Hosting vs. domain forwarding

[Stefan A]

I am sorry in advance if my terminology is messed up. Right now I have a website that is being hosted through my dial up ISP. I use Domain Direct for domain forwarding. So, when someone types in my domain name (www.regalbrass.com (http://www.regalbrass.com)), they are forwarded to my website which is through my isp. Domain Direct offers a keyword service where I can type in a whole bunch of words that will make my website show up on search engines. In addition, I have a bunch of meta tags in my html. Still, my website is nowhere near the beginning of the results. I would at least like it to show up withing the first 3 pages.

So, I have been wondering if domain forwarding is not the best way to do it. I have read posts where people say they host their own website. Is that what I need? What does that mean? Is it different from forwarding? I would like to make a photography website, but I would like it to show up in a search. The website I listed above is for my brass quintet website which I have had up for years. But I have never had any luck with it.

Thanks,
Stefan

[brivett]

Put simply, forwarding sucks, reduces options on frames, adds a significant an under paid point of failure and should be avoided

[tim]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=179549

Incidentally the photos on your website aren't focussed and have many other problems.

[Stefan A]

The photos on my website are not up for critique and I am well aware that they are pretty bad.

Thanks for the link.

Stefan

[lakiluno]

The website seems to time out for me

as for domain forwarding, I don't do it :)

I have 3 domains, and all use DNS servers I can control. 2 of them use DNS servers on the server hosting them (the usual way), and one uses apache virtualhosts and zoneedit as the DNS server. It works much better, and means that the domain is intricately tied to you.

[Wazza]

I never had luck with my sub hosted site, wazz*****scity.com - only some rare comments I could be found, and my own name would appear on the front page.

Since buying a dedicated domain name, and having it hosted, I'm now showing up on top of many searches.. Still yet to Get Auckland Wedding Photographer higher than about 370th!!! (and that's where most the money would come from)

I would guess to host on a proper server, using the domain name only, would be better for your site. Worth the very small price. :)

[Stefan A]

OK - so can you all give me some suggestions on where to go to do this?

Stefan

[tim]

http://www.godaddy.com is a cheap one-stop-shop for domains and hosting, they're the biggest host in the world I read. They're great unless you want to do anything very complex.

I use http://www.hostgator.com for hosting all my sites - I have about 6. The support is fantastic, and the prices reasonable for the product and service they provide.

[b00ty]

gkg.net (http://gkg.net/)is also good, competative pricing with godaddy and less hassle to make changes when needed.