Not all of the content has been uploaded yet. Still working through 13 years of posts and gradually transferring them over in alphabetical order. So bear with me, and if the attenuated amount of content bothers your OCD or something, I won't take it personally if you'd rather wait until 2026 to stop back.
Someone asked me recently why I chose GoDaddy Airo as my hosting service, and told me there were better options. No argument there -- for blogging, there are far better options. It might seem like a strange choice, and it is, in some ways. GoDaddy's blog hosting is clumsy at best. The options for how to set up and organize content and a "blogroll" are severely limited. The best option was to do the scattered menu approach of just having brands alphabetically listed out, with "All Posts" at the top for those who are just looking to read the latest review. It works better on desktop than mobile site because the mobile lets you click on a brand but doesn't automatically take you down to the posts, forcing the user to scroll to the bottom of the screen to read what they clicked on. Pretty stupid, but apparently it's the best they can do. In regards to the writing, they only offer a grey font (a little on the light side for my liking, but again, no choice), but otherwise the posts themselves look fine. You also have the option to use a vertical brand list on each article page, which may or may not be easier to navigate on both desktop and mobile. You be the judge.
There is a method to my madness, however. While far from ideal for blogging, GoDaddy Airo's main strength is commercial online product sales, and they offer a slew of services for those who want to sell from their site. While not currently a commercial site, I plan on dabbling with making a perfume in the future, which may or may not be something I want to sell (will have to see how that all goes, of course), so by the end of 2026 or early 2027, that will potentially be a thing. For that, GoDaddy will deliver the goods, should I go in that direction. And with the number of formulas I have, there's a good chance that at least one will be worthy of small batch production and distribution. My plan is to formulate something that will smell of ballpark Creed-like quality (maybe 75% there) and sell it for Davidoff prices (sub $100). When I see what the chems are priced at, it's amazing to me the markup on these niche frags. It's also amazing to me that people have given up on the middle class buyer who just wants something that smells of 1970s Brut quality for under $300, and can't find it because it doesn't exist.
So I essentially went into this looking for a fragrance blog site that could double as a merchant site. There were competitors to GoDaddy that offer similar things, but Airo's ease of use and beginner-friendly merchant options (sort of) were fine for my needs. I've read a lot of criticisms of the user-friendliness of this host, but thus far have only had simple and straightforward experiences. I'm not thrilled with the limitations for site building, but I have a fairly low-tier plan and don't expect much more than what's on offer, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Feedback is always welcome, of course, and you'll be able to find me on Fragrantica if you need to reach out and have a convo about anything fragrance related:
My fragrantica page (link here).
Also, please bear with me in regards to the number of new posts here. I will continue to post for the remainder of the year, but you'll probably notice a decrease in the frequency of postings, all of which will be due to the transition. Don't panic. Once I'm fully up and running in the new location, things will get "back to normal," as my grandmother would say. See you there!
