Several months ago, I decided I could no longer handle it. I was driving myself insane and miserable and had to make a decision.
That Decision Has Changed My Life
As bloggers we tend to want bigger and better.
- More readers
- More comments
- More fascinating themes
- Better content
And for those who blog for money,
- More money
However, have you really sat back and looked at how much time you spend in blog maintenance?
My Thought Process
I didn’t take this decision lightly and had to weigh the pro’s and con’s. So i sat down one day and wrote them all out. And guess what, the Pro’s won!
What Was This Decision?
To move back to WordPress.com.
Honestly, it’s been the best thing that I’ve done.
Why?
- Because of the lack of maintenance I need to spend on it, I have more time with my family.
- More time to spend blogging and commenting on others.
- Am able to keep up with my Author site now hosted back on WordPress.com – sexliesandboytoys.wordpress.com
- No pressure at my paying job to keep constantly connected to my blog
- No pressure of trying to keep up with the bigger and more popular bloggers
- And best of all, I’m enjoying it a lot better!
Mind you, not everyone will agree with me and that is fine. However, I had to do this in order to LIVE a bit more and be happy with ME.
Self-Host Isn’t Always Better
Again, these are my opinions and I’ve done both. Self-hosting is exciting. It does however, give you more creative freedom with your blog.
- Premium themes
- More CSS customizations
- Very cool plugins
- CommentLuv
But the downside of it all, for me, was the maintenance.
- Keeping plugin’s and theme’s updated
- Having security plugin’s to keep the hackers out
- What about all the spammers and trying out numerous plugin’s to block them?
I felt I had to be connected to my self-host blogs constantly and it really took up a lot of precious and valuable time.
The Downfall of Moving Back to WordPress.Com
I really had very minimal issues with transferring back to WordPress.com, and the issues I had were all my own fault.
- My import was basically flawless except for images that I linked to instead of hosting on my own server did not import. However it was easy to reload them.
- I lost some of my Subscribers.
- I’m not sure if it was due to the default WordPress.com commenting system, however, I truly believe that’s their loss, not mine.
- It could have been they just didn’t like my content after all and decided just to ax me totally.
- Did they not follow my Fan Page or Community updates saying I was transferring back?
- The ability to install plugin’s
- The loss of higher end widgets or customizations I have grown use to but aren’t really necessary
There are many reasons why I could have lost some folks, but I’m fine with that. For every few you lose, you will gain more in the long run. I’m content with that.
The Perks of Moving Back to WordPress.com
- Lack of maintenance because WordPress does it for you
- It has it’s own Reader for finding and subscribing to new blogs
- Lots of Free Themes
- Very user friendly imo
- Freedom to blog more and keep an author site too
- The mobile WordPress.com app is awesome! You can publish, comment, spam, trash and much more from it, including reading your subscriptions and finding new blogs.
Why Do I Feel the Need to Explain Myself?
A new friend of mine, Nataly of MyrkaStreet sent me a message on Facebook. I hope you don’t mind me sharing it Nataly.
Don’t be afraid to free up some time and money for yourself if you’re feeling overwhelmed. It could be one of the most liberating things you may do! ;)
Good Luck Nataly!
Let’s hear from you? Are you self-hosting and find it tedious to keep up with the maintenance yet hesitate to make a change due to fear? I won’t say it will work for everyone but it’s definitely working for me and for that, I’m thankful I took the leap.
