Rugged Entrepreneur

When signing up for a hosting package, the choices can seem overwhelming. Also, you want to get it right—Moving an established site from one server to another isn’t fun. You don’t want to start with a package that will not give you space to grow. On the other hand, you also don’t want to overpay for services you don’t need any time soon.

I will compare the basic packages found currently (11-10-07) on 1and1, but they should be fairly similar to other hosting company’s packages.

Linux… or Windows?
The first option is to choose between using a Linux based server or Windows based. I have always gone with Linux and it dominates the server world just as Windows dominates the personal computer world. Don’t worry. Even though it uses Linux, you can control everything through a point and click admin backend. Anyone can do it!

Shared… or Dedicated?
If you are starting a new website, get a shared server. With prices beginning at $3.99 a month, a shared server will do fine until your site becomes really popular. A dedicated server usually starts around $100. Basically a shared server hosts dozens maybe even hundreds of other sites which allows the host to sell hosting plans so cheaply. A dedicated server is dedicated solely to your site.

Shared is cheap, but if you are on a shared server with several popular sites, your site may be slow as a result. It is a hit or miss with shared hosting. You have no idea what other sites are on the same server when you sign up. You don’t know if they are all low traffic sites hosting a few pages each or a bunch of mega sites with mega traffic eating up all that server’s bandwidth.

The Packages

Go to 1and1.com, click on Web Hosting and then ‘Choose a Package’

1and1.com has four shared hosting packages. If you are pretty sure you will only be working with one domain, you can start with the 1&1 Beginner package, but if your site hosts a lot of photos, videos or becomes somewhat popular, you may go over the monthly 10 gig bandwidth limit pretty easily. I usually go with the 1&1 Home since it gives you two free domains with the package, a hefty amount of bandwidth and a few extra tools. 1&1 Home is currently only a dollar more at $4.99 a month.

1&1 Home includes:

• 2 Domain names for free (You can either get yourname.com and yourname.net and have it pointed to the same site, or you can actually get two names for two separate sites and simply point them to different directories. This will enable you to have two unique sites but pay for one hosting. I will explain more about this in a future post)
• 120 Gb of Web space
• 1,200 Gb of Monthly Transfer Volume (bandwidth)
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Allows you to copy files from your computer to your website
• Many Email accounts
• Click-n-Build Applications (see below)
• Phone support (but expect to wait!)

Beginners
If you are new to the web, 1&1 makes it pretty easy. I would highly recommend learning basic HTML and you will need to know how to use FTP to upload to your site (a future post, but I highly recommend this free FTP software: http://filezilla-project.org/)

By getting the 1&1 Home (or higher packages), you will be able to use 1and1’s Click and Build Applications. This allows you to simply click ‘install’ from within your 1and1 admin page to install blogging, forum, gallery, etc software literaly with one click. It is always better to install software yourself so you can totally customize it, but it is a daunting task for the beginner.

In the past, beginners could start a blog by using a free blog site like blogger.com or wordpress.com, but this would mean not having your own domain name. Instead their blog would be myblog.wordpress.com and it may even display ads to ‘pay’ for the service. Installing your blog/software on your own domain looks much more professional. While this isn’t difficult, there is a learning curve for beginners. 1and1.com with their Click and Build Applications eliminates the need to learn how to install software.

Conclusion:
If you use the host I use (my recommendation, but there are many good hosts out there), I recommend getting their 1&1 Home package because:

• It is still cheap at $4.99 a month (paid six months at a time)
• It has decent bandwidth and disk space
• It includes Click and Build which is great for beginners

So now that you have found a few domain names you would like, go forth and sign up with a hosting company (cheap is fine, but make sure they are reputable#8212;do a Google search with the company’s name to see what their customers really think of their service)

Next, we will discuss what to do with your site!