Website Hosting Reviews

Read our expert Website Hosting Reviews to find the best web hosting company to meet your website needs. 

Self Hosting Your Own Website

Website hosting at its core is providing a directory or folder on a computer that is connected to the internet.  When you upload files to that folder, people would be able to access them freely.

Then why would someone pay for space on a computer when they already have one connected to the internet?  Why wouldn't self hosting your own website work for you?

Actually you can. All you need is a connection to the internet and a computer with some type of server software.

However, there are issues with trying to do it yourself. Your computer is set up to send requests to websites and get responses, but not to receive requests.

A website is resolved by an ip address, a number like 192.168.0.1. You would need to identify the address to a name server that will then respond to requests for name resolution with the exact ip of your website.

You again could run the name server from your home. But to have a website resolved to a name server you must have 2 name servers each with their own ip.

Since you can not host a website on a dynamic ip, unless you keep telling your customers your new address each time you get online. You will need 3 static ips, or you can buy name server services, but that costs more to buy than a web hosting package.

You will also need a dedicated connection such as cable or DSL. The problem is, most isp's have closed port 80 so you can not host a website, due to the increased cost to them. They may allow you to upgrade and get static ips and the ability to host websites, but it wont come cheap. Most DSL providers will not allow website hosting for plans under $200/month.

Another consideration is, can your computer handle the extra work. If you are running windows, you are likely to run your own stuff with out crashing, never mind a website.

You also have dependability issues. Will you be able to monitor your computer 24-7 to know if it is online? If your power surges or goes off, your computer will shut down and your website is down. Most websites hosting companies use extensive backup systems with generators for backup power.

You really want your website to be up 24-7, so hosting it yourself is not the best idea in the world.

You also have issues with opening your computer to allow people to surf through your PC. Since you are not an expert at security, it likely wont be difficult for anyone to access all the files on your computer.

If you have any information on your computer that you do not want to share freely, do not host your own website.

Some people think having a firewall will help. But that is not true at all. Once someone has accessed your computer on a given port, the firewall is aready surpassed. A firewall only prevents the initial access. If you are hosting a website, you must have the port open on your firewall. Without internal software to prevent file surfing by hackers, you are basically wide open.

So when someone tells you it's easy to host a website on your own computer, just chuckle.  You're smart enough to save yourself loads of time, money,and effort by just buying a reliable hosting package from a reputable company.

Web hosting has become so affordable it just does not make sense to try self hosting your own website.  Register.com web hosting (see review), is running a $4.95/month web hosting special.  Enter promotion code HOSTINGREVIEWS25 in the shopping cart to GET 25% OFF your entire order. 

Self Hosting Your Own Website

Read our expert Website Hosting Reviews to find the best web hosting company to meet your website needs.

Design and Build Simple Websites

A big mistake people make when building a website is making it too complicated.  There's elegance in simplicity.  A simple website that allows your user to find what they're looking for is better.

Imagine trying to read a book while the page was flashing and banners in the columns popped in and out. And imagine if the page was all mixed up with the first paragraph at the bottom and the last paragraph in the middle with numbers that you need to find and read in order of numeric assent.

Its probably too complicated to imagine and likely very few people would read it, unless they truly needed what the page offered.

You do not have to be a webmaster to build a webpage. But you do have to have some common sense.  Use the old saying KISS, Keep It Simple Sweety.

If people have to learn how to navigate your website before using it, they will just look for another site that they understand. So having the latest and greatest flash and boom pages is more of a detriment than an asset.

The next big mistake is using the latest and greatest technology. Pop-ups, and animations that shock and awe the visitors. But, that is a huge mistake. Most new features like Java and Flash are not totally browser compatible. So a large percentage of visitors will see nothing and just assume the page does not work.

Depending on how hard you worked to get a single person to your website, the cost of losing that visitor with out a sale due to a poorly built page can be devastating.

It would be like running a retail store, locking the door for lunch and forgetting to open it. People will walk up, pull the door and assume that the store is closed or out of business. You are just flushing sales down the toilet and giving up money.

The best idea in building a simple website is to use older standards and keep away from new fads. If the user has to download a plugin to view your page, they wont. So make sure you use systems that work on every computer and not just the newest computers running one specific browser with all the bells and wistles installed.

Design and Build Simple Websites

Read our expert Website Hosting Reviews to find the best web hosting company to meet your website needs. 

Build A Free Website Using Free Web Hosting?

Building a free website using free web hosting is one of the biggest mistakes we see business owners make.

A free hosting system is normally supported by placing small text ads on your pages.

So as you do all the work, the hosting company gets all the benefit and earns all the money. But remember they provide the free website, so they are entitled to getting payed for their expenses.

The biggest problem is that if someone finds your website to buy some say, handmade jewelry, they see an ad at the top of the page and click on that thinking that is the link to buy the product.

You did the work and someone else just got the sale.

Since most websites have minimal traffic, a few lost sales can be the difference between making money and losing money. You can't make money sending away potential customers.

There is really never a good application of free hosting.

If you want to have a chat with people and talk about something, you need to keep the people on the website. In every case, getting people to your website is the hardest part of running a web business. So why would you want to sacrifice potential clients?

If the savings on hosting was huge, it makes sense to host for free. But quality web hosting sites can be purchased for less than $6 per month.  That's probably equivalent to less than one sell that you lost to the ads shown on your website by a free web hosting service.

If you can't afford $6 a month, then there is no point in having a website. You wont even be able to pay the postage if you sell something.

Having a business website hosted on a free system is the least professional way to run your business. Your clients are bombarded with ads and popups, your site will be one big ad for everything but your own product and the ultimate loser is you.

Web hosting has become so affordable it just does not make sense to use free services.  Register.com web hosting (see review), is running a $4.95/month web hosting special.  Enter promotion code HOSTINGREVIEWS25 in the shopping cart to GET 25% OFF your entire order.

Free hosting is great for teenagers, MySpace users, and 3rd world internet scammers, but if you want a business website it is a mistake. Don't run your business like a teenager or a Myspace profile. You need a certain level of professionalism to instill confidence in your customers.

A recent survey of internet buyers said that 94% of the buyers would not buy from a site that looked unprofessional in fear of identity theft scams.

With numbers like that, you must consider the real value in building a website on a free hosting system.

Build A Free Website Using Free Web Hosting?

Read our expert Website Hosting Reviews to find the best web hosting company to meet your website needs. 

How To Build A Business Website

You've waited till now to consider a website for your business.  Is it too late?  Is the internet just a fad that will go away?

Ahhh, no, not even close.  Having a quality website for your business is more critical now then ever. Your local newspaper ads just aren't bringing in enough customers to justify the cost.  Even the old stand-by Yellowpages aren't nearly as effective as they once were.  

Your customers are searching for a business like yours on the internet.  You need to be where your customer can find you - online.

As a business owner, I'm sure you're aware of all the unscrupulous people that will tell you anything to get your money. Unfortunately, this includes some web designers.

There's local web designers that will sell you hard.  Make sure they know what they're doing.  Ask them to send you a reference list of websites they built, and the business owner's name and number.  Take a few minutes to talk to the business owner.  Ask them if they're happy with their website, and why.  Ask them if they are getting free natural search traffic from the search engines. Your website needs to be search engine friendly, and most web designers don't know the first thing about SEO.  If the designer won't give you a reference list, then don't give them your business.

Better yet, be proactive.  Ask a fellow business owner that has a website that is driving business how they built their site.

You may be surprised.  The business owner may have built the site themselves.

Building a website has gotten easier and easier.   Here's our suggestions for How To Build A Business Website:

Use WordPress

WordPress is a blog application.  Even if you are not planning to start purely a blog, I’d still use WordPress as the platform for your website.  WordPress has a templating system, which makes it straightforward to make your website look the way you want it to.  “Widgets”, or open-source code that can be added to your WordPress site without editing code, are usually free.  “Themes”, or customizations to WordPress that make it even easier to create your site without coding, can also be installed to WordPress. 

Another benefit of WordPress is all the free support on the internet.  There are plenty of forums out there that answer your questions if you ever get stuck.

Get Your Own Domain

You want to people to be able to find your website, right?  Well, don’t host your website on WordPress where you’ll have a URL like www.mywebsite.wordpress.org.  If you own your own domain, you have a better chance of people remembering the URL as it will be shorter.  Plus, odds are you have a better chance ranking in Google because your site will get the benefit of any link backs, not wordpress.org.

Use a Web Host that Specializes in Blog Hosting

BlueHost has a 1-click WordPress install.  You can install WordPress on your domain in minutes.  Simple.

BlueHost also includes a free domain name with their hosting package.  Also free email, so you can have an email address like This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Consider Buying a Theme

I would suggest you buy a WordPress theme.  They’re not that expensive.  Basically a theme builds on top of WordPress and makes it even better and easier to use.  I’ve used the Thesis Theme a lot.  Here's a sample Thesis theme website with BlueHost hosting and WordPress CMS that I built for a family member over one weekend.

Thesis also is structured for search engine optimization (SEO).  This gives your site the best chance of showing up when someone searches in Google.

Don't waste any more time. Get started building your own website and get your business online today!  Buying a hosting account to start is relatively cheap.  If you find you just don't have the time or enjoy building your site, you can always hand off your hosting account to a quality 3rd party to finish it off.  So, it's not like you "wasted" any money by trying.  Plus, if you at least try you'll know more and be more informed as you interact with your designer.

But don't under estimate yourself.  You may build a great website with less effort and time than you thought.  Give it a try today.

How To Build A Business Website