Sign Up For Cheap Hosting

I have been using HostMonster for years now. I've used several over the years and HostMonster consistently has, at least for me, the most reasonable rates and the best uptime.

I know choosing your host provider is impacted by man things. Many of those are subjective, some are objective. I can only tell you about my experience.

I'm running a dozen or so web sites from a single account. You get unlimited space and bandwidth with no extra fees. Now there are rules about this. You can't try to compete with youtube or dropbox and not expect to have to pay for it. However for most web sites, the storage and bandwidth is way more than enough.

The price is pretty awesome too. I think the standard price for a good package is $4.95 per month. That's what I originally signed up for. Once I was in, I found they often offer extremely good deals. I ended up paying for several years at once for, if I remember correctly, around $3 per month. That's pretty sweet.

You also get cPanel and SimpleScripts. That's kind of expected I know but I want to verify that for you.

Language-wise you get PHP, Perl, Ruby, and Python. You also get both MySQL and PostgreSQL. You don't get Java but almost none of the providers I know support Java. It's just too resource intensive.

You get multi-media support like shockwave, realmedia, flash and other video streaming support. Unlimited email and ftp accounts and a lot more. You really should check it out.

If you use my affiliate link, I'll get a few bucks so please think about doing that,.

Thanks.

How to Use SimpleScripts on your Blog

 Simplescripts is a one click installer for web software. Of all the hosting providers that I have used over the years, simple scripts has been on all of them. I have used others too. Fantastico is a nice installer also. Several hosts that I have used had the option to choose between Simple Scripts and Fantastico De Luxe.

Just an FYI - I use blogger for a quite a few blogs but I also host my own sites. Currently, I am using <a href="http://www.hostmonster.com/track/dbwiz">HOSTMONSTER.COM</a>. You can click that link and sign up if you would like to. That's my affiliate link so you would be helping me out to do so.

SimpleScripts sits behind CPanel. I plan to talk about CPanel in the near future but for now, I'll just say that it is a the main interface for any decent web host. I always make sure the hosting provider provides CPanel. At this point, I think they all do.

Anyway, simple scripts is the way you install your blog, cms or any other software.

To use it, log into CPanel and choose SimpleScripts from the options (at the bottom of the image below).

When SimpleScripts launches, you'll get a list of your installs and the option to install more. I cut my installs out of the picture but it looks like the below image.

Below that is the list of softwar that you can install. The below image is just a portion of the stuff I have on hostmonster to install.

When you choose Wordpress (or any other software), you get a simplified install screen like the image below.

Choose install and you get a screen to fill out some basic info (like where do you want to install it). Choose your URL and then just take the defaults for your first time. It's easier that way. SimpleScripts will email you the URL for the site, an admin URL, your admin user name and password.

After that, you just log in and start blogging. My first one probably took an hour. After several years of doing this, I can literally, find a URL, buy it and be finished setting up Wordpress in 20 minutes.

Of course, with all the themes, plug-ins, widgets, etc that are available with Wordpress, you can spend a life time customizing.

Seriously though, if a web site is important to you, I would suggest buying the domain and hosting it yourself. It's not that expensive and you have total control.

LewisC

Use Blogger or Install a Blog on Your Own Site?

I was recently asked this question:

Do you find that its beneficial to start a blog on the blogger platform versus installing it on your own site?

My opinion on this has changed in the last few months. I used to think that blogger or wordpress.com were "good enough". I now think you should host your own blog on your own domain. My only reason for this is the amount of control you have by doing so.

I have started several new blogs (on tech topics) on my own domains. I chose wordpress a my blog software. The number of plug ins that help me format and control my blogs is amazing. I don't want to spend a lot of time tweaking and with these plug ins, it's mostly install and move on.

NOTE: Don't confuse wordpress with wordpress.com. Wordpress is a blogging package (that you can get from wordpress.org). Wordpress.com is a hosting service that uses wordpress as it's blogging software. You can use wordpress the software on your own domain and if you chose wordpress.com as your blogging provider, you will be using wordpress the software (and can ONLY use wordpress the software).

From talking to family, friends, peers and co-workers, I don't think most people care about the domain being a custom domain or the blogspot domain. I have read some bloggers who feel that a custom domain gives you a certain amount of legitimacy that a blogspot or wordpress domain wouldn't. I don't agree.

So, the short answer is that if you want a very quick start up with no muss and no fuss, blogger (or one of the other hosted domains) is a perfectly fine choice. If however, you are like me and want the additional control, you should buy a domain and install your own blogging software. All of the major blogging packages are incredibly simple to install and most web hosters offer additional assistance in the option of cPanel and SimpleScripts.

LewisC

Technorati : blogger, blogspot, domain, hosting, wordpress

ScrnShots - Free Screen Shot Hosting

LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology

This ain't no Flickr! Every blogger needs a place to host screen shots. Flickr is the best place for photos (IMHO) but they ask that all the images you post be photos (not that they're rabid about that). But now there's SCRNSHOTS.com. Unlimited screen shot uploads. You can tag them for easy searching. The photo below is a screen shot of scrnshots.com and it is hosted on scrnshots.com. How recursive is that!

It works pretty much like flickr. Take a screen shot and save it on your computer. Upload it, add a description and tags. Embed it using the provided html. They do ask that you link back to them which is the same thing flickr asks.

On the social side, I've found that people frequently comment on shots. It's fun to browse around and look at the shots other people are taking. I'm going to try to post at least one interesting shot per day and I'll try to comment on any interesting ones that I find.

I am very happy to have this available. I'm not sure what the financial model is for this. I'm hoping they don't disappear anytime soon. Flickr seems to be going strong, especially now that they got bought. Maybe google will buy this one.

LewisC

How Do I Choose a Web Hosting Provider?

I have discussed web hosting providers like Blogger.com and Wordpress.com. I stumbled across the most complete list of web host providers I have ever seen. The list is from Mashable.com. It's called, 40+ Free Blog Hosts. This is a seriously useful list of providers.




The list is sorted by blogging software with a list of themed sites. This is a must see.




Ok, so you have a list of providers but how do you chose one? You need to read some reviews. One good site for reviews is Web Hosting Jury. Here is the description from the site:

Web Hosting Jury is a web hosting reviews site but with a difference. All the hosting reviews on our site are reviews submitted by past or present customers of that particular web host. Unlike some other web hosting review sites, we do not accept payment from any host in regards to getting a higher ranking on our site. Hosts are ranked according to our algorithm which is based entirely on user ratings. Please feel free to browse through existing reviews or submit a review. Even if the host is not already listed on our site you can submit a web hosting review about your web hosting company. By submitting a review you will be helping other people who are looking for a host. Also visit our Web Hosting Coupons section for some great exclusive hosting discounts and special offers.

Another review site that might be useful is Hostingreview.com, a webmaster oriented review site.




I'm not associated or affiliated in anyway with any of these sites. I would say hit all three review sites and see what people have to say.




LewisC

blog blogging host provider review free

How do I start a blog?

If you are just beginning to blog, and since you are reading this, I expect you are, I recommend that you start small and begin with a free hosted blog like blogger.com. The reason I say this is that millions of blogs are started every month and millions of blogs are abandoned every month.

Blogging is not for everyone. If you don't enjoy writing, or at least communicating, I don't believe you will enjoy blogging and I don't believe that you will stick with it. You might as well use a totally free service while you find out. There are many free blog hosting companies.

One more note about getting started: if you are doing this to make a lot of money, just stop right now. It's not worth it. You might as well cut grass or deliver papers. At least that's guaranteed income. Some people do very well but most people how make any money at all are just making enough to pay for their hosting.

Now on to choosing a blog provider. I chose blogger.com way back when because it was the first one I found. Wordpress.com did not yet exist. As a matter of a fact, many of the sites that exist now did not exist then.

If you go to google and search on "free blog host", you will get millions of hits. There are a few very popular sites and you should probably start with one of those unless you have a specific reason to go somewhere else (like some friends already have sites or something).

The biggies are (completely free):

• Blogger.com - extremely easy setup, be up and running in minutes, very liberal policies on advertising and such.
• Wordpress.com - extremely easy setup, be up and running in minutes, no advertising unless you pay for it.
• Yahoo! 360 - Free blog from one of the giants. New service. Expect excellent integration with other yahoo services.
• Microsoft Live Spaces - Web environment from Microsoft. Ties in with Microsoft Live Office. You can get a free domain name and web hosting via the Office Live Basics package.
  

I'll cover sites that require payments in the future. As I said above, I chose blogger.com and have been fairly happy. It is somewhat limiting in that I don't have full control over the site (like accessing root), but I do have access to the html for my blog so that works for me.

In the near future, I will also cover sites that let you easily build a web presence outside of a blog. Where you can get a .com or something very close to that.

Because I chose blogger, when I start covering things like customization and widgets, the specifics will apply to a blogger.com blog. The basics will cover any blog but the actual details of the implemntation will be specificallt for blogger.

Now, I recommend that you browse the web sites I mention above and see which one suits your fancy. If you want to, go ahead and create a blog on each and see which one works best for you. It's free and you really want to find a site that fits your needs and wants.

Good luck and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. There is a comments button right below this post. I check comments frequently.

LewisC

blog blogging free hosting