you're using as a theme or whatever there are forums on the sites that can help guide you. Hope that helps! Take a look at my blog and you'll see it's not very complicated or complex (i like to keep that way) but I'm also learning more and incorporating more and more as the months go by.

www.valetreader.com

[Christine]

You are certainly correct in that there is so much information out there. Love your blog - I too like simple but attractive.

[Christine]

Well, due to all of the kind words and encouragement in the fact that I am not the only one without extensive HTML or CSS knowledge, I decided to make the leap. Please take a look at my new blog home and let me know what you think (if you wish).

booktumbling

Thanks so much to everyone who offered their opinion. It truly did help in my decision making.

[Laura]

I actually started my site with www.webhostingpad.com. Through their 'fantastico' section, I added a WordPress blog, and it's wonderfully easy to use. It's still powered by wordpress, presumably with the features you're used to (I never really used wp before, so I don't know what's standard), but it has it's own non-wordpress address. Feel free to take a look: www.bluebellstrilogy.com/blog

I can use wordpress themes, or, the one I use now, I found by googling medieval wordpress themes (or something similar), downloaded the one I liked, and re-uploaded it using WP features to do so.

[haley mathiot]

blogger is the easiest, and you can import what you already have or just start over. i love blogger.