Another web hosting service I've come across recently is Cosmodinio. They will host your website for $3.99 per month (which is £2.00 approximately per month, if you are in the UK).
You can also obtain the following products and services from Cosmodinio:
The browser is the software application that you use to surf the Internet and view webpages.
Apparently 70% of surfers use Internet Explorer as their browser.
But I've been told that Internet Explorer has been problematic for web designers and developers. And that users have been missing out on all kinds of things that cannot be viewed properly on the Internet Explorer browser.
Mozilla Firefox seems to be the preferred browser of choice for the experts because it:
Feeling wobbly about starting your own website? Like to have a trial run before you get more training, information and experience?
Then why not try out Weebly - Website Creation Made Easy. It is designed for the complete beginner (or the lazy advanced person).
You choose a template. You can use your mouse to drag and drop the various elements you want to include in your website such as photos, videos, text or ads.
You can also use it to create a blog to accompany your site.
Best of all, it is completely free.
There is no charge to host your site and you can create an unlimited number of pages.
So if you want to start a website dedicated to a hobby or a passion, why not test things out with Weebly.com?
You may like it so much you decide to stick with it. Or you may be inspired to move on to a website builder which gives you the flexibility to create your own unique Look and Feel such as SBI.
at 04:47
Labels: Blogging, Domain Names, Web Hosts
Your domain name is your website address.
Choosing and registering a domain name for your website is one of the most important tasks when setting up your website. Firstly because it lets the world at large know what your site is all about before they log on. Secondly because you don't want to be stuck with a website name you grow to hate.
It's not considered best practice to have an enigmatic elusive metaphorical name for your website.
Apparently to be well placed on the search engines, your website name has to 'do what it says on the tin'.
There seems to be a trend to include the main keywords of topic of a website in the domain name (or website address).
This can lead to some really bizarre concoctions like www.buy-your-chocolate-@our-candystore.com or www.get-best-knick-knacks-from-Pickers-Wicker-Store.com
When choosing domain names, my preference is to go for something short and snappy. Or something that I won't feeling embarrassed telling someone on the phone.
Long domain names can also be a hassle if you're advertising your website through leaflets or word-of-mouth.
From what I've read, domain names need to:
at 13:20
Labels: Domain Names
...that may or may not be common knowledge to everyone else:
1. Blogs didn't start off as online diaries. They were lists of favourite websites or links to new sites as they were launched online in the early days of the internet.
2. The noun and verb 'blog' was coined by Peter Merholz who turned the word weblog into 'we blog'.
3. You can have photoblogs and artblogs made up of visual material.
4. Video blogs are called vlogs.
5. Dreamlogs or dreamblogs, online journals describing dreams and nightmares are a genre in itself.
6. The blogosphere is the collective name for all blogs on the internet - the blogging universe.
7. Apparently 'slog' is the term for a site weblog, they call it a slice of a website- that is, a blog that is integrated within a business website.
8. There is a phenomenon called 'splogging' - spam blogs that steal material from other blogs and other naughty things.
9. Technorati, the internet search engine for blogs, indexes about 75 million blogs.
10. There are Blog Carnivals dedicated to particular themes: collections of high quality blog posts on a specific topic.
Because blogging is time sensitive, it can be a hard old slog trying to keep it up to date. Blogs need constant attention and feeding with new posts otherwise they wither away and die.
Some people advocate blogging two or three times a day.
I get a strange feeling of guilt if I haven't blogged for a bit. I haven't posted to my other blog for some time now due to busyness.
So if you are thinking about setting up a blog, it is worth considering how much time and commitment you have for keeping it up to date and fresh and alive with news, developments and posts according to your blog's theme.
at 08:20
Labels: Blogging, My Journey
When you are thinking of creating an online presence as a business or a hobby, should you set up a website for yourself or a blog or both?
A weblog, mostly known as a blog, is usually described as an online diary, written in reverse chronlogical order but with the most recent entry displayed first.
Nowadays the blog has evolved into the ultimate promotion tool whether you're promoting your products or promoting yourself.
I decided to set up a blog rather than a website to record my research into creating a website firstly because I am not an authority on the subject.
2) I wanted to chronicle it as a beginner who is investigating, researching and gathering information and knowledge.
3) Because in the world of the Internet, everything changes with a click of the mouse, and it would be easier for me to record the latest developments and changes through a blog than the comparatively static medium of a website.
4) I wanted to experiment with blog monetization. (This blog was originally born in WordPress.com but when I found that I wouldn't be able to monetise the blog in WordPress, I decided to abscond to Blogger. There are some who believe that monetising a blog goes against the spirit of blogging. But this is an experiment. Well, that's my excuse anyway.)
5) Sheer laziness: it is dead easy to set up a blog and can be done for free.
The three blog services I've heard of are Blogger (obviously), Wordpress and Typepad.
On Wordpress.com, you can set up a blog for free just as with Blogger. With Wordpress.org, you can own your blog, monetize your blog and set it up on your own web host. Both versions of Wordpress are free.
Typepad is suited for business or professional blogging purposes and has a monthly fee ranging from $4.95 to $29.95 depending on which level you choose.
This is not my first blog. I have a self-help blog which is set out in a traditional sort of blog format with archives and a facility for visitors to add comments, if I choose.
I also have a blog on my main website which I don't manually have much to do with. My web host Site Build It arranges all the new pages I create for my website in chronological order into a bloglike format. Don't ask me how. But it is a very handy tool to have - even though, in my opinion, it isn't strictly a blog.
I particularly like this description of what a blog is NOT .
On the other hand, because of the individual nature of blogging, a blog can be anything you want it to be. I remember the slogan I once read on the Hollywood Offender Blog: where the only opinion that matters is MINE.
at 07:41
Labels: Blogging, My Journey
SBI - one of the premier webhosting services - are offering one of their occasional holiday specials.
If you order a Site Build It within the next few days, you can also - if you want to - purchase a year's subscription for an additional website for $100. (The usual price is $299).
You can keep the subscription for yourself if you have an idea for a second website or - if you're feeling generous - you can give it to a friend as a gift.
The offer ends on June 21 2007 at midnight.
If you've never heard of Site Build It, read my previous post, or visit the Site Build It website.
at 05:13
Labels: Site Build It, Web Hosts
After a couple of years using Besthost, I recently created a new site with the Site Build It Web Hosting service.
Site Build It is suitable for both the novice and the expert.
It is largely for web publishers who are in it for the long haul and who are prepared to invest a lot of time in long term planning for the creation and evolution of their website.
This webhosting service does more than host your website. It also provides a great deal of support and teaching through their Action Guide and Video tutorials. You can take a videotour here to see an example of their approach.
The user forums are also really positive and constructive and there is an unprecedented amount of free information available to download to assist you with marketing your service or creating a business from scratch.
For people who are looking to launch a business or a service rather than a hobby website, Site Build It is highly recommended as it lays emphasis on assisting you to create a profitable online business rather than just hosting your website. Their support materials teach you how to build organic traffic (repeated visitors to your website) rather than relying solely on paid advertising.
It is not the best service for those who want to build their website in a hurry or for those who don't really enjoy writing. But once you do get going, it is relatively simple to build your site using their site builder with a template that you can customise.
Alternatively if you have a flair for web design, a knowledge of HTML and harbour a dread of templates, you can create and upload your own webpages.
SBI! is one of the giants in the world of Web Hosting Services. They submit your webpages to the search engines, analyse each webpage you create for optimisation, keep you up-to-date with all the latest developments in online marketing and ping your blog for you too. In fact, SBI does everything apart from your ironing. And they are probably working on that too.
SBI! costs 299 dollars per year which includes their web hosting service, registration of the name of your website, webmail service, blog, unlimited web pages, online support and other services. It is more expensive than the other web hosting services that I've written about but for UK customers, in particular, it is an excellent deal.
at 07:51
Labels: My Journey, Site Build It, Web Hosts
The first webhosting service I used was BestHost for a website to promote my complementary therapy service. I found them listed as a recommended resource on the Complementary Healthcare Information Service - UK website.
Although I eventually grew out of BestHost, I found them very good to use when I was starting off.
They have now added many new features since I was using their service.
For instance, depending on which hosting service you use (for example, Gold or Platinum Hosting), you can get their Instant User Friendly Site Builder free.
As it is browser based, the Best Host Site Builder makes it easy for you to maintain your website from any computer with Internet access at any time.
Here are some of the main features:
* 175 Free Templates to choose from
* Photo albums
* A Blog Manager for you to create your own Web log
* Web forms
* Shopping cart system (Platinum hosting package only) to help you manage your online store
* Web site Traffic Statistics - to tell you how many people are visiting your website
And there is a lot more.
There are some animated guides on this webpage which demonstrate how BestHost works.
Or you can sign up for a free demo/trial.
BestHost is a good place to start if you are a beginner looking to create your own website.
at 08:03
Labels: My Journey, Web Hosts
