That’s what Xan at the American Institute of Polygraph discovered when she switched her small business website hosting to ClickHOST.

“FINALLY hassle free web hosting. If you hate making phone calls, dealing with computer operated phone systems, being on hold for crazy amounts of time while listening to bad music, being cut off only to start the entire process over, then ClickHOST is your answer. I use to play this game every time I needed assistance. NOW all I do is send a short email, and before I know it I have a reply from ClickHOST, and my problem has been solved. If it is hassle free web hosting you desire, ClickHOST will provide it. I couldn’t be more pleased!!”

Xan’s story at American Institute of Polygraph may be similar to yours.  Don’t stress about being a nameless face in the crowd when it comes to small business website hosting.  When you choose ClickHOST, you’ve got a friend in the website hosting business, so call upon us anytime you need the support of a friend who can guide you through questions and problems.  Whether you have experienced the support frustration from other hosting services, or maybe you are new and looking for your first website hosting service, now is the time to get have your website in the hands of ClickHOST.  Experience the difference that having a best friend in the website hosting business can make.

To make this simple, let’s go way back and think about the first way you learned to build.  For me, it was American Plastic Bricks, but you were probably more of a Lego kid.  Did you follow the step-by-step directions to come up with the exact replica of the model on the box, or were you kind of a free-form designer with a better idea?  Regardless of your method, you learned that adding the little extras, like doors and chimneys and wheels, gave your design the functionality that really made it special.  WordPress plugins do the same thing for your website.  With over 11,000 WordPress plugins available, the task of selecting what you need can be challenging.  Start by considering these ten ClickHOST favorite plugins for your small business site, sorted here by function:

NEED FOR SPEED

1 – W3 Total Cache:  Visitors are impatient, so give your site-loading time a turbo-boost.  Once installed correctly, you will be amazed at the performance.  Remember that ClickHOST is the WordPress expert, so support is just a moment away!  Once you install W3 Total Cache, your visitors will see a marked improvement in how fast your page loads. <<<Read a review.

PUT IT WHERE YOU WANT IT

2 – Page Mash:  In designing your site, you may have the best plan, but let’s face it, building a site is part science and part art.  Moving pages and subpages can be time-consuming and confusing, but Page Mash makes this so easy, allowing you to drop and drag the pages from place to place.  You will love this!

3 – Widget Context:  Sidebars are great for drawing attention to special content, but directing specific sidebar content to specific pages can be challenging.  Widget Context allows you to easily control the sidebar content for each page independently. <<<Read a review.

FILL IN THE BLANKS

4 – Gravity Forms:  ($) Communications is a two-way street, so collecting a visitor’s information through a form should be a professional and flawless user experience.  Also, designing that form and collecting that information with full-featured ease is critical for you.  Gravity Forms is an affordable plugin that gives your amazing flexibility in forms design. Scheduling, pricing, multi-page forms are added features of this very versatile plugin.  <<<Read a review.

BEING SOCIAL

5 – Thank Me Later:  Everyone likes to be noticed when they post comments.  Build repeat traffic by personally thanking each contributing visitor so that they feel welcomed and appreciated.  This is exactly what the plugin Thank Me Later offers.  You set the parameters for when and what the message includes.  This isn’t a cold auto-responder, but instead if offers a great personal touch. <<<Read a review.

6 – Digg Digg:  It’s all about being connected, and those little social media icons have become a mainstay on websites.  If a visitor wants alerts when you post, then they will choose to have notification sent to the social media that they check often.  Digg Digg is a great little sidebar that keeps social media icons in easy view instead of at the bottom of the page where they could be lost or never viewed.  Consider Digg Digg because visibility is the key to linking your page to the visitor’s social feed. <<<Read a review.

HIDE and SEEK

7 – All In One SEO:  Think about the game of hide and seek, but completely opposite.  You want to be jumping out from behind every tree in the park, hoping that the seeker is looking your way and can find you quickly.  Traditionally, All In One SEO has been the plugin of choice to make sure that when visitors type in keywords, that they land on your site.  But it is only as good as the extent to which you use it!  So know the keywords that are important to draw your traffic, and use this plugin to assure those visitors find you first.

8 – Google XML Sitemaps:  Help Google and other search engines do a better job of indexing your site.  To better understand what this means, think about how hard it is to use a really outdated navigation system in an old car.  You are looking for a local place, but it comes up with everything within 900 miles, and unless you entered the exact name in its database, it doesn’t find what you want. Amazingly, when you type that same request into Google Maps, it is like it is reading your mind, and the correct place, map, and contact information appears in a split second.  Why?  It is all about better indexing, and better indexing for your site a critical factor in assuring the crawlers retrieve the information efficiently.  This plugin makes sure that your site is easily indexed so that you can be found. <<<Read a review.

9 – WordPress SEO by Yoast:  It’s your SEO expert proofreader, allowing you insight to improve content, titles, permalinks, and meta tags.  With this essential plugin, you can easily review what search engines find on your site, and then fine tune content to match what you want the visitor to find.  It even allows you to preview how your site will be displayed in searches. <<<Read a review.

SLAM SPAM

10 – Akismet:  While it comes standard with WordPress, make sure that you are using this important plugin to filter out comment and track-back spam.  It works unattended, so you can spend your time creating content instead of deleting web spam.

And the list of WordPress plugins for Business goes on… It’s hard to stop at just ten! Here are a few more great plugins that might be just what you need:

11 - Growmap: Keep spambots from attacking your comment area.  Growmap uses a simple click box instead of the annoying and time-consuming captcha.  Because it is generating by a client-side javascript, bots don’t even see the click box.  All the live human needs to do is click to enable the comment to be sent.

12 - Subscribe to Comments Reloaded:  Keep everyone talking!  This plugin allows commenters to subscribe to receive emails when subsequent comments are made.  Are you upgrading from another plugin like Mark Jaquith’s Subscribe to Comments?  No problem, as this allows importing and data cloning.

13 - Broken Link Checker:  What a great plugin!  It will check all the links, and detect those that do not work.  And what is even better, you can edit the links from the plugin’s page so you don’t have to go to each page or blog entry.

14 - Insights:  It is like dropping a portal to the information you need to display right where you want it.  The possibilities are endless.  Add in a Google Map, interlink your sites, insert a YouTube video, add a Google Search, insert a Flickr image.  Imagine how rich your content can be with this plugin.

15 - Related Posts Thumbnails:  Once you have a visitor’s attention, make sure that they can easily be redirected to a related post.  Customize thumbnails to be shown at the bottom using the first image found in the post.

16 –  WordPress Popular Posts By Héctor Cabrera:  Keep thumbnails of your most popular posts displayed on the sidebar.  And it has shortcode support so you can display your popular posts on your pages, too!

What is your favorite plugin? Please share in the comments.
 

Tip 1:  Don’t bite on clever junk mail

It may look legit, but that piece of mail that looks like an invoice for your domain name is probably a clever Domain Name Scam like Domain Registry of America, known for duping you into believing that their domain name is about to expire, and that you must pay immediately.  When you do, this switches your registration to the new company, and you pay a highly inflated price as well.

In short, if it doesn’t come from your current domain name registration company or from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) , discard this as junk mail immediately.  Want to learn more about this, click here or here.

Tip 2:  Don’t ignore important email

Be aware of the expiration dates of all your domain names.  If you choose ClickHOST to register your domain, you will always get a reminder, (from ClickHOST, not another company), well in advance of your expiration date. Don’t ignore this.  Act immediately so that your domain name doesn’t expire.

If you have your name registered somewhere else, consider switching your domain name to a trusted source like ClickHOST where you can depend upon timely and legitimate reminders.  Click here to learn more about how to switch your domain name registration.

Also, pay attention to emails that come from ICANN, as these can be very important for you to verify that you own a domain. A typical ICANN email could ask you to confirm your whois information “Important Notice: Please Verify Contact Data for your Domain Name(s).” Read these emails carefully, and respond as necessary to avoid problems and protect your domain from domain name scams. You can see an example of such an email in the, 3 easy tips to transfer your domain name blog post.

Tip 3:  Don’t “window shop” in the wrong place for possible domain names

This is the biggest scam of all, and despite of, (and in some cases, as a result of), all the regulations enacted by ICANN, some domain name merchants are just sneaky.

To better understand the potential problem, imagine that you are a kid in a candy store, and the store only stocks one piece of every kind of candy.  You ask the shopkeeper, “Do you have a Snickers bar?”  “Yes,” he replies, “and the price is 50 cents.”  “Hmmm.  How about Twix?” You are trying to decide.  “Is that available?”  “Sure,” the shopkeeper answers.  “That is 50 cents, too.”  This continues while you inquire about many different types of candy, but little do you know that there is sneaky kid right behind you who is buying the only Snickers, the only Twix, and every other candy bar in which you have shown an interest.  So you decide that the Snickers bar is what you want to purchase.  “I’ve decided to buy the Snickers,” you tell the shopkeeper.  “I’m sorry, but that little kid just bought it.  You’ll have to see if he will sell the Snickers to you now.”  Wow, and now instead of costing 50 cents, the creepy little kid is asking $5 for it, and you must either pay the price, or pick a different piece of candy that hopefully hasn’t been snatched up already.

Do you get the idea?

This is called Domain Name Front Running, or DNFR for short.  While ICANN has set limitations to make sure that people don’t buy up hordes of names, some tricky ones find out what you are looking for, and then buy up those domain names, only to charge you an inflated price if you decide that is what you want.  Even though some domain name merchants say that they never do DNFR, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t clever with their prices.  Consider this domain name scam used by a popular merchant who claims to never do DNFR.

When you first search on a domain name through their site, the price is $9.99.  You keep searching, considering other domain names, and the next day, you return to that same site to purchase the $9.99 name.  To your surprise, the price had jumped to $12.99, so you wait, and one day later, you check again and now it is $19.99.  Every time you check, the price is higher.  You feel like you had better buy it now before it costs even more.  Imagine how many people fall for this ploy, and how many dollars these domain name merchants are making as a result of either DNFR or clever pricing schemes. Most ClickHOST domains cost $17.95 (.ca is $24.99) and you can find the pricing list here.

So what can you do to avoid this?  Don’t window shop where domain name scams are a possibility.  ClickHOST would never capture your searches, and then inflate the price to you in the future.  ClickHOST would never participate in DNFR.  You and ClickHOST are PARTNERS in this website hosting and domain name registering alliance.  Trust is the cornerstone of any successful business relationship, and ClickHOST would never participate in any domain name scams.

In fact, this is the very reason that we are bringing these three tips to avoid domain name scams to your attention.  Click here to learn more about how to prevent domain name front running, and get tips on how to search for available sites without having the creepy little kid buying up the candy you are considering, or search through ClickHOST, knowing that your long-term satisfaction with ClickHOST is our goal.  It is your website, so watch out!  Domain name scams are lurking where you would least expect! Now that you are aware, perhaps you would like to move your existing domain to ClickHOST.

Click here to transfer your domain to ClickHOST.

Steven’s Hire The Handyman site is designed using WordPress, the free web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. Like many others, Steven has found that selecting small business website hosting with WordPress expertise is important.

“ClickHOST is a reliable WordPress hosting service! Their customer service is always prompt and polite. (I’ve put them to the test at all hours!) They’ve straightened out my issues when I installed WP improperly, and they were there when I needed FTP help. We have a lot of choices in the marketplace, but I recommend working with ClickHOST because of their amazing service in small business website hosting.”

Hire the Handyman is an Atlanta-based company servicing homeowners and their diverse needs for repair and improvement. Steven builds his business on excellent customer service. “To build repeat business, and to get referrals, Hire the Handyman puts the needs of the customer first.  I really appreciate the fact that ClickHOST understands this, too. And just as I enjoy solving the riddles hidden in building construction flaws, ClickHOST experts feel the same way about solving issues with my website.”

When a small business like Hire the Handyman chooses ClickHOST, they get complete backup service, keeping their site secure and constantly monitoring for potential hackers.  This means that business owners like Steven don’t need to worry about a plan to keep their site safe and secure.

If you have a small business, and you are looking for great small business website hosting, take it from Steven,

“ClickHOST has that personal touch that my customers expect from me. When you have a problem, you get immediate attention from an expert. ClickHOST assures me on a regular basis that the smooth functioning of my website is their priority. For this reason, I will continue to use and recommend ClickHOST for small business web hosting.”

Thank you for being an awesome customer Steven. Click here to order one of our hosting plans:

Compare hosting plans

 

 1.  Choose Great Content that Begs for a Blog Comment

Ask a thousand bloggers what makes content great, and you will get a thousand answers.  But really, it all boils down to one very important word – RESONATE!  Without going into the physics of that term (ewwh), it’s all about wavelength. Yes, make sure that you are on the same wavelength with your readers.  Think of these three things:

• Are they interested in your topic?  Know you reader, search for the content they are viewing, and learn from their comments.
• Is your writing style like that of your readers?  Unless you are Hemingway, your personal style doesn’t matter at all.  Use correct grammar, vary your sentence structure, choose words like a poet would, but in the end, make sure that the voice you use resonates with your reader.  The best way to learn the voice of your reader is to actually read what they are writing.
• Create an editorial calendar.  At least five weeks at a time, create a plan for your topics, and then stick with the plan.  If once-a-week posts are all you can muster, that’s fine, but stick with the plan.  Make sure that your content is varied.  If the post is informational, ask what questions does this raise.  If the post is full of opinion, ask readers to weigh in with their thoughts.  And text alone is boring.  Make sure that you include photos and graphics to illustrate and draw attention to your content.

2.  Get out of your shell and post comments on other blogs

For a moment, let’s remember our preschool days, sharing the sandbox with our classmates.  Some of the same dynamics of making friends applies to your WordPress blogging friends, too.  If you bring your own bucket and shovel, and never ask anyone else to play, chances are pretty good that the other kids are going to let you dig all alone.  Get out there, both virtually and personally.  Put this high on your to-do list… create a spreadsheet of all the blogs you can find that are similar to yours in content, and read them regularly.  Better yet, comment regularly. Get to know the movers and shakers, the people of influence, who others have come to know and trust.  What draws readers to comment on their posts?  Take advice from the middle school counselor.  “If you want have a friend, then find someone that you like, and be nice to them.”  If you have a business blog, knowing these people of influence becomes very important. These can be your focus group or your new-product fans.  Find the friends, and cultivate the friendships.  Don’t forget your personal contacts, too.  Once you have good virtual and personal relationships identified, don’t be shy.  Ask them to read your blog, and ask them to comment if they are so inclined.  And when they do, don’t forget to comment back, and do the same for their blogs.
 

3.  Smile and play nicely.

Remember that the basic rules of friendship apply even in the virtual world of blogging.

• Don’t throw sand – keep everything you say positive.
• Like others – Yes, click “Like” often, and make your comments say, “I think that you are great, and smart, and creative, and clever, and…” You get the picture!
• Being unique doesn’t mean being weird – There is a fine line between being a trendsetter and just being strange.  If you are going a new direction, and there doesn’t seem to be a line following you, chances are good that you need to fine-tune your approach.
• Most of all, be approachable –  This means that you need to be a real person with questions sometimes, and a need for what the readers have to say.  Don’t always be the first to have all the right answers.  Everyone needs to feel important and valued, even the reader.  This means that whenever anyone comments on your blog, you always, always, reply with an acknowledgement.

Bonus tips

And finally, never forget to ask for blog comments.

Thank you for reading this, and we know that you have great ideas to add to these three tips.  Help us get a conversation going here about things you have done to find success in building reader interaction, especially unique ways you use to increase blog comments!
 

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Beware.

Just as in driving, the best way to avoid an accident is to be aware of your surroundings.  Anticipate where problems can occur, both problems caused by hackers, and problems that you can potentially cause.  At ClickHOST, we know that you have a business to run or content to write, and keeping up with the latest in website security may not be on the top of your “to-do” list.  When you choose to have ClickHOST host your website, you can rely upon us to keep up with the latest security risks. For example, the recent timthumb WordPress security flaw.  ClickHOST constantly monitors this so that they are aware of potential security breaches even before your site can feel the damage.  With a ClickHOST site, you are already ahead of the curve when it comes to security awareness.

Prepare.

Take steps now to assure that your site is safe.  If you have a WordPress site, investigate plugins that will create the security barrier your site needs.  If you are unsure of what you can do proactively to avoid potential security problems, talk with a ClickHOST support expert.  Because you have chosen ClickHOST, a team of experts is ready to assist you.  Don’t wait.  Contact ClickHOST now to learn more about how you can be prepared.

Repair.

You can be aware of potential security issues, you can prepare your site to lessen the chances, but in the end, it is just a matter of time until you will be faced with a serious problem.  If something bad happened today, would you know what to do first?  If you had chosen another host company, you could be on your own.  In the event of hacking or even a problem that you inadvertently created, you can rely on ClickHOST!  We have your back, or backup so to speak!  Did you know that ClickHOST backs up your site every day, every week, and every month, so you are ready when Mayhem strikes.  In the event of a problem, even if you do not have a backup plan yourself, ClickHOST can turn back the hands of time until a point where you are up and running.  If you didn’t choose ClickHOST, your site may not have the peace of mind.  So breathe deeply, knowing that you have made the best decision.

We want to hear from you.

Please SHARE your story, so we all can learn from each other.

Do you have a story about a disaster?

Do you have questions about security and recovery?

Please comment now!  Let’s talk!

But before we get to that, let’s think about lunch.  Yes, lunch.  Did you pack your lunch today?  If you did, then it’s most likely something leftover from your dinner last night, or maybe it’s just a random frozen thing requiring the office microwave.  Can you hardly wait to eat that delicious lunch as it pops out of the brown bag looking like the cover of Bon Appetit?  No?  Maybe you are more of a go-out-for-lunch-and-let-someone-else-cook-and-clean-up kind of a person.   So what does that have to do with starting a website?

Once you have selected ClickHOST to host your website, the canvas is blank and fresh and full of potential.  Now you must consider the very important factor that sets the stage for your site’s effectiveness.  Will you design the site yourself, or will your have an expert design it for you?  It’s like the decision to brown-bag it, or to go out for lunch?  Maybe you are a great cook, and you can think of nothing more exciting than to spend time every evening planning and preparing the perfect next day’s lunch.  But what if you aren’t such a good cook, and your pantry is about as bleak as your interest in food preparation?

Your website can be a great do-it-yourself masterpiece, but its effectiveness is only as good as its designer.  Consider these three tips, and then evaluate your skill, your interest, and your expendable time.  Do you brown-bag it, or do you turn it over to an expert?  ClickHOST is the solution for either path you choose!

1 – FUNCTION is FIRST – A website must be functional; it has to work.  If you are going to do this yourself, choose a CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress, and spend some time learning how to start a website.  Aside from the basic creation of the site, you also must consider SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so visitors can find your site easily.  Then you also must include all important features, such as forms for visitors to complete, links to social media, handling spam, and possible shopping cart features.  If right off the bat, this sounds like more that you care to learn, contact ClickHOST.  We can create an affordable solution based upon the most popular CMS WordPress, and then with very little training, you will be able to maintain and update the site yourself.  Let ClickHOST design the functioning of your site.

Click here for more info!

2 – CONTENT is CRITICAL – Your website is your face to the world.  The words you use need to be selected carefully.  Choose each sentence as if you were a poet.  Create interest that draws the reader from one concept to the next.  Just because “grammar-check” didn’t underline it in green doesn’t mean that it is correct or effective. Without going into a lesson in composition, remember these hints for effective writing:

• Vary sentence length and structure.
• Watch out for repeated words.
• When in doubt about correctness, reference Chicago Manual of Style online.

Of course, if you confess that writing is not your forte, then hire an expert who will craft your thoughts into excellent written communication.  ClickHOST is here to help with that, too.

3 – DESIGN must be DISTINCTIVE – Don’t you love to walk into a beautifully furnished room?  You eye is drawn to the great art on the walls, and the uncluttered simplicity makes you want to sit down and stay awhile.  Your website should be the same.  Images, menus, text blocks, and colors all draw the eye while setting the tone. Unless you are an experienced designer, choose one of these two approaches:

• Keep a reference of website designs that you really like, and then model your site after those awesome designs.

- OR -

• Hire an experienced website designer who knows what works well.  Call on ClickHOST!  We have the design experience that will ensure your site is visually wonderful.

The choice is yours!  Survey your skills and your interests.  Brown-bag it if that works for you.  However if you decide to leave the details of function, content, and design to an expert, ClickHOST has the solution to meet your needs and your budget!

Are you ready to learn more?

Is Personal Web Hosting For You?

This is the biggest question, because you could end up reading this whole article and find out it’s not what you want (and really, don’t you just hate that?). So let’s go down a quick checklist to decide whether you need a personal website or something more.

Web hosting for a personal site is right for you if:

• You want to start a blog or online journal
• You want to start a hobby site
• You don’t expect a lot of visitors
• You want to use your site as a business card
• You don’t expect to sell products

On the other hand, if you want to start an online business, sell products and have a lot of visitors, small business web hosting is a better option. A personal website is generally small and uncomplicated– it doesn’t take up a lot of room, doesn’t get a lot of traffic and won’t be selling products.

I’m Still Here – So, What’s a Personal Website, Really?

A personal website can be several things and several things at once. For example, a personal website can be a blog or online journal, a portfolio, a business card or any mix of these things. It doesn’t have to be about you. It could be about something you enjoy or feel strongly about. You could create a personal website with nothing more than quotes you really enjoy, or Scrapbooking for the Non Artistic. You can write 5,000 word essays on being romantic, or something as simple as:

Blog entry, Tea Time – I could have chosen biscuits, but the prawns looked really good today. Yay for prawns! P.S. Don’t tell mom, but I ate three…

There’s no “proper” way to use a personal site. Here are a few examples of personal websites, to give you an idea of the possibilities:

• Journal – Daniel Howells
• Willy Sudiarto Raharjo – My Personal Blog
• Daniele Liberati
• Hugs for Monsters
• Adelle Charles

Web Hosting for Personal Websites

Remember the checklist at the beginning of this article? This section explains why it was there in the first place.

How hosting works – the really simple version

(If you know how hosting works, skip this part) You’re using a computer to access this article. That computer has a certain amount of space on it – 300 Gigabyte, for example. Your hosting provider also has a computer, specifically set up to serve web pages to the Internet (aka, a server). The server’s space is limited; therefore, the space available to you is also limited. Some files, such as large images and video, take up a lot of space.

Choosing your personal web host

Not all website hosting is created equal. Some provide better customer service, yet offer smaller space. Others offer huge amounts of space, but you’ll never be able to talk to a live person. Many hosting providers offer services and space you’ll never need (but it sounds really good). Because of the many differences in cost, services, space and so on, choosing a personal web host provider is something that must be done carefully. Here’s what you’ll really need to run a personal website:

Domain name – A domain name is the URL (i.e. www.myexample.com). It’s the virtual address of your site, much like you have a physical address for your house.

Shared hosting – This means you’d be sharing space on the same server with other websites. Don’t worry – your information won’t be mixing with theirs. Shared hosting is fine for most websites. Usually, the only time a dedicated hosting plan (the server is all yours for the using) is needed, is for large corporate sites like Ford, Target and Wal-Mart.

Disk space – If you aren’t going to be uploading a lot of video or large images, you won’t need a lot of disk space. 500 Megabyte is enough for the average personal site.

Bandwidth – Bandwidth is how much traffic your website receives. Unless you’re a celebrity (in which case, your site would get tons of traffic), you won’t need a lot of bandwidth. 15 – 30 Gigabytes should be sufficient.

An FTP account – FTP (file transfer protocol) accounts allow you to upload files to your web host. Personal websites need two, at most – one for you, and one for your webmaster if you have one.

MySQL database – Most personal blogs are run on a CMS (content management system) like WordPress. If you’re doing more than a one page business card, you’ll most likely need a database for easy management. However, you’ll only need one.

Planning for Expansion

The best web hosting providers are those that allow your website to flourish and offer solutions to match your changing needs. Some hosting providers do; many don’t.

A lot of people who become successful business owners never planned to run an online business. It just happened that way. Many, when it came time that they needed more from their website hosting provider, either found the provider was unable to handle their needs, or that the upgrade package was too expensive.

When choosing a web host, always look at the package you need and the next one up. Find out if you can upgrade and, if so, do they help you with that upgrade. Ask if they have the option for Secure Socket Layers (SSL), necessary for sites that accept credit cards. Can you upgrade your server space and bandwidth? These are important questions to ask, and important considerations to take into account.

So That’s What Personal Websites Are…

Now that you know what a personal website is, and you know what your needs are for personal website hosting, what are you waiting for? Create YOUR personal website, and start sharing all that information running around in your head… like My Personal Stand on Star Wars, or The Plight of the Pigmy Wombat, or maybe My Experiences with Personal Website Hosting…. Yeah – that’s a good one!

Creating a Simple One-Page Website (5 Steps)

The type of site you want to build makes all the difference in the world on how simple it can actually be (which goes a long way toward explaining why so much information exists on how to create a website). For example, a website with only one page is extremely easy to find hosting for, create and publish. It just doesn’t take that much, even for people who have no coding skills. If this is all you’ll need, here are your steps:

1. Go to W3Schools to learn the basics of CSS and HTML (not much of a learning curve to create a basic, one page site).
2. Using an HTML editor like Notepad ++ (free) and the information gained from W3Schools, create your page (if you only have one page, it needs to be called index.html).
3. Choose your domain name (approximately $18 – $20 per year).
4. Order the Basic plan ($4.95 – $7.95 per month, depending on whether you pay in advance or not).
5. Upload your HTML page, created in step 2, to your server.

Done! Of course, there will be some wait time, to adjust for learning, payment processing and site registration, but it’s that easy.

Um… – That Might Be TOO Simple of a Website

Okay, so you might need a little bit more than a single page. Understandable, but remember, there are literally hundreds of ways to create a site. The two ways we’re going to outline here describe the easiest ways to create a simple site – not the only.

Creating a Simple Personal or Business Website (3 Steps)

The differences between creating a personal site and creating a simple business site are few. In fact, the main difference is cost, because a business site, even a simple one, may need more space on the hosting server.

Simple Personal Hosting – Average cost, $80/year (if you prepay three years)

Uses: A personal website is typically used for online journals and blogs, virtual business cards (some examples of virtual business cards here) and small portfolios. Personal websites receive a low amount of traffic.

1. Choose your domain name (approximately $18-$20 per year).
2. Order the Basic plan ($4.95/month if you pay three years in advance, $7.95/month if you only pay one month).
3. Read about WordPress hosting and have ClickHOST do the rest OR use RVSite Builder (free – click the link for demo) to design your site.

Simple Business Hosting – Average cost, $108/year (with three year prepay)

Uses: A business website typically sells services or products, or makes money through affiliate marketing. Business websites grow to receive a large amount of traffic.

1. Choose your domain name (free for the first year).
2. Order the Better plan ($7.95/month if you pay three years in advance, $11.95/month if you only pay one month).
3. Read about WordPress hosting and have ClickHOST do the rest OR use RVSite Builder (free) to design your site.

Creating a Simple Website On Your Own Isn’t So Simple

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, “You guys are making fun…” However, the truth is, there really is no simple way to create a website. This is about as simple as it gets. There’s no easy way to explain how to create a website, either, even when you’re using WordPress (we have 20 How To Use WordPress videos so far, and more that could be added). You can even take college courses on WordPress.

If you really want to have a simple website with the least amount of fuss, you don’t need to know how to create that website. You need to know how to find a simple hosting provider that provides you the tools to create your website. A simple hosting provider:

• Can help you match the needs of your website to the right hosting package.
• Is willing to help you get the most out of your chosen hosting package.
• Understands where you are with your knowledge level and can offer the support necessary for you to build your website.
• Provides more than one offer, so your website has room to grow.
• Provides security for your site once it’s built.

The biggest idea to grasp when it comes to finding a hosting provider is that they become silent partners in your online presence. It’s their job to support your website and provide the open avenues to grow when you’re ready. A good hosting provider works with you to help you meet your online goals. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

The Brief Version of Small Business Web Hosting

If you don’t have a lot of time for the details, this is a quick look at what you need to find when searching for a web host for your small business::

• 1 – 100 GB Bandwidth: Think of bandwidth like the size of the front door.  The more traffic you expect, and the bigger the packages (files and video) coming and going, the more bandwidth you need.
• SSL Certificate, if you plan to accept credit cards
• E-commerce support, if you plan to sell products
• 1- 5 GB Disk Space: The more pages and large files you have, the more disk space you’ll need
• SQL Database (minimum 1)

Creating a business website is a completely different level of ownership and care than having a personal site. There are a lot of things to consider, starting with the best web host and including marketing, so let’s get started.

What Type of Small Business Website Are YOU Creating?

Business websites only come in four flavors: those that sell services, those that sell products, those based on affiliate marketing and a mixture of two or three. The flavor you choose defines the requirements of your small business hosting provider.

Bandwidth

All business websites need traffic (visitors) to flourish, and traffic, for the web server host, means bandwidth.

Bandwidth is the amount of information transferred from your site to the visitors’ computers. The more visitors there are and the bigger the files (such as video, audio and image files), the higher the amount of information being transferred. While 1 GB of bandwidth a month is enough for many, 100 GB will meet the needs of 90% of the small business websites out there (and seldom will any small business site reach the 100 GB cap).

Secure Sockets Layer

Usually, service-based sites don’t take credit cards or other sensitive information over the Internet.  Payments are usually rendered in person at the time of service, or through an invoice via Paypal or other payment provider. However, if you plan to take payments on your site, you need to securely protect your customers’ information.

A Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, adds a layer of protection to the transactions on your site. The information is encrypted and sent over a private channel, in order to keep it safe from the public eye (as well as from hackers attempting to gather the information.

E-Commerce & Shopping Cart Support

Most small business websites that are product-based (or e-commerce) will need some type of shopping cart solution.

Shopping carts are programs that help the shop owner add, delete and edit the various products in their online store, as well as keep track of sales, supply and so on. Not all small business web hosts provide this in their offerings. If you’re selling any products, however, the best small business web hosting package will offer shopping cart support (if not various programs themselves) for your use.

Examples of shopping cart solutions include:

osCommerce – osCommerce is a popular shopping cart with over 250,000 users. One of the reasons why it’s so popular is because of the available add-ons that allow you to customize the cart to meet your needs. It also has a highly active forum to help you build your online store.

Zen Cart – Like osCommerce, Zen Cart is a free, open source, shopping cart solution. It also has an active community and several add-ons, including over 70 store templates. As popular as osCommerce, they’ve created extensive Wiki, tutorial and showcase sections to help you on your way.

Magento – Magento offers free and paid shopping cart solutions, as well as a strong support team and several extensions. They want to make sure you get the best out of your Magento installation, and work hard to see that happen.

WP e-Commerce – A WordPress shopping cart plugin that you can install to enable your website to sell products securely. This nifty solution has been downloaded close to 2 million times.

SQL Database

If you plan to use a content management system, such as WordPress or Joomla, you’ll need at least one database. As well, product-based small business sites will need a database to manage those products. Therefore, you’ll need a minimum of one SQL database, if not two or more.

Okay, but… what’s a database?

Good question. Wikipedia has this great answer, about four pages long, that you can read if you want a really in depth version. The shorter version is this:

A database is created by a bunch of tables (think Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Those tables consist of rows and columns with each one holding its own information, or data. A database differs from a spreadsheet in that it offers powerful functions, such as the ability to perform complex calculations, pull records that match your criteria, cross-reference data on several tables, and so on.

The very short version is that a database is a collection of organized information with a highly efficient retrieval system.

How Much Space Does Your Small Business Need?

A web server, just like your computer, has finite space available for use. However, most personal and small business websites take up very little space. For example, it’s rare for personal websites to exceed ClickHOST’s basic plan, which allows for 500MB of space.

Having said that, a small business website has different needs than a personal one. If, for example, you will be selling several products and have individual pages for each, you’ll need more space. If you’re selling digital prints or something equally artistic, it doesn’t take many large files to fill up 500 MB. For that matter, a few hundred products or so can quickly push 1 GB. When you talk to your web hosting provider, discuss your project with them – communication is key to getting the service you need.

Helpful Goodies – Deciding the Best Small Business Web Hosting for You

All of the above are necessities for the website you’re trying to create. If the hosting provider you’re surveying doesn’t have those things, they aren’t the right ones for you. However, the best small business web host will also have a few goodies along with their hosting package that can help make running a website much easier.

• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) accounts, which allow you (or your web developer) to easily upload files to your site and make changes
• Email accounts, so you can have the personal account you’re used to, and the business account (info@mycompany.com) to match the website and your new professional stature
• WordPress friendly, in case you decide to use the great content management system as your website platform
• CPanel , which is an easy-to use website control panel that allows you full access to functions like backing up your website, installing software and virus protection (you can test a CPanel demo here)
• Spam Control, to block spam before it hits your email accounts

Finally, the last thing to consider is – do you plan to grow? The Internet gives small businesses the chance to grow like no other marketing medium. Your small business website has the chance to grow exponentially, and you need a web hosting provider that can grow with you. Before signing on the dotted line, ask your chosen provider how they can help you grow.

• Do they have larger plans above the one you’re currently purchasing?
• Can you upgrade to more space, while keeping the same bandwidth?
• How easy is it to upgrade?
• Will they help you upgrade, or do you have to figure it out on your own?

A small business website hosting provider– for that matter, any hosting provider – should be as interested in the success of your new business as you are. Invest the time to interview, read and research; find the best hosting provider for your small business and start growing!