Web Hosting Tips
Because many people have asked about web hosting, I have put together a guide.
If I have direct experience with one of the hosts, I will try my best to help
you understand what my experience was like!
What is web hosting?
Basically, web hosting is how you get your website on the internet so that other people can visit it.
Topics Covered
- Free Hosting
- Paid Hosting
- Domain Name Registration
There are many options if you want to open up a site for free online. If you
need to get some experience with webmastering, a free site is the place to
start. Listed below are many different free hosts. They may have ads and/popups,
but it is still free web space. Despite these ads and pop-ups, you can use
free webhosts to learn how to operate your own site, learn and perfect your HTML
skills, and experiment with the net. After a couple months of free webhosting,
if you feel like you have enough visitors to your site, you can buy real hosting
and a domain name, or if you are comfortable with your current host -- stay
there!
If you want a domain name (www.yoursite.com), sometimes you can still get that
with free hosting. You just have to know where to look! If you register a
domain, you can use a feature known as cloaking or another
feature known as forwarding or redirection. With
cloaking, the user enters http://www.yoursite.com into their browser.
It shows your site (which could be hosted on a free host such as Angelfire or
Tripod), and as the user browses from page to page on your site, the URL stick
in the browser address bar. It is like a 'cloak' over the real URL of the page.
Get it? ;) With forwarding (also known as redirection), the
user enters http://www.yoursite.com into their browser, and it shows your site
(once again, it can be hosted on a free host). However, the URL will show the
actual location of your site such as http://angelfire.com/users/yoursite/.
Also, browse around... Some Harry Potter sites will offer to host smaller Harry
Potter sites (They generally won't host general supersites... They are looking
for fanlistings or specialty sites.). Just keep your eyes open for the
opportunity. Two such HP hosts are
Potter Host and Magic Host.
Angelfire
You can choose whether you'd prefer a popup or a banner on your page (you have to choose one of them).
Freewebs
Geocities
There is one popup ad, and one onsite banner ad. You receive 3 GB data transfer, 15 MB of disk space, and PageBuilder tools.
Tripod
Similiar to Angelfire.
Brinkster
DomainDLX
Recommended by Accio Firebolt visitor Kelsey. :)
Free Deluxe Features:
- 100 MB of Space
- Instant Account Activation
- Online Control Panel
- Online Unzip Capability
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- SSI (DHTML)
- WAP
- Active Server Pages Support - ASP 3.0
- Free Database Connectivity:
- MS Access databases
- Macromedia Shockwave support
T35 Hosting
Recommended by Accio Firebolt visitor Kris.
- UNLIMITED SPACE
- UNLIMITED DATA TRANSFER
- PHP (without MYSQL or CGI)
- Server Side Included (SSI)
- Monthly Backups (once a month)
- FTP Access (1 account)
- Simple Control Panel
- 250kb File Size Limit
- 24-7 Support
- 1 Pop-up Under Ad Placed on site
- Domain Hosting (At an Extra Cost)
- 95%+ Up Time
Netfirms
- FREE Website Starter CD *
- 25 MB of Disk Space
- 1 GB Monthly Data Transfer
- 1 WebMail Account (with Domain Name)
- Optional Free Sub-domain (www.yourname.netfirms.com)
- Microsoft FrontPage Exts. & Perl (CGI-Bin)
- 24/7 FTP Access
- Technical Support via E-mail
* The Netfirms Website Starter CD includes a full version of NetObjects Fusion. This software will expire after 30 days of use. For most people this is more than enough time to build a Website. However if you would like to unlock NetObjects after 30 days you can upgrade to one of our premium hosting plans.Netfirms Basic hosting automatically places banner advertising on the top of every web page. This allows us to offer this service free of charge.
Multimedia audio, video, and executable files are not supported with this hosting plan. Flash files are supported as long as they are published within an HTML page. Direct linking is not permitted.
FreePgs.com
Recommended by Accio Firebolt visitor Megan.
- 25 MB Storage
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- 1 MB Filesize
- PHP
Free to Host
Recommended by Accio Firebolt visitor Xavier.
- 25 MB Space
- 1000 MB Transfer
- 1 MySQL Database
- File Manager
- Offers PHP support
(You can remove the ad on your page for a one-time payment of $5.00)Fateback
- 60 MB Free Hosting
- Free Domain Name Hosting
- Free FTP Hosting/Account
- Free Unlimited Bandwidth
- Free POP3 Email Account
- Free Account Set Up
- Host Unlimited Web Sites
- Small Banners - 20 Pixels
Plus many more features!
Or if you want to have your own domain name (http://www.yoursite.com), you can choose a paid host. Before settling on any one host, I'd recommend searching around Web Hosting Talk Forums to see what people have said about your host. This is a very reliable site, and to see the feedback from other peoples' personal experience will certainly help your decision! If you see brownafroduck, that's me! ;)
Some benefits of using paid hosting include:- no pop-ups or banner advertising (unless you choose to put them there to earn money)
- [email protected] email addresses
- you can remote link to images that you have hosted (if you want to put a banner in a signature on a forum)
- you can get more space
- you can monitor how much bandwidth you are using and upgrade if needed
- more control of your site and its settings in general
* * features vary depending on which host you use, so choose carefully **
Keep in mind that you also have to register the domain name in addition to purchasing hosting if you are going with a paid host.
PixieHost
The support is phenomenal, and your account is set up fast! Very reliable and awesome pricing! If you don't believe me, read the reviews that PixieHost has received on forums such as www.webhostingtalk.com. There are many different packages for all sorts of hosting! Small packages start as low as $6.95/month. PixieHost has something for everyone!
Host Radius
Insider Hosting
Great service and helpful staff! Support is wonderful (I don't think that I ever had to wait more than 4 hours for a support ticket to be responded to... That is saying something considering that I often sent support tickets at 3am or 4am. Generally, it took about 15-30 minutes to get a response.), but it is a little pricey compared to others!
Uzipp
I have not had experience with Uzipp Hosting, but it has been recommended to me many times. However, you have to be careful because according to some people that I have talked to Uzipp limits certain features that you might find as standard on other accounts. For example, I have heard that you cannot host topsites on Uzipp...
To get your own domain, you must register it with a domain registrar. It is not generally a good idea to register your domain with the company who is hosting your site (especially if they give you the domain for free with hosting) because if you ever have to switch hosts, the company that you registered the domain with may be reluctant to let you use the domain with the new hosting.
Register.com
A bit on the pricey side, but reliable. It is also the domain name registrar of HarryPotter.com. :) Their FAQ/Support section is very in depth, so if you know what to search for you can almost always solve the problem or figure something out by yourself rather than having to contact someone from support.
Godaddy.com
They update your info quickly, and I haven't had any problems with them at all. Their help section is not very thorough, and I found their layout a little harder to understand than Register.com's. All in all -- very good!