Blog hosting

Kevin Paul

Is it still better to host a blog offsite or should I run it through my Smugmug page?

I am working with a designer who is advising me if I have to run the blog off site it is better to just move my site completely so I am not working on 2 SEO's for 2 different sites.

I am not sure what to do. I have had smug mug for a few years but the SEO isn't coming the way I would like despite all of the SEO work (please no one link the same post again), and I want a blog just for my fun too.

Any help is very appreciated.

Hikin' Mike

You need to keep your blog on your own domain. I suggest creating a subdomain, like blog.photographybykevinpaul.com. Then download WordPress to that subdomain. That said, your home page is not exactly SEO-friendly. You might want to read the SEO for the Photographer in my signature below.

Hikin' Mike

Just to add, my SmugMug site is a subdomain and the only portion I use is the Galleries. My "main" site is a WordPress site.

denisegoldberg

If you plan to blog regularly then I agree with Mike - use a blogging platform. I use Blogger and I am quite happy with it. As with Mike's suggestion for Wordpress, you can also specify a URL for your blog if you use Blogger and you can set it to be a subdomain of your full URL.

--- Denise

Hikin' Mike

denisegoldberg wrote: »

If you plan to blog regularly then I agree with Mike - use a blogging platform. I use Blogger and I am quite happy with it. As with Mike's suggestion for Wordpress, you can also specify a URL for your blog if you use Blogger and you can set it to be a subdomain of your full URL.

--- Denise

I didn't know that. Doesn't look like you've done that though. So you could point your current Blogger (denisegoldberg.blogspot.com) to something like 'blog.denisegoldberg.com then?


To the OP:
If you go the WordPress route, make sure you use the self-hosting version (wordpress.ORG) and not wordpress.com. Doing the '.com' version all of your "link juice" is going to wordpress and NOT your site. Same with Blogger unless you can do a re-direct like Denise mentioned.

denisegoldberg

Hikin' Mike wrote: »

I didn't know that. Doesn't look like you've done that though. So you could point your current Blogger (denisegoldberg.blogspot.com) to something like 'blog.denisegoldberg.com then?

Yes, you can. And yes, I probably should change my blog to do that.

--- Denise

Kevin Paul

Sorry, I have such a block on this. I even tried hiring someone but couldn't afford it.

With smug mug would I have to buy a seperate domain, or can I just create a page and then install wordpress to that?

Is there a reason not to create a blog page and then just use smug mug pages to create blogs? I am comfortable a little bit in Smug mug but really not that knowledgeable of how this all works.

My main goal is to increase my SEO.

denisegoldberg

@Kevin Paul said:
With smug mug would I have to buy a seperate domain, or can I just create a page and then install wordpress to that?

Is there a reason not to create a blog page and then just use smug mug pages to create blogs?

My main goal is to increase my SEO.

You can't install WordPress on a page in your smug mug site. It would need to be outside of your site although you can reference it from your smug site.

If you are not planning to blog often then maybe using smug pages would work for you. Others have chosen that route although I much prefer using full blogging tool. My blog is on blogger but is referenced from my smug site.

Kevin Paul

@denisegoldberg said:

@Kevin Paul said:
With smug mug would I have to buy a seperate domain, or can I just create a page and then install wordpress to that?

Is there a reason not to create a blog page and then just use smug mug pages to create blogs?

My main goal is to increase my SEO.

You can'you install WordPress on a page in your smug mug site. It would need to be outside of your site although you can reference it from your smug site.

If you are not planning to blog often then maybe using smug pages would work for you. Others have chosen that route although I much prefer using full blogging tool. My blog is on blogger but is referenced from my smug site.

I just don't know how. If using another site/platform is better I'd be open to it, but not sure how to be honest.

denisegoldberg

@Kevin Paul said:

I just don't know how. If using another site/platform is better I'd be open to it, but not sure how to be honest.

If you don't know how to use Blogger or Wordpress then use SmugMug pages.

Here's a link to a tutorial on building blog pages within SmugMug - https://school.smugmug.com/SmugMug-Tips/How-to-Make-a-Photo-Blog.

Kevin Paul

@denisegoldberg said:

@Kevin Paul said:

I just don't know how. If using another site/platform is better I'd be open to it, but not sure how to be honest.

If you don't know how to use Blogger or Wordpress then use SmugMug pages.

Here's a link to a tutorial on building blog pages within SmugMug - https://school.smugmug.com/SmugMug-Tips/How-to-Make-a-Photo-Blog.

I really appreciate your help.

Hikin' Mike

@Kevin Paul said:
Sorry, I have such a block on this. I even tried hiring someone but couldn't afford it.

With smug mug would I have to buy a seperate domain, or can I just create a page and then install wordpress to that?

Is there a reason not to create a blog page and then just use smug mug pages to create blogs? I am comfortable a little bit in Smug mug but really not that knowledgeable of how this all works.

My main goal is to increase my SEO.

Looks like you already have your own domain. You should be able to create a subdomain (blog.photographybykevinpaul.com) and install the self-hosted version of WordPress there. The only "bad" thing is if you want to match the two, you may have a tough time doing that if you're now familiar with HTML/CSS.

Kevin Paul

Do you have a link on how you would install wordpress to a sub domain?

Hikin' Mike

It isn't any different between a domain vs subdomain. Some hosting companies have WordPreess installed. Mine didn't so I just FTP'd it using 'FileZilla Client'. I did a Google search for 'install wordpress' and found this: http://www.wpbeginner.com/how-to-install-wordpress/

pekr

Guys, support for discussions and blogging is a must nowadays. Suggesting ppl to set-up Worpress and host blog elsewhere, is not an acceptable answer imo. For us, some of the profi features (like ordering photos, presents, etc.) are not economically/delivery-wise a viable option already.

So .... I would really prefer Smug, instead of a hipster beer sessions, to implement a real stuff ;-) For me it is still the lack of anonymous comments at least with hidden galleries, or Disqus or other forum like service integration, plus blogging.

Will look into a posted tutorial and try how far I can get with just Smug Page/Galleries builder, to simulate a blog. Should be kind of doable, but not sure about comments/discussions ...