Fridays with Vicky 3
Did you find your niche yet? Do you know what your website will be about? Have you figured out who your audience is?
If you have, it`s time to get into more hands-on DOING and get your website set up.
In this article I will share with you what I personally use as far as getting my domains, and where I host my websites.
I will also give you some tips on how to pick a domain.
How Many Toes Does a Fish Have…
We started the week with a day off from school, kids get the day off, they love it but sometimes it can get a little stressful when you have your calendar full of things that need to get done, so how do you cope with that…
That`s when I reminded myself of what the whole reason for me, working from home is – to spend time with my two favorite people in the world… ok, my husband is pretty high up there too 🙂
I am so lucky that I didn`t miss the made-up song from my 6-year-old.
“How many toes does a fish have…” it was a good tune lol.
Or when my 10-year-old flung the toothbrush but it landed perfectly fine with the suction cup down and stuck to the floor, we all busted out laughing…
Tuesday came around and they were back in school, I had plenty of time to get all my affiliate marketing work done. Being able to be there for my kids, makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Ok, so let`s take a look at where I get domain names and where I host my sites.
What Does It Take to Set Up a Website?
You are going to need two things, to set up your site:
- Domain – this will be the URL for the site. In my case here it`s itsvicky.com.
- Hosting – this is where you will “host” your website.
You can get a domain from one place and hosting from another, or go with a company that offers both under the same roof.
If this is confusing don`t worry I will explain below.
I`m Kind of a Domain Name Hoarder
So when I got my first domain back in the day, 2007 I think it was, I looked around and settled for 1and1.com. Today I own domains through 1and1, Godaddy and a couple of other domain hosts.
To be honest, I have never had a problem with any of them, they have all worked out just fine.
#1 Pick for First Site – Domain and Hosting Under the Same Roof
The easiest way to get a domain and hosting is to go with a company that offers both. They offer domain AND hosting at the same place. If you go with two different companies, one for a domain and one for hosting, you will have to set the DNS settings. It`s not hard but it can be a little tricky if you are new to this.
If you get the BlueHost solution, with both domain and hosting you don`t have to worry about DNS and name servers…
The best starter solution I have found is BlueHost.
Right now they have a sign-up special for $4 monthly, then it goes up to regular price $6 monthly. This includes both domain and hosting.
Check out my BlueHost Review Here!
This is something that can be changed
How to Pick a Domain Name
So how do you pick a domain name, what are some things you should think about?
There are two different routes to go, you can pick an exact match domain an EMD or you can build a brand.
Exact Match Domain EMD
Let me give you an example, an EMD would be a domain based on a targeted keyword. Say that your site is about children`s safety gates. You do some research and find out that the keyword “best safety gates for kids” gets good traffic from Google. You would then buy the exact match domain name – bestsafetygatesforkids.com and build your site using that domain.
EMDs used to be very popular because they ranked very well in Google. Having an EMD today will not hurt you in any way but it does not have the “rank power” it used to.
Build a Brand
Your other option is to build a brand around your site. We talked earlier about where to get domains, both 1and1 and GoDaddy say nothing about what they are doing with their domain, but they have built brands around their names.
If you are thinking long term, if you want to build a site that can grow and expand then building a brand is the best way to go.
.com / .org / .net
So how should your domain name end .com / .org / .net?
.com (commercial) is the most common top level domain, TLD, and if that is available grab it. Sometimes you come up with other great name suggestions but the .com is taken and you have to look at the next best, what`s your options?
.org (organization) it was intended for organizations but today all kinds of sites are using the .org.
.net (network) this is a very commonly used TLD today. 2011 (I know a while back 🙂 it was the third most used after .com and .de (the German TLD)
.org is my second option if .com is taken. It is a personal preference; I feel that .org builds trust while .net says .com was taken so I had to pick the .net.
Hosting a Website
For your website to become “live” you have to host it somewhere.
When it comes to hosting I have tried a few different places but I have always had an account, ever since I started 2007, at Hostgator. (It`s a good option if you decide that you want to have domain and host separate).
Hostgator is a good solution because I can host many different websites on the same account. I never had any problems with them, and their chat support is always very helpful and knowledgeable.
I guess, both domain and hosting service has been with me for a long time and since its been working just fine I have not seen any reason to change service providers.
If this is your first website I again suggest you using a one stop solution, that way you don`t have to worry about DNS settings and name servers. You can get it all done under one roof with BlueHost.
If you get domain from say GoDaddy and host at Hostgator, now you have to “connect” the two. You do this by changing the DNS settings in the domain account. You point the DNS settings from your domain account to your hostings account.
What Will Domain and Hosting Cost?
If you get a domain they usually cost you around $10 / year, you can get a deal the first year but if you look at it long term, it will be around $10 yearly.
The cost for hosting depends on if you want an account for just the one site or an account for multiple sites… I pay around $10 monthly to host multiple sites on my account, it`s cheaper if you just want to host one site.
If you go with the BlueHost option, both domain and hosting under the same roof, you pay around $4 monthly for the “special”, then it`s $6 monthly. Read our BlueHost review here.
I am Out of Cash Can I Still Build a Site?
Even though you have no money what so every to spend on this, you can still build a website!
Money can be tight sometimes but you can still create a website, yup for free.
The one free option that I recommend is siterubix.com. It is an easy to use website builder, completely free to use!
The reason they are free is because you get your domain and host on a subdomain, through them. So instead of “bestsafetygatesforkids.com” your domain would look like this – “bestsafetygatesforkids.siterubix.com”
There are two main reasons for choosing siterubix website builder:
- It is affiliated with Wealthy Affiliate so you will get all the training you need, step by step training to get it all set up. Yes, still free.
- It is easy to move your site to your own domain if you want to do that in the future.
You can read the post – Get Your Free Website Up and Running in Under 5 Minutes.
- Favorite one stop solution domain + hosting – BlueHost
- Favorite free website builder – Siterubix
That`s it for today folks, please let me know in the comment section below what your favorite domain host is, where you host your websites and what free website builder you prefer.
Have a productive day!
See you next Friday,
Vicky
Next week`s post – The purpose of your website, your WHY
P.S Thought I would let you in on some good and bad going on in my online business…
Worst Online Happening This Week: Did not get as much content writing done this week, as I was hoping.
Best Online Happening This Week: A company contacted me and wants to advertise on one of my sites. I don`t “promote” this site in that sense so that was a nice surprise.
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