Working With Not So Reliable Tools - I Want Better Communication!
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The tools you use that help you run your business, or in my case my blogs, can easily become a pain if you don’t chose carefully which tools you use. And I’m experiencing just that. Not that I chose unreliable tools, but let’s just say they’re not all up to my standards.
Reliable And Unreliable Blogging Tools
Of course, using wordpress as my blogging platform was an excellent choice, and I wouldn’t start a blog on any platform other than wordpress. With the hundreds (or thousands) of plugins available and the awesome support from the wordpress community, to me, it’s a no-brainer.
But as far as hosting goes, I have a feeling I made one wrong decision. You see, I’ve been hosting this blog on a shared server, and since some time I’ve been having problems with that, especially because it is more like a test server, and I can’t keep things like that cause my blog is growing pretty steadily, and I’m launching a new blog soon (still looking for writers by the way).
So I’m in the process of moving most of my blogs over to MediaTemple. Better do that now before it’s too late. No worries, I will try my best to make this transition as smooth as possible. Hopefully, I will be able to sleep at night! hehe
So as far as blogging goes, I can say I mostly made good choices. The way it’s setup right now (and how it’ll be setup after the server move) makes it easy to manage and helps for better communication with my readers and visitors.
Gotta Have A Back-Up
I cannot say the same for my cell phone, Skype and my computer. Although I love those tools and would not get rid of them, when one of those fails to deliver, it isn’t fun.
I recently experienced that, working with an unreliable tool, when Christine from Create Business Growth called me on Skype for an Interview. We did manage to talk (and it was lots of fun!), thanx to my cell phone, at least it worked (although it happens it won’t). :)
But as for Skype and my new Mac, well I can’t understand why Apple built a computer that has no line input (I just found that out, so will have to use my laptop for Skype voice-chat). Make sure you always have a back-up. You can’t really rely on only one tool, what if this only tool you have, fails to work?
Your Turn To Talk
Have you ever experienced something similar? Working with tools that aren’t reliable, and you can’t count on? In business, or in blogging, it is extremely important to be able to communicate with your readers and other writers and business partners, be it online or on the phone, and know you can count on the tools you have.
The tools you’re using, are they reliable?
Take care! ;)
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30 Responses to “Working With Not So Reliable Tools - I Want Better Communication!”
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Yes, all too often my friend…lol…I remember my days as a landscaper all too fondly. Doing a job that required a back hoe with just a shovel because it had to get done, but the backhoe was again on the fritz.
Now, the technology does occasionally let me down. Like today when I was writing my lastest post about Twitters Google Juice and I clicked publish. I must have taken way too long, because it wanted me to log back in. The only piece of the post that was saved was the first sentence. So I rewrote it(hopefully better) and saved numerous times while writing. Guess I should learn to use a Word or some other editing program and then paste it into the WYSIWYG editor…You would think I would learn. lol
Hey Adam, lol, man it happened to me so many times!! But you use wordpress right? I’m not sure, but I run 2.1.something and it saves automatically
:) But still I usually save manually 2-3 times when I write a post.
I could list about a dozen different unreliable tools that I use on a daily basis! When I started thinking about this, I started trying to figure out what are the few pieces of technology that I can actually count on! Not many…
The one that really frustrates me? My Verizon XV6700 Windows Mobile Phone. It craps out/locks-up at the most in-opportune times…all the time. If I didn’t love the features so much it would have been gone already and I’d just suck up the cost of a new phone!
Hey Zen, same here, I can’t really count on many, even that computer I really really like, will sometimes act weird. ah! technology!
I still want an Iphone though, but I know it would let me down, so I won’t buy one! Thankfully it’s not available yet in Canada :)
Yes the hosting choice frustrated me too when I started.
Had a host which caused my site to load slowly and the bandwidth they bought was unreliable.
Took a while to sort out as they kept blaming “scripts” I was running.
Once we made the change have never looked back. We still use three hosts (for redundancy) and through the process have settled on one host where all our important sites are kept - just because they are the best of anything we have tried.
Hi there, well I just installed wordpress on that new MediaTemple server, and so far it’s great, loads fast, I like the control panel and all. So I’ll surely switch SWR to MT a little later this week.
They were blaming scripts your were using? well if it was only wordpress, it shouldn’t cause any trouble, depending on your traffic levels :)
Yes, Pixelheadonline is currently using an older Wordpress version. Another good reason to update…
Jon,
Can’t you use a USB mic? I have a logitech one that works on the Mac.
Hey Adam, hehe yep, gotta upgrade our tools to the latest versions :)
Goldy, you know what buddy? I haven’t even thought about that! Thanx a bunch! That’ll probably solve my communication probs! :)
I host my site with Host Gator and I’m very satisfied as there service has been very reliable. I also had good experience hosting with newwebsite.com.
Hi Steven, I’ve heard good things about Host Gator. I haven’t heard oof newwebsite before though, their prices seems fair. Thanks for the infos :)
In my experience, most hosting companies are the same with shared servers. If you get a dedicated server (and whoa that’s expensive) then your problems are solved.
I was recently invited to share a dedicated server with another blogger. I couldn’t do it in good conscience. I don’t have enough left over every month to pay my fair share.
Hey RT, yep dedicated servers are kind of xpensive, though it’s not so bad with mediatemple ($50/m). But still not cheap.
Jonathan,
I would REALLY like to know your thoughts on MediaTemple. I am especially interested in storage/bandwidth space vs. usability cost.
I am using GoDaddy right now for Today is that Day, and although I have no complaints about them, I am fairly certain I will need to switch to a server with more bandwidth in the near future.
Right now at Today is that Day I have the website itself, the blog, a fully-integrated ad server, and the soon to be launched VBulletin-based community software. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but I sense a server crash in the near future! ;)
the only unreliable tool I had was my old computer! I finally got that replaced, so everything is going swell. Good luck with the server change over!
Aaron, I will keep you posted buddy, so far the service is great, I moved another of my sites over to them, and it went fine. Now will just have to see if they can keep their promises hehe
Will keep you updated on that :)
Eve, thanx, I hope everything will go according to plans.
I also replaced my comp, but I should’ve gotten a faster one. this one I have does the job, but could be better. :)
Hey Jon!
I recently had a problem with using shared hosting…it was the worst experience ever for my blog. My site was taken down numerous times because I was using too much cpu usage on the server due to traffic…I recently changed over to Media Temple DV and right now I can’t be happier! So far it has been reliable and I can customize what I want on the server….
PilotJohn
John, that’s cool, so the nice things I’ve heard about MediaTemple are true I guess! :) Feels good to hear. So far I really like it, loads fast and the control panel is pretty slick :)
I thought that Wordpress was a pain when people hacked it. Upon finding out, it was merely because the domain does not belong to me and people just abuse it. By the way Jonathan, I guess you really helped out when I was facing the threats, the person is still using my identity though, I will still figure out how to stop him but here’s a little message,
I’m back to the blogosphere. :P
Hey Cedric, nice to know you’re back buddy! :)
I got your other e-mail, haven’t had time to reply yet, but will do tonight or early tomorrow.
Jon,
Great post. I think the dynamics of blogs create an ever growing community of liked minded people that you can’t get from your local community.
Locally trying to find like minded people is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Wordpress is a great tool to make this happen, but I have found the hard way that when you set it up using a FTP manually updating is a huge pain, but when you use the back end features of a good hosting company like http://www.low-cost-web-hosting-solutions.com , you can have them do all the updating work for you. Especially when Wordpress does a lot of updates.
Jon, Keep up the good work.
John Clark, http://www.lifetosuccess.com
Hi John, you’re right about the updates, it really is a pain, but to me it’s more about making sure the theme I’m using and that I modded won’t be broken when I update to the latest version. I haven’t experienced probs so far when updating expect some plugins that stopped working, but appart from that, no big issues.
I like to update manually though :)
I have been struggling to setup a good system for working on wordpress theme updates. I currently have a online test DB that I use to hack around in, but that doesn’t have updated information or the same plugin and such. I haven’t tried XAMP or WAMP for local services, since it has taken way too much time and learning to find the right option.
Not only am I wasting time trying to find a solution, but the solution I have is wasting time!
Hey Happy Rock! hehe “but the solution I have is wasting time” humm, there’s surely a better solution :)
You could always install the latest wp version on a test server instead of locally (I have this bad domain name I set up and use all the time for testing), get all those same plugins, and it would surely work fine. I guess :)
My biggest worry always is upgrades, one to many times i upgrade my wordpress and lose plugins in the process. So i have decided not to upgrade for a while unless it is a security issue.
Hi Victor, good point, it happens I will lose plugins after an upgrade too. Fortunately the “major” ones I use are updated frequently or worst case there’s a replacement. For as long as everything is secure and working fine, it’s all good I think.
blah, when a computer fails that’s one of the worst. last year approaching finals my computer crapped out and i had to buy a new motherboard which required a new graphic card, which required a new power supply. not the stress you need but that’s life and it only makes you stronger.
Hey bro! You’re right, makes us stronger! Well, don’t get me wrong, I do love my Mac! :) (no need to go and get a new graphic card or a new motherboard)
Hosting can be a pain, but running your own can be even more if you don’t know what you’re doing.
hehe, I’ve never run my own, but no doubt it can be a pain, unless you know what you’re doing :)