For years I’ve had a love-hate relationship with blogging. I’ve always loved to blog, I’ve always loved to write, but the problem has always been the medium in which I do it. I’ve tried 
WordPress, Drupal, Moveable Type, and a few other platforms. Each one is different from the other and each one has its pros and cons. WordPress is simple from the beginning. Even the code behind WordPress is fairly simple and easy to understand.
Drupal, MT, and ther rest are good platforms, but they aren’t good for blogging; not for me anyway.
My honest issue has always been with speed. I haven’t blogged because I couldn’t get my properties to load fast enough. Paid hosting, self hosting, caching, no caching, I couldn’t seem to get it right…until now. I’ve got some tips that anyone can use to enrich their blogging experience.
1. Pick a GREAT Host.
Like I said, I used to host myself. This posed several issues. First off, the upload speed required for a website sucks at home. Hands down. ISPs broadcast their download speeds, but never their upload speeds- and it’s for a reason! I get 6 Mb downloads, but 768k uploads. That’s nowhere near enough to host a fast website.
You need a good host. If you’re not sure if you should go managed or not, go managed. That way, you don’t have to do anything server side, or in a shell. Some hosts even have one click WordPress installs! It doesn’t beat that!
If you can afford it and want total control, look at Amazon’s EC2 or Rackspace’s CloudServers.
2. Cache to save Cash!
Caching is a big deal, and there are several different kinds, but it all boils down to disk caching and caching in memory (RAM). Disk caching is good if the drives are physically fast enough, but caching in the memory is significantly faster.
Find a plugin that works for you. W3-Total Cache is my choice. It supports all sorts of caching, and even CDN support (more on that later)!
3. Pick a theme you LOVE.
I wasn’t happy blogging because of my themes! Finally, John Saddington/8-bit released the Standard Theme and I’ve been in heaven ever since. I love the framework and the ease of customization.
Standard Theme makes me want to blog, your theme should do the same!
After years of experimenting, I can finally say I’m happy with my blog! I’m really looking forward to the future of An Altered Reality – now more than ever.
I hope those 3 tips are helpful, and always, if you have any questions, I’ll be glad to answer in the comments!
