Helpful Tips

Anyone Can Have a Web Site or Blog!

What is your excuse?
Not enough money? You don't know how? You don't feel like you have enough knowledge? No computer?
Not good enough! You can do it!

Not enough money.

No money, no problem, there are web hosting services that will give you free web hosting - REALLY. Why? Because it benefits them, as well as you. The Internet has changed all of the rules, now there really is such a thing as a free lunch. The web hosting companies offer free web hosting for various reasons, but the are three very good reasons. The hosting companies believes that if you start off with a free web site you will upgrade to a paid web site, and they make money. The hosting companies believe that you will upgrade to have your own domain name and they make money (free sites normally only offer a subdomain name for free). Some hosting companies place third party ads on your web pages and their earn the revenue from those ads, and they make money. It's a win-win for everyone, you get a free web site and they make money! Note: A free hosting site will not generally be as robust as a paid web site, but for most basic needs, it will have plenty of what you need.

You don't know how to create a web page and don't feel like you have enough knowledge.

Can you run your computer? Can you run any software, like Microsoft Office programs? Can you run a game? Then you can create a web site. Most web hosting companies have site building programs and generally they are easy, easy drag and drop, fill-in the blank programs. If you can even just run your computer, you can run a site building program.

No Computer.

If you do not have a computer and/or you can not run a computer, then you will have a friend or family member, or work associate, or someone who can, and you might be surprised how much they might enjoy helping you. If you have access to a computer through your library, senior center, school, etc. you might even could get some free help, people love to be helpful. If you have the money, you might pay someone to help you. Where there is a will, there is a way.

What's your excuse now?

None, you can do it. If you are a scared, start with a free web hosting site. If you are just a little bit hesitant you can jump right into a regular hosting site and learn as you go. You really can do it.

Where do I start?

You need a domain name and a web hosting service. Normally the web hosting services and domain name services have search boxes that instantly allow you to type in your choice of domain name, to see if the name you want is available. With most services, there is no charge for the domain name search, and no obligation, it's a free service. Once you have found a domain name, that is not taken, you can buy your domain name and then you can get your web site hosting service.

It's important to note that a domain name and a web site are two different critters that have to be connected. The easiest self-setup procedure is to use a web hosting service that offers domain names with their hosting, they will probably set up the pointers for your domain name to your web site, automatically. If you purchase a domain name and web hosting service from separate companies, then you will need to point your domain name to your web site. There are sets of letters and numbers associated with your web site, called "nameservers" and they tell browsers, when someone types in your domain name, where to go and find you web site. If you need help, most domain hosting services have technical help. It's not hard, you just have to find where to put the numbers, usually in your domain control panel it will say something like, manage your domain, and when you go there it will have a place for you to place the nameserver strings.

That's it, you are ready to start creating your web site. HAVE FUN!

Nameserver numbers might look like:
NS1: ns1.xxxxxxx.com
NS2: ns2.xxxxxxx.com
NS3: ns3.xxxxxxxcom

Big Tip - Big, Big Tip for learning.

Many web hosting sites have video tutorials that are open to the world. Go to any hosting web site that has video tutorials and look for a link to their video tutorials, sometimes at the bottom of their page, in their the summary of their site links. Host Gator has some quick links to their Video Tutorials, just click "Web Hosting" at the top of the page.

Picking a Domain Name.

There was a time in advertising that choosing a business name had rules, a descriptive name was good and a name that also suggested the business location was even better, such as Northside Business Supply. For good Yellow Pages phone book placement a name starting with a "A" was real popular, such as AAA Plumbing Service. The Internet seems to have thrown the whole business name rule book out the window. What does eBay say or Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, etc. I believe that a good descriptive business name is still good, but I also believe that anything is possible, and anything goes on the Internet.

Top 50 Web Sites
http://mostpopularwebsites.net/1-50/

Oh No, My Domain Name is Already Taken.

Yes, it probably is, so you are going to have to get creative. You have four primary choices.

You can check to see if the domain name you want is available for sale.
You can chose a different dot suffix, such as .us, .info, .biz., .shop
You can pick a different name.
You can get creative, such as you like the name bonniesantiques.com, but it's taken so what about: bonnies-antiques.com, bonniesuniqueantiques.com, bonniesantiques.dfw.com, bonniebeesantiques.com, bonnies7567antiques.com, or thebonniesantiqures.com.

Most companies that sell domain names have a search box to search for available domain names, if the search result comes back that the name is taken, they will usually have a nice list of suggestions for another option.

Where can I find information about who owns a domain names and is it for sell?

Check out Whois, Domaintools, and Sedo:
http://domains.whois.com/domain.php?action=whois
http://www.domaintools.com/
http://www.sedo.com/us/home/getting-started/?tracked=&partnerid=&language=us
https://auctions.godaddy.com

What's the Best Web Hosting Service?

Not to be vague, but that is not an easy question. It depends on a lot of variables, your web master skills, your needs, such as shopping cart, blogging, type of control panel you like, and of course the cost. The cost of web hosting services vary a lot, but like many other things on the Internet, the rules are out the window, the highest price in not necessarily the best. Some big names companies get away with charging say twenty dollars a month for the same services a good name companies will only charge eight or ten dollar for.

Most web hosting services publish long pages of hosting features such as the type of server they use, the bandwidth, that they support My Sql, or cgi bins, and on and on. For just a basic web site, most of those alphabet scramble names don't matter, they are pretty much the same across the board for web hosting services, but you should still skim through the list to be sure that the basics are there.

The features that you really need to pay close attention to are the ones that you need to have for the type of web site you want to create. A hosting service might say it has blog software, but in reality they probably just have a Quick Install program available, which provides easy download access to blog software, not the same thing. You need to look at the same thing with shopping cart services, classified advertising, forum software, etc., does the web hosting service really have shopping cart software or access to third party software.

What's the difference? There used to be a big difference, but not so much any more. Web hosting/programing services that specialize in blogs, shopping cart services, classified ads, and so on will generally have user friendly software for the beginner, but the the third party specialty software programs have also become very user friendly. Loading software with a Quick Install type program is amazingly easy, but what to do with the program after it is loaded is another story. For a basic web site, that may be all someone needs, but for a complicated site, the site may need some alterations which require at least an understanding of the files in your hosted web site and may require programming knowledge. Specialty web hosting services, on the other hand, may cost a lot more, but they probably have more tweaking services and tend to be more drag and drop or fill in the blank services, making it much easier for the novice to be able to run a web site, but as noted, probably at a higher cost, were many of the third party/quick install software programs are open source and free.

My Sql - Open Source Database
http://www.mysql.com/

Cgi-Bin - Common Gateway Interface
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CGI.html
http://www.parkansky.com/tutorials/bdlogcgi.htm

Bandwidth - Data Transfer
http://www.webmastergate.com/articles/web_site_bandwidth.html

Apache HTTP Server
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server

Setting Up Your First Apache Server
http://everythinglinux.org/webserver/index.html

About Control Panels?

You bought a web site and you log into your control panel and whoo, that looks scary. Never fear, a good portion of the control panel options are things you will probably never use, unless you are a serious webmaster. Some control panels will have a getting started tutorial plus various video tutorials in their control panels, that helps.

The basics that you need to locate in your control panel are: the account manager, domain manager, setting up email accounts, Awstats (visitor tracking information), and the web builder program. There may be adverting options mixed into your control panel, like Google advertising links, and additional things to spend money on, like SEO (search engine optimization) services and privatizing your web site information (kind of like having an unlisted telephone number). To start just look through the options and find the basics.

For the beginner who will just using a site builder program provided by the web hosting service.
Example: In cPanel

What you will probably need to create your web site.
Just Host Support - If you need help or have a problem with your web site.
Choice of Site Builder & Help - Site Builder Program.
Mail - Email Accounts (To set up your Email for your web site.)
That's It!

You might use.
Advanced Statistics - Awstats (Information about who is visiting your web site.)
Popular Choices - Probably not, unless your are doing a Blog.
Domains - Probably not, unless you are doing Parked Domains.
Quick Start - Maybe later, if you want to change something, or change the color of your cPanel. (Change Style)

You probably will not use these right away, until after you get your web site created.
Additional Account Add-ons/Upgrades - Things to buy to add to your site or increase your site's performance, probably not right away.
Free Ad Credits & Increase Web Site Visitor - Free advertising credits with other companies, but probably not right away.
Files - Probably not unless you want to see what your files look like on your web server. (File Manager)
Databases - Probably nothing as a beginner.
Software/Services - Probably nothing as a beginner.
Security - Probably nothing as a beginner.
Advanced - Probably nothing as a beginner.
Partners - Probably nothing as a beginner.

Types of Control Panels.

A web hosting service can design and have any type of control panel they chose, but many of the hosting services are electing to go software programs such as cPanel or Plesk; these two are user friendly. When a hosting service elects to design their own control panel, it may be confusing, even to a webmaster, the top level control area may be divided between multiple pages and have you hopping around from page to page, and if you are working on a laptop, you might miss some of the information they tucked away - way over to the right side, that is off of your screen, and you may have to keep looking and looking until you finally, accidentally find what you need. Or, you can select a hosting service that uses a popular, one page, top level site management program, such as cPanel and Plesk, where the top, important folders are on one page.

The main distinctions between the popular control panels are for more advanced users, such as whether they work with Linux or Windows Servers, or if they provide the functions needed for web site resellers and VPS (Virtual Private Server). As a beginner, you just need a good, basic control panel with point and click, icon type designations.

cPanel Web Site: http://www.cpanel.net/
See DEMO
cPanel: http://cpanel.net
WHM: http://cpanel.net

Plesk Web Site: http://www.parallels.com/products/plesk/
See DEMO
Plesk: http://www.plesk.com

Wikipedia
cPanel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPanel
WHM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_host_manager#WHM_.28Web_Host_Manager.29
Plesk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesk

How Do I Design A Web Site?

Easy, most web hosting services have all the tools you need to get started.

Web Site Builder
As mentioned in other places in this web site, most web hosting services have easy fill-in the blank or drag and drop site builder programs.

Templates
Most hosting services will also have a nice selection of templates, with a variety of colors and themes, for you to choose from. Also, a search of the Internet will turn up a load of additional web site templates, some free, some for a fee.

Pictures
Pictures will make your web site more interesting. To find pictures you can do an Internet search and find plenty of free and for a fee pictures to add some spice to your web site. The pictures for a fee are generally very low cost for small images; many of the image galleries on the Internet host pictures posted by individuals, like a shopping mall, but for images, and there are so many wonderful pictures available by so many gifted photographers. You can, of course, also buy retail discs of images and clip art collections.

Advanced Web Design

If you desire to do more with web design, there are numerous software programs available for designing web sites, from very advanced, such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage to easier, like RapidWeaver, to very basic like what might come bundled with your computer.

There are different ways to progam a web site, the standard for basic web design is HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language, for being able to handle and process data there is VisualBasic for PCs or RealBasic for Macs. Also for handling data, like forums, PHP is very popular. There are more. Most colleges and universities have courses in web site design and the different programming languages, or you can buy your own books to read, don't forget you can buy those college study books, you don't have to be a student to buy college text books.

What Is A Reseller?

A reseller is pretty much what the name implies, a reseller buys (actually it's more like renting) hosting space from a hosting company and then resells the space to people looking for web hosting service. Anyone, with the knowledge, can buy their own hosting servers and can setup and sell hosting services, but the advantage of being a reseller is that that company they buy space from has all of the money invested in the servers and the software to divide the space, and run the systems, they have the required customer service people, and so on. Basically all the reseller has to do is pay their fees and find customers. It's more than that, of course, they have to partition off hosting for their customers and they need some knowledge of running a hosting site, but you get the idea, the main hosting company has all the investment and risk and the reseller can work off their efforts. It's kind of like renting store space in a mall, the mall has the building and utilities and the shop owner can just move in and set up their store.