I get a lot of emails from people who want to setup their own blog under their own domain name and want to know where they can get a domain name from and hosting as well. Although I am sure I’ve posted this information before I figured I would do a quick refresh post about this.
Domain Names
I’ve tried a few domain name providers including DIrectNic and GoDaddy but my favorite is NameCheap. Their prices are decent and their admin interface is great and easy to use. Unlike GoDaddy (which I couldn’t stand) they don’t try and sell you services you don’t need every time you want to do something. www.namecheap.com
Web Hosting
My blog is currently hosted on Rackspace which you really don’t need if you’re just starting out. I originally started using Dreamhost and still use them to host some of my other sites. The biggest advantage to Dreamhost is the fact you can install WordPress (the software that runs this blog) with just a click of a button. Makes it perfect for a beginner to start blogging and they also have a free trial so you could try them out first before you sign up. I also think they give you a domain name for free when you first start or at least they used to when I joined up. www.dreamhost.com
I’ve got the following 5 Dreamhost codes that give $15 off a 1 year sign up and $100 off a 2 year sign up. These codes only work once and I only have 5 so if you try one code and it says it’s used try the second one. If all 5 don’t work it means they’ve been used up already sorry…
794847165544
910624757385
912484430318
915566572416
235249317682
Use the 12-digit code in the “promo code” field.
Please note the options above are not your only options. There are tons of domain name providers and even more hosting providers but the ones above are the ones I use and trust. If you have any questions just post it in the comments below and I will try to answer it.
Update: You can also use the code FIVEZEROOFF when checking out for a $50 discount.
15 replies on “Creating and hosting your own blog”
You can also use blogger.com, which is even less of a hassle (including setting up your own domain to link with it).
Blogger is terrible. Absolutely the worst software to use for blogging.
BuddyPress is a cooler platform. More comment communication and catered to a multi-user blogs. By the same people who brought you WordPress.
https://buddypress.org/
For domains I user name.com.
For hosting I use this service called nearlyfreespeech.net
https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/
Unlike hosts that give you unlimited bandwidth/storage which you’ll never use or attain so much traffic that you need it to be unlimited, it charges you based on your storage, amount of sites you’re hosting, and bandwidth usage. You can check their FAQ to show you exactly how they bill you.
So I’ve been hosting a site for 3 weeks now and the whole site is 4mb in size. I’ve gotten around 200 hits on the site and so far it’s billed me 33 cents. To say the least I’m pleased by this and will stay with them.
i like wordpress better than any CMS out-there, the dashboard is awesome! 🙂
and Mark, maybe you can write more about wordpress(dot)com and wordpress(dot)org, lots of people still didn’t know the difference between the two… =)
Well most of the people who email me already have a blog and are looking to get their own domain set up. But yeah I am sure there are other people out there who actually want to start a blog.
so what about those people who want to start a blog but have no idea how to do so? any tips? 🙂
Mark,
What about me.com from apple, is it a good option to use it for hosting.
Hi Mark,
When I hada blog what I did was to redirect a custom URL to the hosted blog. Fasthosts.co.uk gave me the option when I registered a domain name to either register DNS servers or have traffic directed to a new URL.
This gave me a very easy way to send traffic to http://www.myblog.com and have fasthosts silently redirect users to a fully-hosted low-cost consumer blog service.
Keep up the good work, enjoy your blog.
i have me.com but i use it only for the find my iphone/ipad feature.
Does anyone have any idea about Google Apps. I have it. I got it before just for my domain and cool email. When i tried their sites feature, i hated it. There is no way you can customize it to the way you like. Is there anyway i could migrate to dreamhost, or nearlyfreespeech?
Yousuf since Dreamhost is popular you could try googling migrating from google to dreamhost and someone most probably posted instructions.
WordPress is cool but I’ve never try it yet… When my friend asked me to do a website for him I did try it with joomla.org which is great platform, I personally liked it there is a lot of extensions and nice template.
Thanks for the promotional code 😀
Been using it for a while now and I like it 🙂