I’ve been receiving emails via the contact form (which unfortunately is being used by spammers as of late) asking why I chose Page.ly for hosting, despite the fact that it costs 8 times more than my previous host, HostMonster.

While the answer why I left HostMonster is easy (the price was cheap but so was the quality), why I selected Page.ly amongst rivals is a bit more complicated.

Believe it or not Page.ly wasn’t my first choice. Or my second choice. Or even my third. So why did I even choose them?

First Up: Host.Co

Basically my first choice for hosting was Host.co. After testing out their service upon one of their lower tier plans, I was amazed at how fast the site was and I like how they measured a site’s strength by not how many visitors a site had, but by the number of concurrent users viewing it at the same time.

You can read the full review upon the Blog Herald, but basically I was very impressed with the service overall and the only reason I decided against moving upon their servers was the price (as I had to move multiple blogs. If it was just one blog I would be using them right now!).

They also offered a migration service which was awesome, but since I had to move multiple blogs, they were unfortunately beyond my budget. Being generous they did offer me a discount, however I declined as I believe that people need to be compensated for the services they provide (which unfortunately is NOT what people expect nowadays which is sad).

So I declined Host.co and took a look at…

BlogOnCloud9: WordPress Heaven

After testing out their service I was impressed overall with BlogOnCloud9, as well as the services they offered. While it was not as fast as Host.co (note: truth be told only WordPress.com beats Host.co), they were a lot better than my previous host, and even better was the fact that their pricing structure was within budget (about $65/month for 5 blogs).

They even offered to migrate my blog for free! Unfortunately BlogOnCloud9 hosts their clients upon RackSpace, which unfortunately does not mix too well with VaultPress (the greatest backup service ever!) so I had to sadly cross them off the list.

Did Someone Say Malaysia?

My third choice was WPWebHost (see my review) who I actually started migrating my blogs upon. For those who don’t know, WPWebHost is located in Malaysia which is a located in Asia (somewhat near Vietnam for my “I hate geography” friends).

While their price was really cheap, I was not encouraged by their use of Fantastico to install WordPress as I found the “back end” to be a bit too chaotic for my taste plus the fact that they never installed the latest version of WordPress (which can leave a site open for hackers).

Note: Simple Scripts is IMHO a superior solution, one that WPWebHost declined using (despite the fact that it was free and helps keep bloggers up to date on the latest software).

I was also not too thrilled with their sales team, although their tech support was very helpful. After moving one of my sites upon WPWebHost, I decided to cancel my account due to my concern for security, especially in an age where governments and anarchists are launching DDoS attacks against people they disagree with (which has intensified ever since Wikileaks hit the scene).

Tie Breaker?

For those wondering why I even considered the previous three hosts, I can sum it up in 3 words: migration, migration, migration!

All of them offered to migrate my blogs for a nominal fee or for free which meant that I didn’t have to download my blog from my VaultPress backup and FTP everything into a new host (which I eventually did with Page.ly as they do not offer migration services).

So in the end I was left with Page.ly and PressHarbor (see review), the latter which was less expensive. However in the end I chose Page.ly not because they had better features but due to the little things like:

• The fact that they do not use “admin” as the default username
• They install plugins to handle security to help prevent hackers from breaking in via brute force
• They are hosted upon FireHost whose security ranks up there with “the big boys” (okay so that is not a little thing).
• They utilized complex usernames and passwords to upload content via FTP
• Configuring your domain to work Google Apps was dead simple. As in one click setup  simple
• The fact that they offered reasonable discounts for hosting more than one site (which made it cheaper than BlogOnCloud9 to my surprise!).

Those were basically the gist of why I chose Page.ly over rivals despite the fierce competition between WordPress only hosting sites/services.

While everyone will have a different need as far as hosting goes, IMHO you should choose specialized hosting for your website over “ala carte” hosting, as the former will actually care about the performance of your site verses how much profit they can make off of their server.

Hopefully this satisfies everyone’s questions (so please stop emailing me! ) and feel free to hit up @Pagely on Twitter (or even the other companies like @BlogOnCloud9, @WPHostCo, @PressHarbor, etc.) for specific questions.

So after my sites went down I decided to once again renew the search for a new host. Although I appreciate HostMonster’s customer service (which has been rather awesome), their server(s) seem to be maxing out more often which is making me nervous.

If it were only this blog that needed moving I’d would have switched ages ago. Unfortunately its more like 6 that I have to move (4 that I own and 2 others that I manage for a friend overseas and another for a relative).

I honestly was thinking about switching to MediaTemple (their Grid Service plan) and may eventually at the end of the month (despite the fact that I still have several months left on my HostMonster plan).

So why haven’t I switched yet?

Well, basically I’ve been spending the last couple of days preparing to review WordPress only hosting sites (for the Blog Herald) and after talking to 5 companies over twitter, Skype, twitter, email, twitter, and some random chat program (theirs not mine) I am slowly considering the possibility of a WordPress only host instead.

While the folks at MediaTemple won’t like me saying this (as I’ve been in contact with them about switching), a WordPress only hosting solution might be the wiser choice for me, as well as for my “I need a blog” friends (who I usually encourage to start one upon WordPress.com).

After quality, my biggest concern is cost as I will have little geek cash to spare after securing VaultPress for all of my blogs (2 sites which I’ll upgrade to VaultPress premium later on).

I still have not made a final decision on the matter yet, but either way there is no way I’m going back to cheap hosting plans in order to save a dime as (like the old saying goes) you get what you pay for.

However in my honest opinion VaultPress is the poor man’s version of WordPress VIP Support, whose prices start at $5,000.

Even if I were to upgrade to VaultPress Premium across all 4 of my blogs (which would be $60/month per blog) it would still be cheaper than WordPress VIP (as I would be paying $2,880/year).

I currently have 2 blogs being protected by VaultPress (my personal site as well as my space blog), and once the service exits beta I’ll add 2 more.

I’m only going to have 2 blogs upgrade to VaultPress Premium though, as I’ll have my two personal blogs (this one plus my micro blog) use the basic plan instead.

Total bill: $155/month or $1,860/year (one blog will be grandfathered in the beta prices, otherwise it would be $160/month or $1,920/year).

Still expensive? Yes!!

But I consider my blog(s) to be a living diary of my experiences, views, etc. in life, one that I hope will live on long after I’ve change locations, iDevices, and molecular status (as in death).

Hence the reason why I’m will to pay the price…at least until someone can offer me something of greater value (that is at least semi affordable).

–Posted from my iPhone

Note: See update below! (original stat tracked down)

I first came across this “fact” from TechCrunch, and after Googling around the interwebs (apologies to @MattCutts) I finally discovered what appears to be the source of this oft cited statistic.

Some other numbers mentioned by Matt are 150 code committers with 1400 on Trac helping out. 21m downloads of WordPress in 2009 with 70m plugin and themes off wordpress.org, with 35 billion pageviews on wordpress.com and .org + 8.5% of the web is running on WordPress. (WordCamp New Zealand)

Note: Emphasis mine

Truthfully I have serious doubts that this stat is even accurate considering:

1. Google discovered over one trillion unique URL’s on the web two years ago (and they are still finding more content)
2. WordPress has yet to build a search engine to index the web
3. I haven’t seen any official sources (like ICANN who also sports WordPress on their blog) verify this claim
4. No search engine company that I know of has verified this claim, although truth be told I would only trust Google due to their domination of the search market.

Truthfully I think WordPress powers a large portion of the web (my guestimate is around %5 on the high end) but then again even I don’t have any data to verify if WordPress powers more than 1% of the web, let alone 8.5% that is spouted as fact.

So for now, I’m going to put this in the “pseudofact” file and disregard the stat entirely until someone wiser than I can find an official source (and not simply quote hearsay).

(Image Credit: Norebbo)

Update: Raanan from Automattic (creators of WordPress for you non-geeks) informs me that the stat originally came from a Drupal presentation who were comparing the top million sites (of which 8.5% were powered by WordPress compared to Drupal’s ~1%).

Thanks Raanan!

So earlier today I wrote a post upon The Blog Herald regarding VaultPress (a service by Automattic/WordPress that securely backs up your entire blog) that was at best speculative and at worst slanderous.

In his wisdom my Editor (that would be Franky) pulled the article offline, although unfortunately other sites have picked up my sloppy article which is currently tarnishing VaultPress’s good name.

I personally owe a lot to the folks at Automattic, whose software & services have turned blogging from what use to be a chore to an enjoyable experience.

In fact just today Isaac from Intense Debate (a service that is literally saving my skin from human spammers) went out of his way to create a fix for my micro blog so that I could continue to enjoy using the p2 Theme by Automattic.

Since it was my big mouth that created this whole farce, I’m going to be spending the rest of tonight contacting bloggers/journalist who republished my sad piece of journalism in order to clear VaultPress’s name.

If anyone runs across any reprints please email me a link at darnell.clayton@gmail.com so I can resolve my lapse of judgement. Thanks!

Note: Apologies to Matt, Paul and the entire Automattic crew.

Well, after a few hours, I finally finished 95% of the customizations for this site.

WordPress may have it’s drawbacks code wise compared to Blogger’s simplicity, but it’s a lot more powerful tool–something my best friend often reminded me of.

There is still a lot more I have to do behind the scenes, but for now I’m quite satisfied as I can happily blog from my iPhone. 

Peace, and if you notice any errors feel free to let me know.

Just for your info, this site will be under construction throughout the day as I iron out the details, themes, etc. of the site.

Hopefully this will not last longer than a day, but it may until Wednesday before the site is at its best.

I love Google! I really do! Never has one company had so much impact upon my life (for the positive) and I doubt I’ll find another that will.

So why am I migrating away?

Answer: it isn’t wise for me to put all of my eggs in one basket.

On the rare occasions when Google was down/inaccessable, 90% of my geek life suffered sending me into nerd panic mode.

After much internal debate I have been slowly moving my life off of Google’s servers & choosing alternatives.

Here is my list thus far (with reasons to boot):

Blogger.com –> WordPress (self hosted)
• Reason: wanted anti-spam comment protection minus the word puzzles. Also plugins & pages were a plus.

Picasa Web Albums –> Facebook
• Reason: Much more interaction with friends, plus the fact that Facebook is much more mobile friendly (at least for the iPhone, Blackberry & Palm Pre).

Google Voice –> Skype
• Reason: Skype is an actual stand alone phone service, where Google Voice just rediects. Both are cool though!

Google Checkout –> PayPal
• Reason: PayPal is a lot more flexible. & I like their guarentees better.

Picasa (Destop Software) –> Paint.NET
• Reason: Paint.NET has a lot more features. Microsoft really needs to hire this guy.

That is it thus far, but I am going to be seeking out more alternatives (as the competition has drastically improved in the last few years).

Other Google services I’ll probably never leave (like YouTube, Gmail, Google Chrome, Google Reader, Google Earth, Google Calendar, Google Analytics, AdSense, Google News, etc.) while others I might consider (replacing Google Docs with Zoho, & Google Search with Bing).

And for you Android fans out there, I’m probably not going to use those phones (& before you whine about openess, the iPhone is only a jailbreak away).

If anyone has other suggestions for Google alternatives, feel free to let me know in the comment section below.

– Posted from my iPhone

It looks like I discovered another great theme by Elegant Themes (aff.) called Glow (still in development).

When I was figuring out themes for my blog, I originally went with LightSource, but wanted something with a more traditional blog layout (like eNews), without losing the elegant background.

While I do love this current theme, its a little too bland for me, so I am looking forward to a new upgrade to compliment the other sites that I’ve purchased.

I hate to dissappoint the fan boys and girls on both sides of the fence, but this is not a post bashing one side or the other.

Rather it is simply my reflection of two of the most popular blogging services, Blogger (as well as it’s eternal beta Blogger in Draft) and WordPress.org (not to be confused with WordPress.com, which I would not recommend using due to it’s limitations, which I’ll explain below).

Where WordPress Excels

What I love about WordPress can be summed up in one word: design.

You’ll won’t find a larger collection of beautiful themes outside of this platform, which probably explains why do many Blogger themes are imported from WordPress.

While there are plenty of free WordPress themes out there, I would recommend purchasing a premium theme (like Elegant Themes which is inexpensive).

Another thing I love about WordPress is that it is comment friendly. Instead of using CAPTCHA’s or weird puzzles, WordPress users can use Askimet (spelling?) which uses geek magic to decipher between the spammers and the humans (WordPress.org users I would recommend using WP Spam Free which is better–and free!).

These anti-spam plugins keep make the WordPress commenting design much friendlier–unless of course you are a spammer.

Last but not least the ability to add pages is a plus, which allows you to create an “about me” section, making your blog much more professional.

Where Blogger Excels

Owned by Google, Blogger is the most popular blogging platform online. If I could sum up Blogger in one word, it would be this: freedom.

When it comes to posting media content (whether images, video or iframe documents) Blogger has IMHO no close rival. Users are allowed to embed content from anywhere, without the fear of it being blocked due to “security reasons” (which is why I don’t use WordPress.com).

You can also embed content from Google Docs, a feature I found to be lacking in WordPress (both of them).

Over in the Blogger in Draft arena, users can easily adjust the position of the image within the post by simply dragging it, a feature that makes “dressing up” the post all the easier.

This one feature saves me a lot of time, as I don’t have to muck with the code in order to find the perferct picture placement.

Users can also upload video directly into Blogger, without the need to upload it on YouTube or elsewhere, which is great way to keep the video on your blog instead of infront of the public masses.

Last but not least Blogger’s widgets make it very easy to add, adjust or remove content from your blog, without the need to enter within the admin arena.

Conclusion

While I could have mentioned other items (like WordPress Plugins or specific Blogger widgets), these above pretty much sum up the major differences between the two.

Since neither WordPress or Blogger are meeting my complete needs, I’ve decided to use both platforms until one of them steps up their game. I already have 8 blogs (4 on Blogger, 2 on WordPress.com and 2 running WordPress.org on my own server).

Both WordPress and Blogger are excellent services, although if you are short on cash I would recommend using Blogger (as you can blog on your own domain for $10/year) although if you prefer to host you own blog on your own server, I would suggest using WordPress.org.

–Posted via iPhone