How to choose a domain and hosting: Building a website for beginners.

Choosing a domain and hosting is an important step in creating a website for beginners. The domain is your website's name while hosting is the space that stores the data and files of the website. Both of these elements will affect the credibility, speed, and accessibility of the website. Let's take a look at how to choose the right domain and hosting.

How to choose a domain.

A domain is the name that users will type in to access your website, such as www.example.com. Choosing a good domain name should follow these principles:

Tips for Choosing a Domain:

• Short and easy to remember: The domain should be short, concise, and easy to recall so that users can easily type or share it.
• Easy to spell: Avoid using words that are difficult to spell or have multiple spellings to prevent confusion.
• Choose the appropriate domain suffix: .com is the most popular domain suffix, but if your website is a nonprofit organization, you might opt for .org. If the website is specific to Thailand, you might choose .co.th.
• Connecting with a brand or business: The domain should reflect the business or content of the website. If your brand name is available, you should use it as the domain. However, if the domain name is already taken, try adding other relevant words that indicate the type of business we have.
• Check availability: Use domain availability checking tools such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Google Domains to see if the name you want is already taken.

Popular domain registration tools.

• GoDaddy: There is a domain checker tool that allows you to search for available domains to choose from.
• Namecheap: Register a domain at an affordable price with excellent support services.
• Google Domains: Easy to use and connected with Google services.

How to choose hosting.

Hosting is a service that allows you to rent space to store various files of a website, such as images, content, and databases.

Choosing the right hosting is crucial for your website to operate smoothly.

Types of hosting

• Shared Hosting: Suitable for small websites or beginners, as you will share space and resources with other websites on the same server. The cost is low, but the speed may decrease if there is excessive resource usage.
• VPS (Virtual Private Server): You will receive resources that are separated from other websites, even though you are still sharing the server. It is suitable for medium-sized websites with increasing traffic.
• Dedicated Hosting: You will get an entire server solely for your website. It is suitable for large websites with high traffic, but it is quite expensive.
• Cloud Hosting: Using cloud technology to host websites, which provides flexibility and effectively supports traffic. It is suitable for websites that require scalability and have a large number of users.

Tips for Choosing Hosting

• Reliability and Stability: Check if the hosting provides sufficient uptime (the duration that the website is online). There should be at least 99.9% uptime.
• Speed: Choose hosting that has a fast connection to the server so that the website loads quickly.
• Storage space and bandwidth: Check that the hosting has sufficient storage space and enough bandwidth for the number of users on your website.
• Support: Choose a hosting provider that offers 24/7 customer support, especially if you are not familiar with troubleshooting technical issues.
• Price: Choose hosting that fits your budget, but also consider the quality and features offered. Don't select just because of the low price.

Popular hosting providers

• Bluehost: The hosting recommended by WordPress, is easy to install and use, with 24/7 support services.
• SiteGround: It is renowned for its speed and excellent customer support, with built-in SEO features.
• HostGator: There are a variety of packages available at affordable prices, and they can be customized according to your needs.

Once you have your domain and hosting, the next step is to link the domain to the hosting. This can be done by updating the DNS (Domain Name System) of the domain to point to the server of the hosting provider you have chosen. If you use the same provider for both domain registration and hosting, the connection will be easy and quick.

Choosing the right domain and hosting will help your website operate efficiently and build credibility with users.