patti tucker, Author at Patti Tucker

Is Your Website Hosting Company Worth the Money?

Thursday, August 17, 2017 By patti tucker Leave a Comment

You know the drill.

You want to build a website – you ask around for the best website hosting recommendations that will be worth your money – you get BLASTED with blistering opinions about every hosting company on the Interwebs.

Been there. Done that.

How the heck do you make a decision?

Start with research or a trusted friend’s experience. (Hey! That’s me!)

Before we begin, business first: The Siteground link is an affiliate link. Why? Because, I love them. Love. Them.

Is Your Website Hosting Company Worth The Money?

As you read through the reviews, ask yourself if your website company is meeting your needs. Think about downtime, page-loading speed, security, ease of customer support and cost.

I’ve been hosting websites for years and have lots of experience with a few hosting companies.

The very first hosting company I used was Go-Daddy and while I know many folks complain about them, I honestly have never had a bad experience with them in all the years I’ve used them.

Based on my experience, I can safely recommend them, especially if you are just starting out and trying to maintain a tight budget.

Go-Daddy

Pros:

~ Inexpensive

~ Easy to set-up

~ 24/7 helpful helpline

~ Little downtime experienced

Cons:

~ Add-ons (like a SSL cert) can be more expensive than other hosting companies.

~ Renewal navigation has a hard upsell process that is easily navigated, but annoying.

~ Account Menu can be a bit confusing.

Worth The Money?

Yes.

Overall, Go-Daddy made my life easy with every call I made to them.

Once, they actually went above and beyond when my site went down and helped me to restore that badboy within an hour.

When I changed hosting companies, they couldn’t have been more professional in helping me switch info that needed to be changed.

So, why did I leave?

Unnecessary expense.

I needed an SSL cert for a site and didn’t want to spend what they were asking, when I could get it included with my hosting through my current company, SiteGround.

We all have our lines in the sand, right?

SiteGround

Pros:

~ Incredibly helpful customer support

~ Highly responsive chat box communications

~ 3 Affordable Monthly Plans (with SSL cert included)

~ Easy to use and navigate

~ Best website hosting support for newbs or experts

~ Incredibly loyal users that sing praises (always a good sign)

~ Discounts galore

~ Amazing affiliate program

Cons:

~ So far…none…not one.

Worth the Money?

Yes. Absolutely 100% yes.

I think it’s obvious why I upgraded. So. Much. YAS!

I am spending a bit more for my website hosting with SiteGround, but my site is growing and I needed to upgrade one way or another.

They made migration easy cheesy. Mmmm, cheese.

I had heard/read so much awesome sauce from people who were using SiteGround that I included it on my list to research. They went from the long list, to the short list, to the top of the list, and the rest is history.

SiteGround has handled every issue I’ve had (the only issues were in the transfer and they were minor). They made transferring my site less stressful and over-delivered when doing so.

Here’s some glorious affiliate linkage!

Next up is a WordPress hosting company called Synthesis.

They don’t have an affiliate program, but if they did, I’d be all over it, because they’re my absolute favorite hosting company.

Synthesis

Pros:

~ Super fast page load speeds

~ Rock-solid security

~ Content and web optimization

~ Keyword and social media research

~ Knowledgeable and fast WordPress hosting help

Cons:

~ Pricey

~ No helpline number. All communication through emails.

Worth The Money?

Yes.

Years ago, when I was building a new website with the idea that I wanted to make money through it, I planned ahead by using a hosting company I could grow into. I wanted large traffic numbers to be a non-issue. (dream big or go home, right?)

In the beginning, I knew was overpaying for my website hosting, but as I grew (and was locked in to the original pricing), it turned out I had made a shrewd move.

Synthesis met all my requirements then and continues to this day.

Synthesis is serious hosting for serious WordPress users. They are all WordPress, all the time. They are the experts in the field.

There are tons of other website hosting companies and my bet is you probably use one not listed here, but in case you are thinking of changing, these three companies are solid choices in three different price ranges (dependent on your site goals).

Recap:

I loved Go-Daddy all the years I used them (still have domain names through them). They were always helpful and able to solve whatever issues I had.

When I switched my Go-Daddy account to a SiteGround account for one of my sites, I was nervous. The reviews for SiteGround were great, people seemed to love them, but would they work for me? What would be my experience?

Change is hard, yo!

Turns out I love them enough to marry them.

They were priced right and saved me money. Who doesn’t LOVE that?

I haven’t regretted my decision for one day. If you’re looking for a company that is affordable and reliable and super helpful, SiteGround may be for you.

Lastly, my love for Synthesis continues. I took the plunge years ago and never looked back.

My biggest complaint with them is that I can’t talk to the help desk. They manage all trouble tickets with email correspondence. As a newb, so many years ago, that scared the beegeebers outta me. Turns out, I shouldn’t have worried.

Each trouble ticket has been handled swiftly and they’ve walked me through each blip effortlessly. These guys know what they’re doing and they do it at a level that will blow your socks off.

BLOW ‘EM OFF!

Now that I have more experience with site building, my issues are less, but knowing they are there, ready to catch me, makes me able to leap farther with less anxiety that I’m going to screw something up. But – if I do – they’ll be there with the ointment and fix my boo-boo with care.

If you are searching for a new website hosting company, I hoped this post has helped.

Get to building!

Interested in building your OWN WordPress site? CLICK HERE

A New Direction Will Make You the Envy of Your Peers!

Thursday, July 27, 2017 By patti tucker 6 Comments

Are your friends retiring?

Do you feel there’s more left in you to offer this world?

Are you an old dog yearning to learn new tricks?

I’m here to tell you there’s an entire world of opportunity on the Internets – just waiting for you to open the tap on your unique brand of awesome sauce.

Mmmm, sauce…

If you follow my facebook page – you DO follow my facebook page, right?! – you saw this video:

Old dog, much?

That’s okay, mah baby, me too!

As I mentioned, I had a convo with an older friend and they asked about retirement.

NOPE! Not retiring. Can’t make me.

When asked further, I went into a long-winded (shocking – right?) explanation about how excited I am to be building an online copywriting business that is an extension of ALL THE WRITING I do ever’day anyway.

I ended with: I’m never retiring! There’s too much I want to learn and do. Don’t you have that drive, too?

No judgement if you don’t, but my guess is if you’re here, reading these words, you do.

No Netflix and retirement for you!

Isn’t it a glorious time to be alive? Age doesn’t matter when you run a business online.

Repeat after me: AGE DOESN’T MATTER!!!

Can you feel my excitement for you? For me?

The trick now is to figure out what you’re good at doing anyway, business or not.

Writing?

Building cat toys?

Cooking?

Building businesses?

Consulting?

Rafting? (don’t roll your eyes, Missy! There’s a niche for practically everything.)

After you figure out what you’re ALREADY doing for free, that’s where the gold is.

Next, you take time to understand if you’ll offer a service (like me) or a product (oooo, that’s me too!).

After that, you build a website to feature your services or products, and they will come (well, you’ll have to do some work to direct folks to your shiny new joint, but you’ll be on your way).

What if you have an idea, but feel like the oldest of dogs because you don’t know what to do when?

It’s gonna be okay. You’ll learn a new skill, then build on each new skill, until you arrive at your dream non-retirement suite.

Trust me. I’ve done it and so can you.

You’re smart. You’re full o’wisdom and experience. You’re gonna be the envy of your peers.

If you’ve decided you want to blaze a new online trail, that you don’t want to retire (or maybe you can’t retire), you’ve found a friend in me.

My blog posts will be specifically designed to help you get from A to ZOOOOOM!

Let’s have some fun together, shall we? Let’s kick some old dog ass!

Are you in?

Interested in building your OWN WordPress site? CLICK HERE

Life is Like Learning How To Drive a Stick

Thursday, July 6, 2017 By patti tucker Leave a Comment

Do you know how to drive a stick – a standard?

I learned in my 30s. In my 30s!

We bought a standard truck, that Garry drove, and I stuck with the car we already had, thank you very much, which made it easy to make excuses not to learn how to drive a stick.

Quickly after that purchase, Garry got a job that supplied a company car and we made the decision to sell our car – BAM! – suddenly, it was learn how to drive the beast or be stranded all day (pre-Uber, y’all!).

I decided I’d take my maiden voyage in a mall parking lot early on a Sunday afternoon. Traffic would be light and I could send Garry and Boy into the arcade with a roll of quarters (man, I’m dating myself here).

After last minute instructions from Garry, I slid into the driver’s seat, watched them head into the mall, prayed for my safety and those around me, then started the truck, with the clutch firmly in place.

Prior to that afternoon, Garry and I had gone over all the basics, but I was too scared to take the truck out into actual traffic. The mostly deserted parking lot turned out to be a great alternative.

I gave myself a quick pep talk, “Gonna be fine. Everything is fine.”

And it was, until I goosed the gas and let out the clutch.

~ JERKITTY JERK JERK FORWARD STOP ~

I laughed the laugh of the terrified.

I let up on the accelerator and pushed the clutch back to the floorboard.

What was I thinking? How in the holy hell was I going to teach myself how to master a stick, when my first try gave me a brain bruise?

The truck was still running – A WIN! – so, I tried again.

~ JERKITTY JERK JERK FORWARD STOP~

This time I didn’t get the clutch to the floorboard fast enough and stalled out.

I beat on the steering wheel and cussed – I was pissed in my inability to drive the truck. I was a grown woman, for goodness sake. I had listened to everything Garry had taught me. We had practiced on the safety of our street. Yet, the endless voice zipping between my ears: I know how to do this, but I’m not doing it, so maybe I can’t do it.

Any of this sounding familiar?

Life is like learning how to drive a stick.

You have read books, taken classes, watched videos, listened to podcasts, talked with folks who know more than you, gleaned knowledge, made a plan – made a damned good plan – started – only to jerk forward and stall out.

~ jerk forward – stall out – cuss – restart – jerk forward ~

Yeah, pretty much just like that.

I could have stopped there. I could have waited for my family to rejoin me and tell them I had failed, to tell them I had tried, but just couldn’t get the hang of it.

I refused.

I restarted that truck a hundred times. I jerked it all over the parking lot, for hours. I practiced stopping at the top of the hills, rolling backwards, slamming on the brakes, then cautiously moving forward. Like a jerk.

I stalled out, hundreds of times. I cussed, hundreds of time. I beat the steering wheel with my hands, hundreds of times.

I smack-talked the truck: you will NOT win, mofo! NOT TODAY!

At one point, mall security shadowed me, not quite sure if I needed help or if it was just a fun way to pass the time – watching this woman beat the hell outta her truck. (It was a different time, my babies. A gal jerking a standard truck all over a mall parking lot was nothing of concern – only amusement.)

After a couple of hours, I could drive my truck (that’s right, now it was mine) without stalling out…much.

I learned from my repeated miscues and false starts. I learned from doing – where I needed to ease the clutch and where I needed to goose the accelerator. I also learned the importance of STANDING on the brake, when needed.

It was exhausting.

When Garry and Boy emerged quarter-less, I officially could drive a stick. Ugly drive that badboy, nevertheless, I could do it.

Much of what we learn in this life is the same. It takes a mixture of knowledge, concerted effort and the sheer will to keep jerking forward to produce results.

In whatever you learn, in whatever endeavor or dream you embrace, know there will be days when you want to kick the tires and move on to an automatic. Life is easy there, in your comfort zone, right? There’s no jerking forward, stalling out, cussing, or restarting.

The problem with that scenario is you don’t get anywhere new. You’re stuck in automation.

If you want to grow, to expand, to enjoy success on your own terms, to experience freedom, you’ll need to learn how to drive a stick and live.

Even if a mall cop is following you and having a good laugh.

You may be stalling out and wondering what the hell you’re doing, but with enough restarts, one day you’ll be stopped at the precipice of the biggest hill you’ve ever traveled and KNOW you’ve got this.

After all, you’ve put in the work and all you gotta do is release the clutch slowly while pressing on the accelerator, allowing for smooth forward motion.

Overcoming is a glorious thing.

Interested in building your OWN WordPress site? CLICK HERE

How Bad Do You Want It?

Thursday, June 15, 2017 By patti tucker 2 Comments

A few days ago I thought back to when I was pregnant. It was awful timing.

I was newly married, poor as hell and living in a furnished apartment. As in, they owned the furniture, not me.

Remembering those days, putting myself back in that tiny apartment, with no savings or furniture to my name, makes my stomach squinch.

Poor, tiny, baby – coming into this world to a momma that had almost nothing.

Almost.

What I did have, my treasured metaphorical gold coins, was strength to see beyond my circumstances, grit to shear the path forward, and a unworldly belief in myself and the future I envisioned.

I wish I could tell you that gutting it out to the spot I now occupy was as playful as this graphic – but anyone who has ever moved rocks, knows it ain’t so.

How bad did I want it? So bad, that I worked my tail off for the future I envisioned for my family.

Nothing was going to stop me. Nothing could withstand my resolve.

How about you?

How bad do you want it?

Don Henley’s How Bad Do You Want It? has often asked the hard question.

You’re leavin’ tongue marks on the carpet,
And I know what you’re lookin’ at.
You would walk on your lips through busted glass
If you could get next to that.

~~~~

So tell me,
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you want it?

Not bad enough

~~~~

If you haven’t achieved what you think it is you want, you must ask yourself: How bad do you want it?

The answer might be: not bad enough.

Patti’s Simple How-Bad-Do-You-Want-It Formula

1) If you want something bad enough – You. Will. Begin.

2) Reasons not to start? You don’t want it bad enough.

Easy.

Next time you’re stuck. Next time you’re wondering why the hell you’re not moving forward, ask yourself: how bad do you want it?

I find when I push off tasks for another day or avoid things I think I want, I simply don’t want it bad enough.

And that’s okay.

Find the stuff that you do want bad enough.

Crush the ever-lovin’ hell outta that stuff.

When you find something you want bad enough, getting from A-Z may not be easy, but it will be a helluva lot more fun than slogging through the stuff you don’t want.

How bad do you want it, baby?

Keep asking. Keep walking on your lips through busted glass, just to get next to that.

That’s where you’ll find your treasured metaphorical gold coins.*

*ginormous pink balloon optional.

Interested in building your OWN WordPress site? CLICK HERE

Are You Hiding Your Authentic Self?

Thursday, June 8, 2017 By patti tucker 1 Comment

How many times have you questioned the value of being exactly who you are, in the exact measure that you are, because you were afraid of rejection?

It feels like crap, doesn’t it?

I want to tell you that I know how you feel because I’ve stood in that awful squinch-producing spot, too. That space where you try to make whatever you feel people will judge – smaller.

You like them, and you want them to like you – so, you squash the best of you. You tell yourself that everyone else fits in (squashers – the lot of them!) and you want that too.

I’m here to tell you to STOP IT!

Shine your authentic light. BLIND US with your you-ness! Embrace the you that no one else can be.

I insist.

Go ahead, roll your eye-balls until your sockets scream for mercy, so many will, but consider my wisdom before you hurt yourself, friend.

There is NOT one person in the ENTIRE world who is you.

~STOP~

Did you stop for one hot minute?

~THINK~

If you’re thinking, you’re smiling. Are you smiling?

~STUNNED SPEECHLESS~

There it is.

Did you know there are currently over 7.5 BILLION people in this world, as of this writing?

Even if you are an identical twin, there are psychological and emotional differences. No one is completely like another.

How you feel about and react to a cute cat video, how you feel about and react to being served liver and onions for dinner, how you feel about and react to a compliment from a stranger – all authentically you.

You’re a fantastical weirdo with unique talent and hard-earned wisdom to share.

There should be no hiding, ever. Never ever.

If you are playing hide and seek with your authentic self, be brave.

The world needs you. In whatever you choose to do.

If you refuse, how will you grow into the you that only you can be?

If you must, take small steps forward.

~ Share your opinion without being asked for it.

~ Wear those colorful pants you love, but don’t think anyone else will.

~ Pick the restaurant or the movie.

Doesn’t matter how you step forward, only that you do.

Each time you dare to show up, ask yourself: How does it feel?

Spoiler Alert: It feels great! Empowering! Exhilarating! And sometimes like you have to puke…but it passes!

Then do it again. And again. And again, until one day, you are a light so bright that we know it’s you and only you.

Building a business of word towers and coaching? (Hey! That’s me!) Be yourself.

Building a business of fried food and sweat pants? (BRILLIANT!) Be yourself.

Building a business of monster trucks and baby prams? (Both need kickass tires!) Be yourself.

Enough of hiding in the shadows. Enough of thinking no one could possibly like the ALL of you. Enough of refusing to believe that only you could possibly get you.

Enough!

When you build anything, you are the key ingredient, the secret sauce that separates you from EVERYONE else in this world (7.5 billion and growing).

Why wouldn’t you utilize your exclusive super power to GROW?

WHHHYYY?!

The best things happen when you are authentic.

Caveat: Not everyone will like you, whether you’re being you or not. So, why put precious energy into being something, being someone, you were never meant to be?

Plus, it’s hard work pretending to be someone you’re not, while hiding the light you were born to shine.

Don’t be scared (but if you are, let’s talk about it).

To quote my beloved Dr. Seuss:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because in the end those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.

Dr. Seuss knows what’s what.

In case you’d rather listen to me yammer about being your authentic self. Someone get the lights!

It’s time – TODAY! – to show up – just as you are – in all your glorious glory.

Go on now – NO MORE HIDING – go shine your authentic light and dazzle the hell outta the world.

Interested in building your OWN WordPress site? CLICK HERE

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