Ramkumar K R

Earlier I had written a brief post on How to Set up your blog, now I am going back to basics..

This post is mainly aimed at someone who would like to know how to set up his/her own blog or website.

Prerequisites for an own website or blog

1. Domain Name: A domain name similar to uniquely name your blog/website.
2. A web hosting account to host the web pages
3. Some knowledge about web page editing and designing (optional, can be improved over time)

I have compiled a post about domain names and on how to obtain a domain name. Thats where you need to start with.

Once you have bought a domain name, you need to get a hosting account to put your web pages in.

Running a website is somewhat different from a blog running on a hosted blogging software such as wordpress. Such blogs can be set up on a hosting account withing few minutes. Though you can make a blog at zero expense, I suggest a self hosted like this one.

In simple terms, when you buy a domain name, point it to your hosting servers where you have an account (shared hosting) / or the server ran by you, the web pages reside on them, your website will be live..
Very simple and short to say eh? But not so short to execute

Assuming that you are researching on the above topic, since this topic is very fundamental I do not wish the reader to go through the same repeated step he/she knows!

One you have bought a domain name or planning to buy one, the next step usually will be finalizing a webhost to host your webpages. If you would like to know why you need a web host, you may go through one of my prvious posts at http://www.webreviewer.info/how-to-buy-and-own-a-domain-name/ .

Things to know prior to a web hosting contract

There are few things you need to know about the website you are planning to build/host, prior to selecting a webhost. These things will help you choose an economic hosting plan and also save your time in resolving issues which may come across in lack of proper planning.

• Disk Space: First thing you should know is how much disk space your site may occupy. A 10 page static website (containing only few static HTML pages, css and images) will need under 10MB of space whereas a blog, a video site or a large scale site may take up more space depending on the software script package used.
• Bandwidth: This is an estimation of the network bandwidth which may be consumed by the website, similar to your internet connection bandwidth which you may be familiar if you have an internet connection which is not under the ‘unlimited’ bandwidth plan. If you have a number of visitors visiting your website everyday (or may be once you launch the site), you may need a higher bandwidth plan. The rule of thumb is to start with something lower which you feel sufficient and to upgrade as and when needed. This need proper bandwidth monitoring as well as a good webhost who offer easy bandwidth upgradation options.
• Server technology: Its a very key point to know prior to choosing your website. On a broader scale, there are hosting computers running majorly on windows platform and Linux. Its not that these are the only two but commercial webhosts rely majorly on these platforms. Choosing between a Windows or Linux host depends on what the server technology your website will be using. For example, running a wordpress blog, Linux host with Apache, PHP and MySQL support is ideal as it provides much flexibility while working with your wordpress setup. The same setup cannot be used to run a website which is intended to run on ASP.Net. Most of the windows host also do support PHP and MySQL, means you can run a wordpress blog on them too, but with some limitations which the Apache webserver provide such as search engine friendly URLs using the mod_rewrite module. Once not sure, its always good to have a conversation with the hosts’ sales team to understand what they provide and what works for you
• Database support: If you are planning to host a data driven website, its important to know the database support provided by a host. Windows host usually provide MS SQL DB support and MySQL as an optional addition in some cases. Linux hosts provide support to MySQL DB and SQLite in few of them. If you need support for Oracle or something hifi, its not that easy to find a host too! Few webhosts restrict the number of databases you can use and the in the size limit of these DBs. You need to do a thorough research if these are critical for your website
• Addon Domains:If you are planning to host multiple domain names in single webhosting account, this point is important for you. Webhosts vary in the number of addon domain name support they provide in each account. For example, Godaddy’s starter web hosting plan allows you to host only single website per account, if you want another one, the only way is to change your webhosting plan. You can avoid such headaches when you research and plan on this area.
• Email Addresses:Your webhosting account in most cases allow you to add certain number of email accounts. Your mailbox will be hosted by the same web host. Since this also count towards disk usage, there are usually limitations in the maximum number of email account you can create on your account. If yours is a company who has x number of employees who need email accounts, you need to prior hand whether you can create that many in your webhosting account. But thanks to Google Apps standard edition, you can now host your emails at GMail for free and avoid this step here, but you need to know how to configure this one. (let me know if you need assistance in this, because I have used Google Apps )

Above these points, you may still need some custom configurations for your website. The solution is to talk to the technical support of the webhost and see what they can do for your need.

Have you ever wondered what these domain extensions mean? .com , .net , .org, .biz , .info, .mobi, .us, .co.uk, .in, .jp, .kr, .asia, .travel …………. the list goes on..

.com is still considered as the much desired domain extension, is one of the generic top level domain name (TLD). You can read about the top level domain names on an article published by ICANN at Top-Level Domains (gTLDs).

When you are planning to buy a domain name, you need to have some idea about the extensions and the meanings. The above said link will help you fairly in that respect.

Follow these when your website is for the global audience.

My advices are, when you have decided on a name, try the .com extension first. If its available, do not hesitate to register. If .com isn’t available then you can consider other alternatives.

.org is generally for a non profit organization, if yours is not one in that category, do not try .org.

.net is the next alternative to .com which you can consider.

If you plan to start a website for the local audience, try a country code top level domain. Say .in is a country level top level domain for India, where as .uk is the ccTLD of UK.

There are restrictions on registering few ccTLDs like .kr which is for Korea, you need to be a national from Korea to register these domain extensions.

All the domain name extensions do not have same registration fee, it starts from few cents for .info and goes a few hundred USD for ccTLD !

SEO and TLD
In short if you have a .in TLD, your website may appear better in search results in Indian context and a .co.uk will appear better in search queries in UK as the context.

One of the pre-requisites for you to run a website or blog is that you own a domain name to uniquely identify your website/blog on the internet. I am not referring to the free blogs hosted on providers like blogspot.com or wordpress.com like YOURBLOG.blogspot.com or YOU.wordpress.com, instead the ones you need to have of your own, YOURWEBSITE.com !

Need for a domain name
A domain name is one which uniquely defines a name on the internet. As they are unique, a person looking for YOURWEBSITE.com ends up exactly on the pages associated with it.

A Domain Name is Just a Name !
Let me distinguish a domain name from a website. You have a set of webpages residing on one of the computers lying somewhere on the internet and a domain name is just a name which binds these files to a name which can be easy to remember for a website visitor. Hope this is clear here.. In a website the domain name is mapped to the IP address of the hosting server using a Domain Naming System (DNS).

So please keep in mind to distinguish a domain name and the hosted files.

How to acquire a domain name?
Domain names and IP addresses on the internet are governed by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the registry is maintained by Verisign. Getting a domain name involves an entry into the registry maintained by these authorities, just like you getting a registration number for your new vehicle.

Role of Domain Registrars
ICANN cannot reach to individuals sell domain registration services. Domain registrars are agencies who reach out to the customers in order to fulfill their domain registration needs.

Godaddy is a leading domain registrar where you can get a domain name registered.

Domain Registration Charges
Domain registration charges include ICANN’s charges as well as the domain registrar’s fee, hence it vary from a registrar to another.

So have you gathered the sufficient information about acquiring a domain name?