Web Hosting Guide
Navigation:
- What is a Domain Name?
- Can I get my Web Hosting and a Domain Name from the same company?
- What is a Coupon Code?
- What is Disk Space and Bandwidth?
- What Do they mean by Unlimited Bandwidth and Disk Space?
- What is a dedicated server?
- How do I upload my website online?
- What is uptime
- How do I track how many visitors my website has had?
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is space and bandwidth you rent through a company so that you may publish your web site online. Prices range depending on the size and popularity of the website, a new website typically costs around $100 a year.
I recommend anyone using WordPress to always to use LiquidWeb, it’s cheap, reliable and they have 24/7 live support.
Once you have a domain, you’ll need hosting to put all of your website files onto the internet. If you need help installing a blog, I’d suggest taking our free 7-Day ECourse (it’s much easier than you might think). Choosing the right host is important because if you have a bad host, you could experience a lot of issues such as your blog being taken offline, your website disconnecting with out notice and many other reasons.
There are several choices available these days, but they are definitely not all the same. We like to have an additional server with a different host for security reasons and we’ve hopped between several hosting companies because many dropped the ball. Make life easy on yourself, check out some of the best options available:
Web Host Our Thoughts Price Level
Hostgator Superb customer service and very user friendly. $4.95 Beginner
Dream Host Reliable hosting with great prices for individuals and small businesses. $5.95 Beginner
Blue Host Consistent up-time and flexible hosting plans for medium traffic websites. $3.95 Beginner
MediaTemple Exceptional uptime and value with easily scalable plans for growing sites. $20.00 Intermediate
WPEngine They offer stable, secure hosting that accommodate all of our websites and clients. $29.00 Intermediate
Liquid Web You can purchase literally ANY bandwidth package you like. There are no limitations. $1.97 Pro
Are You Stepping Up Your Internet Business?
It is a proven fact, the faster your website is, the more people will buy and the better the search engines will rank you on their sites – because of this, I decided to switch my hosting provider recently to MaxCDN. I would only recommend upgrading your hosting to MaxCDN once your site has been live for a few months and you are earning from your online business. Until then, I still highly recommend you use HostGator.
Web Hosting FAQ’s
Why shouldn’t I use a FREE Host?
There are many reasons why you shouldn’t use a FREE host, they include, not having permission to add adverts your website, no control over your website, no control over your design and most importantly, no one will ever want to buy a FREE website of you.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is a Website URL, for example IncomeDiary.com, popular domain extensions include .net. co.uk .org .info and .us.
Domain registrar’s are used to purchase your domain, we use GoDaddy for all of ours! Once you have a domain, you need web hosting to host it.
Can I get my Web Hosting and a Domain Name from the same company?
Yes you can, both companys, HostGator and GoDaddy will help you with the purchasing of both the domain and hosting.
What is a Coupon Code?
A coupon code is used to give you a discount on your order, we have set up two coupon codes for you to recieve money off when you order with either of our recommended companys.
Use the code “WebMakeMoney” to recieve $9.94 off when you order from HostGator!
Use the code “cjcsave10” to get 10% off your order with GoDaddy!
What is Disk Space and Bandwidth?
Disk Space is the size your website can be, for example 1 MB may allow you to upload 10 images, 100 MB will let you upload 1000. Every single letter on your website has to be stored somewhere on your web host’s server. Each letter is one byte, and a megabyte is roughly one million bytes. HTML pages are usually very small, but it is the extra images, scripts, and even databases that can take up large amounts of disk space.
Bandwidth is the amount of data the server will allow your site to send in a month, the more times your website is viewed, the more you will use up.
What do they mean by unlimited Bandwidth and Disk Space?
The “catch” with these hosts with unlimited services is that if you purchase a block of bandwidth (say 2000GB for example), you can usually transfer this 2000GB at a speed of up to 100Mbit. If you purchase an “unmetered connection” then you can transfer as much data as you like, however you are limited as to what speed you may do so.
So you see, that instead of limiting bandwidth they are limiting speed.
This wont be an issue for majority of the sites out there, but if you plan on recieving 100,000’s of visitors from day 1 then you may want to invest in a dedicated service like we use for our larger websites.
What is a Dedicated Server?
A dedicated server better meets the needs of a large business for several reasons. The client can customize the hardware setup as well as the software to meet exact needs. Data access is faster and high traffic is easily accommodated.
Shared hosting is when 100’s of people use the same server, so by having your own dedicated server, no one will be slowing you or your business down.
If you are interesting in purchasing a dedicated server then they start from around $99.99!
How do I upload my website online?
Uploading your website is easy, you can either upload through your control panel or a FTP client. For those who upload regularly a FTP client saves time and helps you manage your uploads a lot easier.
What is uptime?
Uptime is the amount of time you can expect to see your website online, most hosts you will see have 99.9% because the only down time is for upgrades and changes.
How do I track how many visitors my website has had?
If you go to your hosting control panel and click Awstats you will be able to see your daily traffic report. I personally use Google Analytics to track my traffic because they give you a more in depth look into your website traffic.
Still have a question you want answered? Email me!