Bridging the Gap

So I’m making progress on developing my blog.  If you recall I was trying to figure out whether I am trying to simply get my point of view out there or whether I am looking to build the most professional and entertaining site possible.  I decided to take the plunge and see if I could create something more professional.  However, I did set myself some groundrules.  One thing I wanted to do was work with open source and freeware applications so that I could minimize my cost outlay wherever possible.  Here’s where I am so far.

Hosting: after much research locally and internationally, including a failed attempt to scam my way into free hosting, I settled on GoDaddy.com  primarily due to cost (about AU$7/mo), the availability of easily accessable online tools, and (this was the kicker) a local free contact phone number that actually connects back to GoDaddy in the US, pretty slick customer service really.  Next came choosing a domain.  Again after some research I settled on GoDaddy.  In this case I was interested in a .com name rather than a .com.au domain so the combination of global domain registry and price (I registered a few but you can get names from $US 1.99/year) convinced me.  If I was smart I would have gone with a package deal that gives you hosting and a couple of free domains, another lesson learned but more on this later.  

The next step was easy but boring so I won’t go into detail.  Using the GoDaddy online terminal I was able to automatically download and install the latest version of  Wordpress which meant I was, in theory, all set up and ready to go.  THIS is where the fun begins…almost immediately I started to regret the committment I had just made.  In order to justify my whopping AU$130ish expenditure I felt obliged to make something happen quickly.  Big mistake, and one I will elaborate on over the next few posts.