Domain Hosting News and Questions

Herman Drost asked:




So you’ve built a beautiful website and want to market it to the world. To do this you need to choose a web host so you can upload your files to a server for it to be displayed on the web. This can be quite a confusing process if you have not done it before. Instead of wasting time asking for advice from other people or reading through several tutorials I’m going to outline the steps so you can do it yourself.

Requirements to host your website

Domain name

Choose a domain name that reflects your business or products. If you can’t get a.com domain name of your choice try using different keywords that relate to business. The best domain name is one that’s short, easy to spell and remember.

Web hosting provider

Select a web hosting company that has been in business for a number of years. Make sure you have enough space and bandwidth to host your website files. Check the response times of technical support by calling or e-mailing them. If they don’t respond within 24 hours search for another web host.

Website files

Place all your website files in one folder on your computer so they are easy to find and can be quickly uploaded to the Web server.

FTP software

This is used to transfer files from your computer to the web hosting server. If you don’t have FTP software already installed on your computer download Filezilla or SmartFTP. They’re both free and easy-to-use.

Steps to Host a Website

1. Check your web hosting information

Here’s the information your Web host should provide for you:

Type of hosting plan you purchased Cpanel login info (web hosting control panel) Nameservers FTP info Amount of disc space and bandwidth IP address Mail servers

2. Change your nameservers

You need to point the nameservers of your domain name to the nameservers of your web host. If you’re using a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy, log into your account, go to the domain name manager to find the domain name you registered, then replace the current name servers with the ones given to you by your web host.

It will take 24 to 48 hours before your domain name becomes active and enable uploading of your files to the server.

3. How to upload your files to the server

Open the FTP software (I use SmartFTP) Place your website address in the address box (e.g. yourdomain dot com) Enter the FTP username and password you received from your web host Activate the FTP software. This will open 2 document windows The first window will show the website files on your computer The second window will show the files on your server Transfer all your computer files to the server by dragging and dropping them from the first window to the second window Make sure you transfer all your files to the public.html folder on the server (this may vary between hosts)

4. Check the appearance of your live website

Enter the full website address in your browser to view your website. Navigate through all your web pages to check for errors. Make sure there are no broken images, broken links or other design elements missing. Sometimes files don’t get properly transferred when they are FTPed to the server.

Tip

If you’re transferring your website from one host to another make sure you back up your website files (including your database and e-mail accounts) before initiating the transfer. This will allow you to return to the original configuration should you make any errors while transferring files.

3D Hosting Web

James Clarke asked:




Choosing a web hosting service that can fulfill all the requirements is extremely important for every online business. The options are endless, but a person should first evaluate what the current requirements are and also for the future. A reputed hosting service can serve you pretty well while the cost can be way out of your reach. So, it is always complicated to choose one that is not only fulfilling your requirements but also possess some good qualities such as being reliable, cost effective, with good customer support, etc.

There are some factors that you should evaluate before selecting a web hosting service. A few of the key factors are discussed below.

The most important thing is the reliability of the service. A website which is down or not updated on time is a nightmare for online business. When a visitor finds your site down, he or she will go to the next link in the search page. It will decrease your search engine ranking and you are losing clients at the same time. Security is another factor that must be high enough to protect your site from intruders. If it is an e-commerce site, then you should pay extra attention about the security the hosting service can provide.

When you choose a web hosting service, they allocate you a certain amount of space. Make sure that it is enough for your website and the company has the ability to provide you more space in the future if required. FTP is another important factor to consider. It allows you upload own files easily. A lot of services only allows web page design with their web building tools which might become insufficient for you later when you want to upgrade and enhance your website.

Speed of access is another important factor for your website. In today’s fast world, a slow loading website is nothing but a waste. Visitors today gets frustrated with a website pretty soon, they won’t wait for your website to load. So, you should make sure that the hosting service you are selecting has a reputation of providing speed of access on both peak and off-peak hours.

The cost is one crucial factor. As a beginner you might not want to spend too much money on just hosting. But, you must pick something that is reliable enough and has some reputation over the abilities mentioned above.