Category Archives: How to Guides

March 26, 2015 ·

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Once you’ve decided on the primary domain for your business, you will need to pick a company to host your domain on their servers.  Searching “hosting company” in Google will give you about 50 million results, so I recommend starting with a short list.  Check out a few comparative hosting review sites (making sure they’re legitimate sources), and select a few hosting companies that are consistently ranked high.  Taking the top 3 options, you can then just compare which is a better value based on your needs.

One recent hosting comparison worth looking at was conducted by pcmag.com – The Best Web Hosting Services of 2015.

Hosting plans come in all shapes and sizes, which can make comparing and choosing the right hosting company even more difficult.  The primary options for hosting plans include Shared, WordPress, VPS, and Dedicated.  Among these options you will find segmented offerings like Personal, Business, and Enterprise that will let you upgrade features like the ability to host multiple domains, enhanced performance, and greater storage capacity.

  • Shared Hosting – As cheap as $2 per month, shared hosting is a great option for most businesses just getting started, especially if you only need to host one domain. Essentially, you are allocated some space alongside other companies in a shared server.
    • Pros – cheapest option for hosting, and good value considering pre-installed software available
    • Cons – least secure, vulnerable based on practices of other sites on the server, and lower bandwidth threshold, so site more likely to crash at high volume of visits or heavy utilization of graphic intensive applications – such as hosting your own HD videos
  • WordPress Hosting – Usually priced in between standard shared and vps plans, WordPress optimized plans usually streamline the WordPress site setup process, provide enhanced security over standard shared plans, and hide many of the scary backend features for Webmasters not familiar and not wanting to get familiar with cPanel and similar site admin interfaces.
    • Pros – very efficient site administration if only interested in working with WordPress, and more secure that standard shared hosting
    • Cons – more cost-effective option to use host that offers “one-click installs” to get setup with WordPress on a shared server
  • VPS Hosting – An intermediate option between shared and dedicated servers, VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, and provides an excellent balance of bandwidth and security for the price.
    • Pros – at around $30/month good value for dedicated server resources and security, cheapest option compatible with SSL encryption
    • Cons – may not be sufficient if you expect a very high volume of visits and/or plan on hosting performance draining applications
  • Dedicated Server – Best of the best, you get your own server maintained and protected by experts in a secure, climate controlled facility.
    • Pros – sky’s the limit performance and security
    • Cons – starting at around $150/month, this option may break your bank

 

Customer Service – Can you count on them?

When your website crashes or has been hacked (I’ve had both happen to me), you don’t want to waste hours (or days) stressing out, losing business or readers because your hosting company’s customer service department isn’t capable.  Most hosting companies will offer at least a 30 day money back guarantee.  Test out their customer service to make sure they’ll be there for you in your time of need.  If they’re eager and able to help you with some simple setup questions, it’s not a sure thing they can handle a catastrophic event with your website, but it’s more probable.  If you have a negative experience with basic setup issues, abandon ship, find a new host.  Consult with the new host about pointing your domain to the new host.

Domain Registration – Cash in on the Promo

Ready to pull the trigger?  Every web hosting company offers one free domain registration for the first year.  If you’re transferring a site from another host, unfortunately you won’t be able to reap any benefits here.  In addition to the 1 year domain registration you may also want to consider privacy protection.  New domains need to be registered with ICANN, an international regulating body for website domains.  Privacy protection lists the hosting company’s default domain registrar info instead of your personal info, and by doing so shields your personal information from spammers.  Note that if you will need to run SSL encryption on your site, you cannot use privacy protection.

Comments Off on Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Filed under How to Guides

Tagged as , , , ,

March 24, 2015 ·

Selecting a Company Name and Domain

Coming up with the company name and domain for an online business can feel like a daunting task.  In many cases it will be your customer’s first impression of the brand and what you’re selling.  As you build up social media accounts and you further invest in the brand, it will be necessary to further commit and build on this initial decision.  The good news is that it is possible to rebrand at a later date if you decide to – here’s a great article on Moz’s rebranding, but starting off with a promising initial brand will minimize the need for changes down the road.

  1. Think simple – Word of Mouth is very important, so you will want your clients to be able to remember the company name and site they’re referring. There are various strategies for coming up with a brand name.  One simple method is to review your mission statement, your points of differentiation, and any other qualities you want customers to associate with your brand, and list associated synonyms.  Try some of these alone or as combinations of descriptor and product offering.
  2. Brand / Domain Congruence – In most cases the domain should closely represent if not be the exact brand name of the company or organization.
  3. Check search results – beyond ensuring that your desired domain is available verify that when someone searches your desired company name or domain no companies come up with the same name. While not a showstopper this may increase the risk of brand confusion.  Additionally, you will need to verify that you’re not infringing any trademarks or registered business names.
  4. Verify that you have the right – Conduct a search at the Federal, State, and County levels to make sure you have the right to conduct business under your desired company name and website domain.
  5. Check Domain Availability – Using Whois.net or the domain search tool from a hosting provider, type in your desired domain including the extension (“.com” for example). The “.com” extension is the most common extension for businesses and the “.org” extension is more common for Nonprofits or For Profit Social Enterprises.  Try to avoid selecting a domain with a “-“ unless it is part of your company name or brand, since it may be more difficult to remember.
  6. Social Media – After you decide on your preferred company name and domain, verify that the name is available in the major social media channels. Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube are the most commonly utilized. While having to pick a different social media account name isn’t a show stopper, it’s not the preferred route.
  7. Get Feedback – Once you’ve identified a few potential brand names and domains that you feel good about and are available, run them by trusted friends and/or family to get some initial reactions and ideally honest feedback. As the entrepreneur, you’re intimately acquainted with the business concept and offering, and as a result you’re judgement of what is conveyed by your brand may get clouded.  Some fresh outside perspective is helpful in assessing what type of typical snap judgement an uninformed user may make.

Comments Off on Selecting a Company Name and Domain

Filed under How to Guides

Tagged as , , , , , ,