I stared blogging in May 2005.  This is my 445th blog post.  I blog about my work, early stage internet VC investments, and from time to time, my interests, including art, literature and current affairs.  SortiPreneur is not a widely-read blog.  I have found out that person-focused blogging is not a high-traffic proposition, unless the person you're focusing on is already well known.  In my case, the focus is me, and I am no celebrity.

Back in 2005, I chose TypePad as my blogging platform.  I am a paying user, paying $14.95/month, since May 2005, which means I have paid over $700 to TypePad so far.  I also neglected to set up my blog in a specific domain, such as Sortipreneur.com or Sertoglu.com.  Instead, I blog at csertoglu.typepad.com.  I now hesitate to change that due to search engine related concerns.  I initially chose TypePad because my blogging inspiration Fred Wilson was blogging on TypePad.

I now regret this choice.  A few weeks ago my U.S. issued credit card was canceled due to some fraudulent activity at a merchant I had patronized.  This cancellation kept me without that specific card for a few days, during which TypePad tried charging that card and failed.  A few days later, my account was frozen.  I could not post to or edit my blog.  When I received my new credit card, for some reason, it was still getting declined.  Also, strangely, my otherwise functioning Turkish credit cards were also being denied by TypePad, I could not blog for over 2 weeks!

If I were starting to blog today, I'd probably go with WordPress and host my blog on my own domain.  I may still opt for that, like Fred did a few months ago.