http://articles.webhostingservicesplus.com/rss.xml A blog about webhostingservicesplus.com daily 365 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://articles.webhostingservicesplus.com/?a=35934 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>Walk into a room filled with people today and chances are 92% of them have been on the Internet today. Take that same group of people and at least 63% have their own website whether on a community network, business, or a separate web host. It is becoming easier and easier to develop and maintain a personal or business website. <br /><br />One of the first and most important parts of developing a web site is to do a bit of research on the subject. By researching you will be better informed and prepared when you are ready to get a web host. Once you are familiar with the terminology and usage of the Internet, you must come up with a domain name. This part can be especially tricky since there are literally millions of sites already named. Every domain name is different. If only by one letter or number there can be no domains with the exact same name. Domain names are sort of like your fingerprints.<br />A domain name must be registered with the web host in order to be activated. Once you have chosen a domain name you cannot change it. This will be the name of your site until you open another, so be sure to think carefully.<br /><br />Once you have your domain name registered you need to purchase web space from a web host. The amount of space you need depends on what you plan to do with your website. Most web hosts offer 5MB of storage to begin and you can always purchase more lately. If you plan on trading files or using the site as an adult website you will need additional space. This additional space can easily be purchased from your web host.<br /><br />If you plan on sharing music or video downloads or files you will go through a lot of space due to transferring. This can quickly become a problem if you purchased only a small amount. You will then need to either buy additional space or eliminate some things from your site.<br /><br />If you research the Internet you can find a lot of important information regarding your domain name and website. Keep in mind that all information available on the Internet is not necessarily correct. It is important to look the terminology up for yourself and to only follow information from reputable web pages. <br />Once you have purchased your space and registered a domain name you can then build your website. Sending others links to your new site is an excellent way to get the word out about your site and a great way to receive feedback on things you can work to improve on. With patience and effort you will soon have your own site up and running joining the millions of users worldwide.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as web hosting services at <a href="http://www.webhostingservicesplus.com/">http://www.webhostingservicesplus.com</a></p> 2006-09-30T15:03-04:00 http://articles.webhostingservicesplus.com/?a=35933 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>While more and more people become comfortable with using the Internet more people are starting up new websites and small businesses. The ease of use is a main reason many people turn to the Internet. The ability to work from the comfort of home and be your own boss is another reason so many people are developing web based businesses and community websites. Families have also found the internet can be a great way to stay connected with loved ones that live far away. The ability to post instant messages and pictures to one another via the Internet makes sense for today's busy lifestyles.<br /><br />Developing your own website is not too difficult. If you want to have your own website you often have to purchase disk space from a web host site. This is the amount of hard disk space the site will allow you to use at any given time. For most nominal websites the standard amount of disk space giving upon initial purchase is 5MB. As long as you are forming a simple family site for pictures and communication this amount of disk space should be more than enough. Even if you are beginning a small business whether online or just advertising online, 5MB should be sufficient amount of disk space. For either project it is highly likely that you will still have plenty of remaining disk space.<br /><br />Many web hosts will encourage you to purchase more MB of disk space, however this is rarely in your best interest to do so. If you have decided to offer some files for downloading it may become necessary to purchase additional disk space. Also some adult web sites have an additional need for more disk space generally remaining in the 10-12MB range.<br /><br />If you are completely unfamiliar with the terminology that goes along with web page dealings I would strongly encourage you to do some additional reading and studying on the matter. This will save you additional money and grief when you are ready to begin your negotiations with the web host.<br /><br />Many people choose to make family pages available on community websites that charge no fees whatsoever. This is very convenient because no one person in the family is stuck with the cost. It will also make it possible for all family members who have Internet and computer access can view family photos and latest news without paying any fees.<br /><br />If you are considering starting a web page either for business or pleasure it is imperative that you know the important terminology and then contact the web host where you wish to locate your website. Taking the extra time to do this will save many headaches later on in the process.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as web hosting services at <a href="http://www.webhostingservicesplus.com/">http://www.webhostingservicesplus.com</a></p> 2006-09-30T14:58-04:00 http://articles.webhostingservicesplus.com/?a=35266 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>More and more, people don't have traditional websites: static things where pages can be added, updated or taken away. Instead, they write new material for their website when they feel like it, and then put it up on one page, with the most recent writing first. These people are running weblogs.<br /><br />How Did Weblogs Start?<br /><br />Many people say that there have been weblogs (or blogs, as they're sometimes called) for as long as there has been a web. Back when there were only a few thousand websites, the 'What's New' page that announced each new one (yes, there really was such a thing!) worked in just the same way as blogs do today.<br /><br />Early weblogs included Scripting News, Robot Wisdom and Camworld, which all started in 1997. To begin with, blogs mostly consisted of often-updated lists of useful and amusing links to other websites, but it gradually became clear that the format was just as good for distributing longer articles. Blog software started to be developed, and their popularity quickly exploded. By 1999, everyone was talking about blogs.<br /><br />Why are Blogs So Popular?<br /><br />In recent years, the blog format has very much taken over from the 'personal home page'. People seem to find it much easier to just put a kind of public diary online, instead of putting up a little biography of themselves and a collection of articles. It's more personal, more fun, and more interactive day-to-day.<br /><br />Businesses have started to open blogs too - in many ways, they're like a replacement for newsletters. A regularly-updated blog gives customers a great sense of what a business is like, while giving the business a great way to keep communicating with its customers and being useful to them, even when they're not buying anything right this minute.<br /><br />In my opinion, the biggest reason for blogs' popularity is that they make publishing to the web very easy. You don't really have to know anything about what's happening behind the scenes: blogs finally make publishing your thoughts for everyone to see as easy as posting to a forum or sending an email. In a way, blogs fulfil the original promise of the web.<br /><br />Weblog Software.<br /><br />Today, there's a lot of blog software out there - if you want a blog, you're spoiled for choice. What you get will depend on how comfortable you are with technical stuff, and whether you want it to be part of your main website or not.<br /><br />Movable Type. This is software that you install on your web server. You simply log in and type your post, and it creates your pages for you. Movable Type can be a little complex to set up, but you can use a version called Typepad that is hosted by its creators instead of using your server.<br /><br />Blogger. You don't install Blogger on your server - instead, you give it your FTP password and let it upload files to your web server for you. If you don't have any hosting, you can also host blogs for free at Blogger's Blogspot. Blogger is owned by Google.<br /><br />WordPress. WordPress is a free alternative to blogging software. It works in basically the same way as Movable Type, but without the restrictive licensing and with nicer-looking default templates. Many people have switched to WordPress out of frustration with Movable Type and not looked back. You have to host it on your own server, but it's very simple to set up - don't be scared!<br /><br />LiveJournal. LiveJournal is a completely online service, meaning that it has nothing to do with your website, except that you can link to your LiveJournal if you want. LiveJournal is more social than most blogging, allowing you to join communities relating to your interest.<br /><br />There are plenty of other online services, but they're all pretty much the same: MSN Spaces, AOL Journals, and so on. You're unlikely to get taken very seriously if you have a blog at any of these places, although it'd be easy. In the end, it's all about power versus convenience: the more work you put in to get your blog working, the more likely that it's going to be what you really wanted it to be. If you're creating a website anyway, you'd be silly not to put a blog on it.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. For web hosting go to <a href="http://www.webhostingservicesplus.com/">http://www.webhostingservicesplus.com</a></p> 2006-07-30T14:50-04:00