I saw an article recently listing 10 free web site building tools.

Most of them take a while to figure out.

They won’t all let you do what you want to do.

None were expandable to your own site if you ever wanted to take the next step, from “free” to “owning your own”.

The biggest cost is time.

The biggest cost is time.

How long does it take you to learn how to work it and make it do what you want it to do?

How much is it going to frustrate you and make you figure out how to do something simple?

In my experience with WordPress, and I’m coming at this from a developer point of view, it’s much easier and intuitive to learn to use WordPress than with any other platform out there.

When I build a site for a client using WordPress, it’s much easier to train them and get them up to speed on WordPress than other systems that I’ve tried.

The Real, Hard Costs

Let’s look at the cost it would take to put a WordPress site on your own server and run it for a year.

Domain name is $10. Don’t pay more than that for a domain name.

Hosting packages can be had for less than $80 a year.

Call the whole thing $100 for a year of hosting your own site.

If you use a good host, they would have an auto install version of WordPress. Click, click, bang. It’s set up.

Play with a theme. Spend too much time looking on line for a theme. Download, install.

Play with plug ins. Download, install.

Write a few posts. Create a few pages. Change the layout a bit.

Call it 8 hours total, from start to having your own blog on line, working, with your own theme and content.

You have added the plug-ins that you wanted, the theme that you wanted, the layout, the content, the menu.

All of it is exactly what you want.

The Price Of Choice

The cost in time is really because you have TOO MANY options.

If you can be satisfied with what comes out of the box, then a WordPress site can be set up in 20 minutes.

Other Free Hosting Options

Compare that to another free host.

Set up is quick and easy. Pick a theme. There are only 20.

Write a post. Change the layout? No. Can’t do that.

Put the menu on the other side? No. Can’t do that.

You want to post video? No. Can’t do that either.

Podcast? Special functionality? Nope. None of that.

The Cost Of Free

You’ve spent the same 8 hours trying to do stuff and not being able to that you would have on WordPress.

The other free host is $100 cheaper and maybe that’s the difference for you.

It doesn’t look quite like you want it to and it doesn’t have quite the right functionality.

It’s harder to use and takes longer to post than WordPress.

If it takes 3 minutes longer and you make 20 posts, that’s an hour.

How many posts in a year?

Time Is Money

This reminds me of the difference between Windows and a Mac.

The Mac costs a bit more to start, but lasts twice a long, lets you work twice as fast, and makes it easier to do anything you want.

Which is a better deal?

How much is your time worth?

How much money do you have?

It’s all up to you, but if you have $100 to spend on a web site for a year, spend it on building a WordPress site.

You’ll thank me at the end of the year.

Special Offer

This page has gotten so much traffic that I’ve just added this offer.

Want Me To Set Up WordPress For You?

FOR FREE?

Doing the WordPress installation and set up can be a bit tricky, especially for people who are not technically inclined.

I get an affiliate fee from my web hosting company for every person I refer to them.

If you use the special link I provide below, which contains my affiliate code so they can pay me, I’m willing to do the complete WordPress installation for you, for free.

Get Web Hosting

They are charging $3.88 a month for hosting as I write this.

(That price could change, so check it out yourself.)

They have a 30 day money back guarantee.

I’ll Set It Up For You

I’ll install whatever theme and plugins that you want.

I have a list of plugins that I always install for my clients.

I’ll walk you through any configuration settings that you want and show you how to make it do what you want it to do.

I’ve done so many WordPress installations, it’s fast and easy for me.

I make a few bucks from PowWeb and I make another WordPress fan.

You get good, cheap web hosting for your own web site, with none of the technical hassle.

How cool is that?

NO OBLIGATION NOW

CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE INFO:
http://www.powweb.com/?AffID=577083

After you click on that link and set up your hosting account, send me an email using my normal “contact us” page, and tell me that you want me to install WordPress for you.

As long as you use that link, you can buy the web hosting any time within the next 6 months and I’ll get the commission.

If you have any questions, please drop me an email and ask.

Looking forward to helping you get your web site set up.

If you are involved with a church that does not have a web site, I can show you how to get one for free, using WordPress.com. All it takes is a little initiative on your part and you can have a web site. You don’t need a $300 site. You don’t need a $500 site. You can have a free web site for your church. Go to www.worpdress.com and follow the instructions.

Do it now. For the children.

Quoting from The Church In 2009 – KYPost.com

Close to half of the churches offer Web pages.

For example, local churches have caught up with the secular society in their use of computers and technology. In 1998, fewer than one in five U.S. congregations hosted Web sites; today, close to half of the churches offer Web pages to their members and local community. A friend of mine who ministers to a large Washington, D.C. Baptist congregation has a frequently updated interactive Web site whose volunteer editor works from India.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.kypost.com/content/middleblue3/story/The-Church-In-2009/o3oMerab5E2upfPeBvDqdg.cspx

Network Solutions is waiting for you to search for an available domain name using their site.

With that as background, I got a comment or two from Jack Carlson, who, again, I really appreciate for commenting. He defended NetSol and I had to question if I was right about their practices or not. I know what happened to me and a client of mine. Maybe they saw the error of their ways and changed their practices. I needed to reevaluate.

I checked Wikipedia (and since it’s on the Internet, it must be right of course,) and they also had references that all seem to check out. I think this section below is probably true. It matches my experiences and my client’s. Please click through and read the whole thing.

What do you think? Have you ever had a good or a bad experience with NetSol? Please leave a comment and we’ll all battle it out in the never ending search for the truth.

Network Solutions – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Controversy over domain name front running

There is evidence that there are parties subscribing to this information which are buying some of these domains within milliseconds of them being de-registered.

Network Solutions Inc offer a search engine which permits users to find out if a domain name is available for purchase.[18] Unregistered domain names entered into this search engine are then speculatively reserved by Network Solutions. [18] It should be noted this “reservation” can be removed by anyone immediately by contacting Network Solutions customer service hotline, or it will automatically unreserve within 4 days, allowing the domain to be freely registered anywhere. Also, visitors searching for domain names on their website allow the reservation when they click “OK” on the Reservation Confirmation dialog box. Clicking cancel will prevent the domain name from being reserved.

On January 8, 2008 Domain Name Wire published a story alleging that Network Solutions practices domain name front running.[18] “If you try to register a domain at Network Solutions, but decide not to register it, you won’t be able to register it anywhere else,” the article says.[18] “Network Solutions registers the domain in its company name with the words ‘This Domain is available at NetworkSolutions.com’.”[18] Circle ID reported on January 8, 2008 that Jonathon Nevett, Vice President of Policy at Network Solutions and one of the seven members of the ICANN community who was consulted by the ICANN committee looking at domain tasting abuse,[19] had offered a response to the news story stating Network Solution’s policy.[20] The policy was “a security measure to protect our customers,” said Nevett.[20] “When a customer searches for an available domain name at our website, but decides not to purchase the name immediately after conducting the search,” Nevett added, “after the search ends, we will put the domain name on reserve.”[20] Nevett said that if the domain was “not purchased within 4 days, it will be released back to the registry and will be generally available for registration.”[18]

Jay Westerdal, one of the seven members of the ICANN community who was consulted by the ICANN committee looking at domain tasting abuse,[19] published an article on Domain Tools on January 8, 2008 stating that Network Solutions is exposing the domains to domain tasters.[21] The domain tasters “will snipe those domain up milliseconds after Network Solutions deletes them,” says Westerdal.[21] “It is a deplorable action that Network Solution would announce potential domain names to the entire world,” Westerdal added.[21] On January 8, 2008, Tucows, the largest publicly traded domain name registrar, published an article on their company web site titled “Registrar Reputation and Trust” criticizing Network Solutions policy.[22] “Potential Registrants are effectively forced to purchase the domain from Network Solutions for a period of four days at which point the domain is dropped,” wrote Tucows employee James Koole.[22] Koole says that Tucows has found a way to address the issue of domain tasting and have policies in place that uphold the rights of Registrants.[22] “Tucows works to prevent domain name tasting by charging our Resellers a monetary fee on domain name registrations that are cancelled within the five-day Add Grace Period (AGP),” Koole said.[22] “Tucows doesn’t use WHOIS query data or search data from our API to front-run domain names,” Koole added.[22]

On January 9, 2008, Cnet reported that Network Solutions will soon not register domains when people search for domains from the company’s Whois search page, will offer only an “under construction” page for sites that it has reserved, and newly reserved pages won’t be linked to the numerical Internet addresses that allow Web browsers to locate the pages.[23] Network Solutions will continue to register domains when people search for domains from the company’s home page.[23]

There is evidence that there are parties subscribing to this information which are buying some of these domains within milliseconds of them being de-registered.[19][21] This occurs for thousands upon thousands of domains, with a certain percentage then eventually being bought by the original party, providing a profit. [19][21]

Read the entire article at Network Solutions – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you want a Ferrari, then buy a Ferrari, but know that it's a Ferrari.

Advantages of Managed Web Hosting | What It Is

The reasons why to opt a managed web hosting account compare to unmanaged cheaper web hosting service are as follows:

No Downtime: Your online website works as official brand of your company presence over the internet thus it’s a must for you to make your site alive 24*7 hrs for the world wide web visitors so that they can access your website without any such issues like downtime. Major online web hosting providers gives you 99.9% uptime guarantee while the fact is this that its too insufficient to the practical need for better presence in front of your customers thus you need a web hosting company which can ensure you 100% optimal uptime as there are a lot of managed web hosting providers which offer 100% uptime in real due to their multi-home bandwidth network lines.

When you are a newbie webmaster even it’s a must for you to ensure that your web hosting provider gives you 100% uptime guarantee in this manner you can cut off a lot of hassles and frustration sort of unwanted things in your daily business role with your website.

Better Equipments: There are a lot of managed web hosting providers over the internet world which gives you 30 minutes or even 15 minutes hardware replacement guarantee sort of unmatchable performance for your website as when your hardware by chance goes failed this is a must as nobody knows what’s going on when as everybody just know either the past of the presence nothing can be predicated for future reference point of view when you are dealing practically over any such technical things as web servers.

Better Support: When you go to search any web hosting company you shall check their Support SLA things to let you know that how good they are to the support needs as there are a lot of managed web hosting providers which offer you maximum 30 minutes guaranteed response over your any trouble with your website so it’s always better to keep your eyes on their detailed SLA agreement too so you can secure yourself that you are working with the best supporting team for your web hosting needs.

Remote backups: Proper planning for backups shall be always carried when you host your website anywhere on internet and if you have a properly planned remote backup that makes you 200% more secure to what you are doing on internet.

Read the entire article at Advantages of Managed Web Hosting | What It Is

I always start with a planning document. It can be formal or informal. It just needs to have all of the information you need in a way that makes sense to you.

It's always best to plan out what you need to do before you do anything.

Once you have a handle on the technical issues, which will take way more time to explore, the next step is a site map. This might be called the site architecture or site plan. There are various names for it.

You need to have a list of every page on the site and a description of the content for every page. You also need to know the relationships of each page, which will be defined with the menus.

Most sites have a list of things that are exactly the same on each page, so we call this the template. These things would be the header and footer, the sidebars, and the logo. Whatever else you might have can be put into the template.

If your site has nothing common on each page, then you’re better off creating them individually. You still need to make the site map.

You can make this list as a text outline or as a graphic with little boxes and lines running between them. Use whatever tools you have that make sense to you.

Small business web hosting has become so easy and common that it’s a commodity these days. You want to look for price first, but the determining factor now are reliability, customer service and ease of use.

Reliability
When I first started to publish a fan site at survivor.com, I was getting a huge amount of traffic. I bought space at PowWeb, who I use now, and was fairly happy with them for the most part. They advertised “unlimited bandwidth”, so we were cool with the huge traffic spike every Thursday night.

Customer Service
That is, until it all stopped. One day, they decided that I had too many connections within a specific time, so they just turned it off. I had no site. I was furious. Of course, I found this out after I got home from work and their office was closed. I was screwed.

When I did contact them, they pointed out some fine print in that “unlimited bandwidth” section of the terms and conditions. They could shut me off any old time they wanted to with no warning. I was still furious.

Ease of Use
I shopped around and decided it was time to get a dedicated server with a specified amount of bandwidth. I was making good enough money to pay for it and it seemed like it was time to take the plunge. I had a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. I signed the year long contract and had the server set up. I found that the interface was horrible. I couldn’t manage the domain names the way I wanted to set them up. I didn’t have access to the MySQL settings. There were all sorts of little nuisances that I didn’t have with the shared server.

I was shocked at how hard it was to manage this thing. I couldn’t do half the things that I could with the shared server. I canceled the contract and asked for my money back. It took them 60 days to get that back to me.

I’m sure that there are better dedicated servers out there, just like there are worse shared servers. The key is to get in and play around with whatever you buy. Make sure that you can do what to do with it and that it’s easy. They have gotten much better today, so you shouldn’t have any problems, but you might.

After that fiasco, I went back to PowWeb, since I had paid for a year of their service. It seems that as soon as I decided that, they changed their terms of service and were promoting the amount of bandwidth they include. They no longer can decide arbitrarily, but they have a specified amount of bandwidth you can use. They tell you how much you’ve used and when you might run out.

I feel much better about being told that I have a “Monthly limit: 15400.00 GB” than it being “Unlimited”. That makes me a little nervous. (I just checked and they are advertising “Unlimited” again. Hmmmm…) Since I went back to them, they’ve given me absolutely no trouble at all. They’ve been 100% reliable. I’ve been able to do everything I need to. I’ve recommended them to clients who are also happy with them.

I would recommend PowWeb 100%.

There are other good, cheap hosts out there. I have nothing against any of them. Check them out. Make sure you can do what you want and that they give you a money back guarantee.

DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH NETWORK SOLUTIONS!.

Don’t worry, we’ll walk you through the steps to get one up and running. The overview of the process contains the following steps:

1. Register a domain name.
2. Find a web hosting company.
3. Set up the domain name to point at the web host.
4. Design the web site.
5. Develop the web site.
6. Post them to the web host.
7. Maintain it.

There are a lot of companies out there promising to do it all for you for cheap, but be careful of who you give your money to and what you get stuck with. There are deals and there are dangers.

The first rule of web site development is DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH NETWORK SOLUTIONS!. They are evil. They will suck you into a black hole of fees and never let you go. They are the La Brea tar pits of the Internet.

Each of the steps above has it’s own page dedicated to it and they are many other resources out there on the web for information about each subject.

Using The Wrong Web Hosting Service Will Kill You | Gwizz IT by John Bear

Picking the right web hosting will be one of the most important decisions you will ever make with your online business. Why? Because the web server you choose will really make or break your online business.

It Could Kill You

Lately, Virtual Web Hosting has been the only way to go when choosing a web server. One of the reasons that Virtual Web Hosting became so popular was because they supported the necessary files and allowed you to have more freedom than other conventional web hosting accounts. But now you can have more freedom than ever before with Virtual Private Servers. Moreover, Virtual Private Servers should not be confused with Virtual Hosts, because they are completely different types of accounts.

Before we go any further I’d like to explain what the difference is between a Virtual Host and a Virtual Private Server, so that you can really fully understand. In this article I will also go over the advantages and disadvantages of both types of servers, to help you decide which is right for you and your business. Let’s start off with Virtual Hosting.

Virtual Hosting

Virtual Hosting is also known as Shared Web Hosting, where you are sharing the physical server and a single set of software applications with other users. Virtual Hosting has been extremely popular in the past for its fast deployment, strong resources, and most importantly for having a very reasonable price. Another advantage to Virtual Hosting is that you have a powerful, reliable, and professionally managed server without having to have advanced technical skills, making it ideal for an individual, small business, or even a beginner.

The disadvantage of Virtual Hosting is that you are sharing the server with other users, which are configured and controlled by an administrator, not you. So basically you have your hands tied behind your back, because you have to contact the administrator every time you have to adjust or change your configuration settings. Even if you managed to get a hold of the administrator, they may not fulfill your request. It’s up to them to help you or not to help you. They are the administrator. If you were the administrator you wouldn’t have these limitations and would have full control.

Virtual Private Servers

Virtual Private Servers are very popular now and for a good reason. Before we get into the advantages of a Virtual Private Server, let’s explain what it is first. A Virtual Private Server is a single server that is partitioned at the root into multiple dedicated servers. This allows you to share the cost of the network connectivity, hardware, and system maintenance with other hosting accounts, while maintaining your flexibility and total freedom.

The true advantage of Virtual Private Servers is that they allow you to have complete control. You have the security advantages of a dedicated server at the fraction of the cost. You have access to the virtual root, Telnet, web configuration files, and full CGI-BIN access. Don’t forget to mention that you also have access to your password, aliases file, and send mail configuration file. For these reasons you can see that a Virtual Private Server is an excellent solution for small to medium size businesses that have increasingly complex needs, but want a server that is reliable and easy to use.

There is one disadvantage with Virtual Private Servers. You need to have some program knowledge to control and configure the settings. Sounds overwhelming, most businesses that offer Virtual Private Servers have very detailed manuals making them easy to configure and control no matter what your technical skills are. HostEasier.com has an excellent support staff, making them our number one choice of web hosting service providers.

Which one is right for you? Well, that all depends on you and the size of your network.

Just one web site and have absolutely no programming knowledge? Then Virtual Hosting is the recommended and cheapest way for you to go. A Virtual Host can cost anywhere around $10 a month for an account, rather than $35 and up for a Virtual Private Server.

If you have a larger network that requires multiple web sites, and you have some technical skills, then a Virtual Private Server is perfect for you. You can host many web sites on a Virtual Private Server account, instead of having multiple Virtual Hosting accounts, which will cost you more money per month.

When it comes time to get a web hosting account, make sure that the server fits your needs and that it supports the necessary software for a prosperous online business. We personally give a 5-STAR rating to HostEasier.com because of their low prices, reliability, and excellent 24/7 customer support staff. They really care about you, and can help solve your server problems, should any occur.

Read the entire article at Using The Wrong Web Hosting Service Will Kill You | Gwizz IT.

How to prepare yourself towards budget web hosting plans By: WebHostingGeek

Many people would prefer to opt for a budget web hosting plan. But one must be prepared to handle its own consequences. A budget web hosting plan comes with a small risk which every customer who buys such plans should be made aware of. Many budget web hosting providers have their own secret way of doing business and this is reflected on their over all performance of the company. Hence, it is very important for a customer to find out the various types of facilities and benefits involved with the web hosting package which he intends to purchase. With regard to budget web hosting, you must be aware of certain tactics which budget web hosting providers use. Before you sign up, you must know what your web host is about and how it operates. Following are certain insights that you should be aware of:

1) About those budget web hosting companies that have no experience:
There are many budget web hosts on the website that may not be in the market for too long. In other words, they may have little or no experience at all. It may so happen that you might land up in purchasing a web hosting service that is brand new and inexperienced. I would not prefer this step. In fact, find a web host that has many years experience and they are proud of their service and growth involved as a web hosting company. So, go for budget web hosting providers which are experienced holders.

2) Check their level of support:
You want to opt for a budget web host where you want to pay less and at the same time get all the benefits that an expensive web host would provide. One of theses benefits would be that you want 24/7 support system. Well, some budget web hosts will claim to offer 24/7 support and when the actual time comes, they don’t actually support. Also, there are some budget web hosts that also do not offer any information about their level of support. Hence, before you actually sign any agreements with a budget web hosting provider, check by your own self whether they answer the phone at 4AM on weekdays on anytime on weekends. In other words look out whether they are in a position to answer your phone or not. Based on the outcome, you must then take a decision of whether you should sign up with the hosting provider or keep searching for a better one.

3) Read the SLA:
Go through the service level agreement that is provided by the budget web hosting provider. If they do not support a SLA then you must not go for this web host. Look out for someone better. Even if a budget web hosting provider has a service level agreement but does not have a strong agreement that contains what will happen and the type of service you will happen and the type of service you will receive, in case you need to say good bye to the present web hosting provider. You must have a budget web hosting provider who has a clear service level agreement which will help you to tackle issues which might arise after you have purchased the web hosting plan. At that time, you will know exactly how to move on, based on the service level agreement which was shown to you at the time of signing up the budget web hosting package. Based on the service level agreement, you will know how a particular situation can be handled before entering into the agreement.

4) Check for their nature of business:
There are many budget web hosts companies who claim to be web host companies but in actual they offer a variety of other business where web hosting is one of the products that they are dealing with. You should prefer to opt for a budget web hosting provider who only focuses on web hosting. You can be sure on this by asking them about the same, before you sign any agreements with them. You can ask them to explain their kind of business they are into and where their revenue comes from. On this basis, you will be able to decide whether this budget web hosting provider is not for you or whether this web hosting provider is suitable for you.

Read the entire article at How to prepare yourself towards budget web hosting plans.