photo credit: shioshvili

A lot of web hosting providers offer free domain names as a lure to draw in customers. This can be an enticing proposition to the novice website owner. There are some circumstances where this kind of arrangement may be worthwhile. However, before you leap at such a deal, consider the pros and cons of a “free” domain name. As with anything, you get what you pay for. 

Why would a host offer a free domain name?

Let’s cut to the chase. The reason web hosting companies offer free domain names is to make it very difficult for their customers to switch to a new hosting company later.  For about $10 a year in savings, the customer gives up control of their domain name and the flexibility to switch hosts if problems arise. By locking in the customer, the hosting company is guaranteeing a recurring monthly payment that nets them much more than that $10 a year they are giving away.

Are there any benefits to a free domain name?

For some people, loss of control and flexibility is worth a savings of 83 cents a month. If you are running a personal site or a site with a temporary lifespan, that kind of savings may be appealing.

Another benefit often touted with free domain names is the “ease of setup”. With the host controlling the domain, they are the ones responsible for making sure it is pointed to the right place. Of course they don’t tell you how simple this configuration really is. Don’t let fear drive you to give up the control you need.

What are the cons of a free domain name?

The biggest problem with getting a free domain name with your hosting contract is that generally the name is registered under the name of the hosting company. When you consider how much time and money you may invest in this name, you really want to make sure there is no doubt it is actually owned by you. Most hosting companies are sincere and honorable, they will live up to their vendor client relationships. But what if something goes wrong? What if there is a disagreement? What if they succumb to the current economy? If something should happen, or you simply find a better hosting deal, do you want there to be any questions about ownership of the domain name?

The next major problem with the hosting company controlling the domain name is that it is harder to make changes when necessary. Most hosts provide simple tools to do basic things, but will require a support request for anything else. This takes away the flexibility you get when you register your own domain name.

Many hosts will transfer your “free” domain to you on demand, but then you must pay for the transfer and renewal. Now it is no longer free. Given the time and trouble required to make the change, it seems better to start out the right way. Every hosting company is different so it is important to check out the fine print of their offers and freebies.

Should we avoid hosts that offer free domain names?

No. It is not necessary to avoid them. Many offer great deals. Just understand what you are getting into. Use the “free” domain as a secret or throwaway domain, and register your “real” domain name that represents your identity, brand, marketplace, idea, product, or organization under your own name. Only develop the domains that belong to you.

Better yet, use NetFlint Website Services. We offer a hybrid approach. We give you fantastic prices if you use us to register your domain names. This gives you control over all of your domain names, but we don’t require that you use us for hosting. Use anyone you like for hosting, we’ll even recommend some of our competitors.

However, if you do use us for hosting, you can get your domain name for as little as $1.99 for the first year. The domain is registered under your name, giving you complete control and flexibility, but you still get ease of configuration because it is automatically pointed to your hosting plan and website. If you choose to change hosting plans later, you have the flexibility you need to do that and there is no question about ownership.

Related Articles:

• 13 Reasons New Bloggers Should Start with Their Own Domain and Hosting
• How do I set up a website?
• How do I register a domain name?

1. Choose a topic – Okay, many of you will alreay have this down – particularly if you are starting a website for your business or organization. If not, pick a topic that interests you, that’s focused, and that has a potential audience. If your aim is to make money, pick one that also has some advertising or affiliate potential.
2. Secure a domain name – Check to see if your prefered domain name is available. If so, secure it immediately.
3. Find a web host that offers free scripts to automatically install WordPress for you. This should not be hard. In fact, we offer great deals on hosting with automatic installation of WordPress.
4. Install WordPress using the automatic scripts. With NetFlint hosting simply go into your hosting control center and click the big “Your Applications” button. Click the WordPress quick install script under the Blogs heading. Click the big “Install Now!” button and follow the instructions. It may take a few minutes for installation, database creation, and configuration to complete.
5. Log into WordPress for the first time – Webmaster, meet WordPress Dashboard. Dashboard, meet your new Webmaster. There’s a lot here so don’t get overwhelmed. This is where you will control your whole site.
6. Configure all General Settings – Click the “General” link under the “Settings” header at the bottom of the far left side. Type in your blog name and tagline and make sure you like the the rest of the settings. Click the “Save Changes” button when finished.
7. Configure Discussion Settings – Click the “Discussion” link under the “Settings” header at the bottom of the far left side. Comments are one of the great benefits of using WordPress for your website. Comments allow interaction with your audience.
   • I recommend allowing comments, pingbacks, and trackbacks on your posts. Check the first three boxes to allow these.
   • Check the box next to “Comment author must fill out name and e-mail”. This may prevent some frivolous comments and spam and will allow you to interact with individual audience members outside of your comments section if necessary.
   • Check the box next to “Enable threaded (nested) comments” if your theme supports it. Threaded comments are very handy. I recommend finding a theme that supports this feature and using them.
   • Allow comment page breaks if you prefer.
   • I like to be emailed when someone comments or a comment needs moderation. Check these two boxes if you want to be responsive to your audience too.
   • I like to moderate first time commenters and then give them the benefit of the doubt, so I uncheck the box next to “An administrator must always approve the commen” and check the box next to “Comment author must have a previously approved comment”
   • You shouldn’t need to change anything under Comment Moderation or Comment Blacklist at this point. If you see a lot of abuse, keep in mind that you have these options available to you. Using the Akismet Spam blocker prevents most of this automatically.
   • Avatars are the little pictures that sometimes show up next to comments. Using them is a matter of preference. I like them. Even if you have this option enabled, you will not see avatars if your theme doesn’t support them.
   • Don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button when finished.
8. Check your Privacy Settings – Click the “Privacy” link under the Settings header at the bottom of the far left side. If you want the world to find your website in search engines (and most website owners do), make sure that you select the radio button next to “I would like my blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Sphere, Technorati) and archivers”. This is important if you are trying to run a business.
9. Set Permalinks to something SEO and user friendly. This small change can do a world of good to your search engine relevancy and rankings. Permalinks are the URL address convention used for the site. These show up in the address bar of your browser. By default your permalink structure is “http://www.yourdomain.com/?p=123″. This doesn’t mean much to people or search engines. You want to change it to include the post title to make it more useful. Click the “Permalinks” link under the Settings header at the bottom of the far left side. Click the radio button next to the Permalink structure that best suits your site.
   • If you are running a blog or news site then click the radio button next to “Day and Name” or “Month and Name”. Both are excellent choices.
   • You can also use a custom structure.  I often use /%post_id%/%postname%/ on WordPress Sites where the information is timeless and I don’t want to emphasize the date of the post.
   • Whatever you choose it is important to have a number field (like %year% or %post_id%) at the beginning of your Permalink structure and the Post Title (%postname%) at the end of your structure. You can find more information about Permalinks on the WordPress Codex.
   • Click “Save Changes”
   • In order to complete the permalink structure change, you need to make sure that the .htaccess file in your root directory is writable. You can do this using an FTP client like Filezilla or the web based file manager provided with your hosting account.
   • For more information about editing the .htaccess file check out the WordPress Codex.
10. Check out the rest of the Settings categories if you are not already familiar with them. I didn’t mention them specifically, because I leave the default settings. You may have other preferences.
11. Install and activate the following plugins: Go to the Plugins section. You can find and install plugins by clicking the “Add New” link under the Plugins section header. These are the plugins I use on every site. On some sites I add other plugins to make them unique. Feel free to use these or any alternate plugins that give you the features and functionality you need. Make sure you read the installation instructions and FAQ for each plugin you install.
    • Akismet Spam Filter – This should come with your installation and will be listed in your Installed Plugin list. In order to activate it, you must enter an API Key. You can get this key for free by signing up for a WordPress.com account.
    • WordPress Database Backup – This is an important plugin that you want to configure right away. I set up a Gmail account and configure this plugin to email a database backup on a daily or weekly basis. I do this in addition to other manual and automatic backup plans.
    • WordPress.com Stats - This is also from Akismet and requires the same key. There are better stats packets, but this one is simple and convenient because it is accessible from the dashboard.
    • Google XML Sitemaps – This is a great plugin. Install it, activate it, configure it, and make sure you register your site and sitemap with Google Webmaster Tools
    • Google Analytics for WordPress – This is more than a great free stats package. It’s sophisticated analytics. You must sign up with Google and register your site before you can configure your plugin. Analytics reporting integrates directly with Adwords. If you are running Adwords campaigns you would be foolish not to take advantage of it.
    • FeedBurner FeedSmith – Sign up for Feedburner and then configure this plugin. It lets you track all of your RSS subscribers.
    • Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – There are many related posts plugins. I happen to like this one because it lets you add related posts to your site and your RSS feed. This is a simple tool for keeping interested people on your site longer.
12. Upload a theme.  You can download a free theme, buy a premium theme, use the #1 Wordpress Theme Generator, or create your own from scratch. Look for a theme that has good SEO built in, that looks sharp, works with all modern browsers (and some not so modern browsers because a good percentage of your customers are still using them), and takes advantage of all the latest features of WordPress like threaded comments and sticky posts. Generally you will upload your theme files into the /wp-content/themes/ directory and then activate it in your WordPress dashboard by clicking “Themes” under the “Appearance” heading. Always read the installation instructions that come with your theme.
13. Write an about page – No really. Write it. Write it now. The about page should state your mission, identify you or your organization, establish credibility and give basic information about the purpose and use of the site. People look there. Really. Even if you have your doubts, write your about page to help you formulate and understand the mission of your website. This allows you to stay focused and inspired.
14. Write relevant static pages. Do you have any important information that should go on a static page? Write those now. Some ideas for static pages include:
    • Contact information or Contact Form
    • Location, directions, and a map
    • Descriptions of products and services
    • Information for potential advertisers
    • Any important information about your site to which people need easy access
15. Create Categories. Creating your categories now allows you to organize your thoughts and understand how you expect your website to take shape. Categories are essential to organizing your information. They also keep you focused on your topic and may help you with post ideas when you get stuck. The “Categories” link is under the “Posts” header in your dashboard.
16. Write good posts. Congratulations! You’ve set up a WordPress site. Now get to work writing great content!

Do you have any other essential steps you use in creating your website? Are there any plugins you can’t live without? Let me know in the comments.

Related Articles:

• What is a Blog?
• How do I register a domain name?
• How do I set up a website?

How Much Money Do You Want to Make?

This isn’t a trick question. Do you simply want to earn enough money to pay for your website expenses? Do you want to make enough to cover a daily latte or buy a nice dinner out once a week? Do you expect to offset your salary and work less for someone else? Do you expect to make this your new career. Or do you want to hit it big, quit your day job, and sit on the beach sipping rum punch while your website churns out money for you?

The answer to this question matters for a couple reasons:

1. I am not selling any get rich quick schemes here. (The rum punch scenario will take some work.)
2. Knowing your goals will help you decide how many of the following  options you want to implement.
3. Knowing your goals will also help you understand how much effort you want to put into implementing them.

Choose to Be Successful

All of the following are valid, legal, and well-supported ways of getting income from your blog or website. However, your success with each of them will depend on your site’s topic, style, traffic, audience, and the effectiveness of your implementation.

If you choose to add one or more of these revenue streams, choose to do it right. For example, if you decide to run ads, place them where they are effective. Don’t hide them in the bottom corner off the beaten path. If you choose to ask for donations, don’t beat around the bush or hide the “donate” button. Directly ask your audience for donations and tell them why you need them. Hope is not a strategy.

Direct Methods of Making Money from Your Website or Blog

This section covers the direct methods of adding a revenue stream to your website. When done successfully, direct methods produce immediate measurable income streams.

1. Directly Selling a Product or Service

Directly selling a product of service online is a common method of making money. It is the obvious choice for people that already have a product or service to sell and it is a great way for people with a bricks and mortar store to expand their revenue opportunities. People without existing products or services can create products in the form of merchandising, eBooks, or consulting.

Directly selling products or services gives you more control over the product, pricing, and its delivery. However, you need to set up a fulfillment system that includes the inventory control, shipping and handling of physical products or the scheduling and delivery of services. The logistics of product delivery can be done in house or outsourced, but it must be managed and can add to the amount of work required. Your profit is the difference between your selling price and the cost of goods, fulfillment, and overhead.

2. Affiliate Sales

If you don’t have a product, service, or store and aren’t interested in carrying an inventory, or figuring out how to get products to customers, you can still make money selling other people’s products. Affiliate sales or affiliate marketing is also known as Pay Per Action (PPA). The goal is to induce your audience to perform some prescribed action, like clicking through a specific link then buying a product or signing up for newsletter or service. When the action is completed, the Affiliate earns a fee in the form of a percentage of the sale or flat rate. These are known as commissions or bounties.

The key to success with affiliate sales is in selling and marketing. Consider yourself a freelance sales person or marketer. Recommend the products or services, persuade your audience to sign up or buy, explain the value proposition and make it easy for them to successfully perform the action that nets you a commission. Passive use of affiliate links is rarely successful and often discouraging. A good strategy is to become an affiliate for products you really believe in or that are tailor made for your audience. Fortunately, you can become an affiliate for nearly any product or brand out there.

The pros and cons of affiliate marketing are the same, you don’t have to worry about the logistics of the sale and delivery but that means you have no control over the sale and delivery. You also have little control over the size of the commission. Program terms can change on a regular basis and programs can end with little or no warning. It can be frustrating to build a nice PPA campaign and then lose the product for which you developed it.

Here are some common PPA programs that will give you access to a huge variety of products and brands:

• Amazon Associates
• Commission Junction
• ShareASale
• LinkShare.com
• ClickBank
• AzoogleAds

3. Advertising

If you are not interested in sales (and let’s face it many of us are n0t), there are always opportunities to earn money from advertising. In this case you, the website owner, provides information or creativity on the topic of your choice. You build an audience that is interested in that topic or your take on it. Companies pay for the opportunity to communicate with that audience.

Advertising comes in many forms. It can be text, banner, video, or audio. It can appear in designated areas of the website, incorporated in the content, pop up or under the website in a new window, or appear before content is made available like trailers, interstitials, or full page ads.

Payment can be based on pay-per-click, pay-per-impression, and flat fee or some combination of them. Pay-per-click is like pay for performance. You only get paid if your audience member is interested enough to click the ad and leave your site. Pay-per-impression is sometimes called CPM or cost per mille which is the amount you are paid per 1000 views of the ad. Flat Fee advertising is an agreed upon rate to show and ad for an agreed upon time regardless of the clicks or impressions. Flat fee advertising allows the advertiser and the publisher to lock in a rate giving them a known revenue or expense but can be risky if the popularity of the site increases or decreases during the advertising period.

Some people dislike advertising because they think it looks cluttered or makes them look like a sell out. Depending on the implementation, both of those impressions can be true. If you sell too much advertising it can scare away your audience, limit the effectiveness, and reduce the future revenue stream. If you don’t sell enough or you hide the advertising, you may not make enough money to keep the site running. There is a balance with advertising that depends on your topic, your audience, and your style. When you find that balance you will see why advertising has been so widely used to provide free content to the public.

• Google Adsense
• Chitika
• AdBrite

4. Donations

The tip jar is alive and well on the internet. There are some sites that are run solely on donations. Others use donations as a supplemental income stream. They seem to work best when you ask directly for them and specify what the donations are for.  Some people put a donation request at the end of each post. Others have a specific goal and use a progress bar to measure the success of the drive.

Some people use donations because they find advertising distasteful or because they want to show that they are impartial when they review products. It can be an effective strategy depending on your goals. Just understand that you will get more donations when you ask for them.

• PayPal
• Amazon Payments – For 503(c) Non-Profit Organizations.

5. Grants

Grants are like donations. You ask an individual, organization, or foundation to give you funding so you can accomplish your goals. Grants are available for many topics including artistic, civic, social, and health causes. I didn’t bundle grants under donations because you must apply for grants and there are usually strings attached. Also, the group funding you usually wants to see results for their grant funding. Grants are not for everyone, but they should definitely be considered if your website is dedicated to a specific cause. In addition to funding, the providers of grants are also willing and eager to help you publicize your work and website.

6. Subscriptions

With donations, you make your work available to all and expect that some people will be generous enough to cover the expenses. With subscriptions, you only allow access to your content to people that pay the toll. On the one hand, paid content goes against the early “information should be free” creed of the internet. On the other hand, capitalism rocks!

For subscription services to be successful, the content must be top notch and provided on a regular basis. If you don’t provide the expected value for the subscription price, refunds and word of mouth will destroy your business model quickly. However if you do have something valuable to offer, the exclusivity of a subscription service can increase that value by limiting the number of people with the information or increasing the perception of value. People love to be in the cool kids club.

PayPal offers subscription payment services. If you choose to offer subscription services you will need to impose security on your content.

Indirect Methods of Making Money from Your Website or Blog

This section deals with indirect methods of making money from your blog or website. Indirect techniques do not result in an immediate or direct income stream but they do increase the value of yourself, your organization, your product, or your service.

1. Provide Useful Information

People go to the internet for information. Make sure that they get that information from you. If you are selling a product, service, association, or idea, you must have a website to let people know about it. Even if you do not take advantage of any online revenue streams, the information you provide on your website can contribute to the value of your offline products or the amount of those products people buy.

Here are some common pieces of information your website should contain:

• Contact Information – How do people reach you?
• Map – How do people find you?
• Product or Service  Information – What do you offer? How does it work? Why should they get it from you?
• Specifications – What are the details, functions, features, dimensions, etc of the product of service?
• Testimonials – Do people like your product or service?
• Community Forum- Who else uses your product or service? Do they like it? How do they use it? What questions do they have? What are the answers to those questions. Cultivating an online community of your clients and customers can increase the value of your products.
• White Papers – What are the best practices around using your product? What are the consequences of not using it? How does your product compare to competitors? Are there alternate ways to use the product?
• History – People like to know the story behind the person or organization with which they are dealing.

2. Image Building

Whether your website represents a person, organization, product, or idea, the implementation of that website and the quality of information conveyed there directly affect the image or brand of the website owner. If you are researching and writing on a specific topic, you are probably or soon will be an expert on that topic. When people recognize that expertise your image improves. As the image or brand improves the perceived value of the person, organization, product, or idea improves. A product can sell at a higher price point, a consultant can get more gigs or charge more per hour, an association can bring in more members, and an idea can be adopted by a larger number of people.

3. Increased Opportunities for Offline Revenue

In addition to higher perceived value a good website can increase the opportunities for offline revenue opportunities. Following are some options that open up after you create value for an audience on your website:

• Speaking Engagements
• Book Deals
• Magazine or Journal writing
• Events for your audience or customers
• Job Opportunities
• Business Opportunities
• Training

What Next?

After reading the above article, many will be excited to start a website or monetize the one they already have. Others, will not see anything that gets them excited. Either response is okay. You have to do what is right for you and your website. Starting a website is dirt cheap these days. If you are creating or updating content because you love it, please continue to do so. However, if you believe you should be compensated for your work or wish you could be paid to do what you love, you may want to try out some of these techniques.

This page is updated with specific services and opportunities as they become available or proven. If you recommend any that I have left off, please leave a comment.

Related Articles:

• What is a Blog?
• What is Website Hosting?
• Is It Okay to Use a Free Domain Name?

The simplest answer to the question is that a blog is a website. Many people out surfing the web don’t want or need to know any more than that. However, if you plan to have a presence on the web you should know more so you can decide if a blog style website is right for you. 

Evolution of Blogs

Blog is short for Web Log. Early definitions of a blog described it as a personal journal or diary on the web. This conjures up the not so serious image of a collection of frivolous, rambling, or random stories. While some of the early blogs started this way and you can use a blog for that purpose, if you focus on the topic or content to define a blog you are really missing the big picture.

A blog is a type of website that consists of a series of posts. Posts can include but are not limited to text, pictures, videos, audio, or any other type of content. Blogs frequently allow comments which creates an interactive quality to the content.

Software like Open Diary, Live Journal, Blogger, Movable Type, and WordPress was developed to easily create this style of website. This software did its job well and made creating blogs really easy. It became so easy that lots of people did it. As lots of people did it, the software and the characteristics of a blog evolved.

Two Definitions of Blogs

These days there are two ways to define a blog:

1. A blog is a website with some or all of the following characteristics:

• A series of posts frequently in reverse chronological order
• Has an interactive quality due to the ability for readers to comment on posts
• Usually one but often more than one author
• The ability for readers to subscribe to RSS feeds
• The ability to notify other blogs that are linked in posts
• The ability to receive notification from other blogs that link back
• Organization of posts with archives based on time, categories, tags, and authors

2. A blog is a website created with blogging software.

• Blogging software is a specialized form of Content Management System that allows someone to publish a website with the characteristics of blogs.
• Blogging software separates content from design and code so that publishing to the web is simple and quick.
• Since blogs typically contain timely content and are generally interactive, most blogging software is designed to automate the process of commenting and of notifying other sites of new content.
• Most blogging software can be customized with new designs and new functionality.
• Popular modern blogging software includes WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger, and many others.

Who Publishes Blogs?

Blogging software has made it so easy to publish to the web that anyone can do it.  People of all ages and walks of life can blog. Writers, business people, artists, scientists, photographers, journalists, musicians, academics, students, film makers, hobbyists, poets, children, retirees and anyone else that has a desire to communicate can and do blog. Blogs can be simple or complex. Online newspapers and magazines are often created with blogging software.

Why Blog?

Many people blog because it is an easy way to publish to the web. Because it is easy, blog content tends to be timely. Because it is timely, blog software has developed many features to notify people of new content. Because of quick notifications, readers tend to react and interact. Because of this interaction, blogs tend to generate buzz. If you have an idea, product, service, or something to say, you want to be part of that buzz. If you want to be part of that buzz, you need to blog.

Should I Create a Blog?

Here are some good reasons to create a blog:

• You have a product, service, or idea.
• You want to communicate with a group of people.
• You want a presence on the Internet.
• You want to create a website that can be updated easily without knowing code or html.
• You want to publish new material frequently or infrequently.
• You want to edit existing content easily.
• You want an interactive website where people can comment on your posts.
• You want to have software that automatically reaches out to websites you reference.
• You want software that reaches out to people or services that are interested in you.
• You want to be able to categorize, tag, and otherwise organize website content.
• You have something to say.

What Blogging Software Should I use?

There are many options out there. Some are dedicated blogging platforms. Some are comprehensive CMS systems. Some are free and open source. Some cost money and include support.

Choose WordPress

If you are just getting started and don’t really know what you want or need, I recommend starting with WordPress. I am a big fan of WordPress. But don’t take my word for it, it happens to be the most popular blogging platform on Earth. If you are just starting out, there is no reason you can’t start there.

There are two ways to get WordPress:

1. Download it from WordPress.org and install it on your webserver. (Or install it automatically at the vast majority of web hosts. This is the recommended option.)
2. Sign up for a free account at WordPress.com and try it out for free. (Just try it out at WordPress.com. Do not start your “real” blog there for these important reasons.)

Choose Other Blogging Software

Wordpress is free, simple, extensible, well documented, and well supported. However it is not for everybody. If you know that WordPress does not meet your needs, you can try any of the hundreds of CMS and blogging platforms out there.  A comprehensive (and frankly intimidating) list can be found at CMSMatrix.org.

I’ve built sites with Drupal, Joomla, DotNetNuke, and Community Server. They are powerful and popular content management systems with good blogging capabilities and more. I just find that WordPress is much simpler and handles 98% of my website needs.

Related Articles:

• 13 Reasons New Bloggers Should Start with Their Own Domain and Hosting
• How Do I Make Money from a Blog or Website?
• Checklist for Building a Website with WordPress

13 Reasons to Buy Your Own Domain Name and Hosting Before You Start Your First Blog

1. It’s Cheap - Most people use free blogging platforms because, well… they’re free. However you can get a domain name for less than 10 bucks for a year and a good starter hosting package that automatically installs everything you need for less than 5 bucks a month. If you quit after a month you’re out less than $15. If you succeed, you’ll find that free costs more than you think.

2. It’s Motivational - When you put money on the line, it is like saying you plan to succeed. You are far less likely to quit after a month because you believe you have a good shot at success and have built the foundation to profit from your efforts.

3. It’s Easy – Web Hosts have gotten the process of setting up WordPress (and other open source website scripts) down to an art. It literally takes a couple of clicks and you have a fully working website. Security and feature updates are just as easy.

4. Image – Owning your own unique domain name carries a certain prestige, professionalism, and respect. It says you’re serious (even if your website is not). Many/most free blogs are spammy at best. Do you really want to be associated with them?

5. Ownership – Hosting your own blog gives you ownership of your success, your brand, your content, and your files. When people link to something you wrote they are linking to your domain. The more you create, the more you create value for yourself.

6. Brand Identity – With your own domain name you are building brand value and identity for yourself or your organization not Blogger or WordPress. Do not underestimate the tangible and intangible value of a good brand.

7. Earn More Money – When you own your own domain and website you have more opportunity to earn more money. Some free hosted platforms (like WordPress.com) don’t allow commercial use. Other platforms put their advertising on your blog.  And finally there are more money earning programs (advertising and affiliate) available for people with their own domain and host.

8. Freedom of Design– Many free hosting platforms provide limited design choices. On your own host you have unlimited possibilities.

9. Power – Free hosted blogs limit what you can do. They choose the features. They choose the plugins. They block access to functionality according to their whims. You are left with generic wimpy features and can’t be distinguished from anyone else.

10. Flexibility – Do you want to add your unique plugins, special scripts, or a forum? Do you want to add additional pages or sub-domains? Do you want to switch to a whole new platform but keep the same address? You can’t do that on a hosted platform.

11. Control – Hosting your site and owning your domain gives you more control over your identity and your files. One invaluable aspect of this is the ability to backup your files. With free hosts you simply have to trust some stranger to do the right thing. With paid hosting you are buying a certain amount of support and accountability.

12. Value – Websites have value. When your blog or website becomes popular, you want to own that value. You can’t sell a Blogger or WordPress.com hosted blog. Popular self hosted, uniquely identifiable blogs and websites have been known to sell for nice sums.

13. Moving After You’re Successful Is Not Fun – Moving a blog from a free host is not impossible. It is inconvenient, can be tricky, and may be time consuming. But there are many people that have done it in the past and there are many resources to help you. However, you will take several frustrating steps backwards in terms of links, popularity, and audience when you decide to move. The moment you realize you want to get your own domain and host your own blog, take action. Don’t procrastinate. Or better yet, plan for your success and start off right.

Related Articles:

• What is a Blog?
• What is Website Hosting?
• Is It Okay to Use a Free Domain Name?

What do I need to know about web hosting?

Configuring a computer to host a website can be very complicated. The operating system, services, applications, and scripts must all be set up properly. The server must be kept up to date and secure from viruses and hackers. Everything must be tuned to maintain excellent performance and reliability and the hardware and software must be monitored so you know when to fix anything that goes wrong. Fortunately there are many people out there that are experts at this and will do all this work for you. They work hard to make it very easy for you.

These days it isn’t too hard to get feature rich, reliable web hosting for very little money. Most services have wizards, automated setup scripts, and tutorials that make the chore of setting up a web server simple. In addition, most web hosting companies provide entry level plans that let you try them out and then upgrade to beefier plans as the need arises.

The bottom line is that you don’t need to know the nitty gritty details of configuring and supporting your server. You simply need to understand what you are paying for and how to use it effectively.

What do I get when I purchase web hosting services?

When you buy web hosting services, you are paying for space on a web server, the bandwidth your audience uses to download content, and the services, scripts, and other features available on that server. You are also paying for the support, maintenance, and reliability of that server.  Some hosting plans allow you to host a single website. Some plans allow you to host a bunch of websites that share the allotted resources. Web hosting can be as simple as a small bit of storage space for static HTML web pages accessible on the internet. It can be as complicated as fault tolerant, fully redundant, enterprise class systems that host dynamic e-commerce enabled pages powered by massive databases.

Most entry level plans will include space for your website, a certain amount of monthly bandwidth your audience uses to download your website, a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service so you can upload the files that make up your website, a number of email accounts, access to a database server, statistics programs, basic security, support for a number of programing and scripting languages, and scripts that let you build dynamic web content easily.

How do I get web hosting?

NetFlint offers fantastic website hosting deals. Start off with one of our shared hosting plans. We have a plan that lets you run a single website for less than $4 a month. Do you want to run a bunch of websites on the same account? Get a deluxe or unlimited hosting plan. When you you outgrow shared hosting, we have virtual and dedicated server plans that can handle the most popular websites.

Feel free to check out the competition’s prices and services. Here are some popular choices:

• NetFlint Website Services
  
• Yahoo! Web Hosting
• iPower.com
• ServerPronto.com
• Bluehost.com
• Host Gator Dedicated Server

Related Articles:

• 13 Reasons New Bloggers Should Start with Their Own Domain and Hosting
• How do I set up a website?
• Is It Okay to Use a Free Domain Name?

1. Find out if the name of your choice is available using our special form.

If your first choice is not available, we’ll provide a list of similar names that are available. Need more ideas? Check out the Smart Search tab. This feature suggests variations of your search term.

We’ll also search our database for Premium Domain Names that may interest you. Premium Domain Names are valuable domain names that are made up of common words or phrases that are frequently typed in by web surfers. Premium Domain Names are already owned by a third party, but they are available by special arrangement at Net Flint and offered for sale at a premium price. This premium price is a one time cost that goes to the existing owner. After you own the domain name, our regular low renewal prices apply.

Select the domain name or names that you want to register and click “Continue”.

2. Enter your registration information (or log in if you already have an account).

It is important to enter accurate information when you register. This information will be used for billing and domain name administration including renewal reminder, transfer notices, and other official account communication. Entering inaccurate information could result in the loss of your name. Your contact name, address, phone number, and email address will be available as part of the public registry for your domain. If you do not wish for others to see your contact information, then you should select a Private, Deluxe, or Protected registration when you check out.

3. Select your registration and checkout options.

On this screen you may choose to register your domain for 1, 2, 3, 5, or 10 years. There are discounts available for 5 and 10 year registrations. You also have the option of adding a hosting package, email package, private registration, or a website creation wizard. When you have selected all the options you want, click “Continue”. You will have the opportunity to verify your purchases before completing your transaction.

4. Review your shopping cart.

Make sure you have ordered all the products you want for the time periods you want. Select your payment method, and check the boxes to accept the registration agreement and terms of service. Then click the “Checkout Now” button.

5. Enter or confirm your payment information and click “Checkout Now”

Congratulations! You now have the exlusive right to use your new domain name. In addition to getting a great name at a great price we also give you up to $141 in free extras.  Get started right away by setting up a personalized email address or building a new webpage.

Related Articles:

• What is a Domain Name?
• Is It Okay to Use a Free Domain Name?
• Checklist for Building a Website with WordPress

1. A domain name.
2. A place to “serve” or “host” the website.
3. Content (the words, pictures, and other goodies that make up your website)

This article explains each item and shows you how to acquire each one. It also offers warnings of things to watch out for and provides links to additional information.

1. Domain Names

A domain name is a user friendly name that points to a place on the internet. In our case, the place is a website. NetFlint.com, www.Google.com, and www.Yahoo.com are all examples of domain names that point to websites. It’s very easy to register a domain name. In fact we’ve made special arrangements for you to register yours really cheap right here.

Remember a domain name is not a website. It is a pointer. After you secure your domain name you must point it at your web server and content. If you do not have a server or a host yet, keep reading…

More Information on Domain Names:

• What is a domain name?
• How do I register a domain name?
• 13 Reasons New Bloggers Should Start with Their Own Domain and Hosting
• Is it okay to use a “free” domain name?

2. Web Servers or Web Hosts

In order for a website to be available on the Internet it must reside on a properly configured web server that is connected to the Internet. This arrangement is called “hosting”. A single web server can serve or host any number of websites. The key is to match the power and functionality of the server to the requirements and popularity of the websites it hosts.

Web Hosting prices can vary greatly from no-cost advertising supported hosting to hundreds of dollars a month for powerful, fail safe, dedicated servers. Businesses and organizations should stay away from “free” hosting. Cheap hosting plans can be had for less than $5 a month. Choose a host that allows later upgrades as a website’s popularity increases. Make sure your host provides the features, reliability, and support your site requires to meet your needs.

More Information on Web Hosting

• What is web hosting?
• 13 Reasons New Bloggers Should Start with Their Own Domain and Hosting
• How do I choose a web hosting plan?  (coming soon)
• Is it okay to use “free” web hosting? (coming soon)

3. Content (a.k.a. Your Website)

The last thing required is your actual website content. A website is made up of text, pictures, links, and other media, laid out and formatted using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and often other code. The content of your website is its heart and soul. The golden rule of websites is “Content is King”.

Web pages can be extraordinarily simple or very complex. They can be static – meaning they are always the same for everybody that looks at them, or dynamic – meaning that the page or elements of the page are generated on demand or change depending on conditions.

There are tons of ways to create the content that makes up your website. You can build from scratch, start from templates, use on-line or standalone software to create webpages or hire a designer to do the work for you. How you create your content depends entirely on your skill and your goals for the website. Do not be afraid of creating website content. There are many tools that allow complete beginners to create things of beauty.

I am a big proponent of WordPress for creating and updating website content. It provides an excellent balance between power, effectiveness, and ease of use. All of our hosting plans offer automatic installation and upgrade of WordPress. We have a great article with a checklist for setting up WordPress. However, if WordPress is overkill or still a little too complicated, we also offer a simple website creation wizard that includes hosting and provides step by step set up and design instructions.

Putting It All Together

Many website service providers allow you to acquire a domain name, hosting services, and content creation tools all at the same time in a bundle. Purchasing bundles from the same provider is an excellent way to make sure that all elements will work properly together. If anything is not working properly, one support call should solve all your problems. However, depending on the terms of the bundle, it may be difficult to move your website to another server or host later if required. While there are excellent reasons for purchasing as a bundle, there are also strong arguments for purchasing elements separately and configuring them to work together. These arguments can include cost savings, flexibility, power, and control.

NetFlint has arranged to offer the savings and simplicity of a bundle with the flexibility and control of separate services. Check out our current offer of domain names for $1.99 with the purchase of a hosting or website wizard package.

Depending on where you buy your domain name and services there will be different processes for making them work together. Check with your service provider for specific instructions. At the end of the day, you want your content configured properly on your web host and you want your domain name pointed to that web host. For NetFlint services there is an excellent help center with all the step by step instructions you will need.

Related Articles:

• What is Website Hosting?
• Checklist for Building a Website with WordPress
• Is It Okay to Use a Free Domain Name?

More specifically, domain names map to mostly numeric addresses called IP addresses that are assigned to devices on the Internet. An IP Address is kind of like a street address (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue), a domain name is like saying “the White House”.  They both take you to the same place.
There are two benefits to this:

1. It’s easier to remember a good domain name.
2. If you change the mapping, you can change what the domain name represents. (For example, you can move a website to a new computer and keep the same name)

Is a domain name a webpage?

No. A domain name is not necessarily a webpage. A domain name can be pointed to a webpage, but a webpage is its own entity. After securing a domain name, one must set up a webpage, host it on a server, and assign the domain name to that webpage. Net Flint makes this process very easy.

Why are there dots in a domain name?

Domain names are hierarchical with each level separated by a “.” (dot). For example, each has a Top Level Domain (TLD) listed on the far right like .COM, .ORG, or .NET and a Second Level Domain (SLD) to the left of that like Google, Yahoo, or NetFlint.

The registered user of a second level domain can have any number of sub domains under that secondary domain. Once again, a subdomain is to the left of the secondary domain and separated by a dot. For example, the registered owner of the domain netflint.com can point www.netflint.com to a web server, ftp.netflint.com to a file transfer protocol server, and mail.netflint.com to an email server.

How do you become the registered owner of a domain name?

To become the exclusive user of a Second Level Domain name, you must register the name with a registrar and pay an annual fee. Names are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis so it is important to secure your desired name as soon as possible. The fees are determined by individual registrars with prices varying wildly from registrar to registrar. NetFlint has made arrangements to allow people to register domain names at some of the lowest prices available.

What does this mean to me?

Today, domain names are most often associated with webpages. Webpages have become the single most important method of providing information about your organization, product, or idea. If you are selling something or have something to say, it is essential to have a webpage and it is important to have a domain name that is easy to remember, easy to spell, and easy to associate with your organization, product, or idea.

Domain Name Registrars

NetFlint has some of the best deals for domain name registration and hosting available, but feel free to check out other registrars’ prices and services. Here are some popular choices:

• NetFlint Website Services
  
• Network Solutions
• Dotster.com
• Yahoo!
• GoDaddy.com

Related Articles:

• Is It Okay to Use a Free Domain Name?
• How do I register a domain name?
• What is Website Hosting?

The articles are written in a simple step by step fashion. They are labeled as beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Comments are open for the community to ask questions and share solutions.

In addition to providing articles and tutorials, we have partnered with a large and stable domain name registrar and offer domain names, website hosting, and many other website services at value prices so you can get started with minimal investment. In addition, we provide links and information about many other competing service providers so you can choose the solution that works best for you – even if we are not the ones providing it!

NetFlint provides the tools. You create the sparks. Together we can set the Net on fire!

Related Articles:

• What is Website Hosting?
• How do I register a domain name?
• How do I set up a website?