As they announced in February, Posterous has been acquired by Twitter and as of April 30, 2013, the platform will shut down. To accommodate Posterous users that are looking for a new place for their content, Bluehost’s expert WordPress developers have created an import tool for Posterous users to transfer all of their content from Posterous to WordPress on Bluehost without a hitch. And to make the transition even smoother, Bluehost is offering all previous Posterous users a special hosting price of $3.95/month if they transfer to Bluehost before April 30.

Using the Bluehost import tool is easy. Follow these steps and you’ll be ready to go on WordPress in no time.

Instructions for using the Posterous-to-Bluehost importer: 

1. Request your backup from posterous.com.

   

    

   

    

2. Install WordPress on your Bluehost account using Simple Scripts with the following steps:

3. - First register for a Bluehost account here for a special price of $3.95/month. 
   - Then using the credentials emailed to you from Bluehost, log into your control panel.
   - Find the icon under site builders that shows WordPress and click.
   - You will then be taken to a SimpleScripts page.
   - Find WordPress and click the icon.
   - When you reach the next screen select “Install” not import(you will need the plugin mentioned later for that).
   - You will then reach a screen with some options, select any of the options you would like.
   - check the terms and conditions checkbox
   - click “Complete”
   - You can then use the login credentials to your WordPress admin to login and install the importer.

4. Download the Posterous importer here.
5. Install the plugin using the upload method.
6. Activate the plugin.
7. Goto Tools-> Import and select Posterous from the list.
8. Select a user to assign the posts to. (If you need to create a new user do so first)
9. Select the .zip file you got from Posterous
10. Click Start Import.

Note: if your export from Posterous is too large you will need to follow the Advance import instructions.

Advanced Import Instructions:

1. Request your backup from posterous.com.
2. Install WordPress on your Bluehost account using Simple Scripts.
3. Download the Posterous importer here.
4. Install the plugin using the upload method.
5. Activate the plugin.
6. Goto Tools-> Import and select Posterous from the list.
7. Click “Goto Advanced Form”
8. Upload your UNZIPPED export from Posterous to the posterous folder in the current month (ex: wp-content/2013/04/posterous) using your FTP program.
9. Select a user to assign the posts to
10. Click Start Import.

Note: the “Start Import” button will be disabled unless the folder is detected.

And if you have any trouble, just give our support team a call at (888) 401-4678 any time 24/7 and we’ll be there to help you.

Click on the image to view the full infographic and visit us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to let us know what you think. Stay tuned to find out exactly when you can expect VPS and dedicated hosting by Bluehost!

How can I speed up my site?

It might help to imagine a website as if it were a car. To maximize a car’s performance, one must tune, clean, test, service, upgrade, and maintain it over time. The same goes for a website. Bluehost may maintain the best hardware in the industry, but the software underlying each and every website requires just as much attention and long-term care to ensure peak performance.

Here are some tips to keep your website lean and mean:

1. Disable and remove unnecessary or unused software. This can include superfluous plugins, old themes, wasted add-ons, and other extra features that are just sitting there, unused. Often these elements clog your software in ways you can’t see and slow things down. The basic rule of thumb: if you’re not using it, get rid of it!
2. Upload images in a size appropriate for the WEB. Images are one of the largest drains on website load times. Try to limit the amount of images you have on your website. When you do use imagery, make sure it is exported to the exact dimensions for the space it occupies and no larger. Also, compress images as much as possible without sacrificing image quality. There are countless free utilities online that do this.
3. Install a caching plugin.  Caching is a process in which static HTML files of your website are created and given to visitors behind the scenes. Then when visitors come again to your site, any dynamic content (e.g. images) loads faster because the static material is already there, ready and waiting. If your site is a WordPress site, we recommend a plugin like WP Super Cache. You can also check out our Bluehost Help Center article about WordPress caching plugins for detailed instructions.
4. Activate CloudFlare. CloudFlare is a fantastic caching tool for all websites – especially those that for one reason or another cannot utilize a caching plugin. CloudFlare maintains a cache of particular files from your website, typically those that are traditionally problematic or require longer load times. It then stores this information on various servers all over the world. This effectively places your website closer visitors, making it load faster. With your Bluehost account, you can enable CloudFlare on your site for free! Check out our Bluehost Help Center article for further details.

These are just a few ways to quickly and easily speed up your site. You can further examine how your website is performing by using a site like GTmetrix. Services like these sometimes even offer insight as to what particular website elements need to be optimized!

When your website is tuned and running well, more of your server resources can be devoted to serving actual traffic and visitors, instead of doing heavy lifting with slow, heavy, sluggish website software. Make sure to keep your website lean and mean and you’ll be guaranteed to have more success!

If you need help with any of these steps, you can always contact our Bluehost Help Center by calling us 24/7 at 888.401.4678 or through 24/7 live chat. Don’t miss our next post that will explain the difference between various types of domain settings.

How do I backup my website?

One of the most important things you can do is make sure all of your data and content is regularly backed up. Websites take a lot of time, energy, and even money to develop, so you want to make sure your investment is protected. Most Bluehost customers seem to understand this, as they frequently call in asking how to best ensure a proper backup of their websites.

First, some good news: At Bluehost, we perform complimentary backups of your entire account data on a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis! So you can rest assured your data is protected against loss. Should you ever need or want a prior version of your files, here’s how to access and restore these automated backups.

Access system backups with these simple steps:

1. Log into your Bluehost control panel.
2. Go to the “Files” section and select “Site Backup and Restore.”
3. Select from the list which aspect of your website you wish to backup or restore.
4. Choose which system backup or restore option you prefer, either a daily, weekly, or monthly version.
5. From the download window, select a format in which to save your backup and click “Start Archiving”.

These automated backups can serve as a great safety net against loss. But to truly protect your data, you should perform regular manual backups, particularly after any significant work has been done on your account. Fortunately creating a manual backup is simple. Here’s how to do it:

Create your own backup with these simple steps:

First, if you are using a CMS, blog, or eCommerce platform, make sure you create a backup of your database.

1. Log into your Bluehost control panel and open the phpMyAdmin tool.
2. Identify the relevant database on the left-hand side.
3. Select the “Export” tab.
4. Make sure the format is “SQL”
5. Click “Go.”
6. Once the download is complete, save your exported files in a safe place, such as an external hard drive or cloud storage solution.

Once you’ve backed up any important databases, the final step involves backing up any website content.

1. Create an FTP account from your Bluehost control panel if you don’t already have one.
2. Open your preferred FTP program (e.g. Filezilla or Cyberduck) and connect to your account with your FTP information.
3. Download all your website files.
4. Save your files in a safe place, perhaps along with your saved database files.

Backing up files is one of the most important aspects to building and maintaining a successful website. Unfortunately, not many people take a proactive role in this process. Because Bluehost makes automated backups regularly, this helps spare a lot of customers who didn’t know better a lot of grief. But just the same, now that you know how to create your own backups, make sure you do so!

And if you ever need help backing up your site, visit the Bluehost Help Center for detailed instructions, or just give our support team a call 24/7 at 888.401.4678. Stay tuned for our next post about how to speed up a slow website!

Click on the image to view the full infographic and visit us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to let us know what you think!

This shift in the consumer psyche is partially due to the increase in available information and guidance, and partially a result of a difficult economy. Consumers are driven to attempt new feats that they’d never otherwise consider, all in the hope of saving a few bucks.  In the realm of web hosting in particular, the DIY mentality shows no signs of slowing down. There’s no question that as these new webmasters become more capable and aware of the possibilities that come with building their own website, they will also become more dependent on their web hosting companies.  And this dependence is – perhaps surprisingly – not a bad thing.

Here are some reasons why:

1. The more people attempt to build their own websites, the more web hosts will develop their services to meet the growing needs of their customers.  There’s no question that as individuals become consumers of the web hosting industry and don’t leave these decisions to professionals, there will be a shift in the desires of web hosting consumers. Top web hosts will continue to show expanded features and services to meet these evolving needs.
2. Those building websites for the first time depend on their web hosts to make the endeavor as simple as possible. The continued growth of this trend will prompt web hosts to simplify their web hosting services in new and innovative ways. This will be a significant advantage for consumers at all skill levels.  Though many web hosts entice consumers by offering the latest technologies such as PHP 5 and PostgreSQL databases, novice website builders are looking for the simplest technologies. The more new website builders rely on their web hosts, the more hosts will simplify and adapt their platforms accordingly.
3. Web hosting is evolving from a strictly technical field to one that comprises a lot of design elements, and consumers at all levels depend on their hosts to provide these services.  Whether via a drag-and-drop website builder or a wide array of website templates, web hosts have begun to help their clients build not only reliable websites, but beautiful sites – and this is a trend that is certain to extend into the future.

One More Thing to Consider

It’s also important to consider that while DIY endeavors are becoming more popular, we are also living in an age where people are overstimulated and over-scheduled. They can only make time for things that are truly critical.  Some web hosting providers have already begun to offer mobile platforms through which webmasters can update their sites on-the-go. All of the top web hosts provide automatic site backups to protect their clients’ information, without placing this burden on the webmaster.

Moving forward, webmasters will likely find it even more difficult to balance the burden of building and maintaining their websites while tending to their family, business or other obligations.  In turn, they will rely on their web hosts even more to provide support services, reliable uptime and easy access – things which can always be improved.  Though this situation may seem paradoxical, it is certainly one that will have long term benefits for webmasters worldwide.

Jessica Stewart is a researcher at Consumer-Rankings.com and specializes in covering the progress of the hosting industry.

Here at Bluehost, we have big plans for 2013. We’re hitting the ground running and want to help you do the same! One of our big, ongoing projects is to bring our website to the next level. To help you do so as well, we’ve put together a few ideas that can serve as great New Year’s resolutions for your website.

If you already have a website, consider these tips on how to improve it for the new year. Remember, technology changes fast, so staying on top of these resolutions will help you have a more successful site!

1. Regularly ensure your website is optimized for search engines. This will make your site easier for people to find and increase  your overall traffic because it will be more likely to appear in search engines results. There’s a range of things to do with search engine optimization. A good first step is to watch our instructional videos on what SEO is and how it works, and how to grow your business with SEO.

2. Look into updating your website design to make it “responsive.” Responsive websites collapse, expand, and re-arrange to optimally fit the window/screen its in. This makes your site look great and be easy to use no matter where it’s viewed.Learn more by watching the Bluehost video about about responsive designs. Remember, more and more people are accessing the web from tablets, phones, and other mobile devices. Ensure your website is presented well in these formats.

3. Consider simplifying and cleaning up the overall design of your site.  Visitors should always be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. Several design elements that used to be common have since been found to distract visitors from finding what they need. Avoid using mixed fonts and instead use a readable, clean font throughout your website. Nix any flashing or moving gifs. Remove heavy drop shadows and gradients and instead consider cleaner, flat colors and objects. Overall, try to examine your website with a critical eye and make any change that enhances both its appearance and functionality.

4. Make your website is as secure and protected as possible. One effective way to do this is to verify that your scripts are always up-to-date. Outdated scripts make a site vulnerable to hackers who exploit vulnerabilities inherent in old software. If you have a Bluehost account, you will see notifications in your cPanel alerting you when core updates are available. Also examine any plugins or themes and ensure they are updated as well. We made a fun video about website security. Feel free to check it out for more tips.

If you don’t have a website, make one in 2013.

Pretty much everyone needs a website these days, whether for a business, to promote your personal brand, to blog, for a family headquarters, etc… If you still don’t have one, here’s s a quick to-do list to help you get started:

1. Set up a hosting account and choose a domain name for your website. Bluehost accounts include a free domain name and it’s easy to get started. And one of the best perks of Bluehost is that you can chat with a real life expert and ask all the questions you need, even before you sign up. Just give them a call at 888.401.4678 or visit bluehost.com to chat with them online. They’re there to help, so make sure to use them!

2. Visit the Bluehost YouTube Channel and watch our instructional videos. We’ve been working hard to build up these resources to help you and have big plans to expand these in 2013. We already have series on how to use WordPress and how to use Weebly. Both show you click-by-click, step-by-step, exactly how to build your very own website.

3. Try it out! Once you’ve watched some videos and done some research, dive in and start building your website. And if you need some help along the way, call us or live chat with us; our 24/7 support team will be there to answer any questions you may have.

These are a just a few things you can do to start the year off right with the help of Bluehost. Click here to learn more about Bluehost’s plans for 2013.

These cold conditions are one of the reasons that our servers run so well. Unlike other locations where servers must be cooled by air conditioning at all times, even during the winter, Bluehost saves energy by using the outdoor air to cool our servers.  And while most of us would prefer some warmer temps, this frigid weather helps keep things running more efficiently and successfully.

And it’s not too bad to look at!

What do you think of our new logo? You’ll start to see our new branding first on our social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube. Visit our social pages to check it out! And as the year rolls on we’ll start using it in a lot of other important places. Stay tuned!

Click here to learn more about VPS and dedicated hosting with Bluehost and check out more things coming to Bluehost in 2013.