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10:24 pm
June 10, 2011
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QuoteHey everybody
I am a hopeless "do it yourselfer" and I have just spent WAY too much time trying to build a new website with Wordpress. I downloaded all the blog post building software from Wordpress.com, and things were going OK until I tried to install my Aweber web form that links to my squeeze page. No go. My plan was to get my site all built, and then upload it to Dreamhost for hosting, but it appears it doesn't work that way. In order to upload a webform from Aweber, you need to be building a site through wordpress.org ---not wordpress.com I have seen plenty of music websites built through wordpress.com, and I just assumed they weren't using Aweber, since they didn't have any Aweber webforms.
John, I remember seeing somewhere that your website was built from a Wordpress blog, and you have the Aweber web form on you site. Did you, or the person that made your website use wordpress.org?
I know I should just hire a pro to do this, but my wife has been out of work for almost 2 years (thanks to the economy, and the fact that we live in a fairly remote area....yeah, I drive a looooong way to gigs!) and I really can't afford to pay several hundred dollars, or more for a website designer right now. I am still reworking my current website (http://www.gregparke.com) and I would probably stay with it, but it was built with my hosting company's templates and I can't transfer it to another hosting company. Thier service and support is outstanding, but they are charging me $30 per month to host my website and squeeze page.
Anybody else have any experience or suggestions for building your own website?
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
12:17 am
June 10, 2011
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Explain why you can't use the AWeber form again? It's just a line of Javascript, you should be able to place it
exactly where you want it to appear on your page or anywhere on any page for that matter; ".com" or ".org"
should have no bearing on being able to use it.
It looks like you have your form working on your mainsite, is the issue to get it on your squeeze page
also?
1:02 am
June 9, 2011
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Greg,
If you are paying for hosting, it's better to go with wordpress.org
Both wordpress sites are free, but .org is and actual installation on your website's server.
.com is hosted over at wordpress
Don't worry though, all your hard work has not gone to waste. It's always good to have another web "property" out there to help promote/ protect your brand.
Now I have never tried to put an opt-in form on a wp.com site, but I agree with Tim, I don't see how it matters which you are. The form is just code and should work.
The only thing I can think of is that because your wp.com is hosted on their servers, they don't want to be liable for any unscrupulous activity that some marketers out there actually try to get away with.
But you definitely want to have an installation of the wordpress.org platform on your server. There other advantages like being able to hide download pages outside of the platform so that people don't find them by happy accident, or by you accidentally listing sensitive pages in the "recently posted" archives.
It sucks when you set up a system to make people sign-up only to find you left the backdoor wide open
You should also look into more affordable hosting. I use Bluehost.com and could not be happier with them. The price is decent too.
4:29 am
June 10, 2011
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Hey Steve and Tim
My Aweber webform is working great on both my current website and on my squeeze page. It's the new website I was trying to build with wordpress.com where the problem comes up. I should have been using wordpress.org instead.
Wordpress.com is a free blog site, and some people use for websites too, but they don't allow you to upload the html for webforms from outside sources. I didn't realize when I first started trying to build a new website that there was a difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org. I discovered this after reading the FAQ's. Wordpress.org will allow you to build a site pretty much anyway you choose, including uploading html for webforms, but you have to have the site hosted somewhere else. That's what I thought I was doing...building a site that I could upload to a paid hosting company, like Dreamhost. I wanted to post this to save any body else the headache of doing all that work like I did, only to find that wordpress.com has limitations!
I was trying to save a few bucks by building a site myself so I could switch to a more affordable hosting company. I can't switch my current website to a different hosting company because I made that site using my current hosting company's proprietary templates and they cannot be moved. That's why they charge as much as they do...they had everything I needed to build and maintain my website, as well as host it, for $20 a month. It seemed like a pretty good deal several years ago when I just had the one website, and thier customer support is outstanding. When I added my squeeze page, they charged me another $10 per month, so now it doesn't seem like such a good deal! When I can get another website built, I should be able to get all the hosting I need for both my website and squeeze page for about $10 a month.
I will try again, but this time with Wordpress.org!
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
2:33 pm
June 9, 2011
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Greg, the templates may be proprietary, but the content is not.
Wordpress will allow you to import all of your articles without having to make it a new post in the eyes of the search engine.
Something to consider though…
If you are not already getting a ton of search engine love, I would not worry about starting again and copying and pasting all of your existing content into wordpress.org
In fact, you may find that because of the way wordpress is set up, that you may actually get more search engine love just by making the switch.
The themes offered (the way your site looks) are probably just as good, if not better than the proprietary ones from your hosting… and most of them are free.
An additional $10 a month for a single squeeze page is a bunch of horseshit. Squeeze pages are free.
Your total website costs should simply be around $6- $8/mo for hosting and the annual domain registration fee ($10/yr.)
Bluehost is $5.95 a month for unlimited domains, email addresses, databases and such.
Outside of that it's just the auto responder cost. That's basically all you need. Sometime down the line you may want to do some paid advertising, but for the "overhead" of a website, you are being gouged at what your paying right now.
I know that when you don't have a ton of web design/programming skill, it's easy to get attached to templates you paid for, but moving to wordpress will not only show you a better deal, but you'll also start to develop some of those skills in the process.
Hell, I'd even be willing to help you through an installation of wordpress that looks really cool and is easy to add content to. Believe me, I'm not going to pop you for ten bucks a page.
Greg-
Are they charging you the extra $10 because you're hosting the squeeze page under a different domain? Im in the same pickle there. Just because I wanted my squeeze page to be completely separate from my main site. So my squeeze page is http://www.deanfields.net but my site is http://www.deanfields.com . And each costs me a monthly hosting fee. Anyone know a way around this?
DRESSED HIS WIFE UP LIKE A HORSE FOR HIS NEW ALBUM COVER
http://www.deanfields.net
11:24 pm
June 7, 2011
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Hey Greg,
It's been a while since I've had a wordpress.com site but when I did you could have your own aweber code in there. I'm surprised to hear that you can't. This is the first I'm hearing of it.
With that said, I would never put all that work into a site that I didn't own anyway. You also have a ton of additional control if it's your own hosted wordpress site.
Setting up a wordpress site on your own site is really simple. But you need hosting first. Check out part 1 of the membership site training. It takes just a few minutes.
I believe you could set it up on one domain and then move it over, but I've never moved a site before so it's a bit over my head. And moving a wordpress site is a little trickier than moving a html site.
You might also google keywords like "free wordpress themes for musicians" or "free wordpress themes for bands" and you should find some themes that require minimal tweaking.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
11:25 pm
June 7, 2011
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Dean Fields said:
Greg-
Are they charging you the extra $10 because you're hosting the squeeze page under a different domain? Im in the same pickle there. Just because I wanted my squeeze page to be completely separate from my main site. So my squeeze page is http://www.deanfields.net but my site is http://www.deanfields.com . And each costs me a monthly hosting fee. Anyone know a way around this?
What host are you with Dan? Most hosts give you unlimited domain names. You have to pay for the domain itself, but that's only $10 a year.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
hostbaby. My domains and hosting is through them. im only staying with them because my old list is with them. It has 3200 emails on it and I havent yet been able to get a bunch of them to switch over to aweber.
Ill check in with them to see if there has been a mistake.
But if you suggestions of folks to host with..im all ears.
DRESSED HIS WIFE UP LIKE A HORSE FOR HIS NEW ALBUM COVER
http://www.deanfields.net
1:42 pm
June 7, 2011
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Dean Fields said:
hostbaby. My domains and hosting is through them. im only staying with them because my old list is with them. It has 3200 emails on it and I havent yet been able to get a bunch of them to switch over to aweber.
Ill check in with them to see if there has been a mistake.
But if you suggestions of folks to host with..im all ears.
Gotchya. I have nothing against Host Baby. i think they offer a fine service. It just doesn't mesh with what I'm personally trying to do as a marketer. And as you mentioned. They are expensive once you try to step outside of the site builder format.
When you try to move a list, it's normal that only a fraction will bother to confirm. There is little you can do about it unless Host Baby requires people to click a confirmation button when they sign up. If they do then there is an audit trail and it's no problem to just import your entire list into Aweber directly. I lost 90% of my list when I moved to Aweber as well. The only positive way of looking at it is that those who don't sign up, probably wouldn't have ever purchased anyway. But still. It's a bummer.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
4:50 am
June 10, 2011
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Hey guys,
Sorry it took me so long to get back to this thread, but I've been on a road gig and just got back home.
Thanks for all you responses...I'll try to reply to all of them before I fall asleep from the past few long nights and the long drive!
I had no problem finding themes, both on wordpress and on google. There are tons of them out there, and some are specificly for musicians. It wasn't until I tried installing the HTML for my Aweber web form into a theme with wordpress.com that I hit a brick wall. That's when I did some searching and found in the Wordpress FAQ that they no longer allow that sort of thing. It is allowed if you are paying for hosting, and building a website using wordpress.org.
I also didn't understand that you need to have your hosting set up first, and then build a website using wordpress.org. I assumed I could build the site first, using any of the themes available, and then get my hosting and upload my new site. I have been looking at several website building programs, and that is how they work: buy the program, build your site on your computer, and then upload it to your hosting company. I now understand that Wordpress is a completly different approach.
When I posted this original thread, I was a bit rummy from too many hours at the computer. I really was just trying to give anybody who might be trying to do the same thing I was, a warning that you couldn't put an Aweber web form on a website built with wordpress.com.
My current website is still hosted and built at hostbaby.com. I recently completly redid that entire site, and it tool me about 1/2 an hour, start to finish, as opposed to two days before I hit the brick wall when I tried to build another website with wordpress.com. That is why I have stayed with Hostbaby for so many years. It is sooooo easy to work with, but at a price of $20 a month. Charging me another $10 a month to host my squeeze page after being a loyal customer after this many years was a bit of a slap in the face. That's the only reason I am looking into other options. And yeah Dean, to answer your question, I do have my squeeze page with a different domain. I was a bit surprized when Hostbaby charged me another $10 per month to host my squeeze page. I may call them and tell them that I am going to go elswhere for my hosting unless they drop the extra $10. I'll let you know if they do.
Steve.....thanks for your offer. I may have a few questions for you when I attempt to tackle this again, even if you do charge me $10 a page! ;>)
Thanks again guys, for all your help. I really appreciate it!
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
3:27 pm
August 27, 2011
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Just to confirm - Wordpress.com does not allow third party scripts of any kind and it's been that way since I first started a .com site back in summer of 2007. This is why Wordpress.com isn't worth your time (for a money site) - you don't get to use the plugins that are what really make using Wordpress attractive in the first place, or auto-responder code as Greg pointed out.
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