Hosting a website? Costs? Setup? etc...

[Santilli]

Hi
I've got a friend that has a business, and he needs a website working and functioning. I'm wondering what you need to host a website, and what costs are involved with your service provider.

In other words, is SBC going to freak if I use my broadband to run a website?

What software am I going to need, hardware, etc.?

Thanks

Greg

 

[Will Rickards]

You don't want to run a website off a server in your house for a business. Especially if you are going to take orders of any kind. This is fairly certain to violate your terms of service with SBC but more importantly be very slow for any significant traffic as your upload speed is very limited.

You want a hosting provider like dreamhost or 1&1 or anything else.
First you need a domain. For a year, 1&1 cost for domain is $6.
Then you need webspace, e-mail hosting, and a webserver.
How much you get depends on what you need and anticipated traffic.
Dreamhost has a shared hosting plan for $8/month.
Shared hosting means you are on a webserver with a bunch of other websites. You can pay extra to get you own IP otherwise you share it.
This can be a problem with e-mail or content blacklisting if you share it. A business would at least want to pay the extra for their own IP.
Then there is dedicated hosting where you are on your own server, much more expensive.

 

[Handruin]

Listen to Will...he's gotcha covered on the details Greg. Don't host it at home for a business. Let a hosting company take care of the redundant generators, the fire suppressant systems, the redundant trunks to the internet...really the only thing you get inconvenienced by on any common level are inconsiderate users in a shared environment (and the occasional change of hosts like we went through).

To add onto Will's comment for dedicated hosting...not only is it more expensive, but you have to choose between managed and unmanaged dedicated services. Managed dedicated hosting can be several hundred a month where as unmanaged can be as low as $100 a month...both are likely overkill for your friends website unless he/she has some radical idea that the explode into the market.

SF is in a shared hosting environment and it works decent for what we need. You might want to check if your friend needs any specific configurations for the website (i.e. jsp, perl, php, Mysql...etc). Those are the things you might need depending on the website.

 

[Santilli]

Ok

Let's get specific. This is the website.

http://www.jrhgunmaker.com/

The site needs to be added to easily, spell checked, and modified easily.

Any suggestions on the easiest way to do this?

Thanks

Greg

 

[Pradeep]

Any relation to JDJ?

 

[Santilli]

Small community with that size rounds. JDJ, Lee Jurras, Linebaugh, Bakers,
Brost, they all know each other.

S

 

[timwhit]

Ok

Let's get specific. This is the website.

http://www.jrhgunmaker.com/

The site needs to be added to easily, spell checked, and modified easily.

Any suggestions on the easiest way to do this?

Thanks

Greg

I think you need to talk with a professional web developer. That site looks like it is straight out of 1998.

A good firm can redesign the site and build it to work with a content management system that will make updates simple for a non-technical person.

There are a multitude of content management systems out there, many free. For example: http://www.mamboserver.com/

 

[Mercutio]

1998 or 2006, as long as the information on the site is presented clearly, a site re-deign would be REALLY low on my list of priorities.
One of the down sides to being a highly technical, web-savvy person is that you can get used to, and tolerate design changes easily. Most web users aren't that way, and a simple page fits well for a simple audience.

 

[timwhit]

My point remains. If you want a site that is: "added to easily, spell checked, and modified easily" then you need to set it up in a content management system. Unless you want to teach your user how to write html in notepad and teach them about apache directory structure and how to use FTP.

 

[Santilli]

OK:

Been kicking around trying to figure this out, and so far, this is the site I've come up with:

https://www.securepaynet.net/gdshop/hosting/hosting_build_website.asp?prog_id=insupport&ci=1805&se=+

I gather the software allows easy access and changing of the webpage, without knowing HTML.

Plan is to transfer the site over, and go from there.

Comments? Anyone used this sort of software?

Thanks

Greg

 

[Buck]

I've never used them Greg. However, less inclusive, I've seen City Desk used before and thought it was a helpful idea.

http://www.fogcreek.com/CityDesk/index.html

 

[timwhit]

That seems rather expensive for what they are giving you.