4 Website Hosting
A website host is basically a computer somewhere on which the coding for your website is stored. Although some domain registrars also offer hosting service and some web hosting companies also are domain registrars, there is not necessarily any connection. Once you have registered a domain, you can have it hosted anywhere.
There must be tens of thousands of hosts from which to choose, but two of the most popular are HostGator.com and Godaddy.com. NameCheap.com has recently started offering web hosting, but I can’t comment on how good it may be. My favorite is HostGator.
Both HostGator and Godaddy, as well as most hosting services, include CPanel as part of their package. If you’re going with somebody else, make sure you’ll be getting CPanel, as it is a very user-friendly interface that practically builds websites for you. The instructions I will be giving you assume that you have access to CPanel. It’s not essential, but it sure saves hours of time, reducing your learning curve down to practically zero.
As of July, 2008, Hostgator’s price to host a single website was $4.95 per month (all prices are in US dollars) or an unlimited number of domains for $7.95/mo. (I believe NameCheap’s monthly rate for a single site is less than $3, but, depending on how much disk space and monthly bandwidth you’re allowed to use, that may be like comparing apples to windows.) My HostGator account costs $US$7.95 per month, allows unlimited domains and unlimited MySQL databases up to a maximum disk storage of 600 GB and 6 GB of bandwidth per month. I have no complaints at all.
I recently learned about a free web hosting service that almost sounds too good to be true. 000webhost.com is the name, and they say their no-charge hosting comes with no catch. Their free accounts give you 350 megs of disk space and 100 gigs of bandwidth per month, which is certainly adequate. And, they have the CPanel control panel, which is essential for inexperienced webmasters to set up their sites quickly. And finally, they do not put any kind of advertising on your pages. You can register at 000webhost.com here. I have not tried them out, so if you have a positive or negative experience, I would be very curious to hear about it.
By the way, most hosts offer you the option of Linux or Windows hosting. If your computer is using a Windows operating system, you do NOT have to opt for Windows hosting. In most cases, you’re better off selecting the Linux choice.
It is very unlikely you’ll ever use up all of the storage or bandwidth available, so go for the smallest one you think you’ll need. When and if the day ever comes you exceed your allotment, your website will have become so successful, you’ll happily pay your host for an upgrade to a bigger plan.
Once you’ve completed your host’s sign-up process, they’ll send you an email message that contains your DNS numbers. That message will also tell you the URL (web address) where you can access your CPanel as well as your FTP settings. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and you will need to have some kind of FTP software in order to move files from your computer to your host.