DOMAINS AND WEB HOSTING

So, you want a website. The thing is where do you start? 

To get yourself out there in cyberspace with a little place of your own you need to start out with two things. A Domain and Hosting.

DOMAINS

How do you get a domain? (or address ... i.e. www.mywebsiteaddress.com)

You pay a domain name registrar a fee per year to own (or rent really as it’s no longer yours if you don't pay) that domain.

When it comes time to choose your address it is recommended that you register your sites name after all when people think of your website, they'll think of it by name. If your name is also your address, it’s easy for them to find you.  For this reason a short name (and therefore URL) is best. For example "mysite.com" is easier to remember than "thisismywebsite.com" (and less chance of typing error)

If you can get the main topic into a shot title, even better. If your website is to sell your cookies "cookies.com" would be ideal. Unfortunately most single word domains are taken but you could try making it even more relevant. You sell cookies that are low in fat and sugar, so "healthycookies.com" would be an option. Healthy cookies is taken? What about "Healthy-cookies.com”? (Some search engines distinguish your keywords better with hyphenated names so this can get you higher ranking although some webmasters stay away from them for reasons such as its hard to type)

Just remember though domain names can be of any length up to 67 characters.

 HOSTING

Ok, you have chosen your domain name and registered it, now what? Now you need to find a host. A host… what is it? Well a Web host rents you space for your Web files on their server, which has a direct connection to the Internet. There are two kinds, a Virtual Web Host (who will allow you to use your own domain name, so defiantly best for commercial websites) or a Non-Virtual Web Host who will usually give you a subdomain name that uses their primary domain name. For example, with a non-virtual Web host, your address might be "http://www. somehost/ yourname/yourfile.html" (fine for a family website or personal page… but not so good for a money making website… no one is going to remember that name!)

Ok, assuming you go the virtual host (as this website is about making money!) there are still things to consider when selecting your host.

UPTIME:

The main requirement is a reliable host. What is the point of going into business , working on getting traffic only to have your customers find your site is down when they visit? I can almost guarantee they wont keep trying! Nothing less than 99% uptime (uptime is the time when it is available live for visitors) should be acceptable.

BANDWIDTH:

This is the amount of bytes that is transferred when customers visit your website. So hosts promise “unlimited” bandwidth, something to be wary of as this isn’t the case when you read the small print. Bandwidth costs money, so you will soon find that if you get huge traffic to your site that the “unlimited” actually has a limit.

Most new sites (unless they are for storing images or software archives etc use less than 3GB of bandwidth per month. This amount will grow as your site gets bigger and more traffic finds you

DISK SPACE:

This is the amount of space your website takes up. These days you can get great deals on large amounts of disk space with some fsirly low cost hosts offering up to 500MB! For a small website you wouldn’t need any where near this, but its better to have too much available than to exceed your limit and get a surprise bill for extra.

TECH SUPPORT

This is a huge issue and an area where I have experienced pain in the past.
You should accept nothing less than technical support that is available 24/7 365 days a year. No one can guess when problems can arise, and just because it is a public holiday shouldn’t mean the issue cant be dealt with promptly… it is what you are paying them for!
I would never again sign up with a host that didn’t handle my concerns promptly. Try and find a host that gives an alternative to email and if you are not in the same country as your host of choice, that they offer a toll free number ( I once spent two weeks constantly calling and being put on hold by an overseas host… my phone bill was insane!)
 

 EMAIL
 

 When you build your website you would probably want to have email addresses at your own domain, like you@yourdomain.com. . Does the host provide this with the package or charge extra? “Catchall”, auto responders and email forwarders are things you may also need and don’t want to have to pay again for, but the most important thing is  can you retrieve your mail with your email software?

CONTROL PANEL

The control panel allows you to manage different aspects of your web account yourself without having to go through tech support.  It should allow you to do simple common tasks  like add, delete, and manage your email addresses and files, and change passwords for your account.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Word of mouth is the best guide. I always run a search such as “whateverhosting.com problems” on the major search engines to checkout  new companies. (some thing I learned the hard way) people like to complain on webboards etc, but take in all opinions, one bad review does not make a bad host. If you come up with problems associated with that host, ask them about it.
I had such a bad experience with my last host I bombarded my new one with a lot of questions (always promptly answered) and found that the main reason I was hesitant to join them, was a problem that had been fixed six months prior)

 Talk to other webmasters, ask peoples opinions and go with the host that feels right

PRICE

You do often get what you pay for with a host… a cheap deal is no good unless it comes with quality hosting. Often a couple of extra bucks a month will get you a better package with a quality host.
A lot of hosts will give you a discount for paying annually rather than monthly or quarterly, but I recommend spending the first few months with a new host paying per month until you know they are reliable and deliver what they promise so you can move quickly if they don’t.

See the Dollar Demon DOMAINS and HOSTING pages for some suggestions.

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