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Intro to HTML - Web Hosting Tutorial and Guide
Learn how easy it is you get your own .com, .net, .org
Dave's Guide to Domain Names - Web Hosting Suggestions and Recommendations
The web hosting companies mentioned on this page are paying sponsors of this web site.
You've come here to learn the all the cool <html> tags to develop your web site. Having someone make a web site for you would probably cost well over $1,000, which is why it's so great to be able to learn web design online for free.
Having a web site you design yourself is better than having no web site at all, even if you're not a perfect designer on day 1. And with some practice, you can certainly become a very good designer.
Web Hosting is important because HTML + CSS + Host = Web Site
You're probably thinking, well, I came here to learn HTML, what's all this host stuff have to do with it? What is a host? Why do I need one? When you visit davesite.com, you're not visiting my home computer. Your web browser is grabbing a web site from a computer in a data center. Web sites are not run from personal computers, I think that's a common mistake people make in their minds.
Yeah, big web sites like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, they're run on huge, expensive computers, thousands upon thousands of computers. davesite.com is run from a web server that costs me just $8.95 a month. How cool is that?
So how does that work? I hire a company called a web host. They purchase the computers, install them at their computer server center for you, and take care of all the geek stuff required to keep your web site up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They're professionals at it, web hosting is their job. You just pay them a few dollars a month. There are even some companies like RackSpace cloud computing that allow you to host and store all of your important business files and information via "cloud" based servers so that you'll always have a backup copy available.
Check out the features of the four hosts I partner with below.
Having trouble finding an available domain name choice?
Read My Guide to Choosing (Domain) Names When Everything Else is
Taken
Do you need a domain name even though you can use a site like Facebook to update your customers? Absolutely. Facebook is something you do in addition to your hosted web site, not something that replaces it. Most of the Internet is not on Facebook, that's a fact. It's popular in some circles, and its talked about a lot, but the fact is most people, and at least half of your web site visitors, do not (and probably never will) use Facebook.
When friends ask me what hosts I would set up a brand-new site on, these are the ones I can wholeheartedly recommend to them. I have active sites on each of the hosts. They are great companies.
Click the link of the host to view the details on their site. If you see a daily special, take it!
|
A lot of people make back their host costs by putting up ad
code. I have a chapter on how to make money with your site once you order your host. Click here to open the money making chapter in a new window. |
Dave's Recommended Hosts
| Hosting Company | Special Features | Host Details | Disk Space/ Bandwidth | Domain Price | Price (Click for More) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
iPage Expert Web Hosting | "Best Control Panel Ever"/ Enhanced Security/100% Green | View Specials | Unlimited/Unlimited | Free (ever year) | |
|
FutureQuest
Expert Community Web Hosting |
FutureQuest is my official host offering round-the-clock support. SSH/IMAP/Monthly Payments (This site is hosted on FutureQuest for $8.95.) | View Specials | 1.2GB/40GB | Bring Your Own | $8.95/mo
(Special: At FutureQuest you pay one month at a time, not a full year.) |
| 1&1
Hosting |
Enhanced Security (SSH)/ Scripting, and IMAP Secure Email | View Specials | 250GB/Unlimited | 3 Free (every year) | $9.99/mo |
For new designers in the UK, I recommend 1&1
Internet Ltd.
Ordering and Registering your Site
Getting your site online requires two things:
- You register your domain name. That's the .com, .net, or other web site name you've picked. davesite.com and davesite.net are two separate web sites, I just decided to buy them both. If your choice in .com is taken, there are several other endings you can pick from, including .net, .org, .info, and more.
- When your domain is registered, you hire a web host to take care of all the details. They give you a username and password to post your web site. You can update your web site any time you want, you just use that special username and password. The details of that are covered in Chapter 10.
Here's the best thing. The companies I work with all combine the two steps above into one. You visit their web site with the link above, type in the name you want for your domain name, and order your package. They do all the complicated details. You get your username and set your password for when you are going to post your site.
Do you need a domain name even though you can use a site like Facebook to update your customers? Absolutely. Facebook is something you do in addition to your hosted web site, not something that replaces it. Most of the Internet is not on Facebook, that's a fact. It's popular in some circles, and its talked about a lot, but the fact is most people, and at least half of your web site visitors, do not use Facebook.
I've worked with all the companies below. They have great track records and are a blast to work with. They offer tons of space, even though in reality most web sites won't typically need more than 1/2 of a GB of space. Pick the one you're most comfortable with and get started. (Full disclosure: These hosts are sponsors of my site.)
**Highly Recommended**
I signed up for iPage Web Hosting to test out the service because I heard loads of great reviews. The control panel is absolutely amazing (I am probably going to get very little web design done today just because I love looking around at all the features.) I've honestly never loved a host this much in my entire life. You NEED to order iPage as your host. Yeah, you can check out the others below, but trust me, iPage is your absolute best bet, and you can't beat $4.50 a month. Get Details.
If I could predict the winner of
best hosting for 2013, I'm sure it'd be iPage.
1&1 Hosting is also a top ranking hosting company. It's really easy to set up, speedy, and after all that, it's fun. The daily stats are great. The only thing I have to say negatively about them is that the webmail client is good, but can get better. When you visit their site, select Linux hosting (it's the most secure and it works with your computer even if its Windows or Mac)
Try It Out! -- This MiniChapter's Quick Exercise
This chapter's exercise is a short, simple three steps.
Read the reviews above.
Pick the host that interests you most.
Click below to view the details of
the host that you picked.
Once you've gotten a pretty solid idea of what you need in a host after reviewing two of the hosts in step 2:
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URL: http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/domain.shtml
Dave's Guide to Domains - Web Hosting Tutorial and Hosting Reviews