Do I need a Domin and Hosting Step-1

Do I Need a Domain and Hosting?

It is fine to get started on a hosted solution like

Blogger.com or WordPress.com. They will allow you

to learn the basics of blogging and web publishing

without spending money.

As soon as you nail down

these basics, however, it is vital to buy your own

domain name and to purchase a web hosting

package with some company.

Why? There are several reasons. First of all when

you use those hosted services you don't really own

your website, and they could shut it down if they

believe you have violated one of their policies.

Secondly, with your own domain and hosting

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account you will have more flexibility and features

on the technology side. This means that you will be

able to choose different content management

systems to install, special scripts and so on.

Finally, having your own domain name will add a lot

of credibility to your blog, as most beginners (and

spammers) use free hosted solutions.

The question then becomes: What kind of domain

name and hosting should you purchase?

Here is a rule of thumb you can use. For the domain

name, aim for something with two words and a

.com extension. If you have a blog about diets, for

example, you could try dietspot.com or alldiets.com.

But be warned, finding a good and available domain

is not easy, and you will probably need to spend

days on the task.

For the web hosting, choose a shared hosting plan

based on Linux (as opposed to Windows), and make

sure that it uses cPanel (the standard software for

hosting management). If you don't know how to

identify these two things, just email the customer

support of the company asking whether or not they

have it.