Success Or Failure: 3 Steps For Success

You need to get these first three steps right to ensure success on the internet.

First, you need a good ISP (internet service provider).  You want to know how fast the connection speed is and how much bandwidth you are given.  The internet is slowing down.  The traffic is getting clogged with all the video and audio being shared.  The service providers are countering this by restricting ( throttling) the services and charging people according to the speed they desire.  Try to find a provider who gives you the best speed for your money.  And who will allow you to “upload” a large amount of data.  This is becoming more and more important as video becomes a central part of website building.  Of course, I’m assuming that if you read this, you already have an ISP.  I’m just warning you that dark clouds are gathering on that front, so keep your head up and do some speed checks on your service.

Second: You need to register any website name with a service.  There are all sorts of services out there.  I have checked out many.  Let me save you a lot of trouble by recommending the best I have found.  By “best” I mean the one who has given the best service for the money.  Lifedomains.net has proven themselves over and over to me.  They are a high power service with a personal touch.  This is important when you are starting out.  They will get and keep your domain name for you, and help you with all the technical aspects.  For example, when I first started out, I was trying to transfer my DNS and nothing was working.  Their help desk was there in an instant and figured out I had added a single space to some coding….something not easily seen in my frustrated state.  They have service and technology mastered!

Third:  You need a Host.  Someone who will take your website and make it available to the internet.  A word of warning here.  Don’t buy from a reseller or a cheap service.  Resellers are people who buy space from a hosting company and then “resell” it.  The trouble is that you do not get good service. ( ok I’m going to get heat from the resellers…but it is true for beginners)  Resellers may be fine for people who know what they are doing and just want a gazillion one page websites for marketing.   But a beginner ( or normal person) is going to have all sorts of mysterious problems, and will want them fixed as fast as possible!

I use Hostgator (click on the link to see more).  They have a service department which is second to none, and an uptime that is as good as the most expensive hosting companies.  In fact, many companies buy resell rights from hostgator.  I have used their help desk countless times as I set up my first websites and got all the software on my computer to work.  I have never seen such attentive and patient service people!  I’ve been to all sorts of seminars and have explored various hosting services and have never found one to compare to hostgator.

Warning: NEVER go with a reseller or bargain basement host.  When they run into trouble…YOU run into trouble.  A while ago there was a popular discount webhosting service.  Lots of people were using them.  Then the day came, and there was a “glitch”  EVERYONE lost all their websites and all the data on the servers.   Even the domain names vanished! Months and years of work evaporated and the websites disappeared for weeks.  Some forever.  Recently, Hostgator had a major electrical fire in their Houston complex.  Some sites were down for a few hours but up and running again.  The customers in the forum were howling with rage.   Hmmmm….a few hours versus weeks and total oblivion….it just goes to show the standard that Hostgator is held to.

Tag: hostgator