The second in a 5-part series, together we will chose a host and domain name for your blog. The featured video shows you how to install wordpress once you have chosen and setup your hosting server.
WordPress recommend 5 of the best hosting providers for their software, based on their own and users experience. the recommended hosts are bluehost, dreamhost, media temple, justhost and laughing squid. If you choose a different host, or already have a host, it must support the PHP programming language and MySQL databases (all the recommended hosts do).
Many hosts have a ’1 click auto installation’ feature, such as bluehost, the top recommendation from the wordpress community. If you are technophobic, it’s the easiest way to get up and running without any problems. But whatever you choose, the hosting features to compare are storage, data transfer, domains names, databases, uptime, support and monthly costs.
- Storage – 1 terabyte or unlimited is good
- Data transfer – 10 terabytes a month or unlimited
- Domains – host multiple or unlimited domain names
- Databases – multiple MySQL databases (MySQL 4.0 or higher is recommended)
- Uptime – 99% or better uptime guarantee
- Support – test the technical support; ask a question and see how they respond. It doesn’t matter how knowledgable you are, you’ll need technical support
- Costs – You can get excellent hosting between $6.95 and $20 a month (if you are in the UK, justhost is only £2.95 a month – a bargain!)
Visit godaddy and use the tools provided to find and register a domain name. Godaddy is the biggest and the cheapest domain registrar. Follow their instructions to point your new domain name to your hosting providers nameservers.
Or, many hosts will allow you to register a domain name as part of the package, but I recommend you keep them separate.
In the next post we will look at choosing a theme.
