Frequently Asked Questions about the Free Blog Promotion
Q: What’s the deal with the hosting? What do I get, and how much does it cost?
A: If you don’t have hosting, don’t go out and buy any until I tell you.
After you sign up for the blog setup, I’ll direct you to a hosting plan that will allow you to have as many websites on it as you’d like. This plan costs between $6.64 and $6.95 per month (about $83 for a full year), paid in advance. (Please note that in order to qualify for the base price, you will need to pay for the full year (not monthly) and cannot use promo codes.)
If you can’t swing that, I’ll point you toward a HostGator “Baby” plan that costs $10 per month, paid monthly. I don’t really recommend this option because it’s quite a bit more expensive in the long haul.
Initially these two companies give you a discount on your domain name when you sign up for hosting, thereafter they cost $11 or $12 per year.
If you already have a domain name and just need the new hosting account, that’s an option too and doesn’t affect you getting the free blog set up.
Q: Can you still set up my blog if I already have hosting?
A: Yes, but because I won’t get the hosting affiliate commission that subsidizes the normal price, it’ll cost you an additional charge. Contact me if this is the case.
Q: How much extra is that “additional charge”?
A: If your hosting is on LunarPages, BlueHost or HostGator or any hosting running cPanel and offering Fantastico, then it’s $50. For other hosting companies, where the setup must be done manually, it is $75. Contact me with questions
Q: Will you install premium themes like Thesis or StudioPress?
A: Yes, but there may be an additional charge because some of those themes require a decent amount of initial configuration. Contact me for details.
Q: Will you populate my blog with content I have written?
A: Only at my regular hourly rate.
Q: Will teach me everything I need to know about SEO?
A: Nope. That’s like asking if I can teach you Photoshop in an afternoon. It’s taken me a lot of time and money to learn SEO techniques so that I can make a living doing it. I can direct you to some great books on it as well as some dynamite software that makes it easy to learn. Plus the videos on using WordPress address the basic use of the SEO plugin.
Q: What if I can’t find a free template that I like?
A: With thousands to choose from, you should be able to find something close that perhaps just needs a logo swapped in. If this is the case, please contact me so I can see what’s involved and we can discuss your options. Alternatively, I can create custom themes at a very reasonable price.
Q: What plug-ins do you install?
A: I install the following plugins into every blog I set up.
- Contact Form 7: Simple, but effective contact form.
- Simple CAPTCHA: A simple captcha system for comment system to prevent spam.
- Really Simple CAPTCHA: a separate captcha system for Contact Form 7.
- All-in-One SEO Pack: Easy to use SEO tools for your WordPress blog.
- Akismet: Comment spam filter. Included with default installation of WordPress. Needs free Akismet API key
- Page Link Manager: Adds admin panel to choose which pages appear in the site navigation.
- Google XML Sitemaps: This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO.
- WordPress Database Backup: On-demand or scheduled backup of your WordPress database.
- Subscribe to comments, which helps by encouraging conversation on your blog. It allows people who comment to be notified of people who comment after they do.
- Sociable: Lets you add your choice of dozens of link buttons to your posts, pages, and RSS feed to popular social bookmarking sites