Host Your Own Website and Register Your Domain On Different Services
Finding out how to host your own website isn’t all that difficult, but there are a few things to keep in mind before you get too far down that path. First, as mentioned on the initial site post, you really don’t want to register your domain name with the same company that you’ll host you own website on.
I did so with some of my sites in the beginning, and (crossing fingers), so far I haven’t had any issues. But … many notable forums out there with folks much more in the technical, day-to-day ‘know’, strongly recommend not doing it. I won’t mention any web hosting packages, or hosting company names, as the intent here isn’t to pass on rumors or slam a reputable company because a few folks had issues … but the common guidance at the base of those discussions is not to host your own website with the same company that you used to register the domain.
The reasons are varied, but the common thread is having your site held captive. Basically, the argument is that if you have a problem with your hosting company, you can always transfer the domain to another and move on. However, if you’re having the registrar selected by the same company (usually as part of your web hosting packages), then you can’t even transfer the site. That site is completely out of your control at that point.
So, even if you plan to build your own websites, and you’ll host your own website as well (great choices here, by the way), general guidance for best results is to keep the two companies separate. Having said that, I really do like NameCheap for buying domain names and Host Nine for putting them on the Internet.
NameCheap has very reasonable domain name prices and a superb private registration (whois guard) process that others provide at a much higher annual cost.
Host Nine is worth considering if you plan to make website building a career. You can create unlimited sites, host them on servers with different IP addresses as desired and you can even offer web hosting packages to others if you purchase their reseller’s account. For just getting a site up, Host Nine is still ok, but if you only plan to have just a few, then I recommend HostGator. Great service, great prices.
Enjoy!