In January I had a life-changing experience. OK, so that’s an overstatement. What I really had was a blog-setup-changing experience.

For a number of years now, I’ve worked at setting up websites for the almost do-it-yourselfer. Win-with-1 is for people who want to own a blog and have control over the basic functions, but don’t want to do the most technical parts of setting up hosting, purchasing domains, loading software, FTPing, customizing, etc.

This has nicely filled a need for a particular niche of bloggers.

But in January, I had an online conversation that changed everything. I learned that there is an entire class of bloggers for whom any technical work is an overwhelming barrier. They don’t want to go up the tech learning curve to setup a blog, but they also don’t want to manage the themes, plugins, and features.

What do they want? They want a blog that is incredibly easy to set up, that has all the bells and whistles ready to go, and that they can use to start to blog today — not after a few weeks of studying and researching and futzing. And they want to do it on a blog they own — understanding that building a business on a free blog that someone else has control of (and can shut down on a whim) is very unwise.

When that need became apparent, PopCred.net was born. It’s a blog network with ready-to-go blogging sites and tools and where an entire blog community works together to make money blogging.

But what if neither the PopCred model nor the Win-with-1 model suit your needs? What if you are a true do-it-on-my-own blogger? What if you want to own your site and you want to take control of all the technical aspects of setup and maintenance? What if you want to add your own HTML and CSS and PHP? What if you want to customize everything to the hilt?

In that case, you’ll want to secure your own website hosting, your own domain, and then proceed to install WordPress software and upload the themes and plugins you want to use.

If you don’t know which company to choose for your server space, check out some web hosting reviews. From my own experience, these are my suggestions:

GoDaddy

We used to use GoDaddy as our domain registrar. Then they decided that utterly disrespecting women and using skank as a major selling point has everything to do with web services. I moved all my domains to another site and will not patronize them in any way. We don’t need more smut in the world.

FatCow

In theory, I love FatCow. Their interface is clean and easy to navigate, and they have this green wind thing going on. The only problem is that there service is seriously lacking (and their customer service supports the lousy service, rather than solving problems).

As I write, this site is hosted on FatCow. And if you’re a regular reader here, you’ve probably noticed how often the site is down, or slow, or ornery. And when I get my dander up and ask why the heck my sites are down again, I get a variety of responses including, but not limited to:

I can see them just fine
We have some server problem that we are fixing
Form letter

Form letter? Yes. Last week all my sites on FatCow were shut down and replaced with a page that said they were suspended. Wow, that’s professional. When I went to FatCow to ask why — no, they didn’t precede the shutdown with a letter, they didn’t even follow up the shutdown with a letter, they waited until I asked what heck was going on — I was told my sites were overloading the servers.

My traffic has stayed constant for about a year. The files on the server are the same kind that have been used for ages. Nothing has markedly changed.

When I questioned repeatedly, asking for specifics, I was told it might be something like large music or video files. Even though no music or video files are stored there.

Again a few days ago, I got another we shut you down for violating some unknown term of service letter. Strangely, the letter said that the sites were shut down because shutting them down restored the usual server function.

But here are the two problems this this assertion:

Their statement is circular. How would they know the server returned to function upon shutdown unless they shut them down before they knew the result? (In other words, they couldn’t have shut them down because of the return, since they couldn’t have known it until after the shutdown.)

They actually did not shut down my sites in the time period suggested by the latest letter. So any resumption of normal server function had nothing to do with my sites, because that time they were always working.

After all this time, I’ve got huge beef with FatCow. And I intend to transfer my sites as soon as I’m able.

HostGator

So where am I taking my new business? HostGator. I’ve heard many good things about HostGator from a variety of reliable sources, so I’m taking a chance.

I built PopCred.net on HostGator and will begin transferring other sites there in the near future.

I don’t like the interface nearly as much as FatCow and I find the use of various URLs for purchase, maintenance, and billing to be odd and cumbersome. But, so far anyway, the actual hosting service has been great. And the customer service is at least passable. The wait on live chat tends to be long, but the responses are cordial and accurate.

Other

For years and years, we actually provided our own hosting using an at-home server. We only decided we’d rather have someone else support the servers a few years ago. The three companies we have used are listed above. Other services to consider are InMotion hosting and GreenGeeks.

Having reliable hosting is imperative. If you want to be a successful bloggers, readers must be able to reach your site without any problems.

Being in the business of setting up affordable websites and blogs for small businesses, I spend a lot of time helping clients navigate through the process of getting their blogs off the ground.

Once the technical setup is done, there is still much to learn to be a successful blogger. Are you:

• Considering becoming a blogger?
• A brand new blogger
• Starting a new blog and want to do better this time?

If so, I have the tool to help you navigate through those first crucial decisions. Darren Rowse has another jewel for bloggers: ProBlogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging.

This guide has a 7-day plan to help you avoid mistakes and get off to the best start with a solid foundation. Here is what you’ll study:

1. Learn brainstorming techniques
2. Create  a content plan
3. Build a social media presence
4. Create quality assurance tools
5. Set up a publishing process
6. Master the components of a blog post
7. Develop a blog strategy

Blogging isn’t hard, if you have solid information. This is another quality publication for bloggers from ProBlogger. I recommend First Week of Blogging to all my new blogging clients.

Remember ProBlogger’s other great blogging books:

• 31 Days to Build a Better Blog
• Blogging for Your Business
• Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers
• ProBlogger Secrets

Blogging for your Business launched today from ProBlogger! If you need to start a business blog, this is your companion. ProBlogger is one of the best sources for no-fluff, tested blogging advice from people who became successful at blogging before they started blogging about blogging. (In other words, they are legitimate authorities.)

This packed book will step you through the process of creating an online business presence. The chapters are:

1. Define blogging and how it will benefit your business
2. Define your goals
3. Get started with blogging
4. Decide on and register a domain name
5. Install WordPress
6. Intro to WordPress plugins
7. Develop a content strategy and editorial calendar
8. Develop content ideas and fight blogging frustration
9. Publish your first blog post
10. Find readers and traffic for your blog
11. Optimize Flickr and YouTube for your blog’s online presence
12. Create your social media footprint and measure your blogging ROI

If you own a small- or medium-sized business or a non-profit organization, Blogging for Your Business is the guide to take you from no web presence to a successful business site to bring new customers and donors to your cause.

Remember ProBlogger’s other great blogging books:

• 31 Days to Build a Better Blog
• Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers
• Your First Week of Blogging
• ProBlogger Secrets

For the next fifteen hours, Host Gator is offering 50% off everything. This offer is only good today, from 9:00 am CST to 11:59 pm (Central Standard Time).

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Don’t miss this blow-your-mind deal!

For the next five hours, Host Gator is offering 50% off everything. This offer is only good today, from 12:00 am CST to 5:00 am (Central Standard Time).

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Get it now!

We host our sites — and our client sites — on FatCow. But Host Gator has some deals so good I have to pass them on to my readers. If you create your own sites, you will definitely want to get in on these. Crazy deals, seriously! Best deals since they opened up shop over eight years ago.

Every few hours, the deals change, so watch the site and/or the feeds and you’ll be the first to get in on these first come/first served killer prices. Everything is on sale. That includes shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and even dedicated servers! All term lengths included!

Remember these offers are one day only! Now, watch the site and get in on the great deals. The first deal starts at midnight. Don’t miss out!

On January 1, 2003, two other women and I began blogging. We had been writing a popular Q&A column together for over a year on a large web site and decided to go solo. We wanted more freedom, more timely updates, more interaction with our readers.

In truth, I don’t recall whether any of us had ever heard the term “blogging” at the time. But what we envisioned was a site where we accepted questions, posted our answers, and then allowed reader feedback to be posted below the original post.

WordPress was just a glimmer in Matt Mullenweg’s eye and I hadn’t even graduated from hand coding to GoLive (not to mention DreamWeaver). My 16-year-old was trying to help me grasp CSS over table-based web design. So our original “blog” consisted of a groovy web site featuring our column and emailed replies entered daily — by hand.

That was ancient history. Things have improved.

Today starting a blog is exponentially easier and — with some guidance — requires little more technical skill than using a word processor.

The WordPress backend is elegant and straightforward. The Thesis Theme allows for one-click customization and has built in search engine optimization. Having your own domain and hosting means you control your blogging destiny and you present a professional face to the world.

If you’ve always wanted to start a blog, if you have ideas and stories to share with the world, if you want to take the next step in your business — make the move. Start your blog today! In one week, you’ll be sharing your ideas with the world!

Creating a custom image for your blog header requires tools and expertise that are — as my college professors would say when I asked a question they didn’t want to answer — “beyond the scope of this text.” But if you already have the image you want to use, adding it to your Thesis theme is a breeze. Follow these steps and you’ll have it done in just a few minutes.

Upload your image onto your server in this directory:

…wp-content/themes/thesis/custom/images

Login to your Dashboard.

Click on Appearance>Thesis Openhook in the left sidebar.

Scroll down to the field labeled Header. In this field, insert the following code with the two specified changes:

<a href="http://yourdomainname"><img src="http://yourdomainname/wp-content/themes/thesis/custom/images/yourfilename" alt="" /></a>

yourdomainname = the URL to your site (such as www.win-with-1.com)

yourfilename = the name you gave to your header image (such as logo.png)

Click the checkbox next to Remove Thesis default header.

Click Save.

Once you’ve customized your site to fit, it’s time to add posts. This is the real heart of blogging! The posts are the entries into your blog that draw readers, show up on your home page, and that are sent our in your RSS feed to all your subscribers. This is the good stuff.

Posts are the articles, the content, the heart of your site. They are the items that get linked — in reverse chronological order — from your home page. To create a new post, just follow these steps:

Login to your Dashboard.

Click on Posts>Add New in the left sidebar.

Enter a Title in the first field. Make it descriptive, intriguing, and include keywords. If you have to choose between being clever and descriptive, choose the latter. Post titles aren’t like chapters titles in a book. Your readers aren’t reading your book yet, you need to get them to your site.

Enter your text in the large field. You can format it like a word processor with the controls above the field. Use “Save as draft” regularly while you are working on your post. Be careful about drafting in a regular word processor and then copying/pasting to WordPress. Some word processors (like MSWord, for example) will dump a bunch of garbage characters in to your text field.

Add the appropriate metadata.

Add categories and tags.

When you are done you can publish immediately or schedule WordPress to publish at a particular time. If you want to publish immediately, just click Publish and your post will show up on the home page. If you want to schedule it, click Edit next to “Publish Immediately,” set the desired date and time, click OK. Then click “Schedule.” Your post will show up at the time you set.

You’ve published your first post! You’re on your way.