Despite not having prior knowledge and experience, I was able to come to several personal preferences:

• I would need a Unix/Linux server. Just because these hosting plans are much cheaper, and I am not planning on doing any .net, c# programming or having a MsSql database to justify the additional expense of having a Windows server.

• I would rather have a hosting provider that allows to host unlimited domains. This will secure my future development and I will not need to purchase additional hosting plans for my other domains.

• I would need a provider that allows numerous databases and email accounts, to support my numerous domains.

• Customer Service is something that comes up as an important issue, but they all claiming to be 24/7, so until I try I won’t know.

A whole lot of technical information also comes up, but I don’t have a clue anyway. The only thing I knew for sure is that I would use Wordpress for my blogs, and, in the future, Joomla! for my sites, so I checked whether the final few choices have the necessary requirements.

One important thing to keep in mind. You will have to prepay your hosting for a year, or if available more to get the best price. The more you prepay the cheaper your plan will be.

Tell you the truth, I was a little startled by this, but after a minute I came to my senses: I am an entrepreneur! I don’t plan to quit after a month, so, why pay more in order to have an escape hatch after a month? And besides, most have money back guarantees. That way, you have a month, or sometimes more, to check if everything is as promised.

My final choices were:

Bluehost – $6.95/month

• First impression: presentable, business oriented design.

• Unlimited domains

• 600Gb of space

• 6,000Gb or transfer

• 2,500 email accounts

• Includes a free domain name, with free privacy option (doesn’t show your personal details on WHOIS searches)

• 30-day money back guarantee

Hostgator – $7.95/month

• First impression: nice, friendly design

• Unlimited domains

• 600Gb of space

• 6,000Gb or transfer

• Unlimited email accounts

• 45-day money back guarantee

HostMonster- $6.95/month

• First impression: friendly, but serious design

• Unlimited domains

• 600Gb of space

• 6,000Gb or transfer

• Unlimited email accounts

• Includes a free domain name, with free privacy option (doesn’t show your personal details on WHOIS searches)

• 30-day money back guarantee

Finally, after a follow-up research I went with HostMonster. Hostmonster offers a package that answers my requirements, can install Wordpress for you in a click of a mouse, it offeres a good price and a friendly (inter)face.

Give them a visit to view their full technical features.

- Alex

Happily posting useful content at Net-Entrepreneur.com
Current post was originally posted on:

Money Online, The First Steps – Establishing Net Presence (2)

After writing my Establishing Net Presence (1) post, where I write about my purchasing my fist piece of Internet property, a domain name, and mention GoDaddy.com as my chosen registrar, I thought that since I’m telling people about this service, why shouldn’t I try to make money as well? I mean, some of my readers are probably going to use GoDaddy.com’s service, and it won’t affect their price whether they used an affiliate referral link or a direct link, so why not…

I went to GoDaddy.com, found the affiliate link and followed the required steps to sign up as an affiliate. They still need to approve my application. I figure they will visit my site to check if it has appropriate content, use their tools of choice to tell how is my site indexed in the search engines, etc.

Anyway, it is the second day, and I’m hoping to receive a Welcome mail to join my first affiliate programme.

- Alex

Happily posting useful content at Net-Entrepreneur.com
Current post was originally posted on:

Money Online – Attempt at Joining My First Affiliate Programme

The first step that seemed logical to me is becoming an owner of some form of Internet property. That’s why I decided to to purchase a domain name as soon as possible. I didn’t want to use any of the free domain solutions, and, my company, where I work as operations manager, uses GoDaddy.com for purchasing its domains, and, naturally that was the first place I went. I checked the prices for domain registration there and then Googled for other registrars. I found CleverDot.com, that was cheaper with .com domains. Every other domain registrar was more expensive, and since I wanted a .com anyway, I didn’t even pay attention to .biz or .info. (although I later saw that it was $2.99 on GoDaddy.com).

Anyway, since my company uses GoDaddy.com and I thought I could use the help of our IT if I needed assistance, I registered an account with GoDaddy.com. The difference is very small when you realize this is for a year, and knowing (hoping) that you would be making money online, hence, certainly covering this expense anyway.

A few minutes later my credit card information was sent, and I became the proud owner of www.net-entrepreneur.com

- Alex

Happily posting useful content at Net-Entrepreneur.com
Current post was originally posted on:

Money Online, The First Steps – Establishing Net Presence (1)