A Web Host is a company that stores your information (or website) on a server, allowing it to be accessed by users on the Internet. Typically, you will buy / register your domain name with this company. The domain name generally costs around $10/yr, and the fee to have your web information served to the web costs approximately $75/yr. Most of these ‘Web Hosts’ offer technical support, along with customer support on a 24/7 basis. I use Hostmonster, and have called them a few times when I needed solutions to problems I have encountered. Their technical support folks were very friendly in regards to answering questions that went beyond the scope of just 'hosting my site'. I like that.
| Top 10 Web Hosts per: Web Hosting Blue Book |
| 1. | Hostmonster |
| 2. | StartLogic |
| 3. | Ix WebHost |
| 4. | Inmotion |
| 5. | Bluehost |
| 6. | DOTS HOSTING |
| 7. | HostPapa |
| 8. | Lunarpages |
| 9. | Go Daddy |
| 10. | Yahoo |
Importance of having your own domain name
By Sumantra Roy
A question that I frequently hear is "Do I really need to have my own domain name?" The one word answer is "YES.". If you put up your site with some of the free web hosting services, the only company who benefits is the web hosting company. The last person who benefits is you. There are a number of reasons why having your own domain name is a must:
1) When you have your own domain name, the address of your web site will be of the form http://www.yoursite.com. On the other hand, if you put up your site on one of the free servers, the address of your web site will be something like http://www.somefreewebsite.com/yoursite/. Which of these two sounds more professional? Which of these two is smaller and is hence easier to remember? I leave you to make the judgement.
2) The only way to make money online is to build up credibility among your customers. Having your own domain name is the first step in doing that. Your customers will feel more comfortable buying whatever it is that you are selling if you have your own domain name. It makes your customers feel that they are dealing with a large, established company, rather than with some fly by night operator.
3) When you have your domain name, you can have multiple email aliases of the form alias@yoursite.com. This allows you to assign different email aliases to different functions, all of them pointing to your actual email address. Hence, for example, for questions related to the products and services that you sell, you can have an email address like sales@yoursite.com. For questions related to the newsletter that you publish, you can have an email address like editor@yoursite.com. For comments/suggestions about your web site, you can direct your customers to feedback@yoursite.com or webmaster@yoursite.com. Having different email addresses for different functions not only makes it easier for you to filter your email using your email client program (Eudora Pro, Pegasus Mail, Outlook Express etc.), but also gives your customers the impression that yours is a large, established company with whom it is safe to do business.
4) Many search engines give a lot of emphasis to the home page of a particular domain, i.e. other things remaining the same, a home page of a domain will often rank higher for a particular keyword than any other page. When you use some of the free hosting services, your index.html page is the home page of your site, but not of that domain. Hence in these search engines, your site will find it very difficult to make it to the top 20 or top 30, let alone the top 10 for some of the really competitive keywords. Just think of the amount of traffic that you will lose if this happens.
5) Some search engines are now refusing to spider the web sites which are hosted by the free web hosts. For instance, if you have a site hosted by the free web hosts, you would, until recently, have got the infamous error message saying that too many pages have been submitted from your site if you tried to submit your site to Alta Vista . While Alta Vista now says that "your URL has been submitted for processing" if you try to submit your site, rest assured that it will not spider any site belonging to many of the free web hosts even though it says that your site has been accepted. Can you afford that?
6) When your site is hosted by some of the free web hosts, you will find it very difficult to get it listed in a major directory like Yahoo ! Although will never admit that it won't add a commercial site which is being hosted in one of the free web hosts, in practice, it will be a miracle if you can get your site listed by Yahoo!. Listing your site with Yahoo is difficult enough even when you have your own domain. Don't make your task more difficult than what it needs to be.
If you do not currently have a domain name, are you convinced that you need one right now? The small fee that you pay per year for your own domain name is peanuts compared to the benefits that you get.
By Sumantra Roy
A question that I frequently hear is "Do I really need to have my own domain name?" The one word answer is "YES.". If you put up your site with some of the free web hosting services, the only company who benefits is the web hosting company. The last person who benefits is you. There are a number of reasons why having your own domain name is a must:
1) When you have your own domain name, the address of your web site will be of the form http://www.yoursite.com. On the other hand, if you put up your site on one of the free servers, the address of your web site will be something like http://www.somefreewebsite.com/yoursite/. Which of these two sounds more professional? Which of these two is smaller and is hence easier to remember? I leave you to make the judgement.
2) The only way to make money online is to build up credibility among your customers. Having your own domain name is the first step in doing that. Your customers will feel more comfortable buying whatever it is that you are selling if you have your own domain name. It makes your customers feel that they are dealing with a large, established company, rather than with some fly by night operator.
3) When you have your domain name, you can have multiple email aliases of the form alias@yoursite.com. This allows you to assign different email aliases to different functions, all of them pointing to your actual email address. Hence, for example, for questions related to the products and services that you sell, you can have an email address like sales@yoursite.com. For questions related to the newsletter that you publish, you can have an email address like editor@yoursite.com. For comments/suggestions about your web site, you can direct your customers to feedback@yoursite.com or webmaster@yoursite.com. Having different email addresses for different functions not only makes it easier for you to filter your email using your email client program (Eudora Pro, Pegasus Mail, Outlook Express etc.), but also gives your customers the impression that yours is a large, established company with whom it is safe to do business.
4) Many search engines give a lot of emphasis to the home page of a particular domain, i.e. other things remaining the same, a home page of a domain will often rank higher for a particular keyword than any other page. When you use some of the free hosting services, your index.html page is the home page of your site, but not of that domain. Hence in these search engines, your site will find it very difficult to make it to the top 20 or top 30, let alone the top 10 for some of the really competitive keywords. Just think of the amount of traffic that you will lose if this happens.
5) Some search engines are now refusing to spider the web sites which are hosted by the free web hosts. For instance, if you have a site hosted by the free web hosts, you would, until recently, have got the infamous error message saying that too many pages have been submitted from your site if you tried to submit your site to Alta Vista . While Alta Vista now says that "your URL has been submitted for processing" if you try to submit your site, rest assured that it will not spider any site belonging to many of the free web hosts even though it says that your site has been accepted. Can you afford that?
6) When your site is hosted by some of the free web hosts, you will find it very difficult to get it listed in a major directory like Yahoo ! Although will never admit that it won't add a commercial site which is being hosted in one of the free web hosts, in practice, it will be a miracle if you can get your site listed by Yahoo!. Listing your site with Yahoo is difficult enough even when you have your own domain. Don't make your task more difficult than what it needs to be.
If you do not currently have a domain name, are you convinced that you need one right now? The small fee that you pay per year for your own domain name is peanuts compared to the benefits that you get.
| Cheap Web Hosting If you are considering Cheap Web Hosting, you may want to think about the downside of an inexpensive web host. Unless you are building a web site for a personal hobby, or perhaps to post the scores and information for your bowling league, there are significant things to consider when choosing a web host. Cost is one of them, free hosting often comes with ads that will display on your site, and you may have no control over them. Also, websites hosted by free web hosts do not usually rank well in Search Engines for competitive keywords. Furthermore, if your web domain is on a shared server that sends out spam, or adult content, you may get penalized by search engines, or your site may load slower because precious bandwidth is being hogged by these factors that are completely out of your control. Customer Service is another thing to consider. Will you be able to get Technical Support on a 24x7 basis, and what about their claim in regards to ‘up time’? If the host has a small operation in a remote area of the world, what happens if their equipment goes down? If you are building a website to make money these are significant factors to consider. The host should also have the ability to register a domain name for you, they should be ICANN Certified, and you should have the ability to transfer your domain ‘hassle free’. FTP access should be user friendly, and available. I personally had a bad experience doing some work for a customer where I, and the customer were refused access to the FTP Files. You don’t want to be held hostage by your web host. Lastly, security will be very important if you plan on any ecommerce. If this is the case, some people even suggest finding a host that has government agencies as customers because they will be required to meet strict security standards. In conclusion, it all boils down to reputation. Do some research on your potential host, give their 800 number a test call to see how long you are on the line. Do a Google search using key phrases to find good and bad results, or go to www.hostsearch.com for a review. If the above seems all too confusing, surf over to www.webhostingpal.com, they have an excellent beginners guide to hosting, as well as reviews and pricing. Currently, I’m very satisfied with my web host,HostMonster, they’ve been more then I could ask for, and more. |
| In summary, it will cost you approximately $85 per year to keep your site on the internet. Some Web Host’s offer ‘Month to Month’ service, you will need to decide what is best for you. My Web Host is Hostmonster, click on the banner below, signup, and i will give you a discount on web design. |
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