Websites for Writers - Options

You can read through all this information, and I recommend that you do. But it's pretty technical and heavy-going. If you'd prefer to go straight to the solution I recommend, just click here.

You have a number of options when it comes to picking a website. It's important that you know this to make the best decision for you.

For every website you need three things:

	Software to create the website
	A domain name for the website
	A place (albeit a virtual place) to host the website

	For the software: you can have a blog or a what's called a static website (i.e. a traditional website like this one)
	For the domain name: You can have your own domain name, or use another company's domain name with your own name as a subset of that.
	For the hosting: You can have a website hosted on your own IP address (which is like renting your own house) or using another company's IP address (which is like renting a room in somebody else's house)

Should you pick a blog or a static website?

The advantage of a blog is that it's totally free to use, and that it's easy for you to update yourself. The disadvantage is that a blog will never look as professional or serious as a static website. Not for nothing are blogs sometimes called 'poor man's websites'.

And so, the advantage of a static website is that - done right - it looks very professional. The disadvantage is that it's not as easy to update as a blog. There are various options available to you which I go into below.

Should you get your own domain name?

By your own domain name I mean that literally the website address is www.yourdomainname.com - usually your own name is best if you can get it. So I have my own domain-name website: www.tracyculleton.com. If your name is no longer available, then you can use something like www.yournamewriter.com.

Having your own domain name will cost you an annual fee - I talk more about that below.

The other option, which is free, is to use another company's domain name and piggy-back off it so to speak. So your website might be: www.yourname.othercompanysname.com.

This just does not look anywhere near as professional and I do not recommend this. It's worth paying for your own domain name. They're not expensive.

Should you have your own hosting/IP address?

There is no real advantage to having your own hosting/IP address, as nobody will know where your website is hosted. And the disadvantage is that it will cost you more money. The only tiny downside to sharing a hosting/IP address is that if a fellow-user spams from that IP address, you'll all be considered spammers. But if you stick with a reputable hosting company such as the ones recommended here, that should not be a problem as that company will pick up very quickly on any spammers.

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So, given this combination of factors, your options for your website are as follows. I go into more detail of each of them below this table. You can have your choice of:

	A blog using another company's domain name and hosting/IP address
	A blog using your own domain and hosting/IP address
	A static website you make yourself on another company's hosting/IP address and using their domain
	A static website you make yourself on your own hosting/IP address with, of course, your own domain name.
	Getting a fixed website made for you on another company's hosting/IP address, and using your own domain
	Getting a fixed website made for you on your own hosting/IP address and using your own domain

 
There are pros and cons to each of these options.

A blog using another company's domain name
and hosting/IP address

The two main blogging websites are www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com. The big advantage is that both of these are totally free to use, and reasonably easy to use too. The big disadvantages are that, as blogs, they lack the professionalism and elegance of static websites, and that you won't have your own domain name. Your blog address will be either www.yourdomainname.blogspot.com or www.yourdomainname.wordpress.com.

Also, you won't be able to have an email address of yourname@yourdomainname.com.

A blog using your own domain and hosting/IP address

Which brings us onto the second option, that of a blog that's hosted on your own hosting/IP address and with your own domain. You can get this from www.wordpress.org (i.e. a dot-org ending rather than the dot-com ending of the above option).

If you use this option, you can have your own domain name, i.e. www.yourdomainname.com, and you can have an e-mail address of yourname@yourdomainname.com, which always looks more professional.

It's free to use www.wordpress.org, but you do have to pay for your hosting and your domain name. More details below on how to do that.

You're still left with the consideration that it's a blog, and looks like a blog. But this is still a pretty good option for you.

A fixed website you make yourself on another company's
hosting/IP address and using your own domain

There are various free options for this if you scout around. One big one I found is www.webs.com. They have a free website builder which is a static website and so looks better than blogs. You do have to use their domain name though: it'll be in the format www.yourdomainname.webs.com.

There's worse news than that though - the free version has ads on it. That's how they get their income instead of charging you. Because of the unprofessional look of having ads on a writer's website I do not recommend using this option at all - you would be far better to use either of the blog options as shared above. Yes, they look more bloggish, but they have no ads.

But having said that, you can get one of this company's premium packages and have your website without ads. The premium version includes your own domain name and the hosting costs for no extra charge. If you're going this route, that's what I would recommend. The 'Starter Webs' package, which is all you'd need, is $49.95 a year, and that includes your hosting (on their IP address) and your own domain name.

Another option is Hostgator. They're primarily a hosting and domain name company, but offer a web builder too. This could well be a good alternative for you.

The advantage of this option (i.e. either the Webs.com premium service, or the Hostgator service) is that you can have a static website which looks pretty good, and which you can edit yourself, all with your own domain name. (Their IP address though rather than your own, but as I say, that's not a problem).

This is a good option for you, in my opinion.

Getting a website made for you on another company's
hosting/IP address, and using your own domain.

This is a service that I am offering, to try to be the best of all worlds. It will have the professional look of a static website with your own domain name and your own e-mail address, all at a very competitive price, and simple too. All you have to do is to decide what's going to be on your website, type it up, and send it along with any images (e.g. of you, and/or your book covers) to me. I organise the domain name, the hosting, setting up the website, getting your yourname@yourdomainname.com e-mail address: everything!

The pricing works as follows (all prices are + VAT if you're in the EU):

You can see the sample website templates here. You can have your pick of whichever of those you like.

If you'd like to avail of this offer, you can pay by the security of PayPal using your credit card.

Yes please I'd like to buy a website package from you:

Hosting and Domain Name Providers

If you're in Ireland you can get hosting from www.hostingireland.ie for only €2.95 per month, and get your domain name for €19.95 per year for that, for a yearly total of €55.35. (Compare this with my website package above which includes these items in the cost of doing your website, and you'll see that you're getting a lot for your money. Not to mention half the normal hosting/domain name costs per year afterwards.)

Or, you can get hosting and domain name from Hostgator, which is one of the best-thought of hosting providers in the US. You can use them no matter which country they're in. Their hosting package is $4.95 per month, which is $59.40 per year.