Taking blogging to the next level

I started blogging a few months ago after a girlfriend turned me on to it.  "It's a great way to express yourself!" she said.  I didn't think I'd have much to express, let alone express it for the world to see.  My friend added, "Don't worry, share as much or as little as you'd like.  If you have something to say, don't be afraid to say it."  Well, I'm not one to care so much what people think about what I do or say.  So, could blogging be a good complementary outlet to "express myself"?  I suppose so.

Hmmm, how do I start blogging?  I started doing some research about it; googled my eyes out to learn as much as I can.  Should I go on one of those free blogging sites, i.e. blogger.com :), and start typing away?  Should I buy my own domain name that represents me as a person, (or as a place, or as a thing, vegetable, mineral)? 

I chose the latter.  Then what came next was something that went way over my head.  Where in the world would I go to build my so-called blog?  Again I goggled Google.  Fortunately, my friend helped me with that.  She had been hosting her blog on Hostgator.  Funny name, that web host.  Why Hostgator?  Why should I host with someone who's mascot is an alligator chomping away at the letter 'H'.  I thought for a minute, doesn't that 'H' in the gator's mouth represent 'Hosting', thus me as a hosting customer?  Eek!  You'd think the gator would be protecting the H instead of eating it.  But I digress....

So, my friend sent me to a site that talks about Hostgator. She told me to check out the video and if I'm still not sold on it, that I should try them out for a month, for only a penny.  Hmm, can't beat that offer I suppose.  Although FREE might have been better.  I mean, what's the deal with having to plop down $.01 to this company?  LOL!

I decided to try Hostgator using their penny hosting offer.  I have to say I was impressed. They helped me register my domain name and walked me through setting up my account.  Cool.  Signing up was only the beginning.  I can get around on a computer but I'm not webhosting savvy (read, I'm not that geeky).  I had many more questions along the way, 27 more questions to be exact.  The other great thing is Hostgator has some pretty geeky technicians that helped me out and answered every single one of my 27 questions.  I was certainly making them earn their 'one cent' keep.

My one month trial came to an end and I decided to continue with them at only $4.95/mo (decided to prepay for the year).  Pretty good deal I think, yeah?  For the price of one of my favorite Starbucks drinks, venti soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha, I've got me a website. My blog is taking off.  At the time of this writing, all 12 of my followers, family excluded, enjoy reading my musings.  At least from their comments, it seems they like what I have to rant and rave about.

I'm learning as I go and I hope to share with readers of this blog some of those things I learned, specifically tips and tricks if you decide to host your blog with Hostgator.

Ok, time for a venti white mocha. You can learn more about why Hostgator is the best web host in the universe :)

Lastly, in case you might be wondering what 'FTW' means in the title, I only found this out myself a couple of weeks ago.  FTW means 'for the win'.  So I made this blog to let you know, if you are looking for a webhost, it's Hostgator Web Host FTW :)

Take care!