If you have read Part 1 of our series, you will know the value of creating a Brand for your online presence. To recap, a brand is a word or series of words that represents your product or yourself. Your brand is important, as you want online users to remember your brand and what it stands for. Have you noticed the image to the right? That is my brand for Psychcomp. Everywhere I go, I have this logo, as it stands for myself and this site. Your brand can be a name and a logo, which is what I suggest. We will discuss creation of a logo later, now we need to get to purchasing a domain name and a web host.
Purchasing a Web Host
Many people would suggest purchasing the domain first. I do not, for today many webhosts offer free domains if you purchase them as a web host. These domains last one year, however you can renew the domains even if you choose to change web hosts in the future. For now, we will focus on the web host.
What do you look for in a web host? The easiest method is to look as customer reviews of hosting companies and see which ones are on top. Customer reviews are (usually) honest, and with many reviews, you can get a good idea of what to expect from the web host. The most important features to look for are downtime and speed. If your site is down, you look very bad to your customers. Your customers are not going to care if it was your hosting companies fault, all fault is placed on you, so be sure to pick a host with around a 99% uptime (or higher) rating. Also, make sure your host is not slow. Many web hosts offer shared packages, meaning your website is one among many on a server. If the server has to many sites on it, or is getting heavy traffic, your site’s speed will suffer.
Pick your Poison: Shared or Dedicated
When choosing a web host, there are two main routes to go. You can opt for a shared server or a dedicated server. A shared server as the name suggests is shared, meaning many sites are housed on the server. The advantage here is price. These plans are usually 5-15 dollars a month, and offer most features a website needs. The drawback is stated above: if to many sites are on it, or there is heavy traffic, your site will suffer.
A dedicated server houses only your website, thus allowing greater speeds and reliability. This is a good choice when your site is getting larger and more popular, and a shared host cannot handle the demand. This option is also the most expensive, and can begin at costs of $100+ a month. If you are just beginning to venture on the Internet and do not have a fanbase, then it is best to begin with shared hosting, and scale upwards to dedicated hosting when the need arises, to reduce costs. It is mainly up to you.
To Linux, or to Windows
When choosing a hosting service, it is also important to choose between Linux and Windows Hosting. The main difference is the database schema and programming languages used. Linux uses MYSQL and PHP as its database backbone, while windows uses Microsoft SQL Server and ASP.Net. How does this impact you? Blogs, such as wordpress, use mysql and php, meaning a Linux host is recommended. I imagine there are ways to get a wordpress blog to work on a windows platform, however it will not be as easy. For the scope of this series, we will be setting up a wordpress blog on a Linux Web Host, so that is what I will recommend.
Review your Hosts!
Now that you know what type of server you want, which host do you pick? The best choice is to go to Web Hosting Jury and read reviews of the top web hosts. Do NOT just look at the ranking and pick a host. Note how many reviews there are about each host. If a host has few reviews, then the ratings may be meaningless. Pick a host with a high rating and many reviews. Read a good portion of the reviews to see what customers are saying about the host, then make an intelligent choice. It is a pain to change hosts, so make sure you make a good decision now.
Once you have picked your host, go to their site and sign up. You can usually pay per month, however you often get better deals if you pay for a year or two upfront. I suggest paying for one month while you test it, and if you like the host’s performance, then the next month purchase a year or two. This way your not paying for a year or two without having tested the product.
Domain Selection
Many hosts will offer a free domain if you sign up. If your host does, you can usually enter the domain you want during signup. Now is the time to see if the domain you want is free. Domain names are unique meaning if you want the domain: billbob.com, and someone else has the domain, then you cannot use billbob.com. You can contact the owner of billbob.com and see if he will sell it, but I do NOT recommend it, as you do not know the reputation behind the name. The domain could be on a number of internet blacklists, which would defeat your entire purpose.
How do I check if a domain name is free? The easy way is to go to Whois.Net and check the domain there. WhoIs is a great resource, as you can look up domains and see not only if they are free, but who owns them if they are not. I suggest looking for a domain name with .com in it, as this is the most popular extension. If you cannot get .com, .net also works. Do not use .edu unless you are an educational institution. There are many more to choose from, but try to get .com or .net if possible.
If your name is not free, then it is time to rethink your domain name. For a good many people a .com name will not be available. For example, if you are a watch maker, I am sure watch.com will be taken. Try to add the city your from, or the state, and see if that works. You may have a better time with houstonwatches.com then with watches.com. Remember, the name you choose here will be your brand, so choose wisely.
Before you finish picking the domain name, you may want to go to social media sites and see if this name is free in their listings as well. Go to myspace, twitter, and facebook and check if the name is free. You want the same name on all services, so it looks better. This is not 100% required, but it helps.
Now, select the domain name and then your done. Many web hosts will allow you to purchase your domain name from them, if you are not given a free one. I recommend this, as if they purchase it, it will be in their system, and it will only take around a half hour for your domain to be ready for your new site. If you purchase the domain separate from the web host, you will have to point the domain to your web host. This is not a difficult task, but it can take a few days to get right. This is called domain propagation, and is beyond the scope of this article. Go to Ultra Website Hosting’s Domain Propagation page to learn more about Domain Propagation.
Once your domain is purchased, and your host is set up, open your web browser and type in your domain name in the address bar. An under construction page will most likely appear. If so, your site is working! Go ahead, do a happy dance, with the knowledge you have finished the first stage of your journey. You now exist on the internet, but no one knows you are there. Or do they…..
Google is Out There
Google might know you exist. How? Many web hosts have deals with Google to come in and make a listing of all their sites. A Google Bot may already be on the way. What does this mean? Simple, right now, your name points to an under construction page. While this was good to know your site works, you do NOT want your site listed in Google or any other search engine yet. There is no need to begin your online presence with an under construction page. This makes you look bad.
So, how do we stop Google and their bots? The answer lies in a file named robots.txt.
A Robot Kills the Bot
What is a robots.txt file? It is a file that tells search engines what to access within a website, and what to ignore. A properly set up robots.txt file will tell all search engines to ignore the site. This is a important step, as we do not want any exposure until our site is ready. This way, we have a fully functional website to display to the world. A website with many broken or outdated links will rank poorly within the search engines. I have written an article on how to block search engines from your website, located here.
In Conclusion
Congratulations, you have completed the first main phase of establishing yourself online. You now have a website you can create a blog with. Your web host is purchased, and search engines will avoid you until you tell them to come in. Tomorrow begins the true work: setting up a wordpress blog on your new webhost. Good luck!
Table of Contents: How to Establish Yourself Online
Part 1: Plan
Part 2: Domain Name and Web Host
Part 3: Setting up WordPress
Part 4: Customizing WordPress
Part 5: WordPress SEO
About the author: Psychcomp is owned and maintained by Nathan Driskell, a Licensed Professional Counselor specializing in Internet Addiction and Asperger's Disorder. Nathan is also a Web Designer and Network Administrator.
Contact Nathan at the following locations:
dami...@psychcomp.com">E-Mail
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Related Posts
- How to Establish Yourself Online – Part 1: Plan
- How to Establish Yourself Online – Part 3: Setting up WordPress
- How to Establish Yourself Online – Part 5: WordPress SEO
- How to Establish Yourself Online – Part 4: Customizing WordPress
- Blocking Search Engine Bots
- Hostgator Review
- Remove Old Links from Google
- SEO Centro: Rank Checker
- Geocities Closing Tomorrow
- Example robots.txt for WordPress and PHPBB3
Tags: domain name, establish, establish yourself online, google, robots.txt, web host
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Thanks for the details. There are some triggers which are very helpful to newbies while selecting/planning to chose their hosting provider for the website.
Good tips.