self hosting

who does it? how cheap have you managed to get it?

I do, pretty much always have. I hate Blogger and the .com version of WordPress is too restrictive for me. There is a downside though, it does need maintenance (doing software / plugin / theme upgrades etc). It doesn't generally take long to do but you do need to keep on top of it.

You can get hosting very cheap, but cheap doesn't always guarantee reliable (I'd never use Dreamhost or Bluehost and their ilk). I'm with mddhosting.com at the minute, have used them for a couple of years now and pretty happy with them.

I thought Bluehost was meant to be pretty good, no? My friend's a bit of a computer whizz and says he uses it for his own sites, but it's good to hear the down sides as well so you can make a good choice.

I wanted to go the self hosted route but so far can't see it being worth it in terms of cost and regular maintenance. Apart from the ability to customise and have advertising are there any other benefits?

Bluehost are ok if you have very low traffic or static (ie not using blogging or other software) sites.  The moment you start to get even a modest amount of traffic they tend to get antsy and kick you out.  That's been my experience and I know I'm far from alone.  Of course all shared hosting has its limits, but I think the smaller hosts tend to provide a more personalised experienced and are more willing to work with you.  Not cramming too many accounts onto one server is always a plus too (something Bluehost used to do a lot of which resulted in your site being very slow, I presume they still do but I haven't used them in years).

I think for a lot of people self hosting is too much hassle and possibly beyond their capabilities (paying for maintenance is always an option of course but is often expensive).  I've done it for about 15 years so although I wouldn't call myself an expert I've definitely been around the block a bit (I've been using WordPress since it was first released, before the .com version was even dreamt of, lol).  I'm also a self confessed geek and actually enjoy all the behind the scenes tweaking.    For me the major benefit of self hosting is being in control of your own site and data.  I have complete backups of my site(s) and can just up and move to a new host if I want to.  I've never liked the idea of relying completely on a third party - if for whatever reason the service disappears it stands a chance your site will go with it.  I'm also in charge of any advertising or any other random crap that free hosts sometimes like to insert into your site.  Plus I like having the freedom of being able to put whatever I want on my site and tweak it as much as I want.  I like to have access to the underlying code even if I mostly don't touch it.

That said - it's different strokes for different folks and a lot of people are quite happy with blogger etc.  There is something to be said for not having to worry about security updates, or getting hacked, or taking backups regularly.  

well for me part of the reason is I keep trying to learn basic code but I have no context so I fail. I'm already doing one evening class soon, and think adding another maybe to much. So tweeking my own site and learning about how they work does sound kinda fun. Add nail polish and art into the mix and for £30 for the domain and hosting and I think we have a winning solution...

should keep me busy over the winter months, I think I shall do it. Thanks

Thank you so much Jackie for all that info! I think 15 years of experience makes you an expert for sure! You raised some really important points about control (which if you can do it) is more than worth it. You totally changed my thinking...and if I ever did it, I'd be looking at the smaller guys.

I think it's amazing that you're learning code ninjablossom! In these times it's a very important skill to have and you find it fun so that's even better!

Yay ninja! Hope you have fun with it. If you run into any troubles and I can help in any way, let me know.

Nail Luxxe wrote:Thank you so much Jackie for all that info! I think 15 years of experience makes you an expert for sure! :DYou raised some really important points about control (which if you can do it) is more than worth it.  You totally changed my thinking...and if I ever did it, I'd be looking at the smaller guys.

No problem. I'm really not an expert, I'm maybe intermediate on the site maintenance scale, hehe. I used to code all my own designs with CSS but I don't often touch that anymore, I'm too lazy these days! I just tweak things here and there and experiment with plugins a lot. But I have learnt what to look out for in a host, having been burnt a few times in the past. Learning the hard way isn't ideal but it does mean you never forget.