Quick advice please

Hosting
1

I’d like some advice on web hosting. I’m sixteen and this will be my first website, so I want to make sure I’m doing this right.
After searching for quality shared hosting I’ve found Hostgator very attractive. Before purchasing I’d like to ask some questions to be sure I purchase the right hosting plan. Here are my circumstances:

  1. My index page (as well as a few other pages) will look something like this (a small amount of php): holotec-community.netii.net/demo2.php

  2. I’ll be using a forum (phpbb3 w/ my mods) for the visitors to interact.

  3. No streaming media of any sort, and no downloading/sharing files

  4. I’m not sure how large of a community I’m aiming at, but I’d like it to grow as large as possible. However, I won’t be advertising all the time as this is a hobby. Therefore I doubt my online community will ever reach huge proportions and mass amounts of visitors at a time.

  5. I’m only focusing on one site and domain, no more than that. As for space, I won’t be using a lot of storage. Though I’d like to have plenty of monthly bandwidth for the site traffic.

  6. I want a good amount of speed and reliability. I tried to design my layout from the ground up to be lightweight and fast. As for phpbb3 I’m modifying it slightly for some speed tweaks but nothing major really.

-Based on the above circumstances, what Hostgator hosting plan (shared, VPS, or dedicated) do you think would be best for me? I want to make sure that I choose the right plan so that I may be more successful and my visitors enjoy the experience.

2

You do not have any special requirements. Any cheap shared hosting plan will be enough.

3

We will like to know about your forum - the subject.
Traffic will dpend upon the subject and popularity of the forum.
Space and bandwidth will also dpend on these factors.

Good luck.

4

Hello Paulfocused,

If you decide to go for Hostgator I think that shared plan is the most suitable for you because you don’t have special requirements. And it’s the cheapest of all starting at 4.95 $/month. It’s up to you now but they have quite attractive offerts.

Cheers!!

5

I would recommend Hostgator - at least you can expand later with them without nasty pricing surprises.

6

Are you hosting with them? Do you know that their servers are slow and their support is not so prompt?

Please read the reviews about host before choosing them.
Good luck.

7

Are you hosting with them? Do you know that their servers are slow and their support is not so prompt?

I’m hosting with them. My encounters with their support have been rather rare – because the hosting is fast and stable. :wink:

(shared, VPS, or dedicated)

This being a new forum, shared hosting should do the job for a good while, unless you hit the jackpot and popularity explodes in a short amount of time. As the forum grows, upgrading will become a necessity.

8

Another hint, as you are only 16. Make sure you are eligible to buy hosting from them or buy a hosting with somebody’s name who is above 18

9

You are right. In this situation better ask your parents to do that for you. Good luck.