novice - advice appreciated

[Tanea]

Greetings,


I have a few pre-purchase questions. (I do intend to buy). But first, maybe some background info about my experience (or lack thereof) would help:

I am going to purchase a VB license as a first step to the introduction of a new service I will be launching in the future. My hope initially is to create a community, and then, once I have a large enough audience, sell ad space, (similar to how sitepoint.com does) with advertisers sponsoring individual forums. The community will consist of business pro's in a specific market (entirely different from sitepoints) as well as the general public within the niche marketplace.

I am a complete novice when it comes to actually having a web site. I understand the basics of html but that's it. The only webmaster experience I have is via a template type site building/hosting service. I have never actually worked on the technical details of designing/developing or hosting a site.

I live in a very small rural area where DSL is outrageously expensive so I get my internet connection through a local provider via a modem connection.

I am currently planning on having my ISP host my site. My Internet provider tells me it will be no problem to run VB (he has read the VB faq) but that he would need to set up the database interface once I have the VB program, and most likely the initial setup ( setting up the Database, making sure everything is pointing to the right places and working, etc.) should not be more than $50.

What I would like to know is, should I be charged for this or do hosts generally already have this set up? Also, are there any other questions I should be asking him?

Keeping in mind that I am new to all of this, (said because even to me this question sounds silly) but I'll ask anyway:

When I purchase VB, can I download to my computer and work with designing it before I upload to the server? OR - does it get installed on the server right away? Essentially I'd like to be able to work with it before I start paying for hosting so I can learn (hands-on) how to administer the software.

I have other questions but figure this would be the best place to start narrowing down my needs.

Thanks for your time.
Tanea

[tubedogg]

Most hosts will give you a set amount of databases for free. Since your ISP is probably more in the business of being an ISP as opposed to being a web host, they are not using the same systems as most hosts and must do things manually. Even given that, $50 is too much.

I suggest you look at venturesonline.com for hosting.

[Tanea]

Thanks

Thanks for the reply.

Can you tell me if venturesonline has good support? Taking into consideration that I have very limited knowledge about all of this, I was thinking it may be worth the additional cost to have a "near-by" host that I can call on for help. He's local so there wouldn't be the additional expense of long distance phone calls and I've been a good-paying customer of his for over a year so he would probably be committed to making sure I am satisfied.

Either way, are there any specific questions I should ask a host before signing up for service?

Also, can you (or anyone) answer my question about what I'll need to do once I have purchased the VB license?

[filburt1]

Re: Thanks

Originally posted by Tanea
Either way, are there any specific questions I should ask a host before signing up for service?

Some that come to mind are:
1. Do you offer gzip? It saves a ton of bandwidth.
2. Does your web space limit include the size of the mySQL DB? My little forums have a 10 MB DB.
3. Do you offer Telnet? It's not as important for a first-time install of vB, but when moving servers it's critical to have it.
4. Can I put PHP files anywhere? One user here is stuck with a host that is forcing him to put all PHP pages in the cgi-bin directory, which is really stupid IMHO.
5. Do you allow boards? Yes, may seem stupid, but many hosts don't like boards on their servers. If they say no, e-mail them saying that vB does not use flat files, and hopefully they'll allow it.

[Wayne Luke]

Re: Thanks

Originally posted by Tanea
Thanks for the reply.

Can you tell me if venturesonline has good support? Taking into consideration that I have very limited knowledge about all of this, I was thinking it may be worth the additional cost to have a "near-by" host that I can call on for help. He's local so there wouldn't be the additional expense of long distance phone calls and I've been a good-paying customer of his for over a year so he would probably be committed to making sure I am satisfied.

Either way, are there any specific questions I should ask a host before signing up for service?

Also, can you (or anyone) answer my question about what I'll need to do once I have purchased the VB license?

Ventures Online has great support. I personally have 6 sites with them with vBulletin installed on one and a very bulky ecommerce platform installed on another. One other domain is being developed into a regional portal and another is going to be a vBulletin community/News site.

[Tanea]

Filburt1~ One of the questions you suggested I ask my web host was:

"2. Does your web space limit include the size of the mySQL DB? My little forums have a 10 MB DB."

I wonder if you could expand on that a little? Wouldn't the web space allotment from a web host include the mySQL DB in whatever package someone purchases already? For instance: I was thinking about starting out with a 100 MB hosting plan.

Wayne ~ Thanks for your response about venturesonline. I am checking into it.

BTW, I think Sitepoint is THE BEST! I've seen your name on the forums. You are an administrator aren't you?

You probably noticed I mentioned sitepoint in my first post. Just so you know, although I do hope to follow sitepoints lead with my new biz -- it will in no way compete with sitepoints market. (Not that I could compete with such a fantastic site to begin with)!

I wonder if you'd be so kind and share some of your insight about developing such a site? My plan is to begin with a vbulletin forum and once large enough, sell ad space to sponsors similarly to how site point does in the forums. Eventually I'd like to integrate articles, again -- similar to sitepoint, and a directory.

I have to take this one step at a time due to restricted capital and since you may be familiar with how things work on the backside of sitepoint, I thought it couldn't hurt to ask you to share some of your tips. I would really appreciate your input.

Note: To the person who sent me the private message asking me to buy my copy of vbulletin through them...

Why would I, or anyone else for that matter, buy through you when you don't even bother to provide any help through the forum where the person posted in the first place?

The only reason I am even saying anything about this is because I suspect you aren't very successful getting people to buy through you when you ask them to do so in this manner and maybe by writing this, you'll learn something.

Had you of taken the time to respond to my post with some helpful advice, I would have considered buying through you but why would I buy through you when you didn't even *try* to do anything to help me as others have already done here?

I am all for giving back to those who try to help me by recognizing their effort in some way. Even if it is a simple "thank you". I am only buying one copy of vbulletin at the moment so I can only buy through one person. The person I buy through will be the person who helps me the most. That's how things work in the real world.

Here's a quote you might want to remember. It's by Zig Ziglar, 'World Renowned Author' of "See you at the Top"

"You can have everything in life that you want if you'll just do enough to help others get what they want".

You might want to read that again. It is so true! The quote follows in line with one of the *purest of motivations* in the world today. THE GOLDEN RULE. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

The message is clear. When you help others, they will want to help you. If you don't even *try* to help someone, you can't expect them to want to do anything for you. This is a rule all people should live by. (Especially people in business). The problem is -- to do so takes INTEGRITY and unfortunately, many people lack this quality. It's never too late to learn though.

Good luck!

[filburt1]

Originally posted by Tanea
Filburt1~ One of the questions you suggested I ask my web host was:

"2. Does your web space limit include the size of the mySQL DB? My little forums have a 10 MB DB."

I wonder if you could expand on that a little? Wouldn't the web space allotment from a web host include the mySQL DB in whatever package someone purchases already? For instance: I was thinking about starting out with a 100 MB hosting plan.

I am allotted 50 MB of space, but I'm still in the process of figuring out if that includes the size of the mySQL DB. If it doesn't, then it means I have about 45 MB free on my account. If it does, then it means that I have 35 MB free and it will keep going down.

If you turn off attachments and avatars, 100 MB will be more than enough for quite a while.

[Ian]

You may also want to check out http://www.zeonhost.com/ they have greatsupport, speed and prices. I have a long review of them in the hosting part of this forum... My website is hosted there.... You can see it at http://www.zforcenetwork.com/ if you want.

[filburt1]

Which plan do you have?

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by Tanea
Wayne ~ Thanks for your response about venturesonline. I am checking into it.

BTW, I think Sitepoint is THE BEST! I've seen your name on the forums. You are an administrator aren't you?

You probably noticed I mentioned sitepoint in my first post. Just so you know, although I do hope to follow sitepoints lead with my new biz -- it will in no way compete with sitepoints market. (Not that I could compete with such a fantastic site to begin with)!

I wonder if you'd be so kind and share some of your insight about developing such a site? My plan is to begin with a vbulletin forum and once large enough, sell ad space to sponsors similarly to how site point does in the forums. Eventually I'd like to integrate articles, again -- similar to sitepoint, and a directory.

I have to take this one step at a time due to restricted capital and since you may be familiar with how things work on the backside of sitepoint, I thought it couldn't hurt to ask you to share some of your tips. I would really appreciate your input.

Thank you for your support. If you want to know more about how SitePoint came to be and what we do on a daily basis, check out our forums and ask questions there. We will be happy to answer them for you. However we need to keep this forum for vBulletin support and related questions.

[Ian]

Originally posted by filburt1
Which plan do you have?

If that question was referred to me...
I'm currently on ZeonHost's Bronze plan.