The last part of this blog post title should be “fill in the blank.” I see this question posed all over the ‘net:

• “Which website hosting is best for small businesses?”
• “Which hosting company is best for WordPress bloggers?”
• “Which web hosting service should I use for a membership site?”
• …for forums
• …for family memory sites, etc., etc., etc.

The answer to all of those will depend on the growth of your site over time. But two things are for sure right at this time:

1.) Free is NOT the way to go – ever. And…

2.) HostGator is the right choice for just about every situation I can think of for starters and beyond.

HostGator can handle unlimited domains, and unlimited bandwidth. So you don’t have to worry about growth. It can allow you to build a Joomla site or WordPress site. It lets you upload images, text, audio, video, etc. You can even install a forum, though I’ve only dabbled in that myself before I quit wanting to moderate comments of people. LOL!

Now one thing I did research was which website company is best for Linux. I will readily admit that I’m no Linux user. But apparently, the best answer I found was that each time the question is asked, a new answer will be given – there’s no “top dog” and no way to know whose system will be dynamic enough to change with the rapid Linux advances. One reviewer touted HostGo for Linux users but even he admitted it may not be the best next week.

That said, I DID find out by doing some research, that although HostGator does NOT support Linux on a shared server, they DO support it on a dedicated server. So those who want to pay a little extra to ensure top customer service and quality with their systems can still go the HostGator route.

If you have a look around at the website control panel, you’ll easily be able to see what functions it carries out. My recommendation on registering with ANY hosting company is this – try it for a month and see if it does what they claim it can do. Don’t lock yourself into any year-long rates. If you’re satisfied, as I am with MY hosting company, then upgrade to a longer stay for a discount.

Tiff

Hi everyone! We’re back today with the remainder of our Cpanel lesson. It pays to have an easy to navgate Cpanel because without one, you’ll surely be list as a newbie – I know I have been whenever I’ve seen other people’s host logins.

So let’s move on! We ended last time with the Shortcuts.

The Mail section is next in your Cpanel. Mail usually tends to confuse me but I know all I need to know how to do – set up email for a site and forward it if I want to.

You’ll notice there are tons of mail options here. You need to know the first one – Email Accounts. This is where you click and set up an email, like tiffany @ websitehostingfornewbies.com for example.

But let’s say I didn’t want to go to that Webmail icon and log in and read it all the time? Then I just click the Forwarders icon and have all that email forwarded to one main email that the person sending it doesn’t know. It’s very convenient. And all of the icons have simple steps to walk you through everything.

The next section is extremely important because it’s where you’re going to host all of your files for your website. It’s the Files section.

Here, you can conduct a backup for your sites. You can use the File Manager icons to upload or manage all of the files for your site. You can use Web Disk to manage files like they were on your computer (I don’t use this).

Disk Space Usage is going to show you how much disk space you’re using. FTP Accounts let you set up FTP log ins. This is useful if someone’s working on your site and you don’t want them having access to every one of your domains through Cpanel.

I also like to use Cute FTP to upload large files instead of going directly through HostGator.

The Logs section is your next Cpanel area and here you can gain insight into your account and traffic. To be honest, I don’t use this – I use Google Analytics offsite.

But some items are useful – and I’m only now getting to know them. Like the Error Log, for example: I can see any errors my visitors have encountered and then go fix broken links on my site!

Security is important if you’re working with others. You can password protect an entire directory on your account. Or let’s say you have a troll bothering you on your blog – blog his IP and he can’t access your sites anymore!

HotLink protection is pretty cool. You can prevent people from sucking your image from your site and putting it on their site. That’s stealing your bandwidth – so it’s good not to let people do that.

GnuPG Keys is some really fancy secret messaging system where you have keys to unlock messages. As a newbie, you don’t need this. But when you do, the Live Chat operators can walk you through it.

The Domains section is important, too – and I’m not sure if you even see this with a Hatchling account, but you do with the others. Here is where you’ll make a Subdomain and do a few other things.

A subdomain is where you kind of make a branch off of a domain. So let’s say you have an Internet Marketing site where you teach people marketing. It’s called:

JoesMarketing.com

You want to make a subdomain for an article directory all your own. You would click Subdomains and make that – so it might look like this:

Articles.JoesMarketing.com

An Addon Domain is where you’re going to post your new domains. So let’s say Joe goes and buys a new domain called JoesIMNews.com – he would use the Addon Domains to add that to his HostGator account but people could access it just by typing in JoesIMNews.com directly.

A Parked Domain is when you buy a domain, but instead of letting the domain registrar park it and earn money, you park it yourself on your own hosting account until you’re ready to use it.

Redirects are important, too. Let’s say I own a domain and am selling an eBook but it becomes obsolete. Still, the URL gets plenty of traffic. I can redirect it to another one of my domains so that visitors don’t encounter a stagnant site.

All you do is choose which domain you want to redirect and tell the system where to redirect it TO and it will funnel traffic for you.

As a newbie, I don’t recommend you go messing with DNS zone editing. This is complex and not necessary for newbie level (or even moderate level) web host users.

Databases are only going to be vital in my experience if you’re about to flip a website. Otherwise, I haven’t ever used these functions. The wizards are very self explanatory and each icon walks you through the use of that function.

Software services are really cool to play around with. You might even consider buying a junk dot info domain to play with and test out features on. QuickInstall is a way to set up a blog on your site, as is Fantastico. It’s been said recently that QI is less vulnerable to hackers.

In the CGI Center2, you can do lots of cool things like put rotating banners on your website, install a countdown or clock on your site, or implement a guestbook.

The other features aren’t to be messed with unless you’re into coding and complex platforms. Be very careful when messing with anything like this as a newbie – sometimes it’s best to have an experienced webmaster enter your account and alter the way things work and possibly create a tutorial video for you on it.

The Advanced area might be useful in some instances. I tend to stay clear of these sections and only have people who know what they’re doing access that for me. But Live Chat can always help too.

You can do things like manage your images here, or implement Cron jobs. I had to do that when I needed to be able to send emails from my affiliate program – but for a small fee, the company did it for me. (Not HostGator, the other company).

You can also access some free SEO tools that Hostgator has provided links for in this section:

To be honest, some of these are too simple and too free – meaning they do very little for you and you’ve had to hand over your email address for a log in. Not really worth it in my opinion.

Hey everyone! Let’s continue on with our cpanel lesson from last time where you’re seeing a good website hosting option in action.  As you know, Hostgator is my company of choice. It’s affordable, easy to navigate, and I just love it! Last time we went over the left sidebar whenever you log into your account.

This time, let’s navigate the main cpanel area to see what all’s available to you in the first three main sections.

First, you’re going to see the special offers section at the top. These appear to be ads placed within your cpanel, and they’re certainly not Hostgator – so I steer clear. But if you need any of the services, by all means go check it out. They include accepting credit cards, wordpress themes, site protection, web templates and web design.

Next is the section called Hostgator Links. This includes your billing system, where you can set up your payment arrangement to pay for your hosting. Then the account add-ons. This is where you can:

• Get a $100 credit for Google AdWords – Free Voucher
• Change Your Domain Name – $5 One Time
• Get SSL – $150 year, $275 2 year, $400 3 year (each includes installation)
• Install SSL from Another Company – $10 Charge
• Use Site Builder and Site Studio – Free
• Request IP – $2 per ip / month
• Transfer account – Free, they can move your site over from another host. (no guarantees but we will try)
• Generate CSR to purchase SSL from somewhere else (very complicated not recommended) – Free
• Get a Free Domain Name Transfer – they will transfer 1 domain name for free per newly purchased account.
• SSH Activation Request – Free for all primary accounts

Also included in this section is the Support Portal – this just takes you to the main support screen where you can then search for answers, use forums, live chat, etc. After that you have something I’d never noticed – a Website Templates section! Wow! They have a slew of categories and you choose a niche and WOW! They’re great – perfect for beginners! I downloaded one and it comes with or without Flash – that is cool.

Another item in this section is MY personal favorite – Live Chat! The poor live chat people probably wish I wasn’t a customer (lol) but if they do, I never know it because they’re so friendly and don’t get irritated with me whenever I don’t understand something – they just dummy it down for me. Love that!

The Ticket System is last and you log in here to work on open tickets or submit a ticket to the support team. I’ve never had to do this.

The third main section in your Hostgator cpanel is called Preferences. Oh drool! The Getting Started Wizard – another gem I didn’t know was there. When you click on it, you then choose which tutorial you want.  It then walks you through the use of that topic – like if I click Jump To “Webmail” it takes me through the steps of using web mail! Note: Although it looks like a “play” button, it’s text and images.

The next option is Video Tutorials where you can watch the steps – everything from “logging into your cpanel” to “setting up a cron job” which I had to have someone else do for my Jrox Jam affiliate program when I didn’t know this tutorial existed!

After this you have the Change Password and Update Info options. Those are self explanatory. WOW! I didn’t know you could change the style of your cpanel, either! That’s the next button. I like mine familiar, so I won’t change it but some of you may prefer the “black ice,” “blue lagoon,” “beach,” “mobile,” or a bunch of other themes for your cpanel!

Don’t speak English? Then you might not understand what I’m saying here, but the next option is to change the language settings on your cpanel! You could be reading your cpanel in French, Russian or any other language. Awesome!

Last, but not least, there are Shortcuts. You can drag their link to your desktop and be able to access cpanel or web mail right from your desktop. Awesome.

So much I never knew existed. It’s like opening the door to a new world for me! And I’ve gotten by just fine with knowing what I needed to know, but perks are always a plus.

Next time we’ll move on down the cpanel some more – this is good website hosting, people! Lots of features for barely any money.

tiff

Ah I had the same question when I started looking for a host and everyone kept saying, “Whatever you do, get a host with cpanel!” I had NO clue what that was! Now I know it means control panel – it’s a simple, clean and easy dashboard for people who are technically challenged or just like things simple. Hostgator has cpanel and I love it, so today’s we’re going to look at how to log into your cpanel and then what you’ll see on the left sidebar.

Hostgator will have to give you the address to your cpanel but it’ll have your domain in it, along with some other words like frontend. It’s a URL you’ll want to bookmark so that you can log in with the details you created when you signed up for your account.

As soon as you log in, you’ll see items on the left sidebar and then a wider column on the right. At the very top you’ll see a little box that lets you register a domain, transfer a domain, or get WHOIS information on someone else’s domain. I never use these.

On the left, you’ll find a sidebar. We’ll start at the top and scroll on down. You first encounter a Find box. You can search for things here. For instance, if you want to add on a domain, type in addon and it instantly shows up on the right, eliminating everything else but the hostgator and special offer links. I never use this – I just scroll and look but it’s handy if you prefer finding things faster.

Next you’ll find an announcements box. THIS I love! I can log in and instantly see if there’s anything going on that I need to know about. Is there any scheduled maintenance occurring soon that might interrupt one of my product launches? It’ll tell me here so that I don’t screw up and schedule my launch on down time.  Here’s an example of an announcement:

We will be doing maintenance on our ticket system on Sunday, Feb 6th between 1AM and 4AM central.

For more information, please refer to our forum post : http://forums.hostgator.com/02-06-2011-support-maintenance-ticket-t110393.html

I LOVE that they schedule stuff in wee morning hours and that they give forum links to further discuss the situation! If you prefer to get the notifications via email you can do that instead, but I like it this way.

Next you’re going to find a Google AdWords offer box. I don’t use AdWords anymore, but if you do, you’ll find a nice $100 credit waiting for you here. A good way to test the system, right?

Below this, you’re going to find MORE credits you can use for advertising online in the form of Bing and Yahoo advertisements. I have never tried Bing. I don’t use Yahoo anymore. But it’s $25 in ad credits for you.

Now THIS is cool and it’s only because I’m writing up this blog post that I even know this now! Hostgator had a custom script created for them to share in their sidebar to install WordPress blogs called  WordPress QuickInstall. I start thinking, “How is this different from Fantastico?” Then I go playing in Google and find out – there’s NO delay between software update rollouts.

I can PERSONALLY tell you why this is so important! Quick updates helps prevent hackers from accessing your site – keeps it more secure. With Fantastico, it took days. With this one, it’ll take a couple of hours. Don’t think you’ll get hacked? You don’t have to be some big name site to get targeted. There are spammers trolling through the Internet looking for vulnerabilities every second – my sites all got hacked once!

Next in line of the sidebar is a section called Web Site Builders. It as three choices for you – request form, site builder, and Trendy site builder (this one’s new). Here’s the difference… I clicked on Request Form and was told I could only use SiteBuilder or SiteStudio with my PRIMARY domain. That won’t work. I don’t want to try it out there. LOL!

Okay total confusion. I’m on live chat now to figure out the request form. Meanwhile, I click on Trendy Site Builder and it’s a neat tool that lets you build a Flash site that’s optimized for iPhones! It says it has built in SEO. Okay the guy says my sign up for the site building tool is just that – it’s creating a log in to use the tool. Whew! I thought maybe I accidentally gave them the okay to design my site or something. I ask him for the difference between the Trendy and non trendy site builders. He tells me Trendy is just slicker and has a few different features than regular.

Moving on down the sidebar we see a Voip section for those who need phone plans and 800 numbers.

After that is one of MY personal favorite sections – your referral program section. You can make a commission by not only sending customers their way, but ALSO by sending them employees! And I mean like $2,500 for referring some positions of employees. I’m sitting here thinking, “Who do I know who needs a job?” LOL!

Next is a section I use daily – the Website Traffic section. I log in and every day I go see what my traffic stats are. We’ll explain those in depth later but at a glance you can see the previous day’s traffic, traffic this month total and traffic last month total. I always click view all traffic to check all of my domains.

A little further down is an important section called your Backup Status. Please pay attention to this! Hostgator does you the service of backing up your files. If it’s not in GREEN, it means there’s a problem! It’ll also tell you if you’ve exceeded your allotted backup space. This comes in handy if a.) a hacker gets you or b.) you screw up and alter your site in error.

Scroll down a little bit more and you’ll see your Statistics section. This tells you at a quick glance how many addon domains, subdomains, and parked domains that you have. It also shows you where the last login was from, how many processes are running, and a bunch of other little bitty stats like CPA usage.

The very LAST section is your Account Information section. I used to use this all the time but now i have the info memorized. It has your server details. So when you buy a domain at GoDaddy, for example, you will need to “point” the servers from GoDaddy to Hostgator. This is where you get your serve location from. You can also get your server status (down or up), and a few other little details like any past alerts.

LOVE, love, love my cpanel! Next time we’ll go over some of the wider right side of the cpanel!

Tiff

As a consumer of this service for many years now, I feel confident giving an honest website hosting review to you about my experiences. Before I had my own domains, I relied heavily on web 2.0 social networking sites like Squidoo, Hub Pages or Ning.

Once they began getting strict with topics and rules, I decided it was time to take total control and ownership over my own content. I asked around everywhere and time and time again I heard the recommendation of Hostgator.

I checked out the plans and decided with one website, a hatchling package was all I would need. But I was advised against it. For just a few dollars more each month, I could have UNLIMITED domains, and UNLIMITED bandwidth.

I couldn’t foresee the need at the time, but I’m glad I went with the slightly larger Baby package because I have dozens of domains now! And I may have been held back if I kept reminding myself I only had permission for one domain.

Hostgator has been there for me so many times in the past. I’m kind of a tech dummy when it comes to all this stuff. So whenever I need to know how to do ANYthing, I simply log into my cPanel, click the Live Chat button and I’m connected to someone who is always helpful and friendly.

If I need to talk directly, then I call the 800# and talk to someone at any time of any day. This has come in handy and helped me avoid many frustrating situations. They’re very affordable for all of this help, too. I pay $15.94 per month for my package now because I upgraded to the Business level.

And I like that you don’t have to have a contract with this company. If you’re ever not happy, you can leave! That takes the pressure off of us as the consumer and puts it on the company to perform to the best of its ability in order to keep our business.

Tiff