hosting | SEO & Social Media MarketingSEO & Social Media Marketing

Domain Name? Hosting? WordPress?

April 2, 2011
Blogging, Hosting
2 Comments
blogging, Bluehost, Domain Name, hosting, WordPress

I received a comment yesterday that is deserving of a more complete explanation that I think will help to clarify a few things for many readers.

Ashley wrote…”I’m in the process of reading your book and it has been incredibly helpful, and very easy to follow. Thank you!

One thing I have been curious about was how you start a domain. I understand you can go to a site like GoDaddy.com and register a website domain, if it is available, but then what happens? How do you then link the domain to a site like WordPress to start entering text?”

First of all, thank you for the nice mention about my book; I am very pleased that you are finding it helpful. And you are correct, the process of getting a domain name, hosting your website and then adding content to the site confuses many people.

Domain Names & Website Hosting

Let’s begin with the domain name, i.e. yourcompany.com. A domain ‘registrar’ assigns domain names and there are many registrars from which to choose such as GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Bluehost and lots of others. People often get confused at this point thinking that acquiring a domain name includes the hosting of the website associated with that name. Registering a name and hosting a website are two separate things.

Most domain registrars also offer website hosting, and prices range anywhere from a few dollars to over $25 per month for what is essentially the same service. Your challenge as a consumer is to find the best value. This is why I use and recommend Bluehost for hosting because they will give you your domain name for free and only charge $6.95 for monthly hosting, and in my mind that’s a terrific value.

On my main website, I have two resource pages that can help you solve this problem. Go here if you need to register a new domain (for free) and host your website. If you already have a domain name and need hosting, learn how to transfer your domain to Bluehost.

Remember, as long as you host with Bluehost, your primary domain name will be free. Also, additional domain names cost only $10 per year and can be hosted at no additional cost. Essentially, you could have 20 fully functioning websites hosted and your only cost would be the $10 domain name fee each year.

How to maximize WordPress

Hopefully that clears up the domain name and hosting issue. The other part of your question was about WordPress and building your website. This is confusing for some people because you can host a WordPress blog on www.wordpress.com, but it is best to use your domain as a WordPress blog.

Installing WordPress in the Bluehost control panel is as easy as it gets. You need no technical skills, just follow these simple instructions and you can have a WordPress blog installed on your Bluehost domain in minutes.

Once your blog has been installed, you can immediately begin to add content. As explained in my book, you can use WordPress as a conventional blog or use it to create a professional looking website. WordPress ‘Themes’ and ‘Plugins’ offer you unlimited design options and the ability to add dynamic components to your site like your Facebook or Twitter feeds, forms, or almost anything you can imagine. In essence, if you can envision it…there’s a Plugin that can make it happen.

You will find that using WordPresss as your website authoring tool is incredibly empowering. Things that used to require hiring a programmer or web designer can now be done by you.

If you have any other questions about acquiring a domain name, website hosting issues or using WordPress, click that comment link below and get some answers.

Thanks and best of luck with your new adventure,

Web Hosting?

February 18, 2011
Hosting, Technology
No Comments
Bluehost, hosting, SEO & Social Media Marketing Book, small business, website

You may be paying too much!

An educated consumer can be a serious problem for many hosting companies. The vast majority of small business websites function as online brochures. Meaning that most sites are not database-driven nor do they possess dynamic programming that requires the assistance of a skilled tech to modify pages or maintain the site. Most of these websites are comprised of static pages.

Large well known hosting companies typically have a bulletproof internal server network and some have bandwidth redundancy built on top of more redundancy. In simple terms, they pull their primary Internet service from two, three or four major providers to address demand and as protection against outages by one or more providers.

This is why I recommend Bluehost in my book, and to all of my consulting clients. Additionally, Bluehost signs-up over 20,000 new customers every month and they host millions of domains! Think about it, why would you pay $10, $15, $25 or more per month when you can get all this for $6.95?

Unlimited Domain Hosting
Unlimited GB Hosting Space
Unlimited GB File Transfer
Unlimited E-mail Accounts
Free Domain
Free Site Builder w/ templates
Secure Shell, SSL, FTP, Stats
CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MySQL
$75 Free Google Credit
99.9% Network Uptime Guarantee
24/7 US-based Support
No Hidden Fees
Free Instant Set-up

When people learn that they can save hundreds of dollars per year and sleep better at night, the idea of moving their website to a world-class provider makes a lot of sense. Obviously, changing webhosts means that you will need a back-up of your existing website so that it can be uploaded to the new server. If you know how to use ‘FTP’, you will have no problem with this. If this presents a challenge for you, I can back-up your website and upload it to your new server for a nominal fee. Here’s what you need to do.

Go to Bluehost and click the big green “Sign Up Now” button
Type your domain name into the box that says “I Have a Domain Name” & click next
Fill out your contact info and pay for your hosting
Email me if you need help with backing up and restoring your files on the new server

Yes Virginia, there really is a difference in web hosting and the odds are that you’re paying too much for yours. Oh and BYW, after you are done congratulating yourself on all the money you saved, download my book, “SEO & Social Media Marketing Guide” and take your website to the next level. It doesn’t matter how good your hosting company is if the search engines can’t find your website.

Get your website found…get my book!

Installing a WordPress blog

August 29, 2010
Blogging, Hosting, Technology
No Comments
blogging, Bluehost, hosting, Tips

In the previous post, I answered a question about moving an existing domain and changing the DNS to point to Bluehost. Now that you have an account set up, you’re ready to install your blog.

Bluehost’s Control Panel makes installing a blog as easy as a walk in the park. There’s really nothing you have to do except verify a few options and click to install. I have created a step-by-step tutorial to help you choose the right options.

As an example, you’ll need to decide the location of your blog. Will you use it as an add-on directory (like THIS blog), i.e. www.yourdomain.com/blog/. Or, will you use WordPress to be the platform for your entire website as I explained in the book?

Regardless of your choice, installing WordPress is easy, and the tutorial I created explains everything.

Visit “Set-up your blog on Bluehost” and let me know if you have any questions.

Moving your domain & blog

August 27, 2010
Hosting, Technology
1 Comment
Bluehost, DNS, hosting, nameservers

Another great question, this time from ‘Harold‘ who asked…

“…My question is about moving my website to the company you recommended in the book. I’m paying $14.95 a month and the hosting company wants to charge me a hundred bucks to install a blog. You said the blog is free with your company, so how do I move my website and how do I add a blog?”

Harold, the company I recommend is Bluehost, and unfortunately, its not ‘my’ company. The reason I like them is their value pricing of only $6.95 per month for unlimited space & transfer and their outstanding ‘Control Panel’, which permits you to install your blog with a couple of clicks. Can’t beat that.

Moving a domain from one hosting company to another is easy if you do it correctly. There are two pieces to this puzzle; your domain name and the pages (website) you host on a server.

Your domain name was obtained through a “Registrar”, a company that registers domain names. This may or may not be the same company that hosts your website. Many registrars like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Bluehost and others do offer hosting and their prices are all over the board.

You will need to access your account with your Registrar and change the nameservers to point to Bluehost. This is easy once you know what to do.

Next, open an account with Bluehost and transfer your domain to them.

Time & money saving tips!

See “Move your domain to Bluehost“, a step-by-step guide showing you how to move your domain and change your nameservers (DNS). Transferring a domain (or getting a new one) with Bluehost is easy and works basically the same.