September 20th, 2006

Grocery Shopping for Bloggers: My Top Choices

It’s been around 10 hours since arriving in London for three years of university, an hour of that time spent looking for the cheapest bed-and-breakfast (a hostel of sorts) to plonk my stuff while waiting for my university accomodation to be ready. Moving from hostel to hostel asking for prices and room details reminded me of the hours I used to spend looking for the cheapest and best deals for my blogging necessities.

Yes, we’re talking stuff like domain names, hosting plans, blog software, desktop blogging software, and for some, even quality inbound links, quality blog design, paid e-mail address/management and misc. tools.

I’m sure many of you have gone through this process and may continue to spend that sort of time every few months refreshing your personal “top choices”. So, I thought I’d share my “top choices” - all of which I have been using for months now (at the very least), and am most satisfied with so far:

  • Domain Names: GoDaddy with US$8.95/annum non-WHOIS-protected domain names (add US$0.25 for ICANN fee, but they give bulk and multi-year discounts), Dreamhost with US$9.95/annum WHOIS-protected domain names. Edit: Two different providers here because WHOIS protection on GoDaddy now requires you to sign up for their US$8.99/annum Deluxe Registration package.
  • Shared Hosting: Dreamhost with US$7.95/month “almost unlimited” hosting (plus a US$97 rebate for your first year if you use the “MAXIMUM” promo code). Edit: I’ll concede this is an extremely arguable choice. I’ve had problems of my own with DH after all. But unless you’re one of the really unlucky ones, DH really provides a dreamy deal (pun intended).
  • Blog Software: WordPress for the low, low price of $0.00.
  • Desktop Blogging Software: non-WYSIWYG w.bloggar and/or WYSIWYG Windows Live Writer - both for the uber-low price of $0.00. Edit: Paul Stamatiou has a review of Windows Live Writer you might be interested in reading before downloading it.
  • E-mail Address/Management: Gmail Google Apps for Your Domain for free (not all applications accepted though). Edit: Here’s a balanced review of Gmail for Your Domain.

I’ve decided to post only services/software I’m really confident of, so there are a few categories missing from this list (e.g. quality inbound links, VPS/dedicated hosting). But then, this is almost all you’ll need for your blog empire anyway, so nothing to worry about there.

Now, your turn! I’d love any help in finding even better (and cheaper) products/services - though I’m sure you’d have noticed my biasness towards anything free-of-charge.

P.S.: To ensure the full force of my credibility (as little as that amounts to…) is placed into this post, I’ve made sure that none of the links I place were affiliate links. Really. And to my knowledge, the “MAXIMUM” promo code shown is the highest possible rebate you can get for Dreamhost.

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Posted by ZMAng

Filed under Blog Software, Guides, Hosting, Misc.

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