Journal of an Internet Marketer Chapter 2 Finding a Web Host

Ok so you've decided to venture into the world of internet marketing. In this hub I will talk about how to decide on a web host, whether free or paid. Remember your going to need a web host for your web site. How else are you going to put all of those ads and affiliate links all over the place and start raking in the cash:) The world of internet marketing is enticing for many because of the very minimal startup costs. Basically if you have time and about 10 to 15 dollars per month for a paid web host then you too can be an internet marketer.

When I first started out, I knew I needed a web host but didnt really understand what that meant and furthermore what exactly I needed to look for when I was selecting one. Here is a wiki on web hosts. When you want to get a site up and running on the internet you need a web host or server to store all of your precious content. Its basically a computer that sits in a very large data center and its sole purpose is to allow visitors to look at your website. Some may ask why do I need this? Cant I do that on my own computer? The answer is yes you can. However there are many factors involved that would not allow the novice or advanced computer user to accomplish this feat. You must have knowledge of web server software and the technical knowledge to maintain your server. If you think you have what it takes to do this then by all means check out this how to article. For the rest of us we will prefer to leave it to the pros.

The market place is filled with webhost companies. Do a simple Google of "web hosting" and you will have enough companies pop up to make your head spin. I did alot of research when I was looking. I checked out compare sites and visited forums for other users input. Basically what I found out was that every company has their pros and cons. There isnt a company out there that really stood out.

I based my decision on a few factors.

1. Price
2. Customer Service
3. Reliability

4. Contract

   When I had these factors pinned as must haves then I went to work on selecting my hosting company. Your needs may be different but overall they should fall in line with mine.

   Just about all of the companies were very competive with pricing. Some were dirt cheap and others a little high. I steered away from the dirt cheap and went with the middle priced. When it came to customer service I had to do alot of forum visiting to get an idea of their level of service. Afterall every company is gonna say they have outstanding customer service. Reliablitiy is another X factor. Every company claims to have 99.5% uptime, and they guarantee this! However I have heard stories of sites going down on a consistent basis because the web host was not running their servers properly. This one I had to basically just go with the more established and larger company. The last factor was contract. I am new to this and i certainly dont want to get locked up in contract. Heck I might decide to quit this game a month in to it. (By the way if you dont want to commit the 10 bucks a month then continue reading, Ill cover free hosts later.)  There are not many companies out there that offer a no contract so this basically narrowed my list to a very short list.

   After all consideration I chose to go with Host Gator. And I am glad I did. They offered everything on my list and more. Their service and uptime have been stellar. Every time I have had an issue or question they have responded beautifully. They have multiple ways to contact them: ticket, phone or live chat. I have used both ticket(email) and live chat. Every time I have never waited longer than 5 minutes for a reply. 

   Choosing a host is your decision of course.  I suggest you do some reading as well.  Ask a friend or collegue.  Word of mouth in my opinion is the best kind of advertising. Be careful when reading review sites.  Most are just affiliate sites posing as real review sites. As always dont believe everything you read on the internet.  Hosting companies pay out big money for new customers.  Therefore the amount of affiliate marketers out there pushing biased reviews is rampant.  

    If your gonna decide on a paid host then make sure you take advantage of coupon codes. Do a Google search for "web hosting coupons" and you will get all sorts of deals to make your first month of service either free or very cheap.

In this section I will cover free web hosts. If your just starting out and wondering if you should go with a free web host such as Blogger or Wordpress then please continue. Both of these websites offer very productive and powerful sitebuilders. They are pretty much point and click websites. Just about anyone can setup a website using one of these free sites. Now there are many more free sites out there but I chose to name these two because of the sheer size and popularity of both. Blogging is and has been mainstream for some time. Both of these sites use the traditional blogging style.

Now the decision of either Free or Paid. What's the difference? I suggest if your starting out and you dont want the bells and whistles of a fully functional web host then start with a free web host such as those listed above. However you need to keep in mind that these hosts are very limited in what you can do. Wordpress.com does not allow Adsense or any monetization of any kind. Blogger does allow Adsense and is a lttle more customizable. Wordpress.com offers customization but at a price. After you add up fees your better off going with a paid host. A quick note about Wordpress. There are two different platforms for wordpress. There is wordpress.com and wordpress.org. Wordpress.com is your blog hosted by wordpress. The latter wordpress.org is the open source code that you are allowed to install on your paid web host. Why do they offer this? Because wordpress is a powerful blogging platform that many like to use. And most users prefer to have full functionalitiy by hosting the platform on their personal host. If you feel comfortable and want more then go with wordpress.org.

Here is a brief breakdown of advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of a Free Host

1. Its FREE.
2. Easy setup.
3. Almost everyone can set one up.
4. Web crawlers generally index your pages quickly

Disadvantages of a Free Host

1. Cannot use a custom domain name
2. Customization is limited or non existent
3. No control panel (c-panel)
4. No statistics such as web traffic reports
5. Ads are sometimes placed on your site
6. If the site is down ....o'well its free, remember?
7. Monetization is limited or non existent
8. Branding is difficult because of long tail domain names
9. SEO is more difficult

To sum it up. If your uncomfortable with paying for a host then go with blogger or wordpress.com They are novice friendly and you can get your feet wet without making a monetary investment. When your ready to take it to the next level then step up to a paid host. You will find that the 10 bucks a month is well worth it.