Wordpress and Hosting Total Newbie

[Rich1880]

Hi All

Total newbie here and need help, I may as an interim measure purchase a template website which is in wordpress. How do I then get it hosted and who to use. This is a temp measure just as we get the business off the ground, our domain was purchased through 123 reg.

 

[Rich1880]

Also just out of interest, I have looked at another domain name and in adwords it is getting 2900 global monthly searches and 210 local, is that good? I want it for the name but just curious as to if that will generate some good traffic.

 

[Ashton]

Top spot = 50% so 100 hits.

200 exacts is very low, but depends on the niche.

 

[AssetDomains]

In terms of hosting you may want to look at godaddy short term at least they do short term contracts no set up fees etc. In the longer term all dempends on the site your going to launch as to what hosting is going to be best

 

[vizzo]

pm sent
Nick

Whooo! My 100th post - I'm now an AD Senior! Is that a polite way of saying i'm an oap?

 

[peacock]

Hi Rich,
get a host with cpanel and fantastico or installatron - makes setting up wp a breeze.
probably fine on the cheapest plan to start. Most hosts will let you upgrade hassle free when the need arises. PM me if you want any help.

Rob

 

[Skinner]

I always recommend http://www.evohosting.co.uk, comes with CPanel, Fantastico Ultra Mega Cool Power or something, also installatron (way better than fantastico) and some other stuff.

If you have any questions, speak to Tim or Toby the owner and sysadmin respectively, both are happy to help. I've found them to be the best of the 20-30 hosts I've used over the last 10+ years.

There is usually discount codes on the site too, so you can get hosting for 20-50 wordpress install for about £100 a year

 

[Rich1880]

Thanks everyone for the help. Can I just get my head around the process, I have purchased a domain name and its currently with 123 reg.

I then develop a site using frontpage or something like that?? alternatively I select someone who have the web builder as part of their package.

I then pick a company who will host the site and possible use their web builder software.

When people are offering to develop a wordpress and host it, can I then log into it and make changes etc, how does my domain name at 123 reg then work, do I web forward it??

 

[monaghan]

When people are offering to develop a wordpress and host it, can I then log into it and make changes etc, how does my domain name at 123 reg then work, do I web forward it??

Most hosts will just want you to go into the 123 reg control panel and simply change the name servers to point to the hosting server you are on and the rest will fall into place automatically and after a short while your domain will be pointing at your new web site.

 

[Aaron Clifford]

I'd suggest http://www.ezpzhosting.co.uk great service and prices!

 

[buttontop]

hi i currently have my hosting with a fre sevice at 000webhost (or s) .com will that mean i wont be ranked well for just uk sites? will it harm my rankings for being with a free service? dont know much about ranking myself any advice that can be given would be good.

 

[boozt]

hi i currently have my hosting with a fre sevice at 000webhost (or s) .com will that mean i wont be ranked well for just uk sites? will it harm my rankings for being with a free service? dont know much about ranking myself any advice that can be given would be good.

Google have said that using shared hosting won't have any drawback.
They have also said that site loading time is a ranking factor so is the site slow to load.

The other aspect is Geo-location but if you are using a .uk domain you should be OK.

 

[WiganWebs]

Currently I host via Pickaweb, £5 per month for shared hosting is not a bad plan. UK based so you are geo-targeting with the IP address if you plan to develop and optimise the website(s). They also host CPanel and Fantastico and I pay at the beginning of every month via Paypal.

I have read about site loading speed, you can GZip your site using .htaccess (simple to create) or simply ask your hosts to switch it on the server if it doesnt work. It will compress files to 70% of the current size and load faster for your visitors. You will have to contact freehost to see if they allow this.

You can host a .com domain on UK hosting and that will geo-target your rankings towards UK Google users, a .com from a US based server such as Bluehost will geo-target your rankings towards US users, etc, etc. At least this is what I have learned from experience, others may have a different view as I dont generally deal with many .com domains. I do have a couple of .com domains on UK servers and they generate 90%+ of UK visitors.

I try to keep it simple though, .uk domain from a UK based host and you are fine, as such a uk domain on 00freehost should also be okay. They say if you have at least one of the following two you should be ok:

UK based host
UK domain

Buttontop, if they allow you to purchase a keyword domain and forward it to your hosting then you shouldn't have a problem, as any link building will be towards your keyword domain, just make sure that the free hosting doesn't litter your page(s) full of adverts.

Flash etc tends to slow down a lot of web pages and people will click off your website if their web connection is super slow or the page looks spammy, which in turn will increase your bounce rate (which is rumoured as something that Google looks at ranking wise if you use Analytics - not sure if it is true).

Try not to use a free domain (as you wont be able to sell it ), sometimes they work, sometimes they dont, but your own domain name will be much better to use and yours to own.

Terry

 

[buttontop]

Thanks WiganWebs, that has given me a better idea. they are all .co.uk domains ive got (well org.uk as well) but it wont have any change on rankings if it is also a brtish hosting site tho? Thanks again.