I was making an instructional video around the topic of installation of WordPress onto a domain.  I was using my own account to show the process, including installing WordPress on one of my own domains.  I completed the video and was very pleased with the results.

I went to my main domain to see how to upload the video and was shocked to find that my site was gone and in its place, the default template you get when you first install WordPress onto a domain.  Confused and panicking, I called Bluehost (the greatest hosting company out there) thinking they would have a way of fixing what I had done to my site.

I heard the words that everyone who has a site on the internet fears hearing: “I am very sorry ma’am, but there are no backups to roll your site back to.  Your content is gone and not recoverable.”

Having always assumed that my site was being automatically backed up, I was shocked to say the least.  How could this happen?  Technical support informed me that my account had long ago exceeded 2 gigabytes, and that after the 2 gig size has been reached, they cannot guarantee that the sites will be automatically backed up.  In fact, it is very unlikely that the sites will be (automatically) backed up.

What causes your site to exceed 2 gig?  For one thing, it is not just any one site that you have hosted that is considered in the size–it is your ACCOUNT.  If you have a couple of sites hosted, they are both factored in on the size.  Extra templates, unnecessary plugins, files you don’t use, too many video and audio files.

So what have I learned about hosting that could help you in the future?

1. That once your account (not just your site) gets bigger than 2 gig, it will no longer be automatically backed up.
2. That you do not get any warning that lets you know you are close or have exceeded the 2 gig limit.  But you can go into your C-Panel (the back end of your hosting) and check the file space and usage anytime to see how close you are to the 2 gig point.
3. You can backup your site yourself and I highly recommend that you do this.
4. Bluehost has wonderful tutorials that will walk you through this process.  Go to tutorials.bluehost.com for the best info available.
5. That PARKED domains are redirected to your main domain.  What you do to a parked domain, you will be doing to your main domain.  (Remember I installed WordPress on a domain I wasn’t using? It was a parked domain.)
6. I highly recommend that you learn all you can about your hosting package.  Bluehost offers C-Panel which is a user friendly, highly intuitive program allowing end users (you) to manage your hosting/sites/account yourself. Read up on all that you can get your hands on from your Hosting company.
7. Wherever possible, use other sites to upload content to. For example, did you know that you can create the coolest sales page in Twitwall (thank you Lauren McMullen for this tip)?  And you can host your videos on YouTube and so on.  Get really creative and monitor the size of your account frequently.
8. If you don’t use a file anymore, take it out of your directory.

Spiritually, I know that everything happens for a reason.  My business has been gradually going in a different direction, but I was hesitating.  I was afraid to make the big changes I needed to make, and guess what?  Now I am/have to/will be making those changes very quickly to get my site back up. I’ve been forced to get really clear.  And of course, with clarity comes much freedom and happiness.

There will be more focus on content that reflects the business I am in/going in, and I actually feel much better.

So please, go and create a backup of your site (s).  Never assume anything.

While you are here reading my post, check out my (very sparse) site.  I have gone away from the traditional Virtual Assistance services and am focusing my efforts on WordPress, which I love.  It really speaks to my creative side, which I think is vital for me to thrive in a business.

Oh, and I still highly recommend Bluehost and you can find them here: http://www.thesavvyva.com/75b

Thanks for reading my post.  I am going to do some research in the Terms & Conditions to see if there are some hints about just what causes an account to grow so large. I will be writing a post about that too.

I would love to hear your comments about my post.  Do you have additional resources to suggest that can be used to host content?  To leave a comment, write in the fields provided, enter the letters that you see in the Captcha field and then click the “Submit” button which is right above the Captcha letters.  And thank you.