Setting up your website - Working with Content Management Systems (CMS)

Hi Readers,

Firstly, sorry to keep you all waiting for our next post. Its been a while i know :( So lets do the next best thing, pick up the threads from where we left off. You can do one of the few things..

1. Look at the previous post here so you can catch up and get up to speed on what we are talking about. 
2. Follow this blog to ensure you do not miss any important & relevant updates that are posted on this blog.
3. Use the Contact Us form on the Right Hand Side of this blog template.

Great, so let get started. After you have picked the domain that is right for you and the hosting plan that is right for you, your next challenge is to find the right CMS or a Content Management System. For beginners its highly recommended that you pick a hosting plan which  has a CMS integrated along with it. Godaddy has a Wordpress hosting, where Wordpress is the CMS. This means that all the optimizations & updates that wordpress come up with in the future will be taken care by the folks at Godaddy.

Here's how this works...

• After the payment is processed, you will get a welcome mail with a get started link.

• Once you click on "Get Started" you will be redirected to Godaddy India's hosting gateway where you have to login using your "user name and password" Remember, you have chosen a Fully managed Wordpress hosting for your website. This means, the Control Panel (CPanel) will be managed by Godaddy. 

Here, you will be guided to stuff like.

1. Setting up WP panel login and credentials (Wordpress Only, after clicking on "manage")
2. Adding DNS IPs from your domain control panel. (If you have a problem finding your Domain IP, you can use Godaddy Live Chat support. They are pretty prompt.
3. Preview of your website
4. Recommendations from Godaddy team.

 

If you have serious plans for this website, and want to communicate with people in a more professional way, you might want to consider purchasing an email hosting plan (Separately) your web hosting does not always  have email hosting as part of a plan. The benefit is you would be able to set permissions based on professional emails (adam@brandwebsite.com). Also you can link auto -responder email to professional email IDs (offers@brandwebsite.com) benefits for professional emails are many.

Once you have added / linked your DNS you need to go back to the hosting dashboard and click on WP Login.

This will take you to your website's WP dashboard. Something like this.

There we go, your wordpress website is LIVE! In case you have a feeling, what if i do not want to opt for a fully managed Wordpress hosting? What if i have a team of developers who can build a website for me (Expensive option), a team which can manage content in-house (Expensive again) and if i have a team of professionals who can maintain the website without outside help? Dont worry, the answer to your questions will be shared on our next post, Meanwhile you can use the contact form and the comments section to stay updated!

If you have any questions on the above content, feel free to reach out to me. God bless.

Happy learning.

Mitul

Setting up your website - Choosing a hosting plan

Hi Readers,

Welcome to the next post in the series of Setting up your website series. Its important to own a domain before you can start the process of setting up the "Hosting" for your website. So its a good idea to take a look at my previous post on How to get your domain, if you have not read it yet.

What does hosting mean?
So lets begin. The million dollar question is, What is hosting? Hosting is a space on an actual computer that you rent from a hosting service provider. In simple words, its online real estate (space) to setup your shop (domain) in a building or an office premises (server). Hope this analogy helps :)

Where to buy hosting?
The next valid question is, who sells these server hosting spaces and where to find them? Server spaces could be sold by virtually any large or small service providers in the web space. They could be anybody, an independent website owner, a small or medium  web / digital or an IT service company, or large domain registrars like Godaddy, Bigrock, hostgator, etc. Who provides server space is a fairly dynamic question as it keeps changing every minute. A simple google search would yield great results.

What kind of hosting is right for me?
This question is like asking, how much office / shop space do i need for my business? The true answer can come only from YOU! However its important to understand your business needs and learn more about your hosting options available to you.

Things to look for in a server space

• Memory & backup capacity - Auto backups & storing that version of your website. Expressed in GBs
• Storage space - Physical storage capacity of the data
• No. of IPs - Links to physical servers that would be used to direct traffic to your website.
• Security features - SSL certificates, support, licences etc.

Checkout the video below to get more clarity


There are various types of servers & hosting plans available to business owners and individuals. Some of the prominent ones are as below.

1. Shared Web Hosting - Its where your domain is placed in a shared space along with other website. Its like staying as a paying guest :) This option is perfect for websites that are new to the internet, have fewer daily & monthly visitors & have fewer features & tools implemented on their website.
2. Reseller Web Hosting - This type of hosting is designed for individuals & companies who plan to resell hosting spaces to others. Since this is a business oriented hosting environment, the "Reseller" also offers additional tools like access to free website templates, free web support to your clients, Private Name Servers, means having an option of asking your clients to point their DNS details to your company servers e.g: nsl.yourwebdesignfirm.com (refer to my previous post for details on DNS)
3. Cloud based Web Hosting - Fairly new hosting technology that lets hundreds of individual servers work together so it looks like one big integrated server. This was introduced so that when the hosting company needs more space during high demand, it can simply add more commodity hardware to make an even larger grid. The advantage to website owners is, when they see a sudden surge in traffic, it could be managed by the hosting service provider rather than shutting your website down.
4. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting - VPS servers share one physical server but acts like multiple separate servers, this allows hosting service providers to manage resources effectively & website owners to save costs on buying more hosting space. Each website on a VPS server has their own dedicated resource. 
5. Dedicated Servers - One physical server is used only for your website. It means all the resources on that servers are used exclusively by your website only.

How to Purchase a hosting Plan?
The hosting service providers offer various packages based on the type of your website and scale & nature of your business. Once you decide on the package & the plan based on the features of the hosting service, its a simple click & follow process, like on an e-commerce website. You will be directed to a confirmation page followed by the payment redirect page. Once the payment is processed, you will get a link from the hosting provider to access the control panel (CPanel)

In our next post we will cover how to work with CPanel and link your hosting with Wordpress CMS.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Leave your doubts in the comments below & fill out the form on the blog if you have any specific concerns.

Happy learning.

Mitul