Easy Website Hosting – How To Get Started

If you have never set-up a website, or been a webmaster, you may expect that you need a lot of technical knowledge to do this. In fact you would be wrong because easy website hosting is now available to anyone wanting to set-up their own website or blog.

You need both a domain name and a hosting account so there will be cost involved. You might be able to get one or other of these free by using a single supplier or if you want a premium domain (e.g. a .com) it will probably be cheaper to buy them from separate suppliers.  

The process is simple:

Decide on a Domain Name – The extension you need will depend on the purpose of your site.  If you are looking for an international audience then a .org or .net might be appropriate or .com if there is a commercial element. Search for a local registration site if you go for your local extension e.g. .co.uk or .de.  Prices do differ so it is worth checking the registration costs on a few sites.

Decide on a Hosting Service -  There is a lot of choice here with varying levels of service.   Unless a hosting provider has been recommended to you I would recommend selecting one of the big names who have a good reputation for their support services.  This will ensure that if any problems do arise you will be able to get them resolved easily.

Hosting providers may also offer domain registration services so you can do both tasks in one sign-up process. This is certainly the easiest way to go but it may not be the cheapest.   The alternative is to register your domain name first with another company and, later, enter the DNS information provided by  your hosting company. This is easy, it just adds another step to the setup process. If you proceed on this basis you should register your domain name first so that you have the information when setting up your hosting account.

Set-up Hosting Account
On your hosting company’s website you will need to choose your package and the period you will pay in advance. The “monthly” cost is lower the further in advance you pay.   You then enter your contact and payment information. You should pay by credit card or paypal as this makes it easier to get a refund should you need to cancel later.

There is an additional step if you registered your domain name elsewhere.   You will be given the names of your host’s name servers and you need to login your domain registration companies site and enter these.

Creating your Site/Blog
Your hosting company will give you access to your control panel through which you control everything including your email and FTP accounts.   At this point you can go straight to the Software/Services section and open “Fantastico De Luxe” (assuming your hosting company provides this). This makes it very easy to install software on your domain, including WordPress which many people now use to run blogs, websites or a combination of the two.  WordPress in free and there are so many themes and plugins to choose from that you can effectively make it do what you want without any technical knowledge. To install it in your root directory (i.e. your home page will be at ) select WordPress in the left hand column of Fantasico.  Click “New Installation” on the next page then complete the simple form leaving the “Install in Directory” box blank. Finish the installation and you will then get a page containing your database and login details.
You can now go to your Home Page and see the result. You can also log into your Dashboard within WordPress and start building your site.

Easy website hosting is therefore available to anyone, so get out there and start publishing!