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Flexo’s “Get Away From BlogSpot” Project

by Flexo on July 12, 2006

in Internet

I have a deal for my personal finance blogging friends. Blogger was a great piece of software several years ago, bringing “pushbutton publishing to the people.” When they added BlogSpot, it only enhanced the value of the software. But let’s face it, BlogSpot is not that stable despite being hosted by Google, and many people since the beginning of the decade moved away from Blogger’s services due to spotty access at one time or another.

I have many gigabytes of web server space and bandwidth at DreamHost that is currently going unused. By the time I could possibly fill up that space, it’s likely Dreamhost will have quintupled what is available, as that seems to be their pattern.

Therefore, I would like to help a few bloggers remove the BlogSpot shackles and get their own space… for free. Yep, that’s right, free. The only cost would be the domain name, which you can buy yourself (I suggest GoDaddy) or I’ll buy for you if you want if you send me the funds through PayPal. So basically, the cost of having your own domain and your own website is less than $10/year.

If you think you’re going to be serious about blogging, then do yourself a favor and get off of BlogSpot. Sure some people like Atrios can make BlogSpot work for them, but it’s rare.

By moving off BlogSpot, you can keep Blogger or switch to a more powerful blogging software like Movable Type or WordPress. I’ll install everything initially and provide you with shell, ftp, and configuration panel access so you can make changes yourself, but I’ll help with upgrades and installations as my schedule permits. I’ll give you 1GB of space which should be enough for anyone unless your’re incorporating audio and video. I believe I can also provide unlimited email addresses (via webmail, POP, and/or IMAP, and forwarding).

This offer is good for the first five personal finance bloggers currently residing on BlogSpot who comment here and tell me why they’re serious about blogging for the foreseeable future.

In case you’re wondering, I wouldn’t require bloggers to display ads or anything. I may be mistaken and perhaps this isn’t a service personal finance bloggers are interested in, but either way, the offer is open.

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About the Author

Flexo, the owner and creator of Consumerism Commentary, has been blogging and writing for the internet since 1995 and has been building online communities since 1991. Find out more about him and follow him on Twitter.

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  • My blogspot blog was disabled by Blogger without explanation, and I pretty much lost everything and was forced to start over at a new site. So, I would encourage anyone still using Blogger to take advantage of Flexo's offer and leave Blogger as soon as you can.
  • NCN
    Me, me, me! I would love for all three of my sites to be hosted! If you are serious, I def. want in. You rock!
    NCN
    As for WHY I am serious..I think that the three sites speak for themselves. I love this stuff, the network, the podcasting, etc...
    I am over 15 months in, and I have been pretty serious about posting, etc.
  • jim
    Flexo is a P.I.M.P.!
  • Wow, what an awesome offer! Too bad I just got my own hosting and paid for the year or I would have been saying Me, me me like NCN :)

    Again, I think it's great that you are offering this.
  • I'm definitely interested - and I think that having a real hosting site would definitely give me some resources to move ahead with more projects for the Under 30 Honor Roll. In fact, I'd much rather get some space that the Honor Roll can use for projects, than for my own website. I'd like to set up a page with feeds from all the participants' blogs, and archive articles, and have someplace to host a database for an automatic blogroll.. drool. You get the point. I'd also like to have some forums and have guest-member bloggers, which isn't really feasible with Blogspot. Since there are a lot of us on the Honor Roll, even if I personally drop off the face of the planet (which I consider unlikely) somebody else will be still participating.
  • Hm, it seems to have eaten my first comment, but I'll write it up again. I'd most definitely be interested, but what I'd really want space for is to host a website for the Under 30 Honor Roll - get some forums, have a combined feed of all member pages, have article archives on various topics... that would be pretty awesome. Then we would also have space to host a database for an automatic blogroll without sponging off my boyfriend. And lots of other projects. I'd much rather see a project like this get legs, than my own personal blog.
  • I think wp-cache doesn't always work properly which is why comments may not appear immediately anymore. Sorry about that! NCN and Kira, I'll set you up. Is there anyone else interested?
  • Him
    Uh, if we switch to blogger can we hop onto your account for free?

    No? Well, I had to try...
  • Right on Flexo.
    I'm already hosting at Dreamhost or I'd take you up on the offer as well.

    One question. How do you find time for all of these projects????? :)
  • Awesome!! Do you know if the server runs MySQL or PHP, or something else?
  • The server is LAMP: Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP.
  • Ok. I'll say yes! Pick me! Pick me!

    I've had a blog intermittently since 1997! But this personal finance blogging has really taken off for me and will probably stick with me for life since we all could use some money.

    I did some researching into WordPress already, but decided not to do it because of the additional costs. Let's chat more offline. Buying a domain is easy. It's the hosting, etc that I think will cost me...
  • Hi Flexo,
    I'd be interested in talking to you more about this offline-- I certainly hope to keep my blog going and I'd been starting to wonder about getting my own domain name, even though I can't say I have had many problems with blogger...

    Either way, this is a very generous offer for you to make, so thanks!
  • Hi,

    It looks like there are only four people signed up above, so if there is still room for one more, I would very much like to be a part of your very generous offer.

    As far as why I will be blogging for the foreseeable future, I started my blog to chronicle my way out of being in debt. As I still have a lot of debt, I will continue to blog for a long time. In addition, I am enjoying being a part of the pf community online. There are some wonderful people out there, and blogging is a great way to get to know them.

    So, yeah, let me know if there's still room.

    Thanks!
  • Its just soooo painful to leave blogspot -- I have been thinking about this since before I even started -- I don't know how anyone can switch URLs - you loose your links, your pagerank, your directory listings, etc. But I guess you have to do it sometime.....but when?
  • This is a very generous offer by Flexo y'all! Not because of the hosting, because hosting is cheap.
    It's because you get his effort in setting you up and helping you convert. I too, have no idea where he gets the time for this.
  • G.
    Hi Flexo, I was hoping to be one of the pf bloggers that you will help convert. I've been sputtering alone on blogspot for sometime now and would love the opportunity to switch. I know you already have five people but I hope you can help one more.
  • Yo Flexo,

    Looks like you have yourself a business idea on your hands.... forget aggregation, be THE host for personal finance blogs.

    If you'll email me I'll let you in on a couple of secrets (don't worry I don't sell anything nor do I want to!) But I do love talking about business (I sold my office supply business four months ago) and I know personally how big the Peronal Finance world is.

    Hope to hear from you.
  • Although I still have a couple blogs on blogspot, I would never have my main one there. If you are planning to do it long time, it's best to get your own domain.
  • Kevin
    I would LOVE this oportunity. I've been doing blog like posts sent via email (like newsletters) to my friends but would love the opportunity to put it up online. I've never used blogger since I don't like using 3rd party proprietory as a base. (exception: using Windows -- for obvious reasons)
    Please let me know.
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