I’m guessing that my lack of blogging hasn’t kept anyone awake at night. I mean, I’m not exactly a prolific writer/blogger/commentator. That said, I want to get better at it. I thought I’d start down that path (or at least in the general direction of the path) with an update post. Write what you know, right?

From what I understand, the ‘in’ thing these days is transparency. But there is also a lot of fear surrounding personal privacy. So I’ll aim for a middle-of-the-road update.

Where to start? My last post was written in the summer of 2011 (I hereby nominate myself for ‘Worst Blogger of the Year.’) It isn’t for lack of inspiration. I have a notebook full of ideas for posts and stories that I want to share with you. I just haven’t felt free enough to write them – free in terms of time. Why, you ask? We all wear many hats, and I recently added ‘student’ to my collection. I am back in school for what I think is the eighth time, attempting to finish my degree. Full time. What am I thinking?

A Full Fledged Circus Act

It has been wonderful so far, but extremely frustrating to me in terms of my to-do lists. At lot of the personal projects I have underway were put on the back burner during the first semester as my family and I navigated through the wonders of college. Working, going to school, and participating in your own life is quite a juggling act, and I decided it was in my best interest to let one of the balls drop for my first semester back. It kept me relatively sane, but caused a great deal of frustration, creatively and professionally. It felt like I was neglecting a child.

At any rate, the second semester has now begun and I am ever hopeful that my juggling skills have become a bit more polished. I’m looking forward to working on new projects, growing my business, helping others build theirs, and increasing my skill set. I figure the 4.0 GPA I received is an indication that I am able.

Your Rules Should Not be Broken

My secret weapon? I’m working on time management. I have specific days set aside for school, days to be in the studio, and days/times of day that are for family only. Writing it down and marking up the calendar keep my obligations clear and my time limits apparent. Strict personal deadlines and loud egg-timers are key players in my arsenal. It’s amazing how much more you can accomplish when you give yourself less time to work with.

How do you juggle all of your roles? Share your methods in comments below!

Thanks for the photo, BinnyVA!

First and foremost, I want to be clear: I am not writing this to put down any specific companies or mindsets. I just want to share my thought process and business ideals with you.

This story starts out many years ago when I was just getting started online. I needed a domain name and hosting plan, so I shopped around for the best deal – and I got exactly that.

I ended up with the web host and domain registrar best known for sexy spokeswomen in tight t-shirts. At the time, their advertising gimmicks were the least of my worries. I mean, I wanted to make money online without spending a small fortune to get online; and at the time, they were the best deal going.

There were never any issues with the products or services I purchased from them. In fact, the way things were set up, I hardly had to know anything about domains, hosting, servers, and the like. I was sailing right along and then one day, I crashed right into a wall. (I think I might have cracked my glasses.) A client asked me to do something I didn’t know how to do. Enter: panic.

It was all well and good that my host made my life easy, but I didn’t realize they also made me lazy. I never had to learn ‘how to’ because they did it all for me. All of their back-end automation made it easy for me to grow my business without a thorough understanding of the process or technology involved. I was a web amateur to say the least.

Limping Right Along…

When I realized that my host had been a crutch for my skill set, I felt like a fraud. I had been touting myself as a web designer when in reality I knew just enough to squeak by.

What’s a girl to do when she realizes her ability doesn’t meet her client’s (let alone her own) expectations? Research like crazy, read every web design and development book with a 5-star rating, and experiment until she understands it: that’s what! And I did.

In the process I realized that my host was no longer a good fit for me or my business. Not only were their low prices and fancy control panel keeping me stagnant professionally, they were keeping me quiet ethically – and through no fault of their own! They never claimed to be anything more than cheap and reliable.

Every time I purchased or renewed a service, I felt like I was putting a great big stamp of approval on all of the boorish shenanigans they so proudly displayed. When clients and colleagues would ask who my host was, I felt embarrassed to tell them because their values were so far from my own.

Practice What You Preach…

It was then I decided I had to put my money where my mouth was. I did some digging, got some input from trusted friends and business owners, and made the switch to DreamHost. (At the time, they were running a fantastic deal and I was able to make the switch without emptying my pockets. Bonus!)

I felt so powerful. Not only had I said goodbye to a bad business relationship, I stood up (in a little way) to the demoralizing message of ‘sex for sale’ and gave my money to a company I felt aligned with my own personal and business values.

Regardless of your stance on wet t-shirt contests and fast cars, I urge you to invest your money in companies that represent your core values. The few dollars you might save here or there are worth placing in the hands of a business that you are proud to support.

This little piggy has been making it a point to do just that.

Thanks for the piggy bank, Ryan Hyde!

It can be a bit confusing with all of the choices we’re given, but selecting a domain name doesn’t need to be a stressful event. There are thousands of articles written on this topic, so I’m going keep this post short and sweet.

Thanks to the popularity of the web, it can be rather tricky to find a domain name that is both available, and representative of your brand.

The basic rules I follow when choosing a domain name are:

Keep it Short + Simple

Long domains or those with words that are easily misspelled should be avoided. (A few of my favorite websites break this rule, but let me tell ya, it’s hard to share them with folks when I don’t have my bookmarks in front of me!) For example, I could have used DaricePauselius.com, but it’s a lot easier to spell (and say) DariceJoy.com.

Dot Com is Best

Although there are many other web extensions available these days, .com (short for ‘commercial’) is still the default mindset. There are instances when .net (short for ‘network’) and .org (short for ‘organization’) are appropriate, but in general, you’ll find people automatically add .com to a word or brand in order to find it online. The easier it is for people to find you, the better.

Use Hyphens Sparingly

Hyphens are great when you have words that run together in your URL, but try not to use more than one. For example, the hyphen in Mighty-Flighty.com makes it easier to read.

Use Your Name

This might seem obvious, but your name (or your company’s name) is most likely available. If it isn’t, try adding your credentials (i.e. DrJohnBrown or JohnBrownMD), or your location (LemonadeStandPA or NewEnglandPopcornShop) to help set you apart.

Aside from my own ideas, I also want to share what my friend and colleague, Shannon Steffen of Excira Media, offers as Guidelines for Choosing a Domain Name.

* Now that I’ve given you an ear bug, why not play The Name Game with the person sitting next to you?

Thanks for the banana photograph, Keepon!

Well, we know how to move a blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, but it’s kinda hard to do that without a domain and hosting. So…let’s go back in time a bit and figure it out!

I won’t be showing you screenshots of the process, but I will point you in the direction of some pretty nice host specific instructions and tutorials. Each web host is different so it’s best to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning…

First things first. In order to have your very own website, you need your very own domain and hosting plan. You purchase domains and hosting through a web host.

Currently, I am a happy DreamHost* customer, but many of my friends and colleagues use Bluehost and are quite happy as well. WordPress recommends both, so choose the host you feel best about – or the host that is most affordable.**

If the Shoe Fits…

Don’t feel obligated to use DreamHost or Bluehost – if you’d rather shop around there are plenty of hosts to choose from. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that WordPress requires a couple of things to run correctly. At the time of this writing, the following is what you’ll need to look for:
    1.) PHP 5.2.4 or greater
    2.) MySQL 5.0 or greater
    3.) The mod_rewrite Apache module.

That said, the beautiful thing about DreamHost and Bluehost is that they both offer painless (read: automatic) installation of the WordPress software. All you have to do is click a button and tell them where you’d like the directory. When I was first starting with WordPress, that little feature made me feel very powerful.

Okay, so step one is complete: we have a web host. On to step two: buying a domain. Wait a minute! Step two is already covered if you choose to go with DreamHost or Bluehost. They include a free domain with their yearly hosting plans! I told you this was easy as pie.

Don’t forget, buying a domain name is only part of the equation…before you can buy, you have to select a domain name.

Here are those links I promised…

I know you can do this!

* Let me tell you why I switched…

** Normally, I don’t encourage folks to ‘go for the cheaper one,’ but in this case it is of little consequence. Both hosts have a good reputation and their product/service offering is very similar. In my mind that’s the perfect time to save some green. :-)

It’s a funny thing, blogging. We share our thoughts, ideas, and experiences with an unseen (for the most part) audience. Sometimes we write just for the satisfaction of writing or getting our feelings ‘on paper.’

They help us collect, organize, and process. They allow us to share everything from doodles and photographs to recipes and rants.

Some of us decide after a while that blogging just isn’t our thing. Others persist and eventually create a following (however large or small it may be) and discover the pleasures of writing for an audience; starting a conversation and getting feedback.

Make Like Pinocchio and Get Real…

When our desire to spread a message becomes large enough, we want to make it ‘real’ – to make it our own. Oftentimes that means taking our blog to the next level, and moving it to our own domain; a spot that is ours and ours alone. (We even have proof: the receipt from our hosting company.)

Exciting as that may be, the transition (especially for larger blogs and journals) can be daunting. We start thinking: “How do I get all of this content over there? What happens if I delete something? What happens if I delete everything!? Forget it, that freaks me out. I’ll just stay where I am and redirect my domain to my blog.”

Yes, You Can…

Fear not my friends! It’s not as scary as you might think. Best of all? You can do it! Really! Moving your blog to your own website is easy as pie. The following instructions are written specifically for WordPress.com to WordPress.org platforms. They also assume you have a domain and web hosting with WordPress already installed. Here’s what to do if you don’t.

• Login to Your WordPress.com Account
• Navigate to ‘My Blog’ > ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Tools’ > ‘Export’
• Under the ‘Export Options’ Click ‘Export’

• Select Your Filters and Click ‘Download Export File’
• [Pop-Up] Select ‘Save File’ to Download

• Login to WordPress on Your Site
• Navigate to ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Tools’ > ‘Import’
• Select ‘WordPress’ from the List of Blog Platforms

• [Pop-Up] Install ‘WordPress Importer’

• Click ‘Activate Plugin & Run Importer’

• Click ‘Browse’ to Select Your .XML File
• Click ‘Upload File and Import’

• Assign Authors for Your Imported Content
• Check ‘Download and Import File Attachments’
• Click ‘Submit’

• Congratulations! You’ve just moved your blog!

Oh, something to note: This also works in reverse. You can move your privately hosted WordPress.org blog over to WordPress.com.

Helping Hands…

If you’re still convinced you’ll break the internet moving your blog from one place to another (I’ve been there before…believe me!) WordPress offers a Guided Transfer service for a decent price. You may also find some of the importing/exporting details in the WordPress Codex helpful.

Of course, I’d be more than happy to transfer your blog as well. Let me know you’re interested.

Here’s to you!