Beginner's Guide to hosting your domain

Hosting your Domain

Choosing where to host your domain name is the most important step. First ask yourself the following question: do you want your site to be found by the search engines?

If your answer is no then you can host your domain virtually anywhere. Some of the cheaper options come with advertising banners or pop ups or pop unders. If you are happy for these to appear on your site then you have the advantage that the cost of the domain hosting is being subsidised by the advertising.

If you want to be found by search engines check how the domain is directed to your web pages. What the hosting type is called may vary from host to host. There are 3 basic types of hosting.

Hosting behind the domain name

results in your URL appearing as http://www.mydomain.com/mypage.htm. This is the best option for allowing search engines to find your pages. Often referred to as a virtual host.

Framed redirect

results in your URL being masked and always showing as http://www.mydomain.com regardless of which page you are viewing. The URL http://www.mydomain.com/mypage.htm does not show in the address bar. Likewise, the search engines will have difficulty finding your page contents - all they will find is the redirect code from your domain host to your web pages. Ther redirect is written in a language which, at present, the search engines do not read to follow the links to your site.

Redirect without mask

results in a URL that looks rather like http://www.myfreeserver.net/some.subdirectory/myspace/mypage.htm. Not what is wanted after spending money on a domain name that shows the world what your business is all about.Whether or not a search engine will find your pages with such a URL rather depends on where your pages are hosted.

Some regional search engines use the IP address to determine whether or not to include you in their index - check that your IP address is hosted in the region you want to be indexed. In other words, if you have a regional market, host your domain in the country where your target visitors are to be found. Consider having mutiple sites in different regions if you have a global market, the use of regional domain names for your sites will help some search engines to list you for those regions.

Domain Names, Website Hosting, Email Accounts: for high quality service and low low domain name prices take a look at Easily.co.uk

Hosting your Site

Choosing where to host your web site pages is a direct follow on from where you host the domain. My first site to be found by search engines had both the domain and web site pages hosted by the same company on a virtual server with a shared IP address. Depending on the money you pay you can go from a shared server, on which every site is allocated its own disk space but shares the same IP address with other users, all the way through to a dedicated server with only your web site being hosted and your own unique IP address.

Shared IP addresses can be a problem if you happen to be sharing an address with someone who has been caught spamming and had their IP address banned by the search engines.This can result in your site being banned by search engines by association. To explain: search engines remember where a site is by indexing the IP address, which is short and of known length, rather than by domain name. If they remove and IP address, everyone who shares that IP address is also removed.

Security can also be an issue with shared space. If a hacker is able to get into one site they will more than likely to be able to hack into your site as well.

Hosts offer a variety of add on packages as well. In many cases there will be a basic package and you can upgrade as your needs grow. Some will charge for monthly bandwidth whether you use it or not. Others will only charge for the bandwidth you actually use. Why pay for a secure site indicated by https when you do not require it? Many sites include CGI and mySQL as standard. Some offer autoresponders. Others offer email redirecting while others give you pop and smpt facilities. If you do not need these options you can find other cheaper hosts that will give you what you need without having to pay for these extra functions that you will never use. Shop around before you buy.

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