Okay, I've got my host and my domain name. Time to bite the bullet and get something, anything up there.
I'm going to use XSitePro to design the site. I'll start with a template and then I'll work on changing it to meet the site's needs. So please bear with me as I finally turn HeartBeat Children's Music into a real website.
Janet
Showing posts with label HeartBeat Children's Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HeartBeat Children's Music. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
HostGator
So I finally found a web host for HeartBeat Children’s Music. It’s HostGator.
If you’ve been following this blog, you may be wondering why I went back to the same host I had given up on earlier.
Well, I did some research, and frankly, HostGator came out ahead. I’m still not happy about the poor way they communicate their prices (for more on that, see my post Watch Me Get a Host for My Site.
But my colleagues and friends gave HostGator high marks. And it came out on top on website reviews.
Originally, I was going for their least expensive plan, Hatchling, advertised at $4.95 a month. It’s actually $8.95 a month if you pay from month to month.
For only a dollar more per month, I can have unlimited domains. That means I can switch two of my other websites there for just $12 a year!
So I chose the Baby plan, which is advertised as $7.95 a month, but costs $9.95 a month if you pay from month to month.
So is my hosting account all set?
Well, not exactly.
Just to get the web hosting working, I need to point the “name servers” to the new host. What does that mean? I’ll tell you in my next post, when I actually do it.
If you buy your domain name from your web host, you don’t need to worry about that. But I have read advice suggesting that you do not buy your domain name from your host.
Why not? Because if you later change hosts, you may end up in an awkward situation. It’s been suggested that the host might make it difficult for you to switch hosts.
This actually happened to me with my first domain name and host. And yes, switching was a pain in the neck. But I don’t remember any real horror stories. So you may want to make your life easier and simply buy the domain name from the host, especially if this technical stuff intimidates you.
What do I need to do after that?
Once I point the name servers to the new host, I still need to design the site, or get it designed.
I have no idea what I’m going to do about that, so it should be fun exploring the many options (which I describe at WB4N).
Meanwhile, I’m happy to have finally chosen HostGator and gotten the important web hosting aspect of this job completed.
Janet
If you’ve been following this blog, you may be wondering why I went back to the same host I had given up on earlier.
Well, I did some research, and frankly, HostGator came out ahead. I’m still not happy about the poor way they communicate their prices (for more on that, see my post Watch Me Get a Host for My Site.
But my colleagues and friends gave HostGator high marks. And it came out on top on website reviews.
Originally, I was going for their least expensive plan, Hatchling, advertised at $4.95 a month. It’s actually $8.95 a month if you pay from month to month.
For only a dollar more per month, I can have unlimited domains. That means I can switch two of my other websites there for just $12 a year!
So I chose the Baby plan, which is advertised as $7.95 a month, but costs $9.95 a month if you pay from month to month.
So is my hosting account all set?
Well, not exactly.
Just to get the web hosting working, I need to point the “name servers” to the new host. What does that mean? I’ll tell you in my next post, when I actually do it.
If you buy your domain name from your web host, you don’t need to worry about that. But I have read advice suggesting that you do not buy your domain name from your host.
Why not? Because if you later change hosts, you may end up in an awkward situation. It’s been suggested that the host might make it difficult for you to switch hosts.
This actually happened to me with my first domain name and host. And yes, switching was a pain in the neck. But I don’t remember any real horror stories. So you may want to make your life easier and simply buy the domain name from the host, especially if this technical stuff intimidates you.
What do I need to do after that?
Once I point the name servers to the new host, I still need to design the site, or get it designed.
I have no idea what I’m going to do about that, so it should be fun exploring the many options (which I describe at WB4N).
Meanwhile, I’m happy to have finally chosen HostGator and gotten the important web hosting aspect of this job completed.
Janet
Friday, July 10, 2009
Watch me get a host for my site
Apologies for the delay, I've been on vacation!
It's about time I get a host for this website. When I was researching the hosting page at Website Building 4 Newbies, I decided that HostGator was my first choice for hosting, other than the host I've been using, Banana Hosting.
Well, I've never used Host Gator, and I want to experience using the host I recommend to you. So right now, as I write this, I will get my host for www.heartbeat-childrens-music.com.
Okay, I'm at the website, looking at their $4.95/month option. I clicked on the "Learn More" button. Looks like the plan for me. It has unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. That's all I need for this site. If I were planning to host a forum on the site, offering products and using a shopping cart, or making it uber-popular, then I might want something more. But for my purposes, this is fine.
I click on the order button. There are two options:
o Register New Domain
or
o I will use My Existing Domain and update My Nameservers only.
I've already got my domain. I've heard its best to get your domain and your host in two different places. That way, if you have a problem with the host, you can switch hosts without having to fiddle with the domain name.
This is reminding me that I need to deal with the nameservers. I hate doing that. It's not hard, just confusing. So I'll write about that here, so you can suffer with me, uh, I mean, learn how to do it. ;-)
Okay, I'm entering my domain name and clicking the "next" button.
Hmmm, this is interesting. It's telling me the cost is $8.95 plus $5 setup. What happened to the $4.95 option?
I'll click on live chat and find out what the story is.
Okay, Douglas Be was wonderfully helpful. But I am not going to get hosting with Host Gator today. Here's the scoop:
The cost comes out to $4.95 per month if you pay for three years worth of hosting all at once. The cost is $8.95 per month if you pay from month to month.
I asked Douglas if this was stated anywhere on the site. He said that if you are on the order page and you hover your mouse over the price, it gives you the details.
Well, expecting people to hover their mouses is no way to communicate! I'm not sure I want a host who can't be clear about its pricing. And I told them just that.
The pricing itself is fair enough. I'm not looking for a cheaper host. I'm looking for a more honest host.
So no hosting yet. I will do some more research and write another blog post when I find a good host.
Peace,
Janet
It's about time I get a host for this website. When I was researching the hosting page at Website Building 4 Newbies, I decided that HostGator was my first choice for hosting, other than the host I've been using, Banana Hosting.
Well, I've never used Host Gator, and I want to experience using the host I recommend to you. So right now, as I write this, I will get my host for www.heartbeat-childrens-music.com.
Okay, I'm at the website, looking at their $4.95/month option. I clicked on the "Learn More" button. Looks like the plan for me. It has unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. That's all I need for this site. If I were planning to host a forum on the site, offering products and using a shopping cart, or making it uber-popular, then I might want something more. But for my purposes, this is fine.
I click on the order button. There are two options:
o Register New Domain
or
o I will use My Existing Domain and update My Nameservers only.
I've already got my domain. I've heard its best to get your domain and your host in two different places. That way, if you have a problem with the host, you can switch hosts without having to fiddle with the domain name.
This is reminding me that I need to deal with the nameservers. I hate doing that. It's not hard, just confusing. So I'll write about that here, so you can suffer with me, uh, I mean, learn how to do it. ;-)
Okay, I'm entering my domain name and clicking the "next" button.
Hmmm, this is interesting. It's telling me the cost is $8.95 plus $5 setup. What happened to the $4.95 option?
I'll click on live chat and find out what the story is.
Okay, Douglas Be was wonderfully helpful. But I am not going to get hosting with Host Gator today. Here's the scoop:
The cost comes out to $4.95 per month if you pay for three years worth of hosting all at once. The cost is $8.95 per month if you pay from month to month.
I asked Douglas if this was stated anywhere on the site. He said that if you are on the order page and you hover your mouse over the price, it gives you the details.
Well, expecting people to hover their mouses is no way to communicate! I'm not sure I want a host who can't be clear about its pricing. And I told them just that.
The pricing itself is fair enough. I'm not looking for a cheaper host. I'm looking for a more honest host.
So no hosting yet. I will do some more research and write another blog post when I find a good host.
Peace,
Janet
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Watch me choose a domain name for my site
As promised, I'm letting you look over my shoulder as I build a new website, www.HeartBeat-Childrens-Music.com.
If you visit Website Building 4 Newbies, you'll notice the first step is niche research (also known as keyword research).
I already know I'm offering children's music classes, even if it isn't promising, because I love it. So did I skip this step? Yes and no.
Google's AdWords tool is a free tool for doing keyword research. It can help you find a good niche. But it can also help you find good keywords to use in your domain name and web content.
So I looked up "childrens music" and "family music". You can't use apostrophes in the domain name, which is why I didn't use it in the search.
Turns out "childrens music" gets about 60,500 monthly searches for the exact phrase, and "family music" gets about 4,400. If the number is over 3,000, that's promising. The tool also said "family music" is far less competitive than "childrens music". So I should go with heartbeat-family-music.com, right?
Well...
When I Googled "Family music" I found it gets 278 million organic* results! Wow, that's a lot of competition! And the results aren't necessarily targeted to my audience of parents with very young children.
"Childrens music" gets 47.3 million organic* results. That's still a huge number. Probably too big. But surprisingly, it's much lower than the "family music" results.
What about competing with pay-per-click ads? Google's tool tells me if I place AdWords ads, "childrens music" will cost 60 cents per click, while "family music" will cost 51 cents.
I'm hoping to avoid paying for AdWords, or I might analyze this more carefully. But the 9-cent difference is not a huge.
Now, realistically, I'm not likely to get up in the search engines for either keyword. But you never know - it doesn't hurt to be optimistic, right?
So I decided to go with "childrens music."
In this case, either domain name would probably have worked as well, but it's worth checking with the AdWords tool. It's not unlikely that your niche might include some great keywords with a lot less competition than this.
Next time, I'll tell you where I registered my domain and how I avoided losing my chosen name to a practice known as "front running" or "domain tasting".
To be sure you catch my next post, click on the orange button at the top right and subscribe to my blog.
Wishing you peace & prosperity,
Janet
*Organic search results are the natural, non-sponsored search results.
If you visit Website Building 4 Newbies, you'll notice the first step is niche research (also known as keyword research).
I already know I'm offering children's music classes, even if it isn't promising, because I love it. So did I skip this step? Yes and no.
Google's AdWords tool is a free tool for doing keyword research. It can help you find a good niche. But it can also help you find good keywords to use in your domain name and web content.
So I looked up "childrens music" and "family music". You can't use apostrophes in the domain name, which is why I didn't use it in the search.
Turns out "childrens music" gets about 60,500 monthly searches for the exact phrase, and "family music" gets about 4,400. If the number is over 3,000, that's promising. The tool also said "family music" is far less competitive than "childrens music". So I should go with heartbeat-family-music.com, right?
Well...
When I Googled "Family music" I found it gets 278 million organic* results! Wow, that's a lot of competition! And the results aren't necessarily targeted to my audience of parents with very young children.
"Childrens music" gets 47.3 million organic* results. That's still a huge number. Probably too big. But surprisingly, it's much lower than the "family music" results.
What about competing with pay-per-click ads? Google's tool tells me if I place AdWords ads, "childrens music" will cost 60 cents per click, while "family music" will cost 51 cents.
I'm hoping to avoid paying for AdWords, or I might analyze this more carefully. But the 9-cent difference is not a huge.
Now, realistically, I'm not likely to get up in the search engines for either keyword. But you never know - it doesn't hurt to be optimistic, right?
So I decided to go with "childrens music."
In this case, either domain name would probably have worked as well, but it's worth checking with the AdWords tool. It's not unlikely that your niche might include some great keywords with a lot less competition than this.
Next time, I'll tell you where I registered my domain and how I avoided losing my chosen name to a practice known as "front running" or "domain tasting".
To be sure you catch my next post, click on the orange button at the top right and subscribe to my blog.
Wishing you peace & prosperity,
Janet
*Organic search results are the natural, non-sponsored search results.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Watch Me Build a New Site!
I just purchased a new domain name, www.HeartBeat-Childrens-Music.com. I'll be offering classes to young children in my area.
It occurred to me that this is a perfect opportunity for you to watch me build a new site.
I can't afford a web designer, so I'll be stumbling to get this right. I'll be updating my progress right here on this blog.
So far it's just a parked domain. I took the first step yesterday, which was to visit www.namecheap.com, check the availability of my preferred domains, and buy the one that was closest to what I wanted. The cost was just under $10 for one year, so don't fall for any company that tries to charge you more than that.
You can find out more about choosing a domain name at the Domain Name page and its related pages at Website Building 4 Newbies.
If you'd like to subscribe to my posts (which will include more than this project), click on the orange button to the right, the one that says "posts."
Looking forward to having you along on my journey!
Wishing you peace & prosperity,
Janet
It occurred to me that this is a perfect opportunity for you to watch me build a new site.
I can't afford a web designer, so I'll be stumbling to get this right. I'll be updating my progress right here on this blog.
So far it's just a parked domain. I took the first step yesterday, which was to visit www.namecheap.com, check the availability of my preferred domains, and buy the one that was closest to what I wanted. The cost was just under $10 for one year, so don't fall for any company that tries to charge you more than that.
You can find out more about choosing a domain name at the Domain Name page and its related pages at Website Building 4 Newbies.
If you'd like to subscribe to my posts (which will include more than this project), click on the orange button to the right, the one that says "posts."
Looking forward to having you along on my journey!
Wishing you peace & prosperity,
Janet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)