“OMG, I think my LinkedIn account was hacked”

That’s what I thought for a good 10-15 minutes a couple of weeks ago when I was checking out my LinkedIn account.

I couldn’t find any of the nearly 100 articles I’ve published in the past 2 1/2 years.

I couldn’t find my profile.

I tried logging out and logging in again. I logged in from another account that I manage.

I started to…panic.

So I sent an email to my contacts at LinkedIn and asked what was going on. I got a very quick response from an editor who told me they were just conducting some routine testing pertaining to server load or something techie like that.

I exhaled. My heart rate slowed.

A few minutes later, I saw my LinkedIn profile, with each of the nearly 100 posts I had published, return to life.

Phew!

So what did this experience teach me? UPDATE MY OWN BLOG SO I HAVE AN ARCHIVE OF ALL MY HARD WORK!!

I have to admit I had neglected to update my personal blog, glennleibowitz.com, because it got to be time-consuming in-between my podcasting, updating writewithimpact.com, writing for LinkedIn, writing for Inc.com…

But wow did I ever get a whack on the side of the head!

So now I’m going in and back-filling my blog so I at least have a place that I (and others) can turn to for my posts, a place I can call home.

Which brings me to a question: Do you have a self-hosted website?  If not, have you thought of starting one?

Now is a good time to think of a domain name (your name? something clever and memorable?) and setup our own blog.

It’s really easy to do, and it’s an enormously rewarding feeling to have your own little piece of virtual real estate on the internet.

You can start sharing your writing with the world, and start building an email list of people who enjoy reading your stuff.

My web host, Bluehost, is offering a great deal. For just today — August 17, 2016 — they are offering 12 months of web hosting at US$2.95 per month. That’s over 60% off their regular price.

This offer expires at 11:59 PM Mountain Time on August 17, 2016.

But you have to click this link to get this special offer!

This is an affiliate link, meaning I will get a nominal commission if you buy a plan. But I wouldn’t direct you to any offer if I haven’t used the service myself. I’ve used Bluehost for 8 years now and have never had a problem with them. Their customer service is excellent, and their website is very easy to use.

You can get your blog up and running in no time. I use them for my personal blogs and my company websites.

And feel free to share this offer with your friends, so you can help save them money too!

Image credit: Cathryn Lavery