Getting a Web Host

Your website needs to be stored on a hosting company's web server. I use and strongly recommend SiteGround. Fortunately, it's easy to sign up for an affordable account for your website, and takes only a few minutes:

  1. Click here, which opens up a new window.
  2. In that new window, click the "Sign Up" button.
  3. In step 1 ("Choose Plan"), pick a plan that matches your future website's needs.
    • Their StartUp plan is fine for one modest-sized website. The GrowBig plan is better if you anticipate having substantial traffic to your future website, because it gives you the most flexibility and resources for the money — specifically, it provides more features, twice the space, more than twice the traffic capacity, and multiple websites in a single account. Most of my clients choose the GrowBig plan.
    • Click the appropriate blue "Order Now" button.
  4. In step 2 ("Choose Domain"), either register a new (and free) domain name if you do not already have one, or indicate which one you have.
    • If you do not already have a domain name, then enter the domain name you want for your website. If it is unavailable, try your next choice. If you have difficulty coming up with an available one, contact me so I can help you.
    • Or, if you already have a domain name, enter it.
    • Click the blue "Proceed" button.
  5. In step 3 ("Review & Complete"), enter all the requested account information.
    • In the "Contact Information" section, if you are opening an account on behalf of someone else (such as a non-technical client), then use your own e-mail address, so you will receive the initial message from SiteGround. We can change the address later to whatever the client wants.
    • In the "Purchase Information" section, for the "Period", choose at least 12 months. To minimize the number of times that they remind you to renew, choose 36 months instead of 12.
    • SiteGround may recommend additional services, but you do not need them.
  6. Click the "Submit Order" button.
  7. If the hosting account information differs from your credit card information, then you may see a dialog box informing you that a customer service representative will try to call you immediately at the phone number that you entered earlier. This is for security reasons.
  8. SiteGround will send you an order confirmation message containing your username. If I will be building the website for you, then please forward that message to me, plus your chosen password, because I will need the information for uploading files to the web host account. Thanks.

Please let me know if any portion of these instructions are unclear or out of date (if SiteGround changed their procedures).

If you have any questions while signing up, then contact SiteGround's customer support toll-free at 866-605-2484 or click their online "Live Chat" link in the upper part of their site.

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