Finding a Home for Your Blog

 The easiest way to find whether a host meets the minimum requirement is to check the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of the host’s Web site, if it has one. If not, find the contact information for the hosting company, and fire off an e-mail requesting information on exactly what it supports. Any Web host worth dealing with will answer your e-mail within a reasonable amount of time (12-24 hours is a good baromete...

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

✦ Domain e-mail with Web mail access✦ File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access✦ Comprehensive Web site statistics✦ MySQL database(s)✦ PHPBecause you intend to run WordPress on your Web server, you need to look for a host that provides the minimum requirements needed to run the software on your hosting account, which are ✦ PHP version 4.3 (or greater)✦ MySQL version 4.0 (or greater)&nb...

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

On the other hand, if your Web host supports the software on your account,it comes at a cost: You have to pay for that extra support. To find whetheryour chosen host supports WordPress, ask first. If your host doesn’t offersoftware support, you can still find WordPress support in the supportforums at http://wordpress.org/support, as shown in Figure 1-1.Several Web hosting providers also have WordPress-related services available for additional fees. These services can include technical support, plugin installation and configuration, and theme design.Generally,...

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

When discussing Web hosting considerations, it is important to understandwhere your hosting account ends and WordPress begins. Support for theWordPress software may or may not be included in your hosting package.Some Web hosts consider WordPress to be a third-party application. Thismeans that the host typically won’t provide technical support on the useof WordPress (or any other software application) because software sup-port generally isn’t included in your hosting package. The Web host sup-ports your hosting account but, typically, doesn’t support...

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

 After you register your domain, you need to find a place for it to live — a Web host. Web hosting is the second piece of the puzzle that you need to complete before you begin working with WordPress.org.A Web host is a business, a group, or an individual that provides Web serverspace and bandwidth for file transfer to Web site owners who don’t haveit. Usually, Web hosting services charge a monthly or annual fee — unlessyou’re fortunate enough to know someone who’s willing to give you serverspace and bandwidth free. The cost varies from host...

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Finding a Home for Your Blog

The next step is obtaining a hosting account, which we cover in the nextsection. Some of the domain registrars have hosting services that you can sign upfor, but you don’t have to use those services. Often, you can find hosting ser-vices for a lower cost than most domain registrars offer. It just takes a littleresear...

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Purchase the domain name.

 Follow the domain registrar’s steps to purchase the name, using yourcredit card. After you complete the checkout process, you receive ane-mail confirming your purchase, so be sure to use a valid e-mail address during the registration proce...

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Decide on a domain name.

.Doing a little planning and forethought here is necessary. Many peoplethink of a domain name as a brand — a way of identifying their Web sitesor blogs. Think of potential names for your site and then proceed withyour pl...

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Verify the domain name’s availability.

 In your Web browser, enter the URL of the domain registrar of yourchoice. Look for the section on the registrar’s Web site that lets youenter the domain name (typically, a short text field) to see whetherit’s available. If the domain name isn’t available as a .com, try .net or.in...

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Registering your domain name

✦ GoDaddy: http://godaddy.com✦ Register.com: http://register.com✦ Network Solutions: http://networksolutions.com ✦ NamesDirect: http://namesdirect.comNo matter where you choose to register your domain name, here are the steps you can take to accomplish this ta...

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Registering your domain name

 Domain registrars are certified and approved by the Internet Corporation forAssigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Although hundreds of domain regis-trars exist, the ones in the following list are popular because of their longev-ity in the industry, competitive pricing, and the variety of services they offerin addition to domain name registration (such as Web hosting and Web sitetraffic builder...

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Establishing Your Domain

When you pay the domain registration fee today, you need to pay anotherregistration fee when the renewal date comes up again in a year, or two, orfive — however many years you chose to register your domain name for.(See the nearby “Domain names: Do you own or rent?” sidebar.) Most regis-trars give you the option of signing up for a service called Auto Renew toautomatically renew your domain name and bill the charges to the creditcard you set up on that account. The registrar sends you a reminder a fewmonths in advance, telling you it’s time to...

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Considering the cost of a domain name

 Registering a domain costs you anywhere from $3 to $30 per year, depending on what service you use for a registrar and what options (such as privacy options and search engine submission services) you apply to your domain name during the registration proce...

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Understanding domain name extensions

If you want to avert this problem, you can register your domain namewith all available extensions. My business Web site, for example, has the domain name EWebscapes.com; however, I also own EWebscapes.net, EWebscapes.biz, and EWebscapes.in...

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Understanding domain name extensions

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}A word to the wise here: Just because you registered your domain as a.com doesn’t mean that someone else doesn’t, or can’t, own the very samedomain name with a .net. Therefore, if you register MyDogHasFleas.com,and the site becomes hugely popular among readers with dogs that havefleas, someone else can come along, register MyDogHasFleas.net, and runa similar site to yours in the hope of riding the coattails of...

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