What you will learn:
- What a domain name is and how to register one
- What "hosting" is
First, before we get started, let's review some terminology:
- server
- A place to store your files and offer people access to your site.
- domain
- The name of your site. This is essentially the "address" where people can find your website. As a general rule, your web domain should be registered as soon as possible, in order to guarantee that it won't be taken, before you've had a chance to get your website up. A domain can be registered at most hosting service websites.
- host
- A company offering server space for your files. They usually offer services such as email, databases, and blogs, as well. The "host" can usually register your domain name and give you a hosting plan as part of a package deal for relatively cheap. Just make sure that when you register the domain name and purchase a hosting service, that you "connect" the two. Some do it automatically, but double-check in order to avoid delay in getting your site live. For example, godaddy requires you to link your domain name with your hosting plan, in their control panel, before your domain is hosted on their service.
- Since most hosting services can register a domain name as part of their hosting plans, I usually register my domain names with whoever I plan on hosting with. This also keeps the registration and hosting process very simple.
- Hosting plans, for personal websites, are usually anywhere from $25 - $45 a year. I know that doteasy.com offers hosting for around $25 a year. Their offered storage space and bandwidth is minimal, but more than ample for a personal website. Other services offer hosting based on a monthly fee, and might give you more storage. The choice is really up to you. Just shop around and find a plan that you think works best for you; with most services, you can usually upgrade as your needs increase.
"This is My Domain!"
Domain registration is relatively easy. It's usually as simple as going to a website such as doteasy, dreamhost, godaddy, etc, and using their "domain availability" search feature. What this does is check for available domain names—or "web addresses," you may call them—and reports back whether or not that particular domain name is available to register. Once you find one available that you like, go through the simple registration process. To register a domain name shouldn't cost much more than $10.
It's as simple as that. Once you have a name registered, then it's time to purchase a hosting plan . . .
Hosting
In order for your website to be viewed by others, you need to have server space. As you recall from the definition above, a server is a place where your website files are stored. A hosting service is a service provided by companies who will offer you space on their servers for a fee. In other words, you pay them to grant you server space to store your files so that others can view them on the web.
There are various hosts out there, each offering slightly different features, but most are relatively similar in price. Personally, I prefer the annually, or bi-annually services simply because it is easier for me to think in terms of a yearly fee rather than being billed monthly. It just makes things easier for me. But you can do whatever you feel comfortable with. In the past, I have used godaddy and doteasy. Doteasy is, just as it says: very easy to sign-up with and use. Godaddy has great costumer service (they actually go out of their way to help you solve your problems), but I don't personally like the layout of their site and control panel; it's a bit cluttered and difficult to navigate. Right now, I am using hostmonster, because they offer unlimited storage and bandwidth. I needed this because of the requirements of this very tutorial. For me, these two things—bandwidth and storage—became an issue the moment I started adding videos and driving traffic to my site. But before, both godaddy's and doteasy's basic plans worked just fine.
One thing I did like about godaddy over doteasy, however, was their "premium"—or whatever they called it—email plan. One year, I had people sending me pictures through email, and the doteasy email storage cap didn't allow some of the files to get through. The larger, godaddy one did. So basically, you just have to shop around and do the best at determining what your needs will be. I know that it can seem like a lot. Questions like, "How much storage space do I need?" or "Am I going to have enough bandwidth?" are probably things that you're saying, "I have no idea" to. Don't worry. When I first started, I did, too. The key thing to remember is that most of the base plans give you more than enough to meet the needs of a personal website. It isn't until you start becoming more like a business that you need to consider getting more. Below is a list of hosting services that I would recommend:
- doteasy
- godaddy
- hostmonster (this links you to their "special deal" page)
- dreamhost
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