Sunday, February 19, 2012

Domain Names And Hosting Explained - How To Get Your Website Online Successfully

If you are considering creating your own website or maybe you already have one made for you - you should know that having a domain name and a hosting account are essential for any website to appear online - regardless if it's a simple squeeze page or a multiple page blog.

First of all - you will need to have a Domain Name.

It is basically a unique address of your website and it is also known as a hostname or URL.

It can be purchased from Registrars - companies that register domain names. The price per name is generally around $6-20 USD per year.

The main question is - how to choose the right domain name for your website?

Ideally you would want it to be relatively short, easy to remember and related to your business or a content of your website.

So - brainstorm! Get your friends and family involved in the choosing process. Then type the names of your choice in the registrar's search box and see which ones are available.

Sometimes it takes up to 2 days for a new domain name to get recognized so if you just bought one you might have to wait before you can point it to your website.

The very next thing you will need - is a Hosting Account in order to make your website viewable online.

Hosting company(or a Host) - is a company that connects your website to the World Wide Web via it's servers.

There are many hosting companies out there to choose from and the prices for a hosting account vary but generally are within $4-15 USD per month.

The price normally depends on the type of hosting plan you wish to go for. They differ in the amount of domain names you can register per one account, number of email addresses, disk space and bandwidth (speed at which you data travel at) provided.

You probably would not need to concern yourself with the disk space or bandwidth options - so you might want to go for a chipper plan and then upgrade in future if needed. Or if you are planning to have several websites with different domain names - choose a plan which allows you to add multiple domain names to your account.

Choosing the right registrar and web hosting company is vital. You might be limited in your finances so shop around to find the right price for you.

Some hosting companies offer a free domain name with the purchase of an account and some registrars can offer you a discounted hosting with them.

It is important to find a reliable company with good customer service - look for the things like 24 hour support, online help, toll-free number. Check out company's history - the longer it's been established - the more reliable it should be. And of course - as with anything you buy online - search for and read customer's reviews before buying. If customers are unhappy with the service they get - they will make sure to spread a word about their experience and warn others.

After you have purchased a web hosting account - you should receive a confirmation email from your host with the details of your account. Do not lose this email - it might be a good idea to print a copy of it and keep it handy.

If you have bought your domain name and a hosting account from different companies you will need to "inform" your registrar where your hosting company is. This is very important and many people simply forget to do it - but you have to "link" your registrar to your host in order to make your website appear online.

You can do it by changing your registrar's Domain Name Servers, also known as DNS or Name Servers.

Here is when you will need that email from your host mentioned above. In that email you will find your domain name servers details.

To change your name servers you will need to log into your registrar's account and find a "Domain Manager" option (or something similar to it). Select the domain name you are going to host elsewhere and replace existing name servers with the ones provided in your email.

Please note that it can sometimes take up to 48 hours for those changes to take effect.

Your website is a centre of your online business - that is why understanding how it works is vital for your success.

Hosting Domain - Get Hosting and a Free Domain

Sometimes you can get hosting services that offer a free domain as long as you pay for a yearly hosting account. With so many features available, a free domain with your hosting is a great offer and can save you up to 10 pounds per year.

If you are thinking about starting a new website for the first time then you will be overwhelmed with the amount of discounts on offer and this may confuse you to what sets each company apart from each other. Some are over priced, many over sell their services, some are high quality some are poor so its a case of taking a chance on a company that can offer you all the features you will ever need.

With the web hosting market been so over saturated, companies will seem to offer you the world but in fact will lack on specific features or provide support that is no good to you as a trading company. When support is required, you expect the company to respond within hours not days as well as resolving any issues in the quickest time possible.

You cannot count on website hosting review websites as these are websites owned by affiliates of the services they promote. Every time you sign up to a site through one of these sites, the website owner will get around 70 pounds for each customer. The website hosting service that is rated number one, will more than likely be the one that pays out more per customer than the others so the webmaster will personally decide on whats best for him/her and their commissions.

There are some really good comparison websites out there, if you manage to find one that also allows users of that service to post comments of their experience with that specific company. This is a great way to see what host is doing its job and the ones that are lacking in certain areas of the website hosting service.

Price is also a big issue, you don't want to spend too much but if you don't spend enough then you may miss out on the advanced features that you may need in the future, although you can switch hosts at anytime, it can be very complicated to export a running website, you will experience downtime issues and your visitors will have to view an error page for sometime unless you have a good web host that will do this for you.

In my experience, the smaller companies are the ones to join, why is this? this is because its a dog eat dog world and the smaller companies sometimes don't get a look in and you will get a better service from the smaller ones as they have to try harder to impress you more than the most popular hosts. You can get more features and a faster server on a smaller host as the shared servers on huge hosts may be over crowded causing server issues.

The most popular hosting companies and domain providers are not always the best as the companies are advanced, and where there is more technology, there is more issues. The smaller hosts have fantastic features, sometimes even more than most high end companies and offer one on one marketing support.

Website Creation - Domain Names and Hosting Accounts Simply Explained

You won't be studying website creation too long before you discover that there are two things you MUST have - a Domain Name and a Hosting Account. If you're anything like I was, this will sound very, very scary. Way too techie...

But there is no need to panic - honestly!

The very best way to conquer fear is through KNOWLEDGE. It really is essential that you do conquer your fear of the web. Your website will be the life blood of your online business. You cannot operate a business feeling nervous about how it all works.

You will conquer THIS particular fear by learning, in simple terms, exactly what a Domain Name and a Hosting Account actually IS.

So, let me explain:

1. Domain Name - This is simply the address of your website. Where your website can be found on the Web.

You need to buy a Domain Name. Companies which sell Domain Names are called Registrars. It will cost you approx. $10 per annum.

It's important that you understand that this $10 simply buys you the right to use the Domain Name you have chosen - it does not buy you a website. Your website will have to be created separately.

2. Hosting Account - When you create your website you cannot send (upload) it to the Web from your own computer because it would not be powerful enough. You must first of all upload it to a Hosting Co. which has very powerful servers - they then forward your website to the web for you.

The Hosting Company will charge you approx $10 per month for this service.

So, here is where it gets exciting - you are now all ready to get your website up and running!

Multiple Domain Web Hosting

With low cost of domain names and low hosting fees it is common to own several websites. There are a few ways to manage multiple domains. It's important to know the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

The most basic choice is whether or not to administer your domains with the same host. Most web hosts offer packages which can be set up to allow several sites on one account, or allow individual sites to be operated under separate accounts.

You may have an existing website and like the services your host provides. By starting a new website with the same host you get the reassurance of dealing with a company you know. Sometimes you may get a discount for every additional account with the same host.

Using a different host for a new website will let you compare the quality of hosting services offered by different companies. In addition, separate hosts will provide each of your websites with a different IP address.

Having different IP addresses is useful if you plan to link the sites together for search engine optimization. Incoming links are very important: a website with many incoming links will get a higher position in most search engines. If the links are coming from the same IP address their value will be discounted.

Hosting your websites with different hosting companies guarantees that they have different IP addresses. An individual IP address is available at extra cost from most companies. For a fee each website can have its own unique IP address. Having a unique IP address is required if you want to have a secure connection (https) enabled on your site.

If you decide to host all your websites with the same company, there are three basic ways to go. Each site could have its own account, you could sign up for a reseller account, or you could get a dedicated server account.

Hosting all your websites with one host has a few advantages, but there is one major disadvantage - if your server goes down, all your sites go down. If you depend on your sites for income this can be painful and it's a good idea to have at least one of your sites with a different host.

Multi-Domain Web Hosting - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:

Multi-domain hosting gives the web hosting account holder the ability to host multiple domains on a single web hosting account.

The biggest advantage is the money to be saved. You don't have to incur additional hosting costs when you get the bug to start another website. This is especially advantageous if you're an avid blogger, an internet marketer, need an online presence for your brick and mortar business, want to post your family's activities and summer vacation photos, or maybe you want your own personal email address with a spiffy domain name.

Disadvantages:

All web hosting companies have infrequent "burps" in service, but no doubt you'll select a reputable web host that knows how to limit these. However, if a web host does suffer an unfortunate prolonged outage and all of your domains are on a single account, then all of your sites will be inaccessible during the down time. It's something you'll need to take into consideration if you plan on hosting sites that are generating an income. No visitors means no money coming in.

All of your domains will resolve to the same IP address. If your sites are giving back links to each other in hopes of boosting your position on the search engines, having the same IP address won't help a lot because the search engines can see you're basically linking to yourself. However, any additional traffic you gain is always welcome.

In Summary:

Multi-domain hosting is very economical, but if you're running several mission critical businesses, spreading them out across different hosting companies may be advantageous in the long run. The good news is, there are many reputable web hosting companies offering quality hosting at very low competitive prices. 

Disadvantages of Free Domain Web Host

Every time you want to set up website, the first thing to remember is your domain name. Today, many sellers offer domain names with different prices, but there are websites who offers it for free. These are what we call free domain host or free host.

Who would not want a free stuff by the way? However, not all free could lead to an improvement, just like registering to a free web host. There are few disadvantages you ought to know when trying to register a website with a free host.

A host, unlike paid web host, does not offer any specific domain name of your own. They would only give you sub domains or directory URL. People may think twice regarding the credibility of your company or organization. Free host allows lower bandwidth, too.

There are limits of what they can offer, because the website is not yours. Limited web space and fewer features are the likes. Instead, to get a full access on your website features, they will offer you to upgrade. Upgrades are not for free! Sometimes, you even pay more than the offer from those paid Web host Company. Support is limited also for free web host.

Most of the time, free websites ranks lower by the search engines.

Through your website, the web host could use it for promotion of their own that could lead to a page overload. Server load follows that make time-consuming for your visitors.

There are some hosts that would cancel your website and the only choice are to either pay for your website to stay or to lose.

Now, it is your choice to evaluate what you think is better for you and your business. Make sure that you do not pay more for what you think you get for free.

Looking at Building and Hosting a Website that is Truly PROFITABLE?

Anyone can have a website, but is that website going to be seen by anyone?

There is so much more that needs to take place when building a website. Most people have no idea. Websites need to have good content, proper keywords, good hosting etc...

Do you really want to know how to create a website that is steps above most and one that will make you money? If you answered "yes" then you need to follow the rules of CTPM in order. CTPM stands for:

Content

Traffic

Presell

Monetize

Good Content will get you a lot of traffic. Preselling is when you build a relationship with visitors, not treating them like another digit to your bank account. People visit this site looking for ideas to improve their lives, so that's what must be focused upon. The last step is monetization. This should be the least of your concerns.

Pick a niche that you know something about or at least a little bit about. This will make building content alot easier. Don't worry about doing anything else except writing good content. I know you are saying "I can't write", but don't let that get you down. Do some research on the topic you chose and pick out some key topics and write about that. It doesn't have to be award winning, just keep writing.

Once you have Content the the rest is very easy.

If you want the rest to be very simple in a step by step format you should check out SBI (Site Build It). Domain name, hosting, analyzers, keyword research etc are all included at one place. They'll even help you find a niche.

SBI over delivers unlike anything I have ever seen.

This site will help if you are an experienced website designer or someone who knows nothing at all. I've never seen anything that even comes close.

When you get that profitable site up and running you can send me part of your profits. My address is 4934 East St... Just Kidding. But really do check out the site. You'll be so impressed.

Become the expert on the block.