Before you can start setting up your site it’s important to make sure the technical foundations are in place. This step seems hard for many, but it’s not difficult at all.
You need two things: a web host to host the files and a domain name so you can refer people to your site. Some companies specialize in hosting only, others only do domain name registration, and others do both. If you’re just going to have one website you might as well look for a company that does both for administrations’ sake.
Selecting a host
Wordpress is a pretty simple application to run, so most hosts meet the requirements. Techies might argue with me here, but I’m of the opinion that you, being a photographer, shouldn’t have to worry about checking whether a web host got enough PHP memory limit, bandwidth and so on. That’s why I recommend you to look at two simple factors to find a good host:
- Automatization – Do they have an automated installation for Wordpress? If they do, you’ll save yourself the hassle having to murk about the Wordpress configuration file and uploading everything manually. It’s also a good indicator that they’re used to dealing with the kind of load Wordpress produces.
- Support – What happens if something goes wrong? Sooner or later you will need to talk to your host about things that doesn’t work appropriately (you might hit a traffic spike!), and then it’s important that you can get in touch with the company quickly and easily. Look for the following: live chat, phone numbers, knowledge database, status blog and support forums.
One host that fulfill these requirements is Bluehost. They provide both hosting and registration services. I haven’t tried them myself, but Wordpress.org seem to think highly of them. Wordpress.org recommends a few other ones as well. Whichever you choose it’s a good idea to search the web first to see what everyone else thinks of the company you’re about to hire.
Selecting a domain name
When you sign up at a combined web host/registrar you get to choose your domain name. Again, some make domain name selection into an art to rank well in search engines and so forth – but I recommend you follow one simple criteria:
- Choose a name you like.
In the end, you’re going to talk to real people. You’re going to tell these people to go to your site. They’re going to end up on your site to see your photographs. If you choose something that sounds good to you you’ll win in the long run.
It should be noted that it may take a while to find a domain name you like that’s still available. If you need help testing different domains and making up new ones there are domain name creators like makewords.com to help you out.
My setup
I maintain several web sites, so it was important for me to find a hosting company that had great uptime, good support and an architecture suitable for multiple sites. When I get an idea I want to have a site up and running quickly so that I can experiment with it while my creativity is on the max – so a self installer to quickly deploy new sites was important. Through googling and asking around at work I’ve found a combo that works very well for me: Webfaction (hosting) + Loopia (registrar).
So far I’m very satisfied with both. Deploying websites is easy with Webfaction’s unique application + domain = website system, and they’ve been very communicative. I’m having a few problems with poor bandwidth that I’m looking into – either I’m too far away from their servers geographically, the server is under heavy load (hopefully not from me!) or I’m growing out of my account. I’m confident that the guys and gals at Webfaction will help me figure that one out, though. You can’t register a domain name with them, which is why I use Loopia for that. If you intend to run several websites I highly recommend Webfaction, but for just one something like Bluehost might be an easier option since you can have your domain name and hosting at the same place.
Loopia is one of the oldest and best Swedish hosting companies. I use them as a registrar only. Their hosting packages aren’t really suited to my needs, but their registrar service is one of the best there is. They’re specializing in Scandinavian countries and have excellent support if you speak Swedish like I.
