We’ve had this question a lot — it seems many of you are more comfortable with a blogging solution that enables you to host your images on a server for which you have a login, rather than hosting on Storytailor’s servers. Let’s talk about your options here.
First, let’s dispel some misunderstandings. Some of the responses we’ve received used verbiage such as “I want my images on a server I control”. While one’s own hosting account grants access to the images uploaded to it, most individual users don’t control the server to which they’re subscribing. Unless they are on a private server (or your last name is “Bezos”), they don’t control anything. They upload to their WordPress blog and HostGator or GoDaddy or BlueHost or WP Engine (or one of any number of other hosting companies) controls where the images live and how they’re served up. Or they upload to their Squarespace blog and Squarespace hosts, controls, and serves up your images.
There are a number of disadvantages to self-hosting your blog images, and we designed Storytailor to work operate in such a way as to alleviate these disadvantages. Storytailor doesn’t simply upload your photos and slap them in your blog posts. There are a number of sizing and optimization processes your photos undergo to ensure that they are served up fast and look their best when someone visits your blog. Additionally, Storytailor’s process maximizes the visibility of your SEO tagging when you operate within our ecosystem.
That said, we have no intention of forcing anyone to use our systems and our servers if you prefer to use your own. You may want Storytailor’s lightning-fast and easy blog assembly capabilities, and you may also want to upload and publish your blog posts the old fashioned way. And so we’ve created a method by which you can do that.
You’ll need to enable “Save Local Copy” in Settings > Blog Settings. Your images will be uploaded (as an off-site backup), and Storytailor will export the JPG files and HTML code to a folder on your desktop, and will copy the Storytailor code to your clipboard. You’ll then need to upload that folder to the root folder of your website using the FTP client of your choice. Then, in a new post, paste the copied code Storytailor generates for you into a code block in Squarespace or WordPress or Wix or wherever you choose. There is a READ ME file in each export that spells out what to do next on your end to achieve the best results. Please give that a thorough read before proceeding.
If done properly, this method will allow you to host your images, and for the Storytailor code (with all its SEO magic) to reference those photos rather than the ones hosted on Storytailor’s servers.
Again, it is critical that you read and absorb the information in the README.txt file, which you can download HERE.