free blog |
INSTALLING YOUR BLOG PROGRAM |
Like someone who repairs his or her own car, you have the pleasure of knowing that the blog would not be on the road at all if it weren’t for your efforts. Finally, working with the elements of blog and hosting software gives you a better understanding of how the Internet works. This chapter blazes the general path to self-installed blogging from step one.
Leasing server space from a Web hosting company Owning the domain name of your site is like owning a brand name, and buying the server space on which the site is hosted is like owning virtual real estate. Traditionally, owning a catchy or memorable domain helps attract visitors and keeps them coming back — a truism that loses a little traction in an RSS world. I do nearly all my blog reading by calling up feeds in my newsreader like a lot of people. I don’t know about, care about, or ever see the domain names of blogs I read every day.
But I still believe in the power of a good domain name, which can help the site get a high ranking in search engines (see Chapter 15 for more on search engine marketing).
Domains are administered and sold by domain registrars, which are companies certified by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The first domain registrar was Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com), and that company is still doing business. Another popular one is Register.com (www.register.com), which benefits from a great domain name. I have used both those registrars as well as Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com). Dozens of others exist.
A domain is just a name paired with a top-level domain extension (such as .com, .net, .biz, or .org, or one of many other approved extensions). When a name is available (not owned by anyone), it never costs more than $35 a year to own it. Ownership must be renewed every year or less frequently if you buy a longer term. Unrenewed domain names fall into the public market. Many registrars sell domains at a lower annual cost and offer discounts for long-term purchases or bulk purchases of multiple domains. Domains may be purchased in the private market and transferred from one owner to another
at a negotiated price. When you buy a domain, you own only the specific Web address, not thename generally. For example, if your domain is www.greatdomain.com, you own greatdomain.com, but do not own greatdomain.net or the term greatdomain paired with any other extension. If you want to lock down the domain term to prevent copycat site names, you must buy all the extensions individually (if they are available). You don’t need a Web host to buy a domain name, but you may get your Web hosting deal in place before shopping for a domain if you want.
Web sites of all sorts, including independently hosted Weblogs, exist on Internet computers called servers. When you visit a Web site, your computer communicates over the Internet with that site’s server. The server sends pages to your computer for viewing. Servers are specialized for this kind of activity in volume; various types of servers can serve hundreds, thousands, or even millions of simultaneous users. Internet servers are available for public use through leasing arrangements. Customers rent portions of the server by the month or by the year. The portion is defined by storage capacity, which is to say, amount of memory. Capacity is measured in megabytes (MB) in most cases. Typical hosting limits are 100MB, 500MB, or 1000MB (a thousand megabytes is one gigabyte, or 1GB).A text-only blog can run for a long time in 100MB, but a larger space is neces- sary if you plan to add many pictures or a little audio or video.In addition to capacity limits, hosting companies put a ceiling on transfers, sometimes called bandwidth. Allowable monthly transfer is always measured in gigabytes; count on getting between 10GB and 50GB. Again, the more pictures, audio, and video you have on your site that visitors can download (transfer), the more bandwidth you need.