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