Web provider.

[pokerextras]

I've just about got a new site ready to be put on the net, ( i've been running off of social networking sites up to now), and would like some advice about who to register my url/get on the net with. Please include monthly fees etc with your advice. Thanks in advance.

[CoolDog]

Hi,

Two popular and safe choices are Blue Host (dot com) and Lunar Pages (dot com) for web hosting.

I personally use Lunar's basic shared hosting plan and have had no problems, which is just under $5.00 a month (on sale now). I believe both hosts give a free domain for life with one year hosting.

If you decide to use any of these let me know and I'll shoot you over my affiliate link ;-)

GL

[pokerextras]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what's a shared hosting plan, will it be just my site name or will it be at lunar.com, and what does a domain for life and one year hosting mean? If everything's good, i'll use your links. Thanks.

[CoolDog]

Shared hosting is just that, the hosting company places a bunch of different websites on it from other people. All these websites share the resources of these shared servers. Most affiliates, or for that matter, most websites on the Net use this kind of hosting option because it's affordable. The alternatives are to run a semi-dedicated or dedicated web hosting server that can run big bucks.

From a surfers point of view they can not tell what kind of hosting plan you are on, you will still have 'yoursite.com'.

The free domain for life - as long as you keep your hosting account the hosting company will not bill you for your domain name (the domain you'd use for your hosting). This saves you about $10.00 a year.

[PokerNations]

A shared hosting plan is usually very affordable because there can be a lot of people having their sites hosted on the same shared server.

Sometimes problems can arise if someone elses website hosted on the same server as yours does something to goof things up. But generally there are few problems.

Be aware that many webhosts really pack on the websites to these shared servers, so you may have issues with responsiveness. It really depends on how active your site is going to be, you get what you pay for.

$5-10 a month for a shared hosting plan, or you can get a VPS (virtual private server, you're sharing as server with far fewer sites) starts around $50/month.

A dedicated server can run you a few hundred/month, but if you're going to have the traffic to warrant it, then go right ahead.

You'll also need to consider managed hosting if you go with VPS or dedicated servers. This means the provider will handle security and software/os patches for your server, rather than you having to do so. This is generally an additional 30-50 bucks/month for the service, but obviously if you don't have a full-time IT person who can handle it, then that's pretty affordable when you think about it.

[pokerextras]

Thanks for the education guys. As i'm sure you can tell, i'm a poker player, not an i.t expert. I guess i'll just learn as i go.

[PokerNations]

Thanks for the education guys. As i'm sure you can tell, i'm a poker player, not an i.t expert. I guess i'll just learn as i go.

It might help if we knew specifically what your site is going to have on it and how many visitors you expect.

Is it mostly a static content site where you create everything? Is it a community with a forum or other interactive features? etc.

If you're just doing a content site and looking to work on SERP's with it, then you can probably get by with the shared hosting plans. If you're building an active community, you'll need to consider an upgrade from that at some point.

[TheShortStack]

If you're in the UK, you might want to use a UK host (it will help with your search engine results in the UK).

I'm personally using eUKHost.co.uk which comes in at a little under £5 a month. I've heard good things about 123-reg.co.uk.

If you go with them, give me a shout - I've got an affiliate link for each I think!

Alternateively, if you've got any other questions then just let me know.

[pokerextras]

There will be no community. At least not to start with. Just sign up bonuses, and reviews, so hopefully shared hosting will suffice. Why will going with a uk company help with searches?

[CoolDog]

There will be no community. At least not to start with. Just sign up bonuses, and reviews, so hopefully shared hosting will suffice. Why will going with a uk company help with searches?

If you are mainly targeting U.K. traffic then a host in the U.K. with a U.K. domain extension would be wise. But if you are targeting the "world" then you should go with a .com extension.