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Domain Names and Hosting

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90 views3 pages

Domain Names and Hosting

Uploaded by

Willow Fox
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Domain Names and Hosting

Think of domain names as the plaque or sign on a house with your family name. Is this your sign or is
this your address? It is generally both. When you receive mail or when people come to see you, they
address it to that name on the sign and write the address.

Now think of hosting as the house itself. You have your furniture, clothes, assets, and all your
possessions in that house.

Your house could be big or small, but what’s important is that it contains all your stuff.

Once you buy domain and hosting, it means you have your sign and you have the house, and now you
may fill your house with your stuff. If your “stuff” is files and images, this means uploading your files to
your hosting.

Technically, we do not buy the domain and hosting. We only rent them. If we stop paying for them, they
are back in the pool for other people to take.

For free hosting, you are using a sub-domain. You therefore don’t own or rent the big or the small
house, you only own a part of the house—maybe one room. The address, therefore, will remain the
same, but will specify your name and room. So for example if you use a free hosting site such as
000webhost.com, then your domain name and URL will be yourname.000webhost.com. Professionally,
this is not the greatest choice.

How to Choose a Good Domain Name


gTLDs are generic top-level domains. Examples are .com, .org, .info etc.

ccTLDs are country-specific or country code top-level domains. Examples are .us, .de, .it, .fr, etc.

If you are creating your portfolio or your business, you need a good domain name. Here are some
domain name principles:
1. .com continues to be the best choice for businesses even though there are many others you
may choose from.
2. If you need to choose a targeted area, say a restaurant that is only in Boston, then you may use
the ccTLD domain name if available, e.g., .boston or .newyork.
3. Do not use underscore and preferably no dashes either. Make it one word whenever possible.
4. Do not use numbers.
5. Domain names are important for search engine optimization. If your portfolio is about you, use
your name or variations of your name as a domain name, e.g. John Doe would choose
johndoe.com, jdoe.com, or johnd.com, etc. If you’re using it for a business, think of the most
important keyword in searches. Use the brand name as the domain name.
6. Do not use complicated words or words that people cannot pronounce. Keep it simple.
7. Make sure your domain name does not have double meaning. Read about domain name
bloopers.

How to Choose Good Hosting


You have to do your homework to find good hosting.
1. Make sure they have a good control panel. Cpanel is the most known and gives you many
options.
2. Make sure you call them by phone to see if they will respond. This ensures legitimacy and also
ensures proper technical support when needed.
3. Check to see their “up time.” Hosting servers often need maintenance, and some could bring
your site down for extended periods of time. You need to read reviews and learn what the up
time is for that hosting. It should be above 99.9%. This means the site is working and up 99.9%
of the time.
4. Free webhosting uses commercials. Avoid this if you can. However, for student-related activities,
this is an acceptable choice.

Where and What to Buy and at What Cost?


Most hosting companies provide “free domains.” Ideally, you want to buy the domain name separate
from the hosting. This ensures your control over the domain name if the hosting company is a failure.
You should buy the domain name from godaddy.com and then buy the hosting. Some hosting sites are
 linksky.com
 bluehost.com
 justhost.com
If you buy them separately you will have to change something called the DNS (domain name server) to
point your domain to the hosting.
The domain name usually costs $10–14/year. Reasonable hosting costs are $5–20/month. It could be
much higher of course, depending on the hosting service you choose. Nevertheless, you may choose to
pay monthly, bi-annually, or annually.

If you are working with free hosting, you will have to choose a sub-domain. Many free hosting sites will
put commercials on your site. Again, do your homework. Research them and find out which are the best
hosting sites. Recommended free hosting:
 000webhost.com—but 2 hours offline every month.
 Infinityfree.net

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