Typepad is an excellent platform and I have no complaints. I just wanted to have more control over my blog – and you should be aware that once you really start creating content it’s going to be difficult to move it, so wherever you start out, make sure it’s right for you.
- Low Cost
- Simple to Use
- Trouble Free Operation
- Dashboard
Low Cost: They even offer free options. There are other blogging platforms like tumblr and blogger that are also free but I can’t recommend them because I’ve never used them. The typepad plan I pay for currently costs about $9 per month.
Simple to use: It’s pretty intuitive. There isn’t a whole lot that could go wrong, there’s nothing to install and changing settings and options around is as simple as clicking and looking at pictures. I found that setting up RSS feeds with them was simple, fast, and easy as was setting up an email list. They had a number of widgets or tools that you can install to run on your blog although there were some that were pretty lack luster and just didn’t do what I wanted them to do. I also had problems getting the widgets I wanted to fit where I wanted them. Some just didn’t work with the theme I had and there weren’t a whole lot of themes I was interested in. None of their themes are very customizable.
Trouble Free Operation: I never had it crash, I assume they had back ups if it did crash, and even though they offer technical support, I never had to use it.
The dashboard has quite a bit of pertinent info that’s displayed as soon as you log in, including visitor stats. One source of irritation was that it never matched anywhere near google analytics and I feel pretty confident that google knows what their doing with analytics. (Analytics is the analysis of web traffic to your site.)
The downsides are that you have to map your domain to it so that it basically your visitors can type in www.iwillescape.com – which redirects to your typepad blog, iwillescape.typepad.com. It’s irritating though that your permalinks (permalinks are the permanent link to each post. You can think of your posts as status updates on your facebook page, visitors always see the most current content – if you want readers to be linked to a specific article then you need to link to the permalink and not the blog itself.) don’t work with your regular domain so readers will see that you’re using typepad when they access the permalink. While I wouldn’t say it’s unprofessional, iwillescape.typepad.com/2010/11/why-you-should-blog-with-wordpress just doesn’t provide the same look and feel as being able to access iwillescape.com/2010/11/why-you-should-blog-with-wordpress. It’s like seeing the wizard behind the curtain.
Also with wordpress you have a very similar layout to typepad on the administrative side, but you have far more control over the layout and design features of your blog on the reader side, should you ever want to customize it. You have more control of where you place widgets on the sidebars, colors, themes and the icing on the cake is that with inmotionhosting you can start for as little as $3 per month and the wordpress software is completely free.
If you’re already somewhat familiar or feel like you can figure things like this out on your own, I recommend Yahoo domains. They have a very easy to use domain control panel and offer hosting options if you want to keep it all in the family.
I recommend inmotionhosting because they’re super cheap but offer live online help 24/7 free of charge! I’ve used it several times and they’ve been able to help me with things I thought out of their realm of expertise (problems I was having with 3rd party software). The customer service has been available at all hours of the day and night and always been friendly and helpful. In researching the company I found out that they’re owned by their employees and it definitely shows by the level of customer service you receive when you talk to someone who works there. I have no complaints and would recommend them to my best friend!
To stay up to date on things I’m working on like ebooks, and the Duchess and Duke Soap Factory, follow me on twitter or subscribe.
