Don't Back Down

It's not difficult to get a web site these days. To be fair, it's never been particularly difficult, but now it's probably easier than it's ever been. I'm sure that it will only get easier as time goes on. Just because you have a web site, however, doesn't necessarily mean that you have one that functions well, however. You need to consider first the ability of others to get to your site, second the ability of visitors to return to your site, third your ability to keep the site running and finally what you will do if you need to move the site for any reason. These aspects of running your site are all related, but it is not always immediately clear how the pieces fit together.

First and foremost, you need a domain name. This is, quite simply, how people find you. Sure, you can get a site on a hosted service, and many of those will offer you the ability to map your domain to theirs. But whatever you do, don't settled for foo.somehostedservice.com, because invariably you will want to move your site, and when you do, you won't be able to take your link mojo with you. Get the domain name and start using it from day one. It'll cost about $10 per year. It's a worthwhile investment so do this first. Yes, even before you have somewhere to put your data, because the two do not have to go together. I'll tell you why next.

Where do you get a domain name? Frankly, it doesn't matter much. I use Go Daddy. There are some people who don't like them, but for the same cost as just about anywhere else, I get good service and I've never had any problems. I've heard of people that do, but I don't have any issues with them. Your own mileage may vary, of course. I would suggest that you stay away from Network Solutions, but that isn't because they are bad, it's because they are expensive. Why pay $30 per year when you can pay $10? There just isn't a reason? Similarly, there are places you can pay less than $10, but frankly I'm not sure if they will be around. If you think they will, go for it. I feel confident that Go Daddy will so I went with them.

Next up, get DNS service somewhere else. I chose DNS Made Easy. There are cheaper, and even free alternatives. In fact, you can get DNS service from wherever you register your domain names. You'll be able to get DNS service from the next step too. Don't. Get it as a separate service, and yes, I'm not against paying a few bucks a year for it. I like DNS Made Easy because they have a fully redundant worldwide system that appears to have never been down. I also like the interface. It works well for me. They also offer a backup email service, but you may or may not need that.

Finally, you are ready to get your actual site up and running. If you want to run a site, I'd suggest pair Networks. If you want to know why, read The Long and Winding Road to pair Networks. I won't bore you with the details here. I happen to think they are the best ISP on the planet. If you're more interested in a budget host, and don't want to spend an extra few bucks a month, try Site5 instead. I haven't worked with Site5 for a while, but I think they are still good. Just remember that you often get what you pay for.

Now you have the pieces. The pillars as I called them in the beginning. You can put them together. Why did I suggest doing them separately, when you can often get all three at the same place? For two reasons.

One is to allow each provider to do what they do best. Go Daddy is good at domains, while DNS Made Easy is good at DNS and pair Networks is good at hosting. This gives them a chance to play to their strengths. Perhaps more importantly, however, if there ever comes a time that I need to switch out a component - let's say I want to change web hosts - then all I have to do is move my web content to another host, change the pointers at my DNS provider, and I'm done. If my domain and DNS was also at my web host, it would take me hours, if not days. With separate providers, I can - and have - completed the process in a matter of minutes.