Web hosting can be a scary thing to get started with. There are so many different aspects of setting up a web site that it can seem daunting at first. Quite often people will pay more money than they have to just to not have to deal with all of this stuff. That is an option, but far from the only option.
There are two many aspects of setting up a web site; a domain and web hosting. Each part can be a challenge at first, but once you know how they work its very easy.
Getting a Domain
One of the most difficult parts of the entire web hosting process is picking a domain name that is not taken. This is that dot com/net/org thing. The easiest way to do this is to use a whois tool that will tell you the information about the owner of a domain. This tool will also tell you if a domain is available. The tool that I use is DomainTools whois lookup.
Once you have found the domain you need to register it with a domain registrar. This is the company that acts on behalf of you and puts the domain in your name. There is a governing body called ICANN that watches over these companies to many sure they are properly managed. One of the largest and cheapest domain registrars is GoDaddy. Their dot com domains at maximum are a maximum of $8.95 per year. All domain registrations are in yearly increments. Often the longer you purchase a domain for the cheaper you can get it.
Find a Web Host
Once you have your domain you need an actual web host. This is the company that holds your files for other people to view them. They take your content and put it in web server that is accessible for the entire internet to see. This is the most expensive portion of web hosting. Quite often there is a monthly fee involved in this portion.
A large issue with a web site is actually finding a good reliable host. Quite often you start with a hosting company that charges very little money, but the server is slow and goes down all of the time. Personally my first very good web host was called Mesopia, they did everything right. Due to some issues they no longer exist. However, the main guys started a new company called GeekStorage. They are just starting this company, but the owners are far from new to the industry. I feel very confident recommending them.
Merging the Two
Now that you’ve bought a domain and hosting you need to get the two working together. To do this you will need something called DNS or Doman Name Service. Web servers work off of IP addresses and they need something to translate the domain name into an IP. The DNS server does just that, it is a database filled with domain names and the IP address of the server they are hosted on.
DNS sounds complex (and it is from an administrative side), but for the purpose of this it is quite simple. All you need is to point the domain using name servers. Lets take a step back, a name server is something setup by the web hosting company to tell the domain where to go. More often than not it will be something like ns1.webhost.com, but it can be anything setup by the host. The name servers should be emailed to you by your host when you sign up. Quite often they will also be in the FAQ section of the host’s site.
Once the name servers are known you need to go into the administrative panel of your domain registrar and change the name servers. The process varies from registrar to registrar, but their site should have an entire section on how this works.
Now that the domain is all setup to point at the web host it is time to play the waiting game. For the domain name to propagate (work) it can take upto 72 hours. The last few times I have changed DNS settings it has only taken an hour or less. This will vary case by case.
Its Working!
When the domain name is working you are set to start doing web design, blogging, or whatever else you want to do on the site!
