Website Help

Do not host your site with the service you use to register the domain.

It can cause problems down the line should you decide to change to a different host or registrar.

I second what Medievalist said. Register with one company, host somewhere else.

I registered with Register.com. Quick and snappy interface, but they want too much to renew. I'll be changing, and I'm only starting to look myself. My host is a small provider called FatCow. Fairly standard control panel interface including the ability to install a great many of the most popular types of site software. And they've been responsive to my more technical questions as well. For my small site, just fine.

Blatant Affiliate Link for FatCow.

Godaddy gets listed in a lot of places. It seems like a decent host. Try to find out their year-after-year prices and see if you can live with the inevitable rate jump. I decided that I could not.

Don't use Weebly or Wix.

For Registrars, I'd avoid GoDaddy because the UI is horrendous; it's designed to fool the unwary into buying extra services at a premium price.

I like dotster and name.com; I'm sure others will have other suggestions.

For a host/Web server, I'd look at BlueHost and DreamHost, in part because they're easy to figure out, and both offer one-click installs of WordPress.

I'm especially impressed lately by the DreamHost response to spam and malware (they respond quickly and courteously when I tell them a user has malware or a bot running) and their support.

But again, there are a number of affordable hosts, and you'll have other reccs I'm sure.

I get my domains from Godaddy and use free hosting from Blogger and Wordpress.

veinglory said:

I get my domains from Godaddy and use free hosting from Blogger and Wordpress.

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I do too. I've never had a problem with either, and they both offer lots of options to customize your site to suit your purposes. I started with Blogger many years ago but about three years ago imported my sites into WordPress.

Using a self-hosted rather than free site has a number of advantages, but my professional opinion is that those are mainly for very large and commercial sites. Beginners who use the free hosting sites can always upgrade, but it's very hard to go the other way.

I use Namecheap. Their introductory price is their regular price. I just paid again. The price was $12 for a year of my domain and $47.40 for a year of hosting. So, that hosting would be $3.95 per month for comparison purposes. I've used their services for two years (just paid for a third) without any complaints.

Medievalist said:

both offer one-click installs of WordPress.

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Please excuse my mentioning that this is the least secure way to install WordPress, and that some people consider it an invitation to "random hacking".

Most hacking of WordPress installations is random: it's unwise to imagine that because a site will attract no "malice" or "competitors", one will probably be safe.

Since I routinely deal with "stuff like this" in my day-job, and am fairly familiar with most of it, I'll offer an opinion on the other questions, too ...

For hosting I recommend avoiding GoDaddy, 1and1 and any hosting company which has been taken over by the EIG group. Without offering a long-winded explanation, I'll just mention that it's increasingly widely reported that their services and reliability are all gradually deteriorating, and that there are valid and understandable reasons for that. I have some HostGator hosting, myself, and am thinking of moving. It's certainly not where I'd start, if getting new hosting tomorrow.

For domain-name registration, I recommend Namecheap, and I strongly recommend avoiding GoDaddy and 1and1.

And - as mentioned above - it's very unwise indeed to register the domain and to host its attached website through the same company.

For anyone wanting "a real Rolls Royce service" for hosting a WordPress blog, "WordPress Engine" is probably the best choice (but with pricing to match).

Apart from the companies mentioned above, long-established, reliable, decent hosting companies are all "much of a muchness" and the price-differences between them are typically very small. A company called "Arvixe" is very popular and widely recommended, at the moment, in the internet marketing community. (I haven't used it, myself.)

I agree with what alexaherself says.

Domains: I have never used GoDaddy but from friends who have, I hear their service is sub-par. Avoid 1and1 like the plague; I have used them before and having emailed them to cancel a domain, then cancelled it through their control panel I was still billed. I had to threaten to take a complaint to Nominet before I was given my refuns (14 days later). I Highly recommend NameCheap. I have registered about ~13 domains through them and I have never had any problems what so ever.

For hosting, I use servers so I can't say too much for shared hosting, but if you've a bit of money to throw around I've heard great things from SimplexWebs (disclaimer: I know the owner, however check twitter and you'll see songs of praise). Equally, as mentioned, avoid the EIG Group, and many of the sites which offer 'unlimited' this and 'unlimited' that. Everything in the world of computers is finite

Good luck

Okay, after seeing this, might I join in with a question along the same lines? If not, ignore this, but I am asking it here in case it helps others (I thought about a PM to some people instead, but hope I am getting it right that it is better to post for all to benefit if it is relevant).

From the comments so far, I am glad I did one part right, I have my domains registered somewhere different than my hosting.

However, they were registered with godaddy, so I may change that when they are up for renewal, I will look into that.

But, ... I have been hacked

I am hosted with hostgator (shared, business plan), but their conclusion was that it was on my end, either a weak password or malware on my device. I only logged in once and with my Mac, and can see nothing there that would do that. Plus, I never changed my password yet from the default one they gave me, so I thought it would be random enough (unless the hackers could access those somehow).

Years ago I ran quite a successful blog/website under a pseudonym (at least in my view it was "successful"- about 10,000 different/ unique visitors a month not counting bots as best as I could tell, average about 70 comments per post but only one post per week, and about $100 a month in Adsense when I ended it). I was using Wordpress and hosting by Hostgator. I had a few issues with footer hackers, but it appeared to by my Wordpress theme at the time. Hostgator seemed fine.

Anyway, I shut it down to work on my dissertation, but I am now starting my one under my real name as an "authority" in my nonfiction field. So, I was so happy to get it looking like I wanted in the theme, and to begin writing posts ahead (not yet visible) so I have several ready to go on launch (this blog is for educators).

But now I am not sure where to start. It is easy enough for me to just re-load, or also to just start over and copy/paste in, since it was not really live yet.

So, I looked at Dreamhost as mentioned above by Medi. It looks good. I am wondering if it is worth the money difference? As far as protection from hacking? (I see their VPS plan may be better than business shared from hostgator, with adding unique IP in Dreamhost, if it matters to have this?)

Also, alexaherself, now that you mention it, when I did my blogs years ago, I did the whole thing manual install, and even taught myself to create the databases and use FTP for some things (and cpanel for others). But, this time, on the hacked one, I did use the one-click install of Wordpress.

Could that have messed me up? If so, is it just due to .htaccess or whatever (I can check my permissions if so), or maybe I don't know enough about it yet, but I would like to learn before settling on this and fixing my site, while it is still easy to start over.

So, I wonder should I switch hosts, do a manual Wordpress install in either place (although Medi I think implied it might be fine to do one-click install with Dreamhost at least?) or just leave it be and re-load it?

Any ideas are great. I have been searching this forum and google, but still finding very different opinions. Again, this is not my specialty, but I am tech savvy enough to use a little of everything (so perhaps more dangerous than if I knew nothing?).

Again, I am hoping this just helps add to the discussion of the original OP on hosting choices, since hacking came up, and is something I and all should want to protect against.. Free "virtual" boxes of chocolate and coffee for your assistance

But I will also keep looking for these answers myself, so if no one replies to these questions, I will add answers here if I can find anything out someway, somehow.

atthebeach said:

I have my domains registered somewhere different than my hosting.

However, they were registered with godaddy, so I may change that when they are up for renewal, I will look into that.

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When I was first online, I registered some domain-names with GoDaddy. You can always move them (to Namecheap, perhaps, or to whatever other registrar you like), but don't leave it until the last month before expiry, otherwise you won't be able to do so. About 6 weeks before renewal is a good time to do that.

atthebeach said:

I looked at Dreamhost as mentioned above by Medi. It looks good.

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Dreamhost, just like HostGator, is now part of EIG.

Another one to avoid, in my opinion.

It used to be a good host, with good, prompt and reliable customer service, just like HostGator was.

atthebeach said:

Also, alexaherself, now that you mention it, when I did my blogs years ago, I did the whole thing manual install, and even taught myself to create the databases and use FTP for some things (and cpanel for others). But, this time, on the hacked one, I did use the one-click install of Wordpress.

Could that have messed me up?

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Maybe. Most WordPress blogs that get hacked have been installed that way.

atthebeach said:

Medi I think implied it might be fine to do one-click install with Dreamhost at least

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I respectfully disagree, both about the choice of hosting company and the method of WordPress installation.

I don't suggest that it's necessarily urgent for you (or for anyone else) to leave HostGator. I still host a few of my own sites there, but I'll certainly relocate them at some point, before my year's hosting contract there comes up for renewal. If you need to reinstall WordPress and sort your site out, now might be a good time for you to move hosts, anyway? I do think you'll be safer and better off elsewhere. Install manually, using your own password (or hire someone to do it for you? You can outsource this service for as little as $5-$10 - it's only about 15 minutes' work for someone who does them every day - and then change the password as soon as the outsourcee's finished their work.) Just a suggestion. And good luck!

Thanks for your feedback. I may be rusty, but I can re-teach myself to install Wordpress manually, so I think I will this time, starting over, just to be on the safe side (even though I do see people arguing both ways, since I can, I don't see a drawback to doing it).

And I am paying month to month on hosting, so I can switch at any time, so after being hacked before it really was started, this is the time for me to get this setup right. I expect to have several posts and commenters from educators who already follow me elsewhere, and plan eventually to offer some professional development modules for sale, as well, but I am not sure if I will ever use add Adsense this time. I may only do affiliates to products I use and recommend in my classroom (and books I sell), not sure. My point is that it may be mostly posts to help with teaching tips, an author page, and probably not be a huge marketing site or anything, but I still would like to set it up for success on this side of things. I would hate to give my readers an awful experience with it frequently being hacked, etc.

But, on hosting, what are other ones then that are not part of EIG? And realize I did not know Hostgator was part of that (nor even know what EIG was), until it was mentioned here. Of course, I will also research it for myself, and I am not trying to say others are wrong about Hostgator being good. I had been very happy with them before (of course, that blog/website I shut down was ended in 2007, a while ago).

But, just curious which other ones are you saying are not part of EIG and are more effective?

I do realize some expensive solutions are out there, but I cannot do a $100+ a month one, and I want to stay using Wordpress, but I don't care if the host uses cpanel, as long as they are pretty good.

I also realize there is no guarantee of not being hacked, but I am just trying to see what are the best and affordable options right now.

ETA: I missed you mentioning Arvixe, Alexaherself. I am wondering if someone has used them, or another non EIG, as Userc16 also mentioned to do, in case I decide to avoid them?

I did everything piecemeal. I registered my domain names with DirectNiC and Network Solutions. I purchased my templates from Template Monster (and one from Woo for an ecommerce site). I have all of them hosted on Siteground. And I'm very happy with Siteground. How about that?

Okay, back to some issues you should be aware of. A lot of times when you purchase your domain and website template from Godaddy and similar providers, you cannot move that template later if you decide to go to another host. This is the reason that they can offer some very low cost or free templates. I have a friend who has used them and I have used Blue Host in the past. However, I like freedom and transferability, so I went the other way. Having said that, using one of these hosts can be a great way to save money. If you don't plan or envision yourself leaving anytime soon, go for it. Just make sure you read the fine print and ask questions with their individual support teams about anything you may be concerned about. Also, check bandwidth, overages, and other costs associated with hosting. Oops, one last thing. Usually loading images count in your bandwidth calculation. I learned that little fact when I was shopping around for my commerce host. All the best!

Thanks for your input.

I purchased a Wordpress theme this time (previously I used a free one). But I did not purchase anything but my domain from godaddy.

The theme is Genesis with one of their child themes (but yes I have seen good things about Woo too). So, my theme should port no matter where I host.

Afaik, godaddy is not known for holding domains "hostage" or anything. I originally paid a fortune for my original domains through yahoo, then switched to godaddy, and it was not too difficult to switch domain registration. I did have to change the DNS but that was not hard to figure out. I let those domains go in 2007 when I retired my blog, and when I purchased these new domains a few months or so ago, I just automatically went back to the companies I used before (godaddy and hostgator).

So, at least for some, from what I see, hostgator is still doing well. But for my long term needs, since I am starting fresh, and since some are warning about them, I am looking at these other options. And I did read up a bit on EIG now, but I am still not well-read enough to feel confident either way yet, so I love these inputs here to give me tips on pros and cons.

Thanks all who have given or will give input. This is a great thread- thanks OP for starting it!

My understanding is the same as yours. I pay not to have my information listed. I included it in the price I quoted before, but it is an add on. I believe they act as a middle man, providing their information rather than ours because, as I understand it, every site requires posted registration.

Correct. You can decide if your name, address (and I think even phone number) are visible or not.

If you google WHOIS lookup, you can see who owns which website, their registration info. When you purchase a domain, you can have private registration, or public. Many providers charge extra for private domains. Regardless, your domain fee should be for a long period of time (eg. maybe $10 for a year, or $50 for 5 years).

I would not worry too much about your domain registration. Mine are with godaddy, and while I intend to switch them over after reading the information in this thread, it is not something I need to worry about immediately afaik.

Then, in case someone does not know about hosting (but you obviously already do), to view content on your domain, you need to pay for monthly hosting (but some charge a cheaper rate if you pay months or even a full year ahead). This is what is most important, afaik.

Your web host is responsible to maintain up time and a fast enough website, per your expectations or their promises. But, there are so many hosting companies out there, it can be hard to know which ones are good, hence the discussion. Then, if you are unhappy with your website host company, you can go to where you bought the domain (preferably a different company), and just change the DNS. This DNS is the Domain Name Server settings, and simply means where your registrar points your domain, to which hosting company. So you just tell your hosting company you are done, and easily switch. Whereas, if I understand correctly, some who have hosted with their registrar/domain registration company may have some difficulty switching hosts, but in theory it should work okay, unless you have a template tied to their hosting only, etc.

So choosing hosting is done through your host company, while making your domain private or not is with your domain registration company (which could be the same company, but is best if it is not).

And on Wordpress- like Blogger, they are just ways to present your site. I use Wordpress for my entire website, not just blog posts (I am not familiar enough with Blogger to know if you can use that for your own website/personal domain or not, but you can with Wordpress). But you can also avoid these if you prefer. If you are used to Blogger, and will be adding content a lot to your website, rather than just w website template, you might consider Wordpress for it (unless you find Blogger will work and you want to use Blogger since you already know it). I find Wordpress very easy to use, and very customizable.

Someone else can correct me if I missed something, but hopefully that expands it a bit to help answer your question.

ETA: see later comments in this thread- I am referring to self-hosting here, not hosting at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com

I'll just mention two things about "private registrations"/"whois-protection": first, if you register domain-names at Namecheap, you get one year's "whois-guard" included in the registration-fee and can renew it after the first year for $2.88 per year; secondly, any form of privacy protection is probably protection only from laypeople casually wondering who owns the name: it won't normally prevent a professional researcher or a hacker from discovering your identity (there are also ways of doing that, but they're terribly inconvenient and expensive).

It's easy, when people talk of WordPress, to overlook the fact that much of what's discussed in conversations like this one is "self-hosted WordPress". That refers to blogs/websites made with the content management system called WordPress, which is available free of charge from wordpress.org, and/or is included as an insecure one-click installation at many hosts, whether they're free or paid hosts. There's also a separate place called wordpress.com which is a free hosting site for a limited range of WordPress blogs with a limited range of features, with many restrictions in the terms of service (be very careful!).

It's important to know, if using blogger.com or wordpress.com that they own the blog/site, not you, even if you own the copyright to its content. Make sure you always have a back-up of your site, wherever it is.

Being "in the trade", and perhaps also being a little pedantic about some of these confused and confusing issues, I'm also going to mention that there are several instances, in this thread, of advice with which I disagree. For example, I would never, myself, host a blog at either blogger.com or wordpress.com, but I would and do use both weebly.com and wix.com (each on a paid and upgraded basis), and I consider both to be underrated and very good hosts. Just my perspective.

alexaherself said:

For example, I would never, myself, host a blog at either blogger.com or wordpress.com, but I would and do use both weebly.com and wix.com (each on a paid and upgraded basis), and I consider both to be underrated and very good hosts. Just my perspective.

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One of the big reasons I recommend both Blogger and wordpress.com is that they make great starter platforms, and are easy to move to self-hosted if and when the owner feels ready to do so.

I've only tried Weebly and Wix twice each, and they worked just fine, but I found myself unable to readily export my content when I tried to move to self-hosted. In each case, I eventually gave up and uploaded the content from local saves.

I don't find either site dishonest about this. I just don't recommend them because of it.

I am glad for clarification on terminology.

So then to be clear to those wondering about which I meant in my comments here, I was referring to having your own domain, and using what Alexaherself said is called "self-hosting" of Wordpress, and then in the future I will do a manual install (instead of one-click). (ETA this sentence: I just looked back and saw Laer Carroll used the term self-hosting vs. free sites, but I did not catch the distinction there- thanks to you too)

I did not realize that for either blogger.com or wordpress.com you would call it "hosting" your blog there- good to know! I did, however, know you could sign up for a blog free using their website, but I always called that "using" their website- I am not "in the business", so glad to know for future discussions that what I have been discussing is called "self-hosting".

So, just to be clear, what I have been talking about is not using those sites, but instead having my own domain and "self-hosting", while installing Wordpress on my site (not on wordpress.com) as my way of creating my website and managing content.

I guess it is worth mentioning that I have seen many others who only want a basic blog be very happy with blogger.com and wordpress.com (and I have heard the names weebly and wix but know nothing about their user experiences). But, I want full control of my website, and not the restrictions mentioned above, so that is why I am not using any of those places.

It is also good to know you could move to self-hosting later, robjvargas, I did not know that (but difficulty in exporting is another good reason for me not to use those sites, since I need some of the freedoms I don't believe are possible there). So, I still intend to stick with my own hosting and full control from the beginning.

This is insightful- thanks all!