I have many decades of proven senior software development experience working for leading companies in the computer operated test equipment, cad/cam, and factory automation fields. Since 1992 I now have my own software development company with a database product we sell in a health care niche. This product runs on individual user computers or on a server that can be accessed over the Internet from anywhere. Starting in 2009 I started exploring different Internet business opportunities.
Depending upon your objectives, there are many different ways to go about building your own website. Because of my software development background and recommendations from other developers, I first experimented with another site using traditional website building software plus WordPress for blogging. I quickly realized the incredible power and flexibility of WordPress and scrapped that original site and started over with only WordPress. This site is built with WordPress and will continue to evolve.
A quick search of the Internet will show that there are a number of ways to create a free blogging site for yourself and this will be the right choice for many people. But if you intend to put a lot of work into your site or if you intend to turn it into a business, then I would highly recommend that you pay the small monthly fee to host your site. Why? I have read plenty stories of people investing a lot of time and energy into building a blog on one of the free sites and then waking up one morning and discovering that it was shut down and they have lost all of their work. If you do anything that displeases the free hosting site they can shut you down without warning.
All hosting providers offer incentives for getting your domain name through them. I recommend that you purchase your domain name through one company and the hosting through a separate company. Why? If both are through the same company and you get shut down for any reason, it might take months to resolve and in the meantime your regular visitors and customers will think your site is dead. If you have used two different companies and you have kept regular website backups, you can move your site to another host and be back in operation within a day.
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Click on the above banner to explore HostGator plans and sign up with them. I have been using HostGator since March, 2009, and have been very happy with them. They have a good reputation. They have cost-effective hosting plans to help you get started and higher performance plans as your business grows. You can get 24/7/365 support via Live Chat or simply phone them and I have always found their support to be friendly and helpful, even at 2:00am.They have been in business since 2002 and are located in Houston, Texas.
You get the best prices if you are willing to pay for 3 years in advance, but I just pay monthly. From their “Web Hosting” page click on “Compare All Plans” to compare the features. Notice that the “Hatchling Plan” allows for only one domain whereas the “Baby Plan” allows for an unlimited number of domains and websites for a low monthly price. I currently have the “Baby Plan” and have created multiple websites. When you get started, be sure to learn how to do full backups as you build your site and then upload the backups to your computer for extra protection.
It is very easy to install WordPress using Fantastico that comes with HostGator. Simply answer a few questions and the latest version of WordPress will be installed in a few minutes. A HostGator Support person will even guide you through the installation if you would like. There are a lot of other useful tools that come with your HostGator account.
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