Step 2: Setup a Website Hosting Account
24. Mar, 2010 
4 Comments
Your website needs to live on a computer that’s constantly connected to the Internet and can handle the onslaught of visitors. Good website hosting is almost as cheap as minimum chips at your local fish and chip shop so please, go with a professional and pay the $5 to $10 per month to have your website hosted properly.
Here’s some tips and recommendations for choosing a website hosting provider:
Unlike domain name registration, it doesn’t really matter where your website is geographically hosted. Some of the most cost effective and reliable hosting providers are based in the US and will give you all the bells and whistles you need to get you up and running.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Hostgator.com (aff). I’ve been using them for over 3 years and I can vouch for their support and their up-time. You can host a single website with them for as little as US$4.95 per month or if you think you might want to build more than one website, you can host an unlimited number of sites with them for US$7.95 per month.
There are of course, 100′s of website hosting providers. If you want to compare apples with apples to make sure you’re getting the best deal from Hostgator, then check out Dreamhost or Bluehost. But whatever you do, don’t try to scrimp and save here – it WILL come back and bite you in the ass later.
Action: Purchase hosting from Hostgator
Point Your Domain Name to Your Hosting Account
This title may sound a little confusing… breath. Let me explain.
We need to tell the people you registered your domain with (Godaddy, Namecheap etc), where your website is going to live (Hostgator, Dreamhost etc).
When you purchase your hosting, your hosting provider will send you an email with some info including your Name Server details. The format differs from provider to provider but it should look something like this:
Your name servers:
nsXX.something.com
ns.XX.something.com
To add these details to your domain name at your Domain Name Registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap etc), login to your Domain Name account and find the Name Servers Settings option. Here’s what it should look like if you registered with GoDaddy:
Once you click the Nameservers button, you should get a pop up that looks something like this (click to view full size):
Now just type in your name server details for Nameserver 1 and Nameserver 2. It’s unlikely you will have details for 3 and 4. Click OK and you’re done!
That really is the hardest part of this course, everything from here on in is a breeze!
Hi Luke
Found ur site via sbbm podcast. Great show!
Just wondering why you are only promoting US web hosts in ur post above since ur Ayssie and live in AU. there are plenty great Aussie web hosts (love mine http://www.webporter.com) and using a local host is much better speed wise if your audience are mainly AU based too. That’s been my experience, anyway.
Vicky, I recommend Hostgator because my experience with them has been fantastic. Their customer service and support is always fast, friendly and efficient.
While an Australian based hosting solution can provide faster speeds for Australian audiences, I’ve found from experience that smaller providers don’t provide the same 24 hour support. They are usually not as cheap either.
Do you still need to find a host for your site if WordPress are looking after it or is this a different kind of host?!