A big trend these days online is blogging. There are many places a person can blog, but not every free and hosted place online gives the control that a self-hosted blogger gets.

In self-hosting your blog:

• You have more control over your files
• You can see your site statistics in more depth
• You can install the necessary precautions to protect your blog and files
• You can make money in more places
• You can make sub-sites or subfolders, and install other scripts (like a forum) as additional features of your blog

The other part is that you can install what blog platform you wish to use. Whether you like Joomla, WordPress, b2evolution, which are scripts offered through cPanel Fantastico Deluxe, you will be able to comfortably blog anytime you wish.

With WordPress in particular, you can import RSS feeds and even blog entries from various places onlike, like Blogspot and LiveJournal. You can even host your friend’s blogs too and give them a subdomain, email and ftp account. It gives them the ability to share your experience of self-hosting a blog.

Here are some tips in maintaining your hosting account, no matter who you host with. Most apply to shared hosting accounts.

• Make sure you are aware of what kind of scripts your host allows and does not allow before installing your own.
• If a script is not working properly, it could be a few things: The script was not installed properly, or the script is out of date and will not work, the server settings may not allow the script to work due to php security mod issues.
• If you make changes and are not seeings them, before contacting your webhost, try clearing the cache (the cookies, and temporary) files. Your site might have made the changes already, but your computer has not recognized it yet.
• If you are done with a script, always uninstall it. It will leave less of a chance of a hacker trying to test the script and hack in to exploit the server.
• If you have tons of photos and a shared hosting account, consider trying outside resources like Flickr or a dedicated account. Hosting a lot of photos may drive up both bandwidth and data resources.
• Most hosts do not allow MP3 files unless they are your own, meaning that you are the original artist of it. Offering MP3s for download will eat up your bandwidth depending on how popular of a download they are.
• Be patient with your host. No matter if you are a new account or an older account, your host is trying to give you the best uptime possible. If you are using your services within the webhosting guidelines, then there should be no problems. (As a note: Support issues will be handled within 24 hours. Most tickets are handled under 5 hours and less at Host Solutions.)
• Do not expect your webhost to correct all issues. If you are having a design issue, it is your responsibility to correct it. (Note: Host Solutions does offer web design, but at a fee of $20/hour. We will do what we can to help you with pre-installed scripts, and scripts offered in Fantastico.)
• If your script is saying cannot connect to MySQL on installation, that means you have not correctly entered the information.
• In the case you cannot see your site, try doing a tracert. In Windows, you go to Start and use the search for cmd.exe . When you search cmd.exe, a C:/ prompt black window will show up. Type tracert and your domain. If it fails to complete before 4 hops (Your computer will do a max of 30 Hops depending on the connection- the path it takes from your computer, through your ISP, and to the server), then it may be your Internet connection. If you are on a Network or LAN line (a lot colleges and businesses do), then check with your technical administrator. They may be able to help you. If the tracert lasts but cuts out towards the end with * (asterix) symbol and does not complete, then it the server having the issue.

If you have any suggestions to add to this, list, by all means, please do comment. Always be inquisitive about your hosting. No question is stupid and will be answered with care, especially with Host Solutions.