Thanks to a blogger who has done this before and documented his methods, I was able to move the Studio Non Troppo blog to its new host without any major problems. The only apparent casualty has been the plugin I use to upload photos to the blog, which will take some time to troubleshoot, but it looks like all other systems are go. Edit: I just had to change one setting in the ‘Miscellaneous’ panel – the plugin is working fine now.

Of the methods I’ve seen for transferring a WordPress blog to a new web host, this one was the easiest. The WP-DBManager plugin (written by Lester Chan) did all the heavy lifting. If you’re going to attempt this, make sure you have updated your WordPress installation and the WP-DBManager plugin to the latest versions.

I’ll write more soon about web hosts and the challenges involved in finding a good one. For now, though, I’ll sign off, reminding you to make your site backups. “Have you saved yet?”

First my email went out, and then two of my sites went down (they’re on a single web hosting server).

I sprung in to action. Well, not really.

I have backups of the sites and another email address I can use, but there’s not much to do when a server problem like this happens.

What there is to do:

1. make sure the web hosting company knows there’s a problem (call, email, repeat as necessary)
2. wait
3. fret and stew while waiting, knowing that you really can only do 1. and 2. above

Oh, and #4 could be to start (or continue) researching other web hosting services you could use instead!

I welcome recommendations and horror stories in the comments.

The answer’s quite simple, really: it’s telepathy.

One evening, you’re watching TV, and you think to yourself, “Gee, I’d sure like some popcorn. I wonder where I could find some organic, fair-trade, healthy, high-butter-content popcorn from a producer that supports classical music.”

And then, unobtrusively but legibly, a small window opens up on your TV, with this message:

Your corner convenience market now carries Figaro’s Pop-Classico Popcorn, a 100% organic, fair-trade produced popcorn utilizing our patented ‘weight-loss butter.’ Remember, your purchase supports Marriage of Figaro rehearsals worldwide.

Photo: Gunnar Wrobel

You wouldn’t argue with the telepathy explanation now, would you? And this is exactly how pay-per-click advertising works. You’re looking for something on Google, and after you click the search button, you’re given a list of search results…and a second list of search results, over on the right side of the browser window.

The second list has a heading, “Sponsored Links.” These are the pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements. And if you’ve ever clicked on one that led to exactly what you were looking for, you now know why they can be such a great marketing tool.

The telepathic magicians only show your ad when a webizen is looking for what it is you provide.

And it gets better: Google doesn’t even charge you for showing your ad; they only charge you when someone clicks on your ad.  Yes, there are more details (oh yes! plenty more!) but this is the point of PPC.

And now you know the secret behind it.  Remember, you read it here first.