VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[melissa eX]

I'm finally done procrastinating and am going to put up a website - but I know NOTHING about how it's done. I've had my domain names parked for years with a hosting company which was recently bought by another company. I've also had my business e-mail with them and haven't had any real problems so in the interest of keeping things simple I'd probably like to stay with them for hosting, but what do I need them to be able to provide me? For a vo site that will eventually have a number of demos and hopefully a substantial amount of traffic at some point etc. etc. what are the technical things I need from them? I did a search here on website hosting and I see a lot of talk about bandwidth etc. What does a typical vo site need? I know it's not multiple shopping carts which I see being advertised at a gazillion hosting places!

Thanks for your help - I used to be so tech savvy in my earlier incarnation as a video editor - now I just feel USELESS!

[Craig]

Same boat as you Melissa.

I had one (hopefully) soon to be client tell me a very useful feature would be the ability to log on to the website to download their completed project.

At this stage I'm thinking demos and contact info, maybe someway to accept payment.

In any event, I look forward to the replies.

Craig

[melissa eX]

Craig,

I think most hosting companies give you FTP space.

I have a client where I log onto their 'servers' I guess - with a password they gave me - and upload all of my finished files right onto their computers via ftp using an ftp client (WS-FTP in my case).

I think with a hosting company YOU get ftp space and it works in reverse of what I've been doing. You create sections of that space for your clients which they can access with a password you give them and that's where you put the finished files. They then download them.

Or, if I'm wrong can some please correct me?

[Lizden]

There are two issues here:

1) What to ask a Hosting Co
2) how to set-up a download page for a client.

Out of order:
2) Go to this thread, Craig:
http://www.vo-bb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3596&highlight=ftp+folder

For payment: set-up a Buisness PayPal account. That's the easiest way to get payment.

1) Melissa: I'm NOT a computer geek, but what I did was I called GoDaddy (my hosting Co) and told them I needed enough space to upload sound files. You may also have to tell them what program you're using to create your website. I use Mozilla which works fine for me, but I think there are more tech-savyy VO-BBers that use Dreamwaever & FrontPage, and those may have certain requirements on the host-side.
Right now you just need space to put up a simple webpage and a few demos.

Now...you other REALLY savvy people, chime in!

Liz
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[melissa eX]

Thanks Liz:

You do know that YOU were the major reason I decided to get off my butt and stop procrastinating, right?

M

[Lizden]

I wish I could help MYSELF as much!!!!!.....

L.
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[Deirdre]

What you need from a web host are:

Server space
FTP ability

on top of it all:
Good Customer Service

GoDaddy.com

There are always live, English-speaking people to answer customer service questions.

The design and implementation are up to you and/or your designer.
Anyone can set up FTP to get files to clients.
_________________
DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[Dave]

Hi Melissa,

Setting up a web site is not nearly as complicated as it may sound. In fact, you are well along way as you have already completed step one: secure a domain name.

Step two, select a host. personally, I use 1and1.com. Very good live tech support when needed and it as economical as I have found. There are also many folks here who select godaddy.com. I've used them as well and found them to be top notch folks.

As for "bandwidth" capabilities... this should be a non-event as most any vo website will come nowhere close to exceeding alloted bandwidth so I don't think it warrants a second thought. Allotted space could be an issue so if I were to be concerned about anything it would be this area. But again, most hosting packages have plenty to offer. Even one gig (1,000 mb) which is quite common on even the smallest hosting packages, would more than accommodate your needs.

Os... to be continued. The grandson just informed me he noticed red wasps are building a nest on the patio so I'll have to go blast them to oblivion....
_________________
. If at first you don't succeed, then bomb disposal probably isn't for you.

[ccpetersen]

Also check out hostgator.com... they can help you from soup to nuts on getting started, creating a web page, etc. (Some services they charge for, others they don't.) I moved to them when my previous ISP went of business and I had ONE DAY to find a new home for my site.


cc
_________________
Charter Member: Threadjackers Local 420

[glittlefield]

I refurbished my own server and it's currently hosted by my former employer in Austin, so I won't be much help here.

I'd just recommend the KISS principle. Try to find one company that can take care of everything for you (registry, DNS, hosting, etc). Godaddy is where I register my domains and they have a busload of other goodies available for hosting. If you keep your mp3 demos to a couple megs in size, you won't eat up an awful lot of bandwidth each month. As far as client files go, you'd have to check with the hosting company about allowing a separate login account for each client. I'd imagine it would also be possible to set up a secure directory for access via HTTP as well.
_________________
Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59

[Deirdre]

GoDaddy lets you set up password-protected web-user FTP.

I've got a dot-htaccess doc that I stick in the folder of stuff I want to be available as a directory. If you're hip to handling invisible docs it's a pretty spiffy, easy way to upload folders of files, ready for your client to download.
_________________
DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[Don G.]

While it may in fact be simpler to have hosting with the same company as your domain registration, I would recommend using separate companies for hosting and registration. That gives you more freedom and flexibility if you decide down the road that you'd like to use a different host, for whatever reason. Some registrars have been known to hold a domain hostage or at least take their sweet time if you want to move your hosting.

Lots of interesting info here. My comment above is referenced in item #3 of this article.

[melissa eX]

Thanks guys,

Diedre - I have no idea what dot-htaccess means although your description of it sounds like something I'd like.... I really don't know any of this stuff! Haven't been paying attention.... I do know the place that registered my domains has FTP and 24 hour English speaking people (I called at 1 am) and they've been pretty responsive to questions.

Dave - I think they have 5g of space -so I think I'm ok there if I decide to stay with them. Maybe 5g bandwidth also? I can't check now because they're upgrading everything and I can't access the site. (or get my business e-mail! arrgh!)

I'll check out 1and1 and godaddy and cc - I'll check out hostgator also.

glittle - I was thinking the same about keeping everything in one place - but Don made me think about that a minute.

I think my domains are registered with a reseller - I registered them years ago with a colleague who also had a hosting company. He sold his company recently to another hosting company. I pay them not the actual registrar - and I think I have to go through them to do things like change my whois info - but I think they said that may change and I'll be able to do that myself at some point.

From what I'm beginning to understand it doesn't matter where you are registered - you just redirect it to look elsewhere for your site? Then I'm thinking it might make sense to have things in different places as Don says. Right now they're upgrading everything at the company I'm registered with - I also have e-mail with them. I can't access anything. And my domains won't come up with my 'coming soon' page. If I were registered elsewhere I could just redirect it to another hosting company for the duration?

If I'm not using this company for hosting but I have my registration through them can't they hold it hostage anyway if they want and not let me use someone else? I think they're supposed to be a pretty decent company - they're also members of BBBonline with no complaints for what that's worth....

I'm off to find a 'websites for dummies' book to get up to speed on the language of all of this! Then I'll be able to understand all of the answers you've been so helpful with (dot htaccesswhatchamacallit????)

thanks!

[SkinnyJohnny]

I just put a website online thru Blue Voda. They give you the software to build the site in hopes that you will use them for the hosting and domain name. I have no complaints at all so far and it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. By the way, if you get a chance to check out my site the address is:
www.johnweeksaudio.com
Any comments would be welcome.
It was and still is a lot of fun putting this together.
As far as files for clients go, I just created a folder that I can upload files to and made it username and password protected. It's working so far.
Good Luck,
John
_________________
John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com

[Craig]

Hi John,

That's a beautifully done site. Congrats!

Not cluttered, easy to navigate...that's a winner.

Craig

(Recovered DJF sufferer as well.)