Hosting Your Own Website Home | You Can Be Restricted

Imagine operating a website with the knowledge of hosting your own website home. It would be both annoying and full of inconveniences, right?

Well, assuming you find a hosting provider, will you be ready to operate your site under their sometimes strict restrictions? Besides, these hosting providers might limit hosting locations.

Perhaps it is the right time for you to consider hosting your own website home. How could you do it?

Here are a few things you should know.

What is local web hosting and what does it involve?

Hosting your website often requires you to build your server from scratch. In this case, you will be responsible for the software, hardware, and bandwidth provision. This process can be complex in given instances.

Don’t worry. I am here to make things easier for you.

Hardware and Software

You will need to select reliable hardware and software. Basic server hardware tends to be relatively similar to your PC’s.

Technically you could even convert one of your laptops into a basic server. However, the difference will often lie in how credible you want your site to be and how many visitors it can handle.

It would be prudent to pay attention to the storage space, memory, and processor. You will also need enough space, power, and cooling facilities, especially if you want a high-end and heavy server. Routers and modems will come in handy in handling heavy traffic.

While at it you will need to focus on your web server platform. Some of the most reliable platforms in the market include Apache and Nginx. As such it will be upon you to configure as well as license your software too.

Hosting Your Own Website From Home Bandwidth

Nothing is more significant to the operation of your website than bandwidth sufficiency. Internet bandwidth will be central to running this server. Reach out to your network provider to get insights on how much bandwidth you will require.

Further, you will need a static IP address for your server. You can choose to buy it from your internet service provider or other online providers. Whichever option suits you better, go for it.

Deploy Website

One of the most critical elements of this process is the development of a deployed site. You will need to move your files to the web host. It is only through this that your website will start functioning optimally.

Steps To Host Your Site

First, you will want to start by defining which type of website you want to host. We only have two types of websites, static and dynamic ones.

Static websites are basic and will not require a heavy server. An FTP software will be enough for you. However, it comes with relatively limited functionality. This way you will hardly rely on it for e-commerce or interactivity sites.

Dynamic sites are CMS-driven allowing you to edit or edit content. Such sites require servers with enhanced functionality.

Ensure that you choose the right hosting server. Such will be dependent on your needs and the sense of comfort you want to derive. You can choose between Linux and Windows hosting.

Linux allows you to run scripts in PHP, Perl, and Python, among other Unix-originated languages. It also supports MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

On the other hand, Windows hosting allows for the running of ASP scripts, using. NET. It supports the Access database and Microsoft SQL Server.

Hosting on Windows

This option is often viable for those who want local development servers. However, you will first need to get the WAMP server. WAMP is a contracted form of Windows, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

You will first need to install the WAMP software. It could be a 64 or 32-bit, depending on your preferences and operating system. Feel free to make an exception whenever Windows rejects some of the Apache features.

Take time to navigate the WAMP server and to the www directory. It allows you to change some of the pages displayed by the webserver.

Do not shy away from creating subdirectories as they will be central to storing your HTML and PHP files. Make sure you come up with your HTML or PHP page.

Save it in the directory. After this configure MySQL.

It will be up to you to customize these MySQL databases as per your preferences. In most cases, you will be provided with a default database if you are using WordPress or CMS software.

The last step involves setting up your website and ensuring that it goes live. At this point your site will only be accessible to your computer unless you click on the ‘Put Online’ icon, your website will not be live to the public.

Hosting on Linux Machine

First, you will need to install the LAMP software. You will be free to install this AMP software regardless of the version of your Linux OS.

Ensure that you set up your web server, whether command-line Ubuntu or the standard Ubuntu. Usually, this installation could take much time as it involves downloading huge files.

Confirm the PHP operation. LAMP allows you to verify whether your PHP server is functional.

It will also ensure that you are familiar with the available modules. Go through the graphical package manager for more modules.

In the next stage, you will have to install and test the MySQL database and consequent binding addresses. It will ensure that your CMS systems, including WordPress, run efficiently in the long run.

You will then need to undertake the PHPMyAdmin installation. For this process to be successful be sure you configure all the repositories. From here you will do the DNS configuration.

It is at this point you will change your domain name. This domain name needs to point to a particular IP address.

Finally, take the time to configure Apache before you can enable your website. Be sure you give your best during this process. This way you will be sure of enhanced performance in the long run.

Hosting Your Own Website Home Another Option

What if you decide you do not want to host your own website hosting home? Most people I know do not, and would not undertake such a big project.

I am an affiliate marketer and I use Wealthy Affiliate to host up to 25 websites for $49 a month. These include the SSL certificate for each one.

There are many good hosting providers where you can host your website. A quick Google search will give you plenty.

Some of these include…

• – Bluehost
• – GoDaddy
• -Namecheap
• – Host Gator
• -WA
• – Wix

All of these will offer the basic features of your account. Here is what is important.

– easy to use
– one-click installation
– drag-and-drop software capabilities
– 24-hour support
– high uptime (your site is online over 99% of the time)

I can’t stress the 24-hour support enough. If you are like most of us you do not set up websites and may run into problems.

What I noticed when researching this article was the pages I was looking at were often well done but ended up ranking their choice on hosting where they were an affiliate.

Nothing wrong with that. I am an affiliate for Wealthy Affiliate. Let me tell you why I prefer hosting all of my websites with them.

Why Wealthy Affiliate Hosting?

Let me list a few features and then go more into detail on why hosting your own website home with Wealthy Affiliate was my choice.

• – features
• – cost
• – reliability
• – server speed
• – support
• – value
• – SSL certificate

Wealthy Affiliate has to be at the top when it comes to customer support. The customer base for them at first is affiliate marketing newbies.

That means a lot of people who have no idea what they are doing 🙂 I include myself in that group!

I can not stress enough how important customer support is if you are going to set up your own website. With the one-click features using a WordPress Theme, you can do this, but you can always pay some $5 at Fiverr.com as well.

What is SSL?

Let me also mention the importance of hosting a secure website. SSL is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser.

In layman’s terms look at your browser. Do you see a lock before the URL? Do you see HTTPS as opposed to HTTP?

If you do the site is secure> Your visitor can relax if they are going to share any info or order anything from you.

One other thing. Google favors secure websites when it comes to ranking them in their organic results. If you want to rank you need an SSL certificate.

Wealthy Affiliate includes it in all of them up to 25 websites you can host with them. This is HUGE in my opinion.

Why Do I Use Wealthy Affiliate Hosting?

I mentioned many reviews are written to favor hosting someone who is an affiliate. This does apply to me as well.

I use WA for 4 primary reasons.

• Price
• SSL
• Affiliate
• Support

At $49 a month price would not be a reason for most people. I earn $23.50 a month on each active account I sign up for.

The old saying: “sell 3 and yours is free,” applies here to me. Also if you ever were to host 25 websites the hosting works out to less than $2 a month.

Final thoughts

Hosting your own website home is a must. Are you going to set it up yourself or use a hosting company your decision?

For most of us, we let professionals handle our hosting. We focus on building a great website and making money from it.

If you are interested in creating your own home business, check out my #1 recommendation on building a successful business online. You can get access to hundreds of training videos, 24/7 support, professional consultations, private access to training guides, tools, and much more.