More and more teachers are jumping on the bandwagon and creating some sort of web presence. Many teachers that I know have set up a blog as their base of online operations. Free services such as Blogger, WordPress, and EduBlogs make it so easy!
These free services are a great place to start. But if you’re like me, at some point you realize their limitations. Caps on storage space or bandwidth. No FTP capability. Unsightly advertising. Inability to use themes other than those provided. Limited customization. You can, of course, upgrade to a premium account to get some of these features. After all, outside of advertising, that’s how these services make their money.
But let’s say you want to expand your web presence with a wiki, bulletin board, forum, or Moodle. Unless your school is doing the hosting or footing the bill, you could end up with a hefty charge at the end of each month.
A more economical solution, and one that is ultimately more flexible and satisfying, is to host your own site. For one low, flat monthly fee, you can set up any number of blogs, wikis, Moodles, etc., and customize them as you like. This is also a very good option for teachers whose schools have unusually tough firewalls or less than cooperative system administrators.
Other self-hosting advantages include:
- No bothersome advertising
- Free email accounts with your own domain name
- Complete control of all your files and information
- Direct upload and download of these files to and from your server
- One-touch installation of WordPress, Moodle, and other scripts
- Complete site backup and restore capability
Where to start?
I would suggest first getting a domain name. Be wary of the “free domain for life” that some web hosts offer. Why? Because if the hosting company goes out of business, or is bought by another firm, your domain name could disappear or be held hostage to extract more money from you (I speak from experience).
Play it safe and get your own name from a third-party domain name registrar and manage it yourself. I use GoDaddy and have no complaints, but there are a number of others to choose from. Expect to pay $8-15/year to secure your domain name.
Tip: No matter where you register your domain, make SURE to keep a safe copy of your username and password. This info is vital for connecting your domain name with your website.
What’s next?
Now that you have a domain name, it’s time to go shopping for the right web host. Details coming up.