One option for posting content on the internet is to use the web space offered by your ISP. (Internet Service Provider)
Ten years ago when the internet was shiney and new- at least to us AOL subscribers, I learned AOL would host web pages for free. AOL had a built-in FTP (File Transfer Protocol) tool and enough guides for me to figure out how to set it up.
I put up a family page with photos, news and some humor. AOL offered five screen names. Each could host a web site. I put up web pages for other family members and one for our company. This was great, now I could explain about Effective Concepts, what we do and why. I wrote short biographies of Ray and I. I talked about lighting products we sold and services we provided. I even made an order page using forms for customers to fill out and email to us.
AOL was fine for a little while but I was concerned no one could find us unless I told them exactly where to look. http://members.aol.com/effectivec is not easy to remember!
I solved this problem by registering a domain name from Dotster.com and pointed the domain to my AOL.com pages.
I grew tired of hosting my web pages on AOL. I ran into limitations for capacity, control, posting, and flexiblity. I moved my personal and company sites to paid hosting. And yet, for small sites free hosting on AOL or other ISPs is fine. Many ISPs not only host content but have templates and packages that take much of the hassle out of creating a web page. If the domain name is funky you can always pick up a better domain name at Dotster.com or Goddy.com and use that to direct traffic to your ISP hosted web site.
Owning your own domain name also comes in handy when and if you have to leave your ISP. I grew tired of AOL for a number of reasons and left them in 2003. Because I owned my own domain names I could move my web sites and not lose my customers or viewers. I simply pointed my domain name to the new host.
Technorati: posting content, ISP, AOL, Dotster, Godaddy
This is part two of a multipart series on posting content to the internet. It uses my personal history on the web as a guide.