Cheap domain name registration and hosting has in the years become very common place. You can now host unlimited domains with some hosts for as little as $10 per month. You get massive disk space and much more.

Thanks to the low cost of domain names and hosting fees it is possible to own several websites without breaking the bank. You can get good hosting plans for as little as $12 per year and domain names for just $2.95!

Cheap Domain Name Registration

Cheap domain name registration is freely available these days, infact my hosting service for my website gave me a free domain name and setup as part of my package.All domains must be registered with a registrar that has been certified by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). There are hundreds of registrars and their prices vary considerably. Although registrars are closely regulated, they are permitted to offer their services through third parties; so many web hosts offer a domain name registration service even if they are not a registrar. The price of a domain name will usually be higher when dealing with these third-party services. Domain names are usually registered for a minimum of one year.

Domain Hosting

Once you have purchase your domain name, in order for your site to be visible online you will need to have your site hosted. For this you will require the services of a domain hosting company. Here again, there are hundreds of hosting companies and fees vary considerably. If you are not aufae' with the various technologies / functionality that a good domain hosting company should provide don't be alarmed or put off. The easiest option is to go with a large, well branded host, like bluehost.

If you prefer you could contact various domain hosts and enquire what technologies are offered with their package. Remember here, that these companies offer a range of packages...so you need to choose a package that suits YOUR needs. Typically packages differ in functionality and storage space. eg. a more expensive package will allow for a shopping cart and a credit card processing facility. If you do not intend selling products from your site then this is not for you; many domain hosting companies offer you the option to upgrade at a later stage so don't feel you need to have all technologies / functionality upfront.

After sale support is, in my opinion, of the utmost importance when deciding on a hosting company to host your newly acquired or transferred domain name. If you are opting for a lesser known hosting company this factor will be hard to gauge upfront. Hence it is my opinion that you stick with the better know, branded names. These are hosting companies that enjoy a large portion of the market share, people have being using them and can vouch for their reliability. Myself, I was introduced to bluehost by a personal friend who had already being using their services for many years. I have being with bluehost, at the time of writing this article, for three years and I have nothing but praise for this well run organisation. The support is fast, efficient and personal. As claimed in there advertisement up-time is 99%.

Managing Multiple Domains

There are several ways to manage multiple domains so it is important to know what your options are and the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

The most basic choice when administering multiple domains is whether or not to do so with the same host. Most hosts offer packages which can be set up to allow several sites on one account, or allow individual sites to be operated under separate accounts.

You may have an existing website and are happy with the services your host provides. If you decide to start a new website using the same host, you will have the reassurance of dealing with a company you are familiar with and trust. You may also get a discount for each additional account you open with the same host. On the other hand, using a new host for a second (or third or fourth) website can allow you to compare the quality of hosting offered by different companies. In addition, separate hosts will provide each of your web sites with a different IP address.

Having different IP addresses can be an important factor if you plan to link the sites together to aid in search engine optimization. Incoming links are an important indicator of the importance of a website, so a site with a lot of incoming links can get a higher position in search engines like Google. If all the links are coming from the same IP address, however, their value may be discounted. Hosting your various sites with different hosting companies guarantees that each site has a different IP address. Individual IP addresses, however, are available as an extra from most web hosts. For a yearly fee each website can have its own unique IP address. This can help with search engine ranking and is also needed if you want to have a secure connection (https) on your site.

If you decide to host all your sites with the same company, there are three basic ways to go. Each site could have its own account; you could sign up for a re-seller account; or you could get a dedicated server account.

As a re-seller you are acting as an agent for the hosting company. You are allocated a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth and you are free to use them as you please. There may be a limit to the number of websites you can host with your re-seller account, but if there is space left over after using this account for your own sites you could earn some extra income by selling accounts to other people. The advantage of a re-seller account is that all the technical details are taken care of by the hosting company. Some will even provide gateways for billing your customers.

A dedicated server account gives you control of all the resources of an entire server. You are free to setup as many websites as you wish and allocate disk space and bandwidth as you see fit. The downside to this type of account is that you are responsible for maintaining the server. This can require a significant level of technical know-how so if you don't have that knowledge or don't feel like learning about it, dedicated servers are not for you. You can, of course, go with a managed dedicated server. The downside of this is the higher cost involved.

Hosting all your sites with one host can offer lots of advantages but there is one major disadvantage if your server goes down, all your sites go down. If you are depending on your sites for income this can be a disastrous situation. For this reason, it is a good idea to have at least one of your sites with a different host. If your sites are essential for your livelihood and you can't afford any down time whatsoever, you would be advised to host everything with (at least) two hosts.

A Few Word Of Caution About Free Domain Name Registration and Free Domain Hosting

Remember that cheap domain name registration and hosting does not mean that you may opt for the free options out there. Free hosting is definitely an area you will do well to stay away from. Free domain hosting almost always mean no customer support, unreliable up-time and alot of dowm-time. Free domain name registration means that you DO NOT own that domain name but merely 'renting' it via. a third party...a definite no...no.