Hosting Packages for Beginners- Lesson #1

A few months ago I started this blog at WordPress.com. I then learned that if I registered a hosting package with GoDaddy that I could migrate my blog from WP.com to my new hosted domain at GD with ease using their WordPress.org plugin. Well, after many attempts to figure out that process- I’m stuck. It’s incredibly frustrating. WordPress.org seems to not have phone support and GoDaddy seems to not handle that type of customer support.

Annoyed and a little discouraged, I decided to start fresh. I bought a hosting package and 1&1 because my coworker swears their interface is easier. Having bought the domain that I wanted to use at GoDaddy, I thought that I would have to transfer the domain to the new hosting company. I started the process and then learned that transferring was not necessary. Apparently you can keep your domain registrar at the parent company and then just change the nameservers.

Well, #1- when I signed up with 1and1 hosting, I thought I was signing up for an account that offered 3 months free hosting and then a recurring cost of $4.99 per month. You can imagine my astonishment when I received an email stating that I signed up for 3 months free antivirus software at that price instead. Atleast, I think that’s what I signed up for. Not sure exactly what hosting service I signed up for at this point. Lesson learned… read the fine print.

#2- A fellow internet marketer agreed to help me set up my website with the new hosting provider and we were unable to just point the name servers from GoDaddy to 1and1 because I had intiated a transfer. Then, I couldn’t figure out how to just cancel the transfer request. Two hours later, I’m left even more confused and unhappy.

So, I guess my lesson to newbie webmasters would be:

1. Try to identify which web host company will be the easiest to navigate-
*Read reviews before making a purchase
*Join Forums: Ask other newbie’s which service they found to be the easiest when building their first website
*Ask the beginners why they chose that particular hosting company
*Ask if the hosting company has phone support- you’ll probably need it.

2. Read the User Guide before setting up your account. (1&1 seemed to have a good user guide, I just didn’t read it before diving in head first)

3. Don’t get discouraged. Tomorrow is another day. Take time, review your mistakes. If you are working with a provider and have already paid for the service then maybe try to resolve the issue. Read the manual. Look at the FAQ. Call the help desk. It’s a learning process.

Rant over-AffiliateGeek Out!