When I got the idea to start my blog I was very excited and had all kinds of ideas on what it would be like to have my own blog.
Well, I got off to a rocky start in fact; it took three weeks to accomplish what could have been done in three days.
I have to admit I'm technologically challenged so I opted to, sort of; hire someone to get the blog going.
The way this person got paid was if I signed up under their affiliate link with one of several hosting company's offered.
It was here that things went down, as the title states there are ups and downs of blogging, this was one of the downs.
The reason it went down was the research required on these web hosts offered in the deal, then narrowing it down to what was best for me.
I spent so much time trying to doing this; looking in forums, googling, reading reviews, and comparing prices; whether to go monthly or by the year etc.
that I almost gave up.
Additionally, another quest that went hand in hand with the web host is the domain.
I began checking to see if what I wanted was available and it was.
I was really happy about this and was on the up again.
I was quickly let down however when I went to pay for the domains.
None of the places online I chose would take my PayPal; I tried for several days, calling and emailing.
Finally, I went and bought a prepaid credit card and that worked.
Ok, now I have my domain I've chosen a web host, I'm excited, it's all good! Naturally, I move forward and email the blog guy and give him the go ahead.
He proceeds to install my blog and does his part, as far as he's concerned, however, I felt as though I had been misled by his ad in that I didn't get what was promised.
The ad said, "All you have to do is start blogging.
" Wrong, the very first day trying to post I messed up some css code; even today I'm not sure what that is.
This resulted in my inability to post for two days; once again I was in the downs of blogging.
I went on the hunt for help which is extremely time consuming and frustrating.
Finally, as I write this, my blog is going fairly well with the help of an online codex manual and volunteers in forums.
Even though I had unrealistic expectations in the beginning I made the right decision.
I love the writing; the interactive aspect and the option of using my blog to work from home.
The ups far outweigh the downs, at least for now.
If I had it to do all over again I would do it differently, but still do it.