Every good blog needs a host.
There are plenty of options here, each with it’s own upsides and downsides.
For example, I could go with a “hosted” blog solution… You know, something that anyone can sign up for free of charge. Something like WordPress.com or Blogger.com. In theory this would be fine, except, most of the “free” blog hosting sites are out to monetize your site on their behalf… Thereby, not allowing you to make money. That said, that doesn’t seem like the right solution for me… Instead, I’m going to go the self hosted route, and because I must play by my own spending rules, I will put down the total I paid and not just how much it would cost me for this month (because the fact of the matter is, this is going to be a longer experiment than a month).
In any case, here’s what I did. I went with the hosting company I have been recommending to my clients ever since the previous host I had been recommending went south. Their name: Westhost. You can find them here:
http://affiliates.westhost.com/z/55/CD970/
They are a VPS solution, they can support multiple sites, and they allow me to recompile php to my hearts content. They also have 1-click installs of WordPress which should save me a little bit of time in getting going with the site… But more on WordPress later.
In any case, I opened my hosting account, and have my domain from Godaddy successfully pointed at Westhost (oh, if your doing this yourself, Westhost’s 9.99/month package comes with a free domain, so you can skip over the Godaddy step if you would like). Now on to building the site. C’ya All tomorrow!
Blogging To The Money Status:
- Non-Time Cost So Far: $127.03
- .com Domain from www.GoDaddy.com
with promo code Oyh3 to get it for 7.15
- Westhost webhosting for a year (9.99/month for 12 months): $119.88
- .com Domain from www.GoDaddy.com
- Amount Made: $0.00
- Net: -$7.15