Starting a new website/blog

[wiggy001]

I am looking to create a website which will in the main be a personal, hobby type site mainly used to share information via a blog, but with some more static content as well. Despite being a developer/manager/consultant of web-based ERP and HR systems for 25 years and being well versed with HTML/CSS/Javascript/SQL, I've never actually set up my own site - everything I have developed has been for work and built using proprietary tools.

I am a techie at heart and would like to see where I could take this idea, so may want to add a mailing list, forum and other features over time if the concept of the basic site proves successful. I'm not looking to make my fortune from this right now, but some pocket money in the future from it wouldn't be terrible.

Given the above is there a reason why I wouldn't go down the following route:

- Register the domain I want with Fasthosts: £10.49 per year after the introductory discount rate
- Host a Wordpress site on Fasthosts WP Go plan: £5 per month after the introductory period

So £70ish plus vat per year with full control over a secure site with email address and regular backups.

Are there any alternative routes I should consider?

[wiggy001]

CheesecakeRunner said:

I wouldn’t bother self building. I’d start with a site on medium.com or substack and see how it goes.

A quick look suggests medium.com is just another social media platform I've never heard of where my visitors would need to sign up to read my content, which would just be a simple blog with comments/likes?

Substack seems similar but with worse navigation.

Thanks for the suggestions but they are not for me.

[dimots]

wiggy001 said:

I am looking to create a website which will in the main be a personal, hobby type site mainly used to share information via a blog, but with some more static content as well. Despite being a developer/manager/consultant of web-based ERP and HR systems for 25 years and being well versed with HTML/CSS/Javascript/SQL, I've never actually set up my own site - everything I have developed has been for work and built using proprietary tools.

I am a techie at heart and would like to see where I could take this idea, so may want to add a mailing list, forum and other features over time if the concept of the basic site proves successful. I'm not looking to make my fortune from this right now, but some pocket money in the future from it wouldn't be terrible.

Given the above is there a reason why I wouldn't go down the following route:

- Register the domain I want with Fasthosts: £10.49 per year after the introductory discount rate
- Host a Wordpress site on Fasthosts WP Go plan: £5 per month after the introductory period

So £70ish plus vat per year with full control over a secure site with email address and regular backups.

Are there any alternative routes I should consider?

Only issue that jumps out is that Fasthosts will charge you £25 a year for SSL after the first year. You can get free ssl in various forms, Cloudflare free plan is one popular way, Letsencrypt is another. No comment on Fasthosts as a host because I've never used them.

[wiggy001]

dimots said:

wiggy001 said:

I am looking to create a website which will in the main be a personal, hobby type site mainly used to share information via a blog, but with some more static content as well. Despite being a developer/manager/consultant of web-based ERP and HR systems for 25 years and being well versed with HTML/CSS/Javascript/SQL, I've never actually set up my own site - everything I have developed has been for work and built using proprietary tools.

I am a techie at heart and would like to see where I could take this idea, so may want to add a mailing list, forum and other features over time if the concept of the basic site proves successful. I'm not looking to make my fortune from this right now, but some pocket money in the future from it wouldn't be terrible.

Given the above is there a reason why I wouldn't go down the following route:

- Register the domain I want with Fasthosts: £10.49 per year after the introductory discount rate
- Host a Wordpress site on Fasthosts WP Go plan: £5 per month after the introductory period

So £70ish plus vat per year with full control over a secure site with email address and regular backups.

Are there any alternative routes I should consider?

Only issue that jumps out is that Fasthosts will charge you £25 a year for SSL after the first year. You can get free ssl in various forms, Cloudflare free plan is one popular way, Letsencrypt is another. No comment on Fasthosts as a host because I've never used them.

Thanks for your response. Unless I am misreading things, they include SSL for life under the Wordpress hosting packages, it's just with their standard hosting that they only include it for a year?

[dimots]

Ok if that's the case great I must have read the wrong thing! I would certainly expect free SSL with Wordpress.

[wiggy001]

Just in case anyone else comes across this thread, I went with Fasthosts and a Wordpress site and have no regrets. Pretty straightforward setup and easy to manage the site now I know what i am doing.

Definitely not the simplest option for a non techie but if you are ok with plugins and slightly technical configuration you would be fine with a Wordpress site.

[dapprman]

Wordpress.com comes with free SSL.

One thing that might be worth trying if you are considering the Wordpress engine is use one of their free accounts on wordpress.com then if you stay with their system you have the option of staying with them and taking a sub else exporting all your data and uploading it else where on another Wordpress setup. Only catch is the themes as not all will allow you to design and/or upload your own and with the free/cheap accounts you might find the theme you have gone for is not available on the new host (menu structures and the like are maintained but you might find your new chosen theme has fewer menus or they do not lay out as well).

[DerekTheWolf]

I think if you're going to make your own website or blog, then you're going to have to think about how it's going to look, how people are going to go into its interface, font and so on. I suggest you look at how other sites are designed. Visit www.replicarclub.com as an example, see what it looks like, or go to another forum so you can form in your head what your site will look like.

Edited by DerekTheWolf on Wednesday 1st June 09:54