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I won’t bore you with the details, but just a quick note to let you know that after receiving some atrocious service from WordPress.com recently, I’ve decided to host this blog myself from now on.
Yes, I’m surprised it took me so long too.
Apologies in advance for any problems that may arise as I go to town playing with new themes and plugins make the transition over the next week or so then, and for those of you that subscribe to the RSS feed, please note that the old thegrandnarrative.wordpress.com one will no longer work once I’ve finished sorry. Those of you that already use the thegrandnarrative.com one though, shouldn’t have any problems.
Meanwhile, I’ll still be posting as normal, and if anyone can recommend a web hosting service and/or give any advice about making the transition from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, then that would be really appreciated!
The Grand Narrative 
You wanted suggestions for hosting. You’ll need a Linux server with PHP5/MySQL.
Two good ones are:
• HostGator.com – I use and recommend this one to my clients. I’ve never had a problem and they have good customer service.
• MediaTemple.net – Never used it, but it’s mentioned as another well-liked service.
If this is your first time or nth time using WordPress, I recommend you purchase the eBook from http://www.digwp.com
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I’ve had great experiences using wp.org for my first blog, which I self-hosted (http://thenationalgadfly.com). It allows a lot more control of format, content and advertising. The admin dashboard is strikingly similar to what you already use. As for hosts, I use Mojohost and they are wonderful!
You’ll need an ftp program and FileZilla is great as a standalone program. FireFTP is an addon for Firefox that also allows you to manage your site admin tasks.
Email me if you want to some company on your new venture. I can skype up with you and log in alongside you if it helps.
-arvan
admin@sexgenderbody.com
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I use Site5 for hosting–great service, excellent uptime, and a great choice if you’ve got multiple blogs.
I second the suggestion of FileZilla.
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Congratulations :) I use dreamhost.com for all of my sites (talktheclouds.com, readableblog.com, and so on), and it handles WordPress very well (it’s built in, actually, though I have no idea how it works with transferring). I have discount codes if you’d like them. They have good support and communication, and the fees are low. Adding additional sites costs nothing more than the $9.95 for registering the domain name.
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Good luck!
My first webhost was a total disaster – no security and I got hacked. Bluehost (my second) were OK, but I soon outgrew them. Now I’m on a VPS at Knownhost. The problem I find: when response times are slow, I never know whether I’ve got too many plugins going or whether the other users on the server are hogging all the CPU. Service at both Bluehost and Knownhost are good in my experience.
Moving from shared server to a VPS was a huge step for me in terms of having to know a whole load of tech stuff, which made me very nervous, but I’ve been on the same platform since April 2008 – so far without incident. There are some very boring posts on my move here: http://londonkoreanlinks.net/category/lkl/adhoc/
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Thanks for the advice, offers of help, and recommendations everyone. Fortunately, I have a copy of WordPress For Dummies to get me started at least, bought a couple of years ago when I first thought about going self-hosting (and should have). Hopefully that section of it at least shouldn’t be too outdated.
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LOL..
it’s unrelated to anything.. but I love that picture…..
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Great minds think alike: I’ve been pissing myself laughing it for months now…
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I used to use Bluehost for an old blog I had, and it was great. They have a WordPress.org option to make the transition so much easier, and you don’t have to sort out all the tech-y stuff :)
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Thanks also!
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