Rent a House… Web Host
How to Create A Website: Fast and Easy Guide Part 2
This is the second part of the “How to Create A Website” guide. In Part 1, you have gained the knowledge of what a dog name (domain) is. In Part 2, we will focus on the details of renting a house for your dog (i.e. signing up for a web host for your website). Your dog need to live in a house. In creating a website, you also need to find a place to hold it and to send the information to the visitors visiting it. The place is called a web host (or a website hosting company).
Can I buy the house (web host)? The answer is yes and no. Yes, if you can have a computer (called server) which is connected to the internet and is turned on forever, and that you have the technical knowledge to configure, protect and control the server, you can host your own website on it. However, you still have to pay for the electricity and a fast enough internet connection. The cost of hosting a website on a web host would be lower.
Criteria of a Website Hosting
The following 8 criteria are crucial when choosing a website hosting. You can, of course, switch to another web hosting company if you find the services not up to your expectation. However, this involves a lot of headache with the technical configurations. You might need the help of some technical people. Therefore, choose wisely at the very beginning.
You can skip this section if you sign up at our recommended web host (bluehost.com) [just scroll down to the “Our Recommendation” section]. The “How to Create A Website” guide you are now visiting is hosted on Bluehost. We have compared a large number of web hosting company and come to the conclusion that Bluehost is very cost effective, fast and reliable.
Reliable
Your website will work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So must your website hosting. You should make sure that the hosting servers are up and running for over 99% of the time.
Domain Included
In Step 1, we talk about the need for a domain name. You can register a domain and a website hosting plan separately but you have to deal with the technical configurations on your own.
Ample Storage
Some web hosting companies may just offer you several hundreds of megabyte storage space and charge you more as your website grows. How large is enough for your website? For reference, the average website is about 500mb.
Unlimited Traffic
Some web hosting companies may charge you if you have more than a certain amount of visitors. But there are web hosting companies allowing you to have as many visitors as you like for a flat charge.
No Contract
Don’t get ripped off by some dubious web hosting companies that offer free hosting plans. You might end up trapped with the fine prints. There are some honest and reliable web hosting companies that offers you instant refund without any contract periods.
Helpful Support
Every now and then, you might need to contact the web hosting support team to carry out some changes to the server configurations or for trouble shooting. Make sure the web hosting staff is helpful and responds fast.
Cost Effective
In the past, web hosting may cost you over US$20 per month. With the advancement of technologies, the host fee goes all the way down. Yet, some hosting companies still charge you like before. Make sure you have checked and compared the costs before signing up.
Recommended by WordPress
WordPress is the website software to help you build your own website which we will discuss in Step 3. Check the list of web hosting companies in the recommended list by WordPress. Also, check whether there is a fast and non-technical way to install WordPress on the host.
Our Recommended Web Host
Bluehost Web Hosting Company
- The WP Learner website is hosted on Bluehost. We are very satisfied with the speed and service.
- Bluehost is one of the largest web hosting company on the internet, home to over 2 million websites.
- At a minimal cost of US
$7.99$3.95 per month, you get a domain name (free for the first year), 50 GB space (1 GB = 1000 MB) and unlimited traffic. - If you are not satisfied with the service, you can cancel any time to get a refund of service not used immediately. Plus, you can take the domain name with you to another web hosting company. What’s more, if you cancel within 30 days, you receive a full refund on your hosting service. Satisfaction guaranteed.
- Bluehost is recommended by WordPress and you can use the 1-click installation service to install WordPress in 5 minutes.
A2 Hosting
- A2 Hosting is one of the most popular web hosting company for WordPress websites.
- At a minimal cost of US
$5.99$3.95 per month (coupon code: WHTPRIME), you get unlimited space and traffic. Same as Bluehost, you can host as many websites on a single account. - Green hosting
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- A2 Hosting offers the unique high-speed SSD hosting option for additional US$3 per month. You website will be as high as 300% faster than normal hosting.
- If you are not satisfied with the service, you can cancel within the first 30 days for a full refund.
- This plan is ideal for those who is owning a domain but also suitable for those who want to register for a new domain (fees apply).
- Innovative “Zero Click” WordPress installation – WordPress is automatically installed for you upon activation of the hosting.
Is there any other recommended choices? There are many web hosting companies on the internet, but as we haven’t tried those, we cannot recommend them. Also, the “How to Create A Website” guide you are reading is based on Bluehost, the interface and steps of other web hosting companies may be different and you might need to ask for their technical support.
Domain and Host Signup Step by Step
Follow the steps described below closely to avoid signing up additional services that cost you more. Most of these services can be done manually by yourself (often free of charge), we will give you detailed instructions on these.
On the website of Bluehost, click on the large green button “get started now“. In the next screen, select “basic” (Since you are starting out, the “basic” package (for US$3.95 per month) is more than enough!).
On the box on the left titled “new domain“, enter your preferred website name (without .com, .org or the like which will be chosen in the drop down box next to it).
If the domain is taken by others, Bluehost will give you a list of suggestions based on your preferred website name. If you find a suitable one, just click on the link. Otherwise, you can search again for other preferred names.
You are highly advised to choose the 3-year plan which is the most cost effective (reads cheapest). Don’t worry that you will be trapped should you find the service not satisfactory. You can cancel anytime and get a refund of services not used. We at WP Learner are very satisfied with the service and speed.
Remember to uncheck all the other boxes which are services with extra costs. You can do manual backup and submit your site to search engine by yourself free of charge. As for the domain privacy service, anyone registering a domain name will have their information disclosed to the public (the major downside is you will receive spam mail in your email account), this privacy service will register the domain on your behalf by Bluehost and therefore your details will not be shown.
You will then be asked to choose the payment method – either Credit Card or Paypal
After successful payment, you will be redirected to Bluehost. Once again, do not add any services to your cart and scroll down the page to click on the large green “complete” button. You will then be asked to set your password for the account. The whole process of signing up the domain and web host is now complete. It is time to go to Step 3 of this “How to Create A Website” Guide.
Choose Your Domain and Host
Clicking the button below will lead you to Bluehost. You can check the availability of your preferred domain name and sign up a web host there. It only takes 5 minutes for the whole process.
Hopefully You Have Signed Up a Hosting (already 50% progress)
You have completed Step 2 of the “How to Create A Website” Guide, click above to go to the third step of creating a website: install WordPress
How to Create A Website: Fast and Easy Guide is created by Edward Chung, PMP, a graphic designer turned full-stack web developer and project manager. Edward learnt how to create a website the hard way, spending hundreds of hours in learning programming languages before rolling out his first design portfolio website. Edward understands the pains and thus wrote this Fast and Easy Guide to help fellow wannabe website owners to create a website in an hour’s time.
If you find this website helpful, please consider adding Edward to your Google+ circle and following me on Twitter@edwardchungweb.
