Bought the Domain Name... now what?

[joydream]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking on this message board for about 3 months and I've been really inspired by everyone's blogs and websites. This website is so great for learning more about blogging.

I've never run a blog before, but I have a passion for fashion... so I bought the domain name pinupdream.com...

I've read about web hosting that Dreamhost is a good one, but Weena posted in October that she was having problems registering with it. What do you think of Dreamhost?

I need something super simple because I'm new to this. I would like to use Word Press (like the majority of people here use) and I would like to have a forums section...

Ideally, I want to have a big website totally devoted to affordable, modern pin-up style fashion.....

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Edit: I set up a 2 week free trial with Dreamhost to see how I like it and what I can do with it....

Edit 2: So far it's a nightmare.... I just want hosting not registration, but everything in the start-up is about transfering the registrar, too. Very confusing!

[sweetjohnny]

your best bet would be to make a list of things you're having problems with then call up your hosts and go through them with a real person. they want your business so they are usually quite helpful and accomodating. hope this helps a little

[joydream]

Thanks, sweetjohnny, I definitely am going to be using that resource!

So far my brother helped me to figure out how to update my registrar with my new host's nameservers. So that was step #1.

Now I have to upload a template I like...... my brother was saying that he likes hostgator rather than dreamhost because he found dreamhost's interface (lack of a c-panel) to be primitive.

I have a two week free trial..... so I'll see how much I can get done in two weeks.

I'm taking a break for a couple days because I'm a college student and I need to focus on school, too.

I'll keep you all updated.

[James81]

Are you attached to the idea of learning how to set up a website yourself?

I ask because if it's not that important to you, I'd be willing to do the front end stuff for you (as well as offer you free advice after it's set up for any questions you have on wordpress related functions) for rather cheap I think.

PM me if you're interested.

If you don't want to do something like that, then keep posting your questions in here and I'll help you for free as much as I can.

[votoshka]

I like Hostgator! Their service is really excellent too when I had a problem I sent them a message and it was literally fixed within 10 minutes!

You don't need to transfer registration or anything else, just get yourself an account with your host of choice, find out what the DNS is, and then go to your domain account and ensure the domain is pointing at the DNS of your host. Within a few minutes, you'll be able to access your site!

[goldberg]

Originally Posted by joydream

Hi everyone, I've been lurking on this message board for about 3 months and I've been really inspired by everyone's blogs and websites. This website is so great for learning more about blogging.

I've never run a blog before, but I have a passion for fashion... so I bought the domain name pinupdream.com...

I've read about web hosting that Dreamhost is a good one, but Weena posted in October that she was having problems registering with it. What do you think of Dreamhost?

I need something super simple because I'm new to this. I would like to use Word Press (like the majority of people here use) and I would like to have a forums section...

Ideally, I want to have a big website totally devoted to affordable, modern pin-up style fashion.....

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Edit: I set up a 2 week free trial with Dreamhost to see how I like it and what I can do with it....

Edit 2: So far it's a nightmare.... I just want hosting not registration, but everything in the start-up is about transfering the registrar, too. Very confusing!

If all you want is a blog with a domain name attached then you can just do it via wordpress.com. Simple and easy.

[Lil Chris]

Originally Posted by goldberg

If all you want is a blog with a domain name attached then you can just do it via wordpress.com. Simple and easy.

I would say you're severely limited in what you can do with this option.

Joydream,
Hostgator is really cheap and a pleasure to work with (some of my clients use them). I personally use mediatemple, but they cost more...

[joydream]

Originally Posted by Lil Chris

Joydream,
Hostgator is really cheap and a pleasure to work with (some of my clients use them). I personally use mediatemple, but they cost more...

Hi Lil Chris, cost is a big factor because right now I'm a college student working towards a degree in the medical field... so I don't have a lot of money to spend on my hobby right now.

I think I am going to take your advice (and votoshka's advice) and switch to hostgator because my brother is familiar with them and supposedly they have a really nice cpanel control which as far as I can tell dreamhost doesn't have.

Thanks for the input!

[joydream]

Originally Posted by goldberg

If all you want is a blog with a domain name attached then you can just do it via wordpress.com. Simple and easy.

Hi goldberg,

Actually my role model is Steve Pavlina himself... I love how he has such detailed blog archives and his own forums. It's a very cool set up.

I don't want to be a cog in someone else's wheel and give my advertising money to wordpress.com

I want to have my own brand and my own home on the internet which focuses on pretty, feminine and affordable fashion... and other pin-up lifestyle concerns.

It's about control and branding.... so I think it would be best to have my own place... even though I think it's going to take me a while to set it up.

[polkster84]

I am a big fan of hostgator. They have tons of options on the cpanel and right now they are offering $100 in free google ads. If you look around on search engines, there are codes for the first month free on top of all that.

[richardxthripp]

I started out on Netfirms, which was terrible, and then SYN Hosting. You don't get WHM access with SYN, but you get full cPanel access and can even run WordPress MU with virtual subdomains. You can also host many websites through add-on domains. When I signed up, I paid $50 for a year (got 6 months free in the "host refugee" offer). The price is $10 per month now, but it's still a good deal.

I would recommend against letting someone on this forum set up your site for you. You'll miss out on developing valuable skills for yourself.

[Ryan OLoughlin]

Originally Posted by joydream

Hi goldberg,



I don't want to be a cog in someone else's wheel and give my advertising money to wordpress.com

I want to have my own brand and my own home on the internet which focuses on pretty, feminine and affordable fashion... and other pin-up lifestyle concerns.

I don't follow you here...wordpress is awesome because there are so many clean templates to choose from, but it's also flexible because you can modify or create your own template. As a matter of fact, a lot of big companies and some of the best bloggers use wordpress. Sometimes you can't even tell! And it's free, so you're not really giving them any "advertising money". Also, wordpress is really SEO friendly so I advise you not to write it off just yet. Also, with hosgator, installing wordpress is 1 click away....all you have to do is look for "fantastico deluxe" in your cpanel. Just a few suggstions. Good Luck!

[richardxthripp]

There is a difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org. At WordPress.org, you can download open-source PHP software to host a blog on your webserver. At wordpress.com, you can sign up for a free blog hosted on Automattic's servers, with far less flexibility and control. I would not recommend using WordPress.com.

[brilliant]

I made my first blog with Host Gator and I NEVER had probs with them. Great hosting service. Great customer service.

[joydream]

Hi Ryan,

Actually, Richardxthripp explained what I meant perfectly! I don't want to be hosted by wordpress, but I'm definitely open to using wordpress on hostgator.

To Richardxthripp-- thanks for the post... that's what I meant. Also I do plan on doing web development myself because I want to develop like 5 different websites... that was a good suggestion to learn myself.

To brilliant-- yes, I'm very interested in using hostgator. Thanks for your feedback on their service.

Here's my update: I'm a college student right now, so I have finals this upcoming week. But after this semester, I'm thinking of leaving college (I was going for an advanced degree, I already have an undergrad degree in business).. and focusing on being an entrepreneur full-time instead.

A lot of self-help people talk about passive income streams and entrepreneurship. It does seem pretty risky compared to having a normal, steady job...... but for various reasons the normal, steady jobs are not appealing to me at all. My degree is in accounting and becoming a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) would be so incredibly boring I think I would be miserable... that's just one example.

The upshot is that I want to develop my website ideas (I have about 5 different ideas) in 2011.

Steve wrote his most popular article "10 reasons not to get a job" and it's still hard for me to believe that I could ever support myself as an entrepreneur, but working a normal job is so unappealing that I want to try.

I'll keep you folks updated and I'm sure I'll have more questions, too, in 2011.

[richardxthripp]

If I were you I would definitely stay in college and become a CPA or switch majors. You just don't know how unbelievably difficult it is to earn $4000 a month from websites, and that's about the minimum you need to live and raise a family on (about $50,000 per year). Maybe your websites will make more money than mine, though.

I definitely recommend WiredTree if you can afford $49 a month. I use their hybrid dedicated server ($99 per month but they gave me a special discount to $92 a month). My affiliate link is wiredtree dot com slash 349.html.

[joydream]

Hi Richardxthripp,

Thank you for your comment. I've always enjoyed your posts and found value in them.

I have thought about switching careers and going into the medical field-- such as physicians assistant for example-- because the medical field is a strong, stable career. But I don't care for the diagnostic element in medicine and as for nursing I'm more bookish and not good with the hands on work. Pharmacy is the best match for me in terms of the medical career, but they just opened 33 new pharmacy schools in the past 2 years, so even though demand is expected to rise by 17% in the next ten years, supply is expected to rise much faster than that.

So I have thought about different careers besides CPA.

In terms of earning $4,000 from websites, I am giving myself 5 years to do it. I am starting from knowing very little, so it will take time to ramp up-- if I ever ramp up at all. Right now I have very few expenses, so I don't need money urgently now. I don't want to have children, so supporting a family is not going to be on my to-do list. The point is that I have time now to try building websites.

Could this fail completely? Yes.

And I have read how hard it is.... how people have spent years developing their websites and not had enough income to support themselves. Your advice, Richardxthripp, is the voice of experience. So I do think there is merit to it.

In five years, I could be exactly in the same position I am today. In that case, maybe I won't hate the idea of being a CPA so extremely much. Or maybe some other career will spark my interest in the next 5 years.

But as of now... nothing sparks my passion like building websites on subjects that interest me. Even if I don't become successful financially, I hope to have a lot of fun with it-- after all-- pin up dream is a very fun topic-- and I hope to generate content that provides value to people. Just waking up and enjoying my work is a luxury that maybe I won't have after 5 years, but I sure will enjoy it now....

[richardxthripp]

Thanks joydream! I enjoy developing websites too, though writing original content is time-consuming. You should go for it -- start two or three blogs on your own domains about subjects you like and get into advertising and affiliate income streams. Then, try to get guest writers.

Send me a PM when you launch your first site and I'll give you some advice.

[igorgriffiths]

Go with Hostgators baby plan and you can host all sites under that plan, plus once you know how to setup one Wordpress blog it is very much a rinse and repeat process.

All you have to do is alter the theme and content the rest remains the same.

Please ensure that your ideas are viable before really following them. Market samurai have a free training area that gives a really brilliant explanation of how to prove your ideas and then how attraction leads to income.

[richardxthripp]

I'm biased against Hostgator... too many complaints about this error message in my Tweet This WordPress plugin because of some oddity in Hostgator's server configuration:

Class 'OAuthSignatureMethod_HMAC_SHA1' not found

However, they may be a good host. I recall hearing good things about Lunarpages also.