Sunday 27 April 2014

PERILS OF A BLOGGING LIFE.

Recently I mentioned  a couple of items on my to-do list: to attend a Twitter tutorial and to move my blog over to WordPress. I started out fine but it didn't take long before I was thrown a few curves and things went downhill from there.

I did attend the Twitter tutorial and everything was going great, for the first half hour, until the wind picked up.Since we still had twelve foot snowbanks along the side of the road any wind at all caused white-outs, so you can imagine what a strong wind would do. Instant decision - I was out of there. I HATE WINTER DRIVING. Of course, this means that I still don't know what Twitter is really all about, but that will keep for another day.
MOVE ON!

Then the move to WordPress. I was expecting this to be a fairly standard, follow the instruction type process, but the first paragraph on the WordPress site reads something like this: There are two choices, if you don't know which choice to make you don't belong here. Not exactly a statement designed to make friends, especially since I didn't know which choice to make.

Blogger, the blogging platform I now use, has been giving me problems. The reply button was removed so I can't reply to comments, which is an absolute blogging no-no. It gives the impression you can't be bothered so readers stop commenting, and possibly even stop reading. Then the URL disappeared.

Anyway, that's why the move is becoming more important. Sadly, my original helper became to busy to carry on. I called a couple of local web developers to help but they aren't taking on new clients, which means I'll have to muddle along on my own. (After a week of muddling, I look exactly like the picture below - right down to the dazed look, the nightie and the wild hair.)

I did manage to complete one thing. My domain name - www.frugalforeveryone.ca - has been registered. Considering everything that went wrong, getting that done is pretty impressive, right? Please say yes, I'm desperately in need of an ego boost.

There you have it - the perils of my blogging life. There will probably be a few more along the way, but it's funny, even with all that, blogging is still very much worth it. The problems will end, but the blogging will carry on.

Talk to you again next week,

Lenie

All images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Crying woman - jesadaphorn; Angry man - stock images; Computer lady - debspoons.

27 comments :

  1. Hi Lenie. Sorry to hear about your tribulations but glad you made a post.
    As a new blogger I don't know very much but would offer 2 things to consider 1. When you move to Wordpress its best to decide early on if you will use the built in comment system or change to something like Disqus because changing in mid stream will often lose your comments. Like you I feel really bad about not replying to any comment and discovered this by accident. 2. Have someone test the email subscription widget. Mine advises people of new posts but the link is not live and I haven't yet figured out how to fix it. Don't want to see you run into that, Beyond that Wordpress seems great

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  2. Lenie, I hope you get your problems solved soon.

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  3. I can so relate. What you mentioned is the very reason I hired someone to help me do all that. What takes them five minutes could take me a few days. I know you'll figure out Twitter, and congrates on you domain name. :-)

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  4. You are right - getting your domain (the one you want) registered is a huge plus! Don't give up. I always say the hard stuff is the stuff I haven't yet mastered - the easy stuff I figured out. You are on the right track.

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  5. Oh goodness no! So sorry you're going through designer struggles. There are plenty of WP developers I can share with you if you'd like. I know some have availability and are great at what they do. I hope it all works out!

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  6. Ok...yes! You did GOOD!!! Hahaha! I really hope that helps Lenie. It will happen, you'll learn and everything will be fine, I promise!!!

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  7. Yes, yes, and yes!! It is a daunting project Lenie and I for one am very impressed. The hair will return to normal and the confused look will diminish over time; replaced by another look yet to be determined :)

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  8. Lenie, I presume you are going to use the self hosted Wordpress platform and not the one that's for free? If not, maybe you should change your mind?

    When I opened my self hosted Swedish Wordpress site the hosting provider helped me set it up. If you are willing to pay it will probably make it easier for you to move to Wordpress. And the hosting provider will help you move what's on this platform to Wordpress. It's well worth the money you pay monthly.

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  9. I too suffered and am still suffering due to the technical stuffs! Things seem so easy in the beginning, but once you start to go deep, you realize how tough these are!
    And the worst part is - i do not find anyone to fix these problems for me.

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  10. Hi Lori, best of luck with moving your site to WP and I'm glad you still managed to get a post up while you're working it out

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  11. You got both a domain registered AND a blog post posted! Wow. You are a wonder woman of sorts.

    Have you tried looking into a virtual assistant, who can do these kinds of website management activities, while you still try to fill that role with someone?

    Keep on moving forward.

    Over from LI group BHB

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  12. Hi Lenie,
    My friend Kumar Gauraw is ready, willing and able to help you. He is at gauraw.com His hosting service kwwhost.com is excellent and they look after everything (updating your website security and plugins) so all you do is write. I don't usually promote any links in a reply, but this will certainly address all your needs.

    Kind Regards,
    BIll

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  13. Hello Lenie

    Yes it was pretty impressive , having so many problems, you managed to do it.
    You will soon over come all the problems.
    All of us have different problems. I am also not into technology at all , if someone is just saying to manage any list online I can not do so and have to look for help.

    I wish you all the best and I hope soon we will see your post on Wordpress.
    All the best.

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  14. There is nothing worst than unforseen issues with computer/networks. All you can do is continue to press on and get er done. Good luck

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  15. I know what you are going through. Recently I took a workshop from Practical Social Media University to help me build a blog that will make my Beachbody business more successful, and I am completely overwhelmed. You have empathy and support from me!

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  16. Jay is right, just need to press along. You did do a good job at adjusting and getting it done.

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  17. Good luck and I'm very impressed by your dedication and ability to overcome the hurdles. I went with Squarespace because of the steep learning curve of WordPress. Although, WordPress does provide more flexibility and to add bells and whistles.

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  18. Blogging definitely has a huge learning curve at times, but you're headed in the right direction. Things will get done as long as you keep pursuing your end goals. It's ironic that someone has hired me to be their blog coach while I am paying a web person to help me change the look of my site.

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  19. YESSSS Lenie!!!!! You can do it. Push on until it is done. For your comfort, I am not fully accustomed with Twitter and I am scared to even start with Wordpress.

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  20. It will take time but everything will be fine. Just don't give up.

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  21. Oh Lenie, I feel your pain! If it helps, I used this tutorial when I was switching from blogger to wp: http://www.twelveskip.com/guide/blogging/1188/how-to-move-from-blogger-to-wordpress

    You can do it! And you already are, so don't lose heart. It will be worth it in the end. Keep celebrating those small achievements, like getting your own domain. The whole big daunting process is made up of those small steps.

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  22. Unfortunately blogging is easy enough to do and is fun to do as well, but I'm not sure you can really do it for long before you have to hire someone to help you get out of a mess! It's one o0f those things. We ought be warned in advance.

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  23. Your article reminds me of myself since I am not website/blog savvy. There are many tutorials for Wordpress on You Tube. I believe they cover every topic and may be helpful to you. All the best and happy blogging.

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  24. Wow, what a series of hassles. It will get easier, honest. We've all gone through a series of obstacles when we started (sometimes still do) and I absolutely think registering your domain name is progress!

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  25. Lenie, I am right there with you. I have spent hours looking up tutorials on blogging. It can get tedious. I am glad you are using Twitter! There are so many articles about how to use Twitter it is not even funny! Hang in there and you are doing great!=)

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  26. Hi Lenie: Like Susan, I engage the services of a professional to help me with major tech issues. I can handle the minor stuff myself, but the big stuff -- like migrating my Blogger blog onto WP -- I left in the good hands of the very capable Sherryl Perry who is a member of the BHB group. She's saved my hide many times!

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  27. Hi! Thanks for visiting. I’m on Blogger and see no reason to change. There are settings for comments so you can make them anyway you want. I realize you’re not a pet blogger but at Blogpaws we have several Mommy and Coupon bloggers and it’s a great community in helping with WordPress and web host. I won’t swtch to WordPress because the free WordPress offers you nothing and I refuse to pay when I can blog for free here except paying for my domain name. There are programs like http://blogger2wordpress.appspot.com to convert your posts if that’s the way you want to go. My biggest blog challenge is SEO and expanding my reach. I started my online existence on Twitter so I pretty much know the ins and outs.

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I want this blog to be interesting, informative and current. Your comments let me know if I'm on track, so comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks - Lenie