Writing

What To Do Next?

Izlain7 Comments

It appears that the time has finally come. WordPress.com hosted sites like the one you lay your eyes upon are given 3 gigabytes of storage space for free. There are ads, but that’s to be expected with free things, and they aren’t all that obtrusive. I’ve known this time was coming for a while now, as I have been getting warnings that I was “coming close to running out of space” and “hey, why don’t you upgrade to a premium plan?” messages in my dashboard for a while. As of my last post, I’ve officially filled up my 3 GB of storage space. There was a time long ago that I didn’t really use pictures on my blog, but at a certain point in time I decided that screenshots, logos, and anything else pertinent to the article would add spice and flavor to my posts, along with being a visual aide for those who want to see more details. I use this blog to catalog my experiences and to share my thoughts on games, designs, mechanics, developers and industry news. I also have kept up with Magic: The Gathering posts for the last few years and those posts absolutely require the card pictures, but thankfully I only need one copy of each card I talk about to link to from multiple articles. Whatever the case, I simply can’t go back to picture-less posts. There are options.

Self-hosting is a thing, but not only would it probably cost me about the same, I hear it can be a headache to customize and then maintain and then you have to worry about getting a good hosting service or else your stuff disappears and yadda yadda. WordPress.com allows you to upgrade for a nominal fee, and in my case the package that makes the most sense is about $50 a year (though I get emails with discount codes all the time). For that price, I get an extra 3 GB of space, and honestly that should take a few years to fill up, particularly if I make sure to be as efficient as possible. I’ll also get some customization options and whatnot (so maybe a makeover will be in order?) and a domain name. I’ve never paid for a domain name before, and I’m honestly kind of stumped with where I want to go with that. I have a couple of options that make sense for obvious reasons but I leave it to you to help me out with other suggestions that I might have overlooked. Poll for your answer, comment with other ideas. I appreciate the help.

7 thoughts on “What To Do Next?”

  1. I like the customisation allowed by self-hosting, but depending on the access a premium WP account would give you, this may or may not be a huge consideration.

    If you do end up going for a self-hosting option, buy as long as a plan upfront as you possibly can. The introductory prices on a host are pretty dang good, but the subsequent pricing afterward is pretty terrible. To the point that I would consider moving the entire site if I can’t negotiate with the sales team to let me buy another similar package. i.e., $3.95 / month introductory (on a 3 year plan) vs. ~$11.95 / month normal, based on Siteground pricing where I’m hosted presently.

    Oh my, just had a look at the WP.com plans — don’t get access to upload themes / install plugins until the Business plan at $25/mo. Wow. But I suppose again, if these are things don’t don’t overly matter to you — might be fine.

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    • Honestly, it’s only storage space I’m in need of. If I could just pay for the extra 3gb space and nothing more I’d do it (especially if it was cheaper).

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      • Hm. Well, the $3.95 option includes 10GB vs. $5/mo 6GB on wordpress.com, but the major downside of going self-hosted there of course is the migration process. There are some pretty good tools available out there for wp.com blog migrations to ease that process, but it could still be a bit of an undertaking.

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  3. I’ve thought about what I might do if I find myself in your situation someday. To be honest, I have no idea.

    Like Naithin I’m pretty dumbfounded how many good features are locked behind the obscenely expensive business plan on WP.com. When I’d started my blog it took quite some time to realize that, yes, I really cannot use any of those PlugIns various guides suggest unless I go business.

    Other than that I’m pretty satisfied with WordPress though. Fortunately I’m still a good bit away from filling up those 3 GB.

    Welp, lots of rambling, no actual suggestion. Sorry! 🙂

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    • That’s okay, I appreciate the feedback!

      Honestly I don’t really care about plugins. I want to be ‘business as usual’ with the least amount of effort. I’m leaning towards just paying the $50/year and upgrading the .com service. My main issue was being stuck on my domain name. Obviously there should be forwarding from the prior address for a time but it also means making sure the people that link to me get the update.

      I get paid on Friday so a decision will be made by then.

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