So, you’ve decided to go self-hosted. Now what?

Written by Elizabeth on July 26, 2008 – 11:26 pm -

My dear friend Tresha has a blog on Wordpress.com, and she has grown frustrated with her inability to make her site look just the way she wants. Ah, I was once in her shoes. I went from Blogger to Wordpress.com, but with the encouragement of a good blog friend who runs a blog design company, and a boost of courage from attending BlogHer ‘06, I took the plunge and bought my own domain. I chose my host, Bluehost, on my friend’s recommmendation, but if I had wanted to do some research first, I could have used a site like Web Hosting Geeks to read web hosting reviews. They review and rate web hosts and publish their top ten favorites right on the home page of their site. The Editor’s Choice pick for best hosting goes to Bluehost, yay!

WHG also has an excellent Web Hosting Guide page, which explains in an easy-to-understand way what some of the important things are to look for when choosing a web host. Scroll further down the page and you’ll find links to Popular Web Hosting articles, there’s a plethora of great information in those articles. Don’t be afraid to get your own domain and go self-hosted! There are tons of great resources out there to help, bloggers like me who remember how scary it is at the thought of having all these files to be responsible for, and it really is an empowering feeling to have your own domain. So come on, be the master of your own domain (heh). And check out Web Hosting Geeks, too!


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Posted in Blogging | 7 Comments »

I’m on my way to BlogHer!

Written by Elizabeth on July 17, 2008 – 9:48 am -

I’m actually writing this post from the Michigan Flyer, a Coach Bus that travels from East Lansing (one city over from where I live) to the Detroit airport and back, it has free WiFi, satellite TV and radio, an outlet for my laptop, and it only cost $25 bucks each way! I’m never driving to the Detroit airport again!

We picked up passengers in Jackson and now we’re on our way to Ann Arbor to pick up a few more, then on to the airport! I leave at 12:17 pm Michigan time and arrive in San Francisco at 2:14 their time, so it’s 4 hours and 57 minutes in the air. I brought my MP3 player and my Sony Digital Reader to pass the time. I bought “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer and “Are you there Vodka? It’s me Chelsea” by Chelsea Handler and downloaded them to the Sony Reader, so I don’t even have to carry books!

Excuse me for a moment, readers, I need to address any of the WONDERFUL companies and PR firms who have recently (or not so recently) sent me products to review or agreed to sponsor a giveaway:

I’M SORRY I AM SO BEHIND. I tried, I really did, I even asked a blog friend to help me get organized and she made me this nifty Google Document Spreadsheet with all the reviews and giveaways listed on it, and it was supposed to have me all caught up. But I just couldn’t keep up with the schedule AND get ready for BlogHer at the same time. I promise, PROMISE you that when I get home, I am going to write every single review and run every single giveaway, and not take on anything new until I am caught up.Thank you all SO MUCH for your patience!

And readers? Please keep reading while I’m gone! My sponsors check my stats pretty regularly, and if unique visits drop way off, they will stop sponsoring, and that will mean less giveaways, so please, stop by, read something from the archives, I would really, REALLY appreciate it!

I’ll be home from BlogHer on Monday morning (plane lands at the unholy hour of FIVE AM, Michigan Flyer bus leaves at 6:25, I’ll be home by 8:30 AM). I’ll work on uploading photos and write some reviews of all the great SWAG we are sure to be getting, and then I’ll check for giveaways that are ending or have already ended and choose those winners.

Thank you all so much, dear readers! Thanks to all of you, MomReviews is a huge hit, and I couldn’t have done it without you. It’s because of you and your support of this blog that I get to do the great giveaways and go on the awesome trips. OH! OH! I forgot to tell you! On Monday, July 27th, I’m going to Cincinnati to meet with the people from PAMPERS at Proctor and Gamble headquarters!! Pampers is the only brand of diapers that didn’t make Kaitlyn break out in a heinous rash, so I can’t wait to tell them how loyal I am to their brand. And I’ll have more great stuff to post here, too!

I should stop writing now, GEEZ. We’re almost to Ann Arbor! Big smooches to everybody, have a great weekend, I’ll try to post a bit from BlogHer!!!!


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Posted in BlogHer '08, Blogging, Personal | 18 Comments »

A Message to Readers of MomReviews

Written by Elizabeth on May 24, 2008 – 11:02 pm -

My dearest, sweetest, loveliest readers, I know it probably drives you crazy that every time you come here, the theme has changed yet again. I’m breaking one of the biggest rules for how NOT to look like a new blogger. I’m supposed to find a theme and stick with it, so that every time you come here, you know exactly what to expect.

But, I am NOT SATISFIED. This theme that I have now, it’s close, but it’s just not quite right. I like the width, how it takes up most of the screen rather than be squished into the middle like so many free blog themes are. I like that it has room for my four BlogQuake ads, but, I don’t know, there’s just something missing. Something that says “hey look! It’s the MomReviews blog!”

*le sigh* I just want it to be perfect for YOU, because YOU are the ones coming here to read! It’s all you, you, YOU! So, I’ll keep looking, trying new things, and one of these days, I just might have to pay for a custom design so that it’s everything I want. Feel free to leave suggestions about themes, too. If I ever have one that you just don’t like, go ahead and say so, it won’t hurt my feelings, I promise :)


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Posted in Blogging | 10 Comments »

Drive traffic to your blog with Buzzfuse

Written by Elizabeth on February 1, 2008 – 12:07 am -


Buzzfuse wants to see your content! Create a free account, and then place the Buzzfuse widget on any post. You can see the widgets on my posts “Look at me, conquering my fears”, and on “Win a Diaper Bag Tote from Land’s End”. If you click either of those widgets, you can rate, review, and share those posts with other people. It’s viral marketing at it’s finest! Create a free account, and you can see what others are buzzing about, too.

Once you tag a piece of content with the Buzzfuse widget, you can use the same widget code anywhere that content appears-a blog, a website, a social marketing site-giving the content that many more chances to get rated and reviewed. Send emails to friends inviting them to become a fan of your content, and create a circle of readers who specifically are interested in your content. With a premium membership you can add features such as questionnaires to the emails your fans can sign up for, delivering your new content right to their inboxes.

I’ll be giving Buzzfuse a try to see if it helps drive any new traffic to this site. You are always welcome to click the widgets and there is no obligation to join, but it would be fun if you did, or if you became a fan of my content!

Use Buzzfuse* to easily rate, review, and share this item


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Posted in Blogging, Websites | No Comments »