Considering making the switch to paid hosting?
I know there’s a lot of bloggers out there using free blogging solutions (such as Blogspot, Xanga,etc.) that probably have aspirations of one day registering their own domain name and making the jump to paid hosting. There’s no doubt it gives you more freedom and control. You’ll likely have oodles of space with which to host your site’s files and plenty of bandwidth. It can however be daunting if you’ve never had any experience with running your own hosted domain and website. There’s so much you’ll have to learn that you’ve never had to worry about in the past when using free blogging software. I know when I made the switch to paid hosting years ago I felt a little lost in the beginning.
Web Hosting Information is a site I’ve discovered which helps you learn just about everything you could possibly ever need to know about using a paid web host. I thought I’d outline just a few of the great topics they explore to give you a glimpse into the wealth of information available.
- What features will you need with your hosting package? – What you plan to do with your website will determine just what’s needed from your hosting plan. Some things are essential nowadays, like the ability to create multiple databases for example.
- Are you overpaying for web hosting? – Web Hosting shouldn’t cost you your first born. You’ll find plenty of information outlining what you should expect to pay and why. For example Windows hosting costs a little more than Unix hosting because the software is of course not free.
- Once you create databases, how exactly do you use them? – For the most part your databases will work in the background doing their thing without much intervention, however should you need to edit or backup your database (which you should do!) you’ll need to know about the tools available to you to perform these tasks.
These topics are really just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. I guarantee if you’re looking to learn about having your own hosted website, you could spend hours reading all the great articles on the Web Hosting Information site. With the amount of knowledge they provide you, there’s no question you should be able to make a much more informed decision when the time comes to make the switch from that free blogging host to your own paid web host.
This is very helpful info, Mike. When I moved to my own domain, I purchased web hosting. Unfortunately I didn’t know a thing about it, and I was having all sorts of problems. I cancelled it and vowed to host on WordPress until I know what I’m doing. I’ll check out this site. I’d love to be able to switch to paid hosting soon! :)
I am so glad I made the change to paid hosting! It has made a world of difference, and well, just about everything is better now!
@Tish: Well you know who to ask for help ;)
@Danielle: Yes! Less time fussing when the site is down means more time for schmoozing :D
Exactly!!! :D And scootering too.
Oh yes, can’t forget the scootering :D
its not that i dont think and dream about having my own domain!! but it gives me headaches just to think about it!! and i really dont know how to get a website on a paid host… do u hv to make the whole website from scratch ?? do u hv some help doing it?? is it easy to built!! i guess ill head over Web Hosting Information!
You don’t necessarily have to build it from scratch. You can always use something like WordPress for blogging :)
This is a great info for newbies…
Good thing I don’t have to purchase web hosting. They sponsored me.. Why don’t you ask them they might approve your site to sponsor you too… :)
Hi Donalyza :) Sponsorship is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, however not for this site. I’m hoping to eventually find sponsorships for my comic site :)
Hi Mike, I too would love to switch. Glad to hear that u too felt lost when u first switched, you’re doing excellent now from the looks of it. I’m gonna get Emila to help me out when I finally make that switch, thank god for smart friends like her! ;)
Hi Marzie! It’s a big jump to finally make the switch to paid hosting, but once ya do and learn how everything works, it’s worth it :)