This is a post I thought of writing when I took the decision to migrate from Blogspot to my own hosted domain where I am using WordPress as my blogging platform. By doing so, I hope to encapsulate my experiences and wisdom so that generations of Indian bloggers (after all I am a “wannabe” politician and thus am allowed to be a bit presumptuous and grandiloquent) can benefit from my knowledge.
This post is a bit long. But as we all know, brevity is not a virtue here at RTDM.
1. I like blogspot (blogger). It’s free. Google runs it. And it has a whole lot of satisfied users. Why change?
Indeed. Blogger is an excellent blogging platform for beginners and those who just want to get their feet wet and see if “blogging shogging” is for them—but once you get past that stage and your blog becomes like Shakuntala after her tryst with Dushyanta you will begin to outgrow the services blogger offers you.
In a line: Blogger has poor data management capacities. What that means in plain English is that it does not allow one to categorize one’s posts—so that if you, as a reader, want to just read my Bollywood reviews but do not care for my short stories (yes that means most of my readers) you shall have to manually go through all my 200 posts and find the reviews for yourself.
Which I understand is as frustrating an experience as navigating those “free porn sites” with the maniac pop-ups, the flashing fonts and the dead links before you can get to a topless picture of Scarlett Johansson.
What you really want is just a link that you can click and presto …all my Bollywood reviews are presented to you, one after another. This is called “categories” and blogger, because of the way the technology is implemented, cannot provide support for that. (Some ugly hacks are available for categories in blogger however).
The same technological restrictions are what prevents Blogger from being made more customizable by the addition of 3rd party plugins—with the result that after some time blogging on Blogger makes you feel like a man whose ba….mm…back is itching violently but his hands are tied up in front. In short, extremely unempowering.
2. WordPress.com is free. And it has categories. So why not migrate your blog there?
The problem with WordPress.com is that as of now (it might change later), it does not let you customize your own templates. In other words, you are given a fairly wide selection of templates but you are not allowed to edit the code—-somewhat like strip clubs where you can see the most marvelous specimens of augmented womanhood but cannot tinker around with the implementation details—so as to speak.
And I personally need to have the picture of Shakti Kapoor or orgasmic Mithunda in front of me in order to be truly creative—the aesthetically designed hewed-in-stone WordPress standard templates are just not “demented” enough.
So I decided to use the WordPress blogging platform (which satisfied all my needs—err blogging needs) but hosted on my own webspace so that I have my own harem of design—doing as I wish.
Which brings us to the next question.
3. Where do you host your blog? How do I find a good hosting service?
This is the toughest part of the process—finding a good hosting service. Nothing turns off readers more than a slow-loading blog and frequent 404 Page Errors. So the reliability of the host and the speed at which it can serve pages become of paramount importance.
You also want a host that offers you good bandwidth—you don’t want your readers to be told “Sorry, too many people have visited this page today. Come back tomorrow”.
Of course, we are desis. We have got parents to take care of, hysterical sisters who have to be married off, “phemilies” to start and leather jackets to buy. That is we need to be thrifty.
Here’s the good news. There are gazillions of hosting service providers offering insane amounts of bandwidth, disk space and what-not at bargain basements prices.
Now the bad news. Most of them just cannot offer the level of service (uptime) because in order to be financially viable (thanks to the insane deals they offered you at sign-up) they need to squeeze many users onto one server —like the minibus conductors of Calcutta.
And some of them engage in sharp business practices to boost profits. Once they sign you up, they add on costs for services you couldn’t even dream of (an example: Your blog is using a lot of CPU time on our shared servers—we either remove your site, or you can pay us $obscene-amount to put you on a dedicated server [which is where these host services really make their money]).
Okay you say. So let’s do some net research and read hosting service reviews.
Hah ! Not that simple.
Because there are hundreds of “hosting review sites” which are as close to digital pimps as you can get—“come this way sir, my girls are the best”. These “review sites” (a vast majority of them at least) seemingly write glowing reviews of those providers which give them the best click-through deals–that is if you are referred to a hosting service by these review sites they get a commission. Also some of the webhosting bulletin boards have “disses” against certain companies where the discussants are themselves owners of hosting companies/resellers.
In short, what you shall find about web hosts will be unbiased as Cricinfo is about Sourav Ganguly.
A caveat about other techniques webhosts use—busty models popping their tops (or threatening to)—these advertisements working on the assumption that the guy who is shopping for domain hosting doesn’t get out all that much, leads a hand-to-hand existence and is frustrated enough to be guided by his libido while choosing a place to park his website.
Of course RTDM readers aren’t that silly…are they?
In conclusion, take everything you read on the net as “reviews” and “user stories” with generous dollops of NaCl. If something seems too good to be true, then it usually is. Use your common sense, don’t get swayed by double Ds and always ask yourself—can someone really give me this amount of bandwidth at this price and still stay in business?
So what did I do ? I asked Megha Murthy, Indian blogosphere’s queen of technology/design who had also moved her blog a few months ago. And based on the fact that there was one unbiased person who had a good experience with the said company, I joined Bluehost (I do not get any money for this link). I am yet to be a customer for a sufficient time to tell you about my experiences with them—-maybe an update at a later date is in order.
4. How do you import your old blog to the new one?
WordPress provides an import from Blogger script—-be cautioned that it is not entirely bug-free and “changes” the formatting of your “blogger” blog when the transfer is underway and “restores” it after the transfer is over. Only in my case, they never did the “restoring” part for which all “paragraphs” on my old blog are gone—making every post look like a mangled blob of meat.
5. What’s the downside of migrating your blog? [Question added based on this comment]
Loss of traffic. Its been a few days I have moved and my traffic has gone from 1200 a day to 600. Also my Technorati ranking which was 5,500 has slipped down to a Zimbabwean 1,197,135 . However the more you delay, the more you lose. And I hope to get back my traffic back within a few months—at around the same time I develop six-pack abs.
In conclusion, I would like to doff my hat to Saket (aka Vulturo) for getting me started on WordPress, Megha for answering my myriad queries, my wife for helping me design the headers and all my readers for their constructive/destructive suggestions and offers to help.
Happy blogging everyone !
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The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
“somewhat like strip clubs where you can see the most marvelous specimens of augmented womanhood but cannot tinker around with the implementation details—so as to speak.”
Hilarious. 🙂
I’ve been contemplating this move recently as well, and appreciate your information. How well did your audience (readership as well as links) follow you from the old blog to the new? Was it like starting over?
YOURFAN writes:
You are just simply fantastic. To justify my observation, if I want to quote you, then I have to practically quote your whole blog to show how hilarious you are. Honestly, you are getting better everyday. I have said it before – saying it again – your analogies are right on mark – how on earth you come up with these analogies? Now my question is in which category you are going to put this post – information/knowledge or simple humor?
When I read that your previous post “look like a mangled blob of meat†– my heart missed a beat. I don’t have the time to go thru – are all the articles in tact (minus the paragraph) with reader’s comments. The comments make your posts more interesting. Under changed circumstances, I don’t care about whether the meat is mangled or not as long as that is meat not vegetables.
Happy writing GB – all the best wishes.
Yourfan
hmmn..
Simply writing this comment to appreciate the banner of Nitish and Mayawati(Hope I am not wrong and it is Mayawati? )
Well, you saved himself a lot of queries from the readers by posting this blog.
HP
YOURFAN writes again:
I forgot to write that I am not automatically redirected from your original blog site to the new location – I have to click the link.
In your new location, the automatic recognition of the comment sender presumes that the computer is going to be used only by one person which is not the case in India. This is the part which I don’t like (If I am not mistaken you have some other readers complaining on this issue).
I also forgot to write that I like the new banners – they are mind blowing.
yourfan
Hi Greatbong:
Which I understand is as frustrating an experience as navigating those “free porn sites†with the maniac pop-ups, the flashing fonts and the dead links before you can get to a topless picture of Scarlett Johansson.
What no link?
When Vulturo came out with his new blog design a few months back I seriously thought of switching then but then he started having problems and I decided that I would stick with what I know. I will see how this works and maybe I will make the shift.
But I have a special need: a site that has a name that – once it shows up on a credit card – will look like a restaurant or a coffee house. Otherwise my darling wife will kill my blog. The only reason she tolerates it is that it doesn’t cost money – just lots and lot of valuable time that I could be using to make her life happy.
@JD: 🙂
@AbbaGav: Good question. I lost my Technorati ranking and my traffic has halved. But I knew that before I made the move—the thing is that the longer you delay, the more you stand to lose. I would think that with time, everything will be back to normal or close to it. Have updated the post based on your question.
@Yourfan: Maybe I need to put it in Comedy too. I thought twice whether to use “Humor” or “Comedy” as the name of the category…Comedy sounded more “Bollywood” and downmarket. Hence I chose it. Thank you for your kind words.
By mangling I meant what happened to my posts on the old blogspot site. In any case, I have removed them and put a redirect script (thank you Megha).
As to the comments thing, yes it is a problem and one I dont like myself. You are right, WP makes a 1-to-1 mapping between computers and users. But alas there is nothing I can do (or so I think) to prevent WP from “remembering”—the only solution is as you do…post as anon and add your name in the message. But I kind of like to see “yourfan” in the title and not “anon”—ah well.
@Hariprasad: Thank you..yes it is Maya…
@Michael: Why take away the fun of googling for pics by posting links….after all isnt searching for naughty pics the reason the Web exists? As to spending money on blogs, get Adsense, put ad links on your blog and it could be “earning” money.
Welcome to wordpress. You’ve finally seen the good side of blogging hehehe 😀
Your headers simply rock!
Suyog
Of course not. By the way did you check the online uncensored godaddy.com ads? I would let them host me(I mean my site) anyday 🙂
[GreatBong] amazingly put !!!
Do tell me how your experience goes, I am also on the sidelines waiting to switch. I have a very cheapo solution working for me (Domain registered on yahoo and a simple domain forwarding) but this is much much cooler..
btw, do we get a banner of the week or this is it for the time being ? Maybe, if you add a banner every week, Prabhuji’s countles fans would flock once again !!
Jai ho Prabhuji !
we care we care !bollywood reviews r loved but articles like death by humor r so well written balanced as everyone says that everything in ur blog has to b appreciated.
Hi Greatbong,
Recently stumbled upon your blog. Your blogs are hilarious and witty. And finally a person who is not afraid of expressing his love for Mithunda.
Though I hate advertising, my blogpage is http://dhans-diary.livejournal.com.
Hi Arnabda,
I have a wordpress blog too (ie hosted on http://www.wordpress.com) and yes this virginal template feature is a drag when on the rare occassions i have an unsatiable urge to customize things and unfortunately I have to take a cold shower. My reasons for choosing wordpress over blogger (ofcourse i an itsy bitsy newbie and I am not saying I know a LOT but your courage to write satirically on profound things inspires me) , were the categorization thing and the fact that my dialup account cries for a caesarian whenever it has to deliver the blogspot URL.
But Arnabda ur blog is Fantastic……..lets use the typical bangali adjective “Heavy” which can make sense only to us and perhaps convey the intensity of my admiration. I am trying to be a regular blogger and ur blog is an inspiration (not in the Anu Malik sense).
I have seen that some blog have more 90% hits reffered by Google.. Check out that angle… That way I think Mt is better than WP
Good work!
You have a way with words, arnab.
I too broke my virginity inspired by your writing (take a look if you want).
http://oseresta.blogspot.com/
Hey, stumpbled upon this article on Blogger vs. WordPress. I am seeing a lot of people change from blogger to wordpress. Another problem with Blogger is all the junk/splog these sons of bitches are posting in comments.
Anyways, another good host to consider is nearlyfreespeech.net. (No, I didnt get any money either to post this).
Good comparison on the whole. Thanks, Indobundee http://www.indobundee.com/
I am new to blogging and that is why asking though it would seem like a stupid question-anything wrong in stayin g with both-like running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.
Thanks for the response. That makes sense. I guess I should start shopping.
Good luck with those abs.
@Suyog: Oh of course. I have been a WP convert for some time now.
@Anil: Of course I checked and re-checked those online-ads just to check out what the company had to “offer”.
@GHE: Alas there are not so many images of Prabhuji available on the Web to generate banner after banner—and a good thing too. As we have seen pictures of holy prophets/Gods lead to unnecessary trouble.
@Varsha: Thank you…I meant the pure “works of fiction” like Michelangelo that get a lot of flak.
@Dhananjay: Of course I am not afraid of being in touch with my Mithun side..
@ShootingCipher: “Heavy”–its a long time since I heard that word being used in the traditional Bengali way.
@Tony: Please do elaborate why you feel MT is better than WP–is it beause the pages are statically generated?
@Hiren Shah: Maintaining two blogs on different platforms?
@AbbaGav: Oh yes my abs…(biting into a pepperoni pizza)
GB,
Once reason that I can think of your traffic going down is that the people who had RSS feeds. I had your Blog linked in my Reader and I noticed I had not seen you post since days. When I checked back on blogspot, I found you had moved. So thats my two cents..
RiskBuster
One thing you could do is write a post on the gb.blogspot with new info. That might help those who get their feeds via RSS
I actually did that ! And it was there for quite some time (Post heading: IMPORTANT) which said I am shifting and asking people to adjust their bookmarks accordingly.
Interesting. I use blogspot now. I may consider changing soon. Good article. Thanks.
Thanks for the advice. Intend to use it when I make the transition.