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Why do you need your own Web Site and Domain name?
by Bj aka Bill Brown Hosting and Backup Service provider
Bj aka Bill Brown 
Hosting and Backup Service...
Why do you need your own Web Site and Domain name?
There are many people that think setting up a website at one of the many free hosting sites is a quick way to get started on the Internet and make some money.
Well if you are just setting up a personal page and have no intentions of trying to make any money on the Internet they are a good solution. On the other hand if you do intend to use the site to help you earn an income then they are definitely not the way to go.
There are several reasons for this.
One of the biggest reasons is that most if not all free web site hosting companies place their own ads very prominently on your free site. This takes focus away from what you are promoting.
Many free hosting companies have restrictions on what you can do with your site.
These free hosting sites can at any time, as has happened in the past, suddenly turn round and say pay or lose your site.
Another problem is that when people see that you are using a free hosting site they are not going to take you seriously. If you are claiming to be making money then why are you using a free hosting? If you are not making any claims but are promoting some money making program/business then the question that comes to mind is why is this person using a free hosting site if they are promoting these programs/businesses that claim to make you money, surely if the programs are working for them they should be able to afford to set up their own domain.
There is also the problem that if you do start with a free site and have worked hard to get traffic to it then when you are ready to expand and get your own domain name you will find all that hard work has been wasted and you have to start all over again building traffic to your new domain.
If you want to build a business and be taken seriously then you need to invest a little time and money and do it right.
Let me take you through the steps that are needed to get yourself set up.
First you need to decide on a domain name.
When deciding on your domain name you should think about trying to get one that is going to give some indication of what you are doing.
If you specialize in promoting/selling wooden toys then it would be no good having a domain name like fredsplastictoys. You would need to look for fredstoys or even better fredswoodentoys, as this is after all what you are selling. Now naturally the chances in the beginning of people doing a search on "freds wooden toys" will be nil, as you are not yet known. However the chances of someone searching for "toys" or "wooden toys" is much more likely and because you have both words in your domain title this will increase (but not guarantee) the chances of you getting listed in the search results. This is one of the building blocks that play a part in Search Engine Optimization according to some SEO experts although others disagree.
Try to come up with two or three options just in case the one you want is already taken.
Once you have decided on a name you then need to find out if it is available. To do this go to a domain registrar site. Personally I recommend NameCheap.com. They are very good and unlike GoDaddy will not suspend your Domain name at the drop of a hat, which GoDaddy have been known to do.
Once on the site you can then put in the name you want and it will tell you if it is free or not.
If it is you can go ahead and make the purchase. If not try your alternatives.
You may find that the .com version is already taken but the .net, .org, and so on are free.
There are mixed views on this but I personally would not take the .net or the .org, and in most cases if someone has heard the name but hasn’t got it written down to look at they could well type the name in with the .com TLD and go to your competitions site instead of yours.
On the other hand if you find one of your other alternatives free and buy it, you could go back and buy the .net and .org of the original name you wanted and simply have them pointing to your own site, in the hope of picking up some passing trade from your competition should one of their visitors type in .net or .org by mistake instead of the .com.
Taking this possible action into account it is not a bad idea if you have sufficient funds to buy the .com, .net, and .org versions of your site name at the same time. You do not need to host all three.
All you do is host the .com site and have the other two point to it. This will stop others doing to you what I just suggested you could do to them.
Step 2 is getting somewhere to host the domain.
For this naturally I recommend my own hosting company lowcost-webspace.com.
With 3 different packages we have something that is affordable for everyone. Starting as low as $2.99 a month ($30 if paying yearly).
We have our own dedicated server and employ a server management team to monitor it 24/7/365 for us to ensure maximum uptime, which currently stands at 99.9927%.
Our Domain Name Servers are so well established that although we quote a propagation time of 12 to 48 hours, recently we have found propagation of client’s domain names is taking minutes instead of the expected 12 to 48 hours.
We give the following guarantees.
With the exception of a possible virus no email is blocked. Each client has the facilities to apply their own filtering though spam assassin or box trapper.
We will never over sell disk space or bandwidth.
If you are not sure which package would be best for you I will work with you and help you select the best option for you based on what you want to do. I am available on Skype to actually talk to you and work with you to make sure you get the best option, and I do not try to sell you a premium package if all you need is a basic package to start with.
We want our clients to have the best deal possible.
The third step is Setting up your web site.
Building a website is not as daunting as it sounds either. If you don’t know how to write HTML, you can either get yourself a template or there are plenty of page editors available.
Personally I have little experience with page builders as I have always written sites in code but I am told that the NVU page editor is one of the better ones to use and it is free. You can of course use FrontPage, or any of the other well-known page makers as well.
I am also working on a template site that will be a complete site that will be easy to use and add content from a back office. The cost at this time has not been determined but the price will include initial set up and installation if hosted with us. (Extra if hosted somewhere else).
I want to cover some of the advantages of having your own domain name so lets take a look at them.
Apart from having your own web site you can also set up various splash/capture pages.
By having your own web space you can make different splash/capture pages which will allow you to carry out split testing.
Split testing is where you have say two or three different capture pages and you send some of your traffic to each page. This way once you see which is getting more reaction you can then send all your traffic to that one and so increase your sign up ratio.
Do you want to sell a specific product that you have resale rights to?
There are 2 ways you can do this.
Either set up a sub domain, or set up a specific sales page as part of the main domain.
Lets say we have resell rights to product xyz. What can we do to sell it?
First we can create a sub domain called xyz. Doing this would automatically create a folder called xyz in our server space in which we would place our sales page, and any other pages that go with it, and the images (preferably in a subfolder) for the pages.
This would then have a url http://xyz.mydomainname.com. Note that our main domain name url is http://www.mydomainname.com, and the sub domain name (in this case xyz) has replaced the www of the main domain name url.
The alternative with out using a sub domain would be to manually create a folder called xyz then as above place our sales pages and images in it.
The difference would be in the url used to call the sales page, which in this case would look like http://www.mydomainname.com/xyz/
Note that the last slash is very important as it is telling the browser to find a file called either index.html or index.php in the folder xyz. If you have both then the html one always takes priority over the php if no file is specified as above. To get index.php to open if you have both an html and a php version you would have to use the following.
http://www.mydomainname.com/xyz/index.php.
Another advantage of having your own web space is you can create your own personalized email addresses. Such as fred@mydomainname.com
However be warned that the following email addresses attract spam as fast as a new dung pile attracts flies sales@mydomainname.com, support@mydomainname.com, admin@mydomainname.com.
Another thing to avoid with email addresses is do not put them on your web site. If you do you will find you will be swamped with spam, as spam bots will harvest your email address.
This will also happen if you have a standard contact form on your site as well.
I had one site that was getting well over 100 spam mails every day. However now I get none.
I resolved this problem by removing the contact form and installing "My Contact Station".
At just $7 this script has more than paid for its self by stopping me wasting my time deleting spam from that one site alone and you can install it on as many sites as you want. I have it on several.
I hope this article although some what long will help you in making the right decision on setting up your own web site.
To summarize
Get your own domain name.
Get a hosting package,
Then set up your web site.
And finally
protect your self from spammers and their spam bots.
Nov 18th 2007 06:44
Hosting and Backup Service...Why do you need your own Web Site and Domain name?
There are many people that think setting up a website at one of the many free hosting sites is a quick way to get started on the Internet and make some money.
Well if you are just setting up a personal page and have no intentions of trying to make any money on the Internet they are a good solution. On the other hand if you do intend to use the site to help you earn an income then they are definitely not the way to go.
There are several reasons for this.
One of the biggest reasons is that most if not all free web site hosting companies place their own ads very prominently on your free site. This takes focus away from what you are promoting.
Many free hosting companies have restrictions on what you can do with your site.
These free hosting sites can at any time, as has happened in the past, suddenly turn round and say pay or lose your site.
Another problem is that when people see that you are using a free hosting site they are not going to take you seriously. If you are claiming to be making money then why are you using a free hosting? If you are not making any claims but are promoting some money making program/business then the question that comes to mind is why is this person using a free hosting site if they are promoting these programs/businesses that claim to make you money, surely if the programs are working for them they should be able to afford to set up their own domain.
There is also the problem that if you do start with a free site and have worked hard to get traffic to it then when you are ready to expand and get your own domain name you will find all that hard work has been wasted and you have to start all over again building traffic to your new domain.
If you want to build a business and be taken seriously then you need to invest a little time and money and do it right.
Let me take you through the steps that are needed to get yourself set up.
First you need to decide on a domain name.
When deciding on your domain name you should think about trying to get one that is going to give some indication of what you are doing.
If you specialize in promoting/selling wooden toys then it would be no good having a domain name like fredsplastictoys. You would need to look for fredstoys or even better fredswoodentoys, as this is after all what you are selling. Now naturally the chances in the beginning of people doing a search on "freds wooden toys" will be nil, as you are not yet known. However the chances of someone searching for "toys" or "wooden toys" is much more likely and because you have both words in your domain title this will increase (but not guarantee) the chances of you getting listed in the search results. This is one of the building blocks that play a part in Search Engine Optimization according to some SEO experts although others disagree.
Try to come up with two or three options just in case the one you want is already taken.
Once you have decided on a name you then need to find out if it is available. To do this go to a domain registrar site. Personally I recommend NameCheap.com. They are very good and unlike GoDaddy will not suspend your Domain name at the drop of a hat, which GoDaddy have been known to do.
Once on the site you can then put in the name you want and it will tell you if it is free or not.
If it is you can go ahead and make the purchase. If not try your alternatives.
You may find that the .com version is already taken but the .net, .org, and so on are free.
There are mixed views on this but I personally would not take the .net or the .org, and in most cases if someone has heard the name but hasn’t got it written down to look at they could well type the name in with the .com TLD and go to your competitions site instead of yours.
On the other hand if you find one of your other alternatives free and buy it, you could go back and buy the .net and .org of the original name you wanted and simply have them pointing to your own site, in the hope of picking up some passing trade from your competition should one of their visitors type in .net or .org by mistake instead of the .com.
Taking this possible action into account it is not a bad idea if you have sufficient funds to buy the .com, .net, and .org versions of your site name at the same time. You do not need to host all three.
All you do is host the .com site and have the other two point to it. This will stop others doing to you what I just suggested you could do to them.
Step 2 is getting somewhere to host the domain.
For this naturally I recommend my own hosting company lowcost-webspace.com.
With 3 different packages we have something that is affordable for everyone. Starting as low as $2.99 a month ($30 if paying yearly).
We have our own dedicated server and employ a server management team to monitor it 24/7/365 for us to ensure maximum uptime, which currently stands at 99.9927%.
Our Domain Name Servers are so well established that although we quote a propagation time of 12 to 48 hours, recently we have found propagation of client’s domain names is taking minutes instead of the expected 12 to 48 hours.
We give the following guarantees.
With the exception of a possible virus no email is blocked. Each client has the facilities to apply their own filtering though spam assassin or box trapper.
We will never over sell disk space or bandwidth.
If you are not sure which package would be best for you I will work with you and help you select the best option for you based on what you want to do. I am available on Skype to actually talk to you and work with you to make sure you get the best option, and I do not try to sell you a premium package if all you need is a basic package to start with.
We want our clients to have the best deal possible.
The third step is Setting up your web site.
Building a website is not as daunting as it sounds either. If you don’t know how to write HTML, you can either get yourself a template or there are plenty of page editors available.
Personally I have little experience with page builders as I have always written sites in code but I am told that the NVU page editor is one of the better ones to use and it is free. You can of course use FrontPage, or any of the other well-known page makers as well.
I am also working on a template site that will be a complete site that will be easy to use and add content from a back office. The cost at this time has not been determined but the price will include initial set up and installation if hosted with us. (Extra if hosted somewhere else).
I want to cover some of the advantages of having your own domain name so lets take a look at them.
Apart from having your own web site you can also set up various splash/capture pages.
By having your own web space you can make different splash/capture pages which will allow you to carry out split testing.
Split testing is where you have say two or three different capture pages and you send some of your traffic to each page. This way once you see which is getting more reaction you can then send all your traffic to that one and so increase your sign up ratio.
Do you want to sell a specific product that you have resale rights to?
There are 2 ways you can do this.
Either set up a sub domain, or set up a specific sales page as part of the main domain.
Lets say we have resell rights to product xyz. What can we do to sell it?
First we can create a sub domain called xyz. Doing this would automatically create a folder called xyz in our server space in which we would place our sales page, and any other pages that go with it, and the images (preferably in a subfolder) for the pages.
This would then have a url http://xyz.mydomainname.com. Note that our main domain name url is http://www.mydomainname.com, and the sub domain name (in this case xyz) has replaced the www of the main domain name url.
The alternative with out using a sub domain would be to manually create a folder called xyz then as above place our sales pages and images in it.
The difference would be in the url used to call the sales page, which in this case would look like http://www.mydomainname.com/xyz/
Note that the last slash is very important as it is telling the browser to find a file called either index.html or index.php in the folder xyz. If you have both then the html one always takes priority over the php if no file is specified as above. To get index.php to open if you have both an html and a php version you would have to use the following.
http://www.mydomainname.com/xyz/index.php.
Another advantage of having your own web space is you can create your own personalized email addresses. Such as fred@mydomainname.com
However be warned that the following email addresses attract spam as fast as a new dung pile attracts flies sales@mydomainname.com, support@mydomainname.com, admin@mydomainname.com.
Another thing to avoid with email addresses is do not put them on your web site. If you do you will find you will be swamped with spam, as spam bots will harvest your email address.
This will also happen if you have a standard contact form on your site as well.
I had one site that was getting well over 100 spam mails every day. However now I get none.
I resolved this problem by removing the contact form and installing "My Contact Station".
At just $7 this script has more than paid for its self by stopping me wasting my time deleting spam from that one site alone and you can install it on as many sites as you want. I have it on several.
I hope this article although some what long will help you in making the right decision on setting up your own web site.
To summarize
Get your own domain name.
Get a hosting package,
Then set up your web site.
And finally
protect your self from spammers and their spam bots.
Nov 18th 2007 06:44
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Comments
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi margie, Thank you for your feed back. I know its a bit long but I have found that if i split things up people will read part one or part two but dont read both. so its a one post job this time. Nov 18th 2007 09:07 |
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Eric Smith
 Online ProfessionalExcellent info Bj, Took me about 12 months to learn this stuff by trial and error. I remember a little java script code that can be used to add an email on a website without being picked up by bots... would this still work, or have bots got smarter ? <script language=javascript> <!-- var showtag="@" var showlink="Contact Me"; var showname="yourname"; var showhost="yourhost.com"; document.write("<a href="+"mail"+"to:"+showname+showtag+showhost+ ">"+showlink+"</a>") //--> </script> Nov 18th 2007 13:27 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Eric, Bots have got smater I am afraid. Nov 18th 2007 13:46 |
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Susan coils
Web Design & Marketing Services for Small BusinessLOL, talk about psychic Bj. Have been trying to work out how to build my website. And have just found that I can do it within Office using the Frontpage thingy. Now, all I have to do, is think what I want it to look like. And not to put too fine a point on it, this is the REALLY hard bit. how do I want people to think of me? If this was just someone else's site that I was promoting as an affiliate, then it doesn't really matter. But when it comes to putting 'me' out there. Well, that is a different kettle of fish. As you know, I have already purchased my domain name. And as soon as I can figure out how I want the big wide world to see me, I will be coming to you for the hosting. But honestly, at this rate, I will be reapplying for my domain name before I ever get it out there. Maybe I'm too fussy. LOL Nov 18th 2007 14:06 |
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Lisa Lomas
 Hey Bill, This has to be right on the mark. Too many times people think they can bypass this step and it only leads to problems and a remake. i am so glad someone wrote about this subject. You really know this topic, one of the best persons to write on this topic. Thankyou for sharing. Nov 18th 2007 16:35 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi San, hmmmmmmmmmmm that long to make it lol Well no matter how long it takes you we will be here ready and waiting for you. We are not going anywhere. Nov 18th 2007 17:52 |
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Jenny Stewart
Hi BJ, Great article and just what the doctor ordered - as I am starting a new website or two for our Arts and Crafts Fairs and am going to do it myself. So this article has come just at the right time. As I guess it is not a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket , maybe I should talk to you about the hosting! You may regret your offers in this topic! LOL Jenny Nov 18th 2007 17:58 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi lisa, Thanks for your feed back. Yes We have been in the hosting business for our selves for 2 and a half years but we actually have 5 years experience in the hosting business. Nov 18th 2007 18:16 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Jenny, As far as I know you are used to cpanel and using ftp so dont see any problems. Just talk to me before you go ahead so we make sure you get the right package for what you want to do with the site. Nov 18th 2007 19:27 |
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Jean DAndrea
RetiredThat's a really good article Bill. When I started online, I did things all wrong, bought the domains, then the hosting, then joined some affiliate marketing programs. Before I joined those, all I wanted to do was have a personal website, but found the free ones I tried too restrictive. Glad I used them though, as I learned from the experience. Nov 20th 2007 00:31 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Jean, Yes I also started with a free hosting but quickly cottoned on to the big mistake I had made. Lots of effort into making a site and then only to find when I started my own site with my own domain name the work I had done getting traffic and so on had been totally wasted. Hopefully this article save some tthat same hard lesson. Nov 20th 2007 21:04 |
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Venerina Conti
Spa Manager, Writer, Life CoachHi Bj Thank you for showing people the RIGHT way to do things!!! ... I would just to like everyone to know that I am already an existing client of lowcost-webspace, Bj's company. I have three of my websites hosted with them and am about to have a fourth. A part from the low hosting fee per year, Bj has been there for me 100,000,000,000 % when it has come to support services. I would like to add that he has offered me support at all hours!!! (sorry for that!!! LOL) The point is... I have had some free websites and I have paid for some websites and as has recently happened to me, some have been sold without my even knowing it. Yes, I had my website taken away from under my feet and because of internet legislation, (or should I say the lack of it), there is jack**** I can do to retrieve my website. This is not the first time this has happened to me either. The company who purchased my web name and my domain on my behalf went bankrupt and the registrar would not transfer either back to me!!! Just like that!!! Overnight I had no websites left. So, I wonder, who is making money off my back now? How much did I get conned for? Because this is a form of scamming, only they have made it a legal way!!! You, the owner, have no rights. Truthfully, having learnt my lesson, I now choose not to do business with anyone I cannot talk to in person. It is true some companies have a customer support set up. Have you tried talking to them? ... God forbid you should get disconnected from the call because you can never speak to the same person twice and so you have to start the whole process all over again. No, No .... I am grateful Bj that you have come into my life with your company.... I would highly recommend you to ANYONE and EVERYONE.... Take care V. Nov 21st 2007 07:56 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi V, When help is needed it is normally around 2 and 3 am my time lol. That's Murphys law for you. Losing a domain through not knowing the right way to do things is very common. At least you have it right now with the ones I host for you. Another of my clients also almost lost her domain because the reseller she registered it through went walk about and was never heard of again. However with some very quick thinking we managed to regain control of it, but it was very touch and go for a while. She also now controls her domain name and hosts with me. As for being able to talk to someone consistantly instead of never knowing who you are going to get. That is also very frustrating. On the other hand I also want to know who is using our hosting and If I do not know the person signing up I will call the phone number and unless I get a reply I will not activate the account. Clients do not want to be scammed and just as equally we do not want scammers using our services. Nov 22nd 2007 05:30 |
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sabina
 hi, your tips are very useful. though i hvnt gone thru all of them , yet i think they are very informative. i'll go thru it thoroughly. Nov 22nd 2007 05:37 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Sabina, Thank you , there is a lot so it will take a while but I think you will find it worth while doing. Spread it over a few days as its a lot to try and take in in one go. Nov 22nd 2007 06:15 |
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modestjap
Hi! This information really helps, well I hope I have more time to spend in reading your post,and some of your discussions, I will always be on here, and I'll try to get i touch always. More Power Bill. SMILE....... JOY Feb 19th 2008 07:35 |
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Jean DAndrea
RetiredHi Bill, Have just re-read this article, and it's just as good now as when I first read it! Cheers Jean Apr 9th 2009 17:49 |
As usual Bj, great stuff. You have very nicely given me what I needed to know. I am certainly going to get back to you about all this. And I need to figure out exactly what I want on a website. Something about animals, that is for sure. And something about selling ebooks.
Anyway, great article.
Margie
Nov 18th 2007 08:39