You Need A Place To Park

Before you can build a capture page, you have to have a place to “park it”. In an earlier lesson, we talked about domain name’s. Remember, the domain name is the human readable “name” of your website. Examples include Google.com, AWeber.com, and Nussentials.com. The domain name is registered with the folks that keep track of every domain name in the world (there are billions so that is a big job), so it knows where to “point to” when someone types in the name.

The DNS Server might be located a thousand miles from where your website is hosted. It doesn’t matter. The DNS servers know where to “read” the files when someone types your web address in the address bar of a browser.

Since location isn’t a factor when chosing a hosting account, you are free to look for price, features, technical support and other more important factors.

I have tried a few hosting companies in my career, and they are not all created equal. Depending on what is important to you, there are a lot of options. I would suggest you read more about hosting plans and services on your own, but I will make a recommendation. The company I use is called IX Web Hosting. They offer great “plans”, both Windows or Linux operating systems, a multitude of database options and most of the popular “features”. They also have Online - Live Chat, a 24/7 Help Desk, and boast a knowledgable and professional staff.

If you are only planning on one domain, you can get the smallest package or plan and pay only $4.95 a month. You can’t have a shopping cart or any type of eCommerce with this option though. The middle plan (the one I was on for 3 years) does allow shopping features, unlimited domain’s, unlimited web space (for your files, MP3, PDF’s and video’s) and is only $7.95 a month. I believe their site says this is the most popular option.

I recently had to upgrade my account to the top plan because the number of domains I managed exceeded the limits on the middle plan (in term of dedicated IP addresses, there were only 8). I pay $12.95 a month. It’s worth it.

Assignment:
Either research and locate a hosting company you like, or just save yourself some time and head on over to IX Web Hosting and sign up for a hosting account. Spend a few minutes exploring the “back office” and features available. Most won’t make sense yet, and that’s okay. It will still be helpful if you had some idea what’s back there.