Master of Your Own Domain

Okay, did you pick out a name? Did you buy it? Did you also think about hosting? I am going to cover the hosting part of your business development.

To Host or Not to Host – That is the question!

If money is extremely tight, this isn’t really a question. You can wait till my next entry where I will cover putting up a free blog. But if you are able to pay for hosting, there are numerous benefits to having your own web hosting. But you don’t know the first thing about putting up a website – or blog in our case do you? Don’t worry – it is quite simple. Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it too.

So what hosting service do you want to get? I have a few options to offer up to you. So many people will say that this one is the best, or that one is the best. Really, some are superior to others in reliability and customer service, but it really comes down to which one best suits your needs.

BlueHost is the service I recommend; another highly recommended hosting service is Host Gator, but there are many others out there. You can even find some services that are free! As far as free services go, please read the fine print carefully because each vary considerably in the way that they operate. One such service I can recommend is DotEasy.

Okay, so you took a look? Like one over the other? Like another service better than the ones I recommended? Make sure you comment on the post if you think there is a better service that you have found.

Now you need to familiarize yourself with your service – get into the back office and have a look around. I am not going to go over the particulars of all the features because there are more features from these companies than I know how to use. Keep in mind – I am NOT a techie. The fact that a non-techie is writing about hosting should be another clue to you that ANYONE can do it. All hosting services have getting started guides as well as tech support – many even have forums where you can get your questions answered.

So what is your first question? Probably – How do I get my website up? Good, but you need to focus on your domain for the moment. Did you choose a domain? Did you buy it from GoDaddy, or did you wait to purchase it from the hosting service? If you purchased your domain from a source other than your hosting plan, you need to direct the domain to the DNS servers of your hosting company.

So this is your homework:

If you haven’t purchased your domain yet, go ahead and double check that it is the right domain for you – re-review the previous posts and if it is right for you, purchase it.

If you purchased your domain through GoDaddy or another third party service, find out how to direct your domain name to your host providers DNS service. It isn’t that hard, just find out the DNS server names (usually 2) from the provider, then go to your GoDaddy account and input those names in the appropriate place. The fact that I am not giving you step-by-step instructions is on purpose. You need to just do it and get yourself acquainted with tinkering around under the hood – it’ll be good for you!

4 Responses to “ Master of Your Own Domain ”

Make Money Quick on October 20, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Interesting post. I just got off work and was looking for some cool info to read about. Trying to learn something new today. I think I just did. lol

Thanks for the interesting read.

Kenney

P.S. I agree with your recommendation for Hostgator. They are awesome and affordable, and their support desk is unmatched. I use them for all my hosting.
Sky Xavier on November 3, 2008 at 5:18 am

yes that is really a nice post. it is worth reading.

yes hostgator is really nice. I recommend 1 and 1 also. I host some of my sites on that and m getting nice service.
Peter on November 20, 2008 at 4:40 pm

Hi this Peter thanks for all the information and idea’s on how to make money from home. I really like to find ways on how to improve my online business and also on helping others to succeed online you have a very useful blog.
hostgator review on May 14, 2010 at 11:37 am

Great post, as usual. It looks like your blog was offline yesterday or it was my internet?