Someone out here, please help me...I began the Hamptons Real Estate Blog nearly a year ago on Blogger. Sure, I read all the comments that Blogger was inferior, but I just figured that was feedback from "techno-snobs" who wanted greater functionality and didn't mind paying for their blog hosting.
After all, I began developing relationships with my blog, made blogfriends, even got linked by colleagues whom I respect greatly. Gosh, one of my new fav blogbuddies even brought Barbara and me a couple dozen fresh, delicious clams (thanks again, Joe). My ranking on technorati was climbing, not exponentially, but consistently. I was just about to break the 100,000 ranking.
Then, as I was posting sometime in September, my eye caught the invitation to switch to Blogger Beta.
BETTER (they said),
IMPROVED (they promised),
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH (they tantalized).
Well, I might just as well have clicked on a porn site that is in partnership with a Viagra'd dating community. I'm stuck, bombarded, and can't get out.
I have been sending email to the Blogger Help gROUP, hELP AT bLOGGER bETA, ANYONE i CAN. aLL i WANTED TO DO WAS GO BACK TO THE original bLOGGER (look I'm so upset, I'm not even paying attention to my caps button). But there are NO INSTRUCTIONS on Blogger or Blogger Beta whatsoever to do this!!!
THE "BLOG THIS" BUTTON ON THE GOOGLE TOOLBAR DOESN'T WORK WITH BLOGGER BETA!
BLOGGER HELP GROUP WON'T LET ME JOIN FOR SOME REASON!!
I CAN'T LEAVE COMMENTS ON NON-BETA BLOGS!!!
I'M STIFLED!!!!
THIS IS NOT WHAT BLOGGING IS ALL ABOUT!!!!!
THE HAMPTONS REAL ESTATE BLOG IS DYING!!!!!!
IT'S NO FUN BLOGGING ANYMORE.
I just want out of Blogger and Blogger Beta.
If anyone can suggest how to transfer my Hamptons Real Estate Blog to another blog host, I'm all ears. I'd prefer not to join a pay service, because I'm now up to about $2,000 per month with all the $39.99 services that have been adding up in today's "pay-for-what-used-to-be-free-or-things-that-you-don't-need-that-didn't-previously-exist" world.
Any ideas? I'm fading, folks...really. md
8 comments:
Michael,I have blogs with Blogger and WordPress. http://BloggingLongIsland.wordpress.com
http://LongIslandsBestHomes.blogspot.com
Although WordPress says you can import articles from Blogger, it also states you'll have to manually add your photos because they won't transfer. I've never done it though since I'm experimenting with the two systems to see which works best over time.
Good luck with it.
Hi Michael -
I haven't been too happy with blogger recently. I can't even get into beta for my site.
Also thought you might enjoy my site www.therudehamptons.com
Michael,
If someone were to ask you about a free or cheap way to sell their home you'd probably tell them, you get what you pay for.
The same is true in web or blog hosting. But that's just the bad news.
The worse news is, with every post you write you build Blogger's value, not yours. And, you are at their mercy.
If you're serious about blogging, then find a good pay service. Don't shop price, shop value. In the long run the cheap hosts will cost you more than you think you are saving.
I'd recommend the service I use (SiteSell)
but they're better at site hosting than blog hosting.
(Although I do have a decent blog on my site (today's
post), I'm more of a website builder than a blogger.)
People cringe when I tell then I pay $300/year for hosting. "Way pay so much when you can get it for 2.99/month?" The fact is, you can't.
For $300/year I get no limits hosting. No matter what tool I need, it's there. No matter how my traffic spikes, my site doesn't collapse under the load. To me, it's worth every penny.
At any rate, talk to other bloggers and see what they recommend. If you're serious about this then don't cheap-out, do it right.
Good luck,
Bill
BTW, Beta means buggy. A Beta release is software that's not ready for it's 1.0 release and still needs a lot of testing and refinement. As you found out, it's risky business.
Thanks, guys!
Geri, I wouldn't move to word press JUST because I can't transfer photos, which I have put a great deal of time into (evident or not).
Rob, I wish I could say the same!
Bill, excellent point. The wheels are turning. I'll check out SiteSell and a few others.
md
Michael,
We started with Blogger & quickly gave it up for wordpress.
We are partial to Wordpress because it is easy to use, free, and open source, meaning people (geeks) are developing new tools & plug-ins for it almost daily. (We just made one w/blogging systems called "blog surfer")
Even other websites are developing their tools for blog platforms & wordpress is always included. I just found a new one called coolwidgets (a page turning tool for flickr pics) which will be easy to plug into wordpress--.
So for ease of use & add-ons, we go wordpress. The platform does make your blogging life easier.
But do your research and ask around. See what they like & dislike.
$2000 per month for blogging? Is that really true? What did you get that was worth that? I use WordPress and everything is free. OK, there is site hosting, but I need that for my web site anyway, so to add WordPress doesn't cost any additional.
My question is to all of you real estate bloggers, I noticed that Yahoo and MSN seem to hate blogs and my Typepad blog pages won't get indexed by them. Google indexs them for a moment and then they fade.
What are your experiences with the other search engines and your blogs.
Linda
Phoenix Homes For Sale
Great post, blogging is so intricately tied with the future of business. It is important that I learn all that I can about it now so that I can begin to use it.
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