Hosting/Register Newb Questions

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PSU4Life

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Aug 10, 2006
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I'm paying around $13 a month for hosting each site I have with Yahoo. I see some people making posts how their only hosting cost is registering the domain. How are they getting free hosting? Do they have their own server or have a friend do it? It seems like I'm paying too much in hosting fees with Yahoo especially when I just want to test a domain.

How should I go about hosting my sites? It seems I should register the domains with Namecheap as a lot of people on here like them but I'm not sure what the best hosting option should be. I don't need much bandwith or storage at all.

I'm an idiot when it comes to hosting/registering domains.

Thanks
 


It can be really overwhelming when choosing a new host. I'd recommend coming up with a list of your requirements and budget and then start researching and narrow down your list to maybe 5 hosts you like.

Call them and ask a bunch of questions. Focus on some important factors such as:

Disc space requirements - Amount of space on a web server's hard drive that you will need for your web site .i.e. size of your web site

Expected Traffic - How many visitors are you expecting? Will this be a high traffic website? Even though right now it isn't, what if your sites get super busy. Does your host have upgrade options?

Multiple Sites - Can you run several unique sites on one hosting plan?

Databases, email, FTP accounts etc - What are the limits?

Operating System

Windows Hosting - Created by Microsoft Windows Hosting allows web sites to run Active Server Pages. The Microsoft servers also allow the integration of MSSQL databases.

Linux Hosting – I personally prefer Linux and find it a far more stable and secure hosting environment.

Considerations - The Techy Stuff

• OS
• Hardware (Do they own their own servers?)
• Security (Are they a couple of kids in their garage?)
• Location (What country are their servers in?)
• Backups (Are there daily backups? Is there a cost?)
• Redundancy (Multiple data centers?)
• Uptime (Check out their uptime stats)
• Connectivity
• Download Speed
• Supported Scripting Languages (Do they support PHP5 or ASP/JSP - whatever your site is or could eventually be coded in?)

The Other Stuff

• Price (Money Back Guarantee)
• Support Options (Do they speak english and offer 24/7 support inc phone support?)
• Value (What do you get for your money?)
• Uptime Guarantee & History - How long have they been in business? WHOIS them)
• Reputation
• Reviews
• Upgrade/Downgrade Options
• Overages (Are you charged for use you’re unaware of?)
• Control and Usability

Domain names - Free with hosting but do you own the domain? How much will it cost you to take ownership of the domain if you want to transfer out?

Hosting Price - Search for discount coupons, but be aware of the renewal fee when you don't have a coupon for the 2nd year.

Accuracy of support - Test them with some hard questions

Review sites – Careful of the hype. Lots of them simply get paid top dollar to promote certain companies. Make sure you have a money back guarantee.

There's loads more but this should be a good starting point for you ;)
 
PSU, you will want to find a host who offers a reseller plan with unlimited domains and package customization to easily setup new domains "free" on the account.

Hope this helps.
 
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You need at least a reseller account that lets you host unlimited domains, gives you cpanel access, etc.
 
other stuff you might want to ask before buying is the max number of mysql connections allowed (if you plan to have a dynamic site with heavy traffic) and the resources you are allowed to use (eg max amount of RAM a script can use)
don't care of these if you're going to host plain HTML sites
 
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