Hosting Your Web Site

In order to do network marketing of any kind, you need to own and control web sites. In fact, you will need a network of web sites that grow and link to each other in order to cross sell your products.

To have a web site you need a domain name (in fact, you will need multiple domain names) and a place where your web site will “live,” a web hosting service. Of course, you will need other things, and these will be covered in future posts, but this entry will deal only with domain names and web hosting.

First, the domain name. In order for visitors to access your web site, you must obtain a domain name. Web sites are accessed by an Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is a number that uniquely identifies each computer or device connected to the Internet. A domain name the text version of an IP address. It usually has the format www(dot)mydomainname(dot)com (or one of a number of other prefixes like .net, .biz, etc.).

There are hundreds of sites where you can register a domain name, but the one I like the best is the same company that I like best for hosting a web site. It is 1&1 Internet Inc., the largest web hosting company in the world. Since you are going to need a web hosting company anyway, if you sign-up for hosting service with 1&1, you get some number of free domain names, depending on the program you choose. You can click on button at the end of this post to go to 1&1 to register a domain for only $5.99 a year for .com names or to sign up for web hosting.

As for web hosting, there are free sites you can get from Yahoo, MSN, and others, but they usually contain banner ads, have restrictions and are not meant for the high volume traffic. The better alternative is to get a pay-for web hosting account and, again, 1&1 is an excellent choice. Others are good too, but 1&1 seems to have the most features for the least cost. I have four accounts (for different businesses) with 1&1 and they each cost only $4.99 per month, which includes two free domain names (and, as of this writing, the first three months of hosting are free when you open a new account).

You can select Microsoft or Linux hosting. The choice is yours, but I prefer Linux hosting because Linux hosts tend to be faster and there are more tools available. Both types have a facility called WebsiteBuilder that allows even a non-technical person to build a web site in 30 minutes or less with no prior experience. Of course, those with more experience can use the web site development tools of their choice like Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc.

You can do some research of your own (type “web hosting” into Google) or click this button to see what 1&1 has to offer.