Easy Website Hosting

If you have never set-up a website, or been a webmaster, you may expect that you need a lot of technical knowledge to do this. In fact you would be wrong because easy website hosting is now available to anyone wanting to set-up their own website or blog.

You need both a domain name and a hosting account so there will be cost involved. You might be able to get one or other of these free by using a single supplier but if you want a premium domain (e.g. a.com) it will probably be cheaper to buy them from separate suppliers.

Proceed as follows:

Select you Domain Name: The extension you need will depend on the purpose of your site. If you are looking for an international audience then a .org or .net might be appropriate or .com if there is a commercial element. In this case cheapdomainnames.com is a good place to start looking. Search for a local registration site if you go for your local extension e.g. .co.uk or .de. Look for the cheapest site to register the name (but don’t do so yet).

Chose your Website Hosting Provider: There is a lot of choice here with varying levels of service. Unless a hosting provider has been recommended to you I would recommend selecting one of the big names who have a good reputation for their support services. If any problems do arise you can then be confident that you will be able to get support.

Website hosting companies often also offer domain registration services and you can do this as part of the sign-up process with them. This is certainly the easiest way to go but it may not be the cheapest. The alternative is to register your domain name first with another company and, later, enter the DNS information provided by your hosting company. This is easy, it just adds another step to the setup process. If you proceed on this basis you should register your domain name first, so that you have the information when setting up your hosting account.

Set-up Hosting Account: On your hosting company’s website you will need to choose your package and the period you will pay in advance. The “monthly” cost is lower the further in advance you pay. You then enter your contact and payment information. You should pay by credit card or PayPal as this makes it easier to get a refund should you need to cancel later.

If you registered your domain name elsewhere the hosting company will advise you of their nameserver(s). You then need to login to the site where you registered your domain and enter these. If you purchased your domain from the hosting company you do not need to worry about this.

Creating your Site/Blog:: Your hosting company will give you access to your Cpanel through which you control everything including your email and FTP accounts. To get started quickly open “Fantastico De Luxe” which is in the Software/Services section. This will enable you to quickly set-up WordPress, the very popular software for creating websites and blogs. WordPress in free and there are so many themes and plugins to choose from that you can effectively make it do what you want without any technical knowledge. To install it in your root directory (i.e. your home page will be at yourdomain.xxx) select WordPress in the left hand column of Fantastico. Click “New Installation” on the next page then complete the simple form leaving the “Install in Directory” box blank. The data entered on this page can be changed later and you will no doubt want to do so once you see what it is used for. Finish the installation and you will then get a page containing your database and login details.

You now have a Home page which you can view in your browser. You can also log into your Dashboard within WordPress and start building your site.

Easy website hosting is therefore available to anyone, so get out there and start publishing!


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