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Migration FAQs: Switching to clickbooq's new, low cost plans for Existing Users
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This purpose of this article is to point out the differences between the new, low-cost plans and the legacy (pre-June 2011) plans they are replacing. If you signed up after June 2011, this article will not apply to you. Introducing clickbooq's new, low-cost "hybrid" plans: We’ve taken our innovative website management platform and trimmed it down to make clickbooq even more affordable than ever. At only $29 per month or $288 per year ($24/month), all creative professionals from photographers to architects to makeup artists and videographers can build a unique, professionally designed website using our full-featured and easy-to-use service. Many of our users are using Google Apps for their email and only occasionally use FTP. For most users, a low-cost plan without these unused features makes sense for them, and that’s why we created the “hybrid” plans and pricing. We'll refer to them as "hybrid" for the purpose of this article to help differentiate the new plans from the old ones they are replacing. Hybrid also refers to how the new plans are hosted: About this DocumentThis purpose of this document is to point out the differences between the new, low-cost plans and the “legacy” (pre-June 2011) plans they are replacing. This document will walk you through frequently asked questions as you consider switching to the new plan, as well as the steps you will need to take prior to changing your plan. Frequently Asked QuestionsThe new prices are great! Will I get the new pricing automatically? No, you will not be automatically changed to the new plans or pricing. Please read this FAQ in its entirety to understand the differences in the plans and the steps you must complete before requesting a plan change. I’m an existing user. Do I Have to Switch To The New Plan? No, you do not have to switch. All of our existing users are grandfathered into their current plans and pricing. Your rates will not change if you choose to continue on your current service plan. What is the difference between the original “legacy” plans and the new , lower-cost "hybrid" plans? Firstly, all plans (legacy and hybrid) will now have “unlimited” Portfolio Sections, Sub-portfolios, Videos, and Content Pages. Total image capacity of the Image Archive remains capped at 2,000 for both plans, however. All websites under the new “hybrid” plans will be required to display a small, unobtrusive clickbooq “infinity” symbol on the bottom-right corner of their website. The mark was made to be as “invisible” as possible as to not interfere with your branding and design. Only Grandfathered “legacy” websites will have the option to disable this logo through the Settings section of the Toolbox. You can see an example of the new logo here: http://gavinbondphotography.com Additionally, “hybrid” Plans will not have:
What happens to my current plan when I switch? Annual Plan subscribers: We will offer you a $49 service credit for each FULL remaining month left on your current subscription (possibly less if you used a promotional offer at signup). So, if you have 3.5 months to go before your annual subscription renews, you will be credited $49 x 3 months, for a total of $147 towards continued service on the new "hybrid" plan. Monthly Plan subscribers: You can make the switch at any time, but we do not provide service credit for partial months of service. Once you’ve completed the switch process, the new pricing will be invoiced on your next monthly renewal date. What about FTP or email? In order to keep our pricing low, our new “hybrid” plans do not include domain-associated email or FTP services. Fortunately, there are many services which provide free services for FTP or email. If you find that you only upload a few files, you can probably use a service like DropBox (free). It’s great for uploading files such as price lists or your resume or even hosting simple Web galleries. Of course, if you sign up with a 3rd party hosting service, they will also offer FTP and Email as part of their included services. Ideally, your FTP should be created on a subdomain of your primary domain, such as clients.yourdomain.com or ftp.yourdomain.com, etc. You would then upload your files to your subdomain account of your new hosting provider. Read the section below Alternatives for FTP, Blogs, and Email for more information on email service alternatives. What about Hosting for my existing Wordpress blog? If you have an existing Wordpress blog that is hosted by clickbooq that you wish to keep, you must migrate it to a new host under the new plan. Your blog address will also change: it can no longer be part of your domain, i.e. yourdoman.com/blog. Instead, most users will migrate their blog to a subdomain of their primary domain, i.e. blog.yourdomain.com, or you can also register a new domain such as yourdomainblog.com and migrate your blog to that address. Migrate your clickbooq-hosted Wordpress blog to a NEW hosting provider How do I find a new web host? We’ve found some great hosting providers with proven track records and excellent 24/7 customer support and network reliability. They cost between $5-7/month based on an Annual term. All of them offer excellent uptime, unlimited disk space and easy 1-click installations for platforms such as Wordpress. See our Hosting Partners and special offers What if I don’t need FTP or a blog (or email)? If you don’t need a hosted blog or have found other (free) solutions for your email and FTP services, then you don’t need an additional hosting provider and will not incur any additional costs beyond our plan pricing. You’re good to go! How do I change plans? Once you have read through this documentation and are already to make the switch, you can submit the “Request to Switch” form. Before submitting this request, please ensure you have completed the following items so your account has been properly backed up and prepared for the switch:
Alternatives for FTP, Blogs, and EmailEmail Services With the new plan, you will no longer have hosted email through clickbooq. If you would like to continue using emails associated with your domain name (i.e. “john@johnsmithphotography.com”), you have the option of using a paid service through Google, adding email service through your domain registrar, or getting a new third party hosting account that offers hosted email as part of their service. Email services can be provided through your domain registrar directly – contact them to add this service for your domain for a nominal fee. Some registrars, such as Godaddy offer free email service with domain registration. You can also sign up for Google Apps – a service provided by Google which allows you to use their popular Gmail service and associate it with your own custom domain name at a cost of $5/month. Google Apps allows you to associate your own domain name with Gmail, so you can maintain a professional appearance in all of your correspondence. Plus, it’s accessible from any online browser and works great with all mobile devices. Other Free email services for associating your custom domain name include Zoho Mail - Lite (up to 3 users and 5GBs/inbox) and the new Outlook Live from Microsoft. Google Apps™ is a service provided by Google and allows you to use Gmail for your email and associate it with your own domain. To get started using Gmail, you will need to complete the following:
Creating Email Forwards for your clickbooq-hosted email accounts
FTP There are some free alternatives for FTP storage, if you decide you do not want to sign up for a new hosting account from a 3rd party hosting provider. If you only need to post a few files or galleries, you can actually use DropBox, a free cloud-based file storage and synchronization service. The Free account gets up to 2GB of storage space, more than enough for most user's needs. The files are also directly linkable (clickable), and you can even use it for hosting galleries or mini websites. Blogs Popular, free, hosted blogging platforms include WordPress.com, Blogger.com, And Tumblr.com.
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