calmighty

Yeah, I’m a geek, but understanding the technology behind your Internet venture is a must in order to be successful.

Name based virtual hosts is a sweet way to host more than one domain name on a single IP address/hosting account.  This is especially handy if you have a large number of domains with micro-sites or niche content that don’t get a ton of traffic.  As I mentioned before, I use GoDaddy to host this blog.  However, I also use it to host a number of other domains that I’m currently marketing.  GoDaddy has configured its servers (whether Windows or Linux) to examine the host name of the request and then direct the request to the appropriate site/folder on the server to call the correct site.

A side benefit to the rest of the Internet is that you aren’t using up already scarce IP addresses.  IP addresses are the unique numbers that identify each device publicly connected to the Internet.  When you type a domain name in your browser, the domain name system (or DNS) translates that name into a number — the IP address.  Unfortunately, there are only about 4 billion IP addresses and they are beginning to run short in supply.

Having only one or two hosting accounts versus dozens not only keeps costs down, it also makes each site easier to manage because they’re all on only one or two IP addresses which means that you are only connecting to or managing one or two FTP accounts.

Before deciding on a host for your site, see if they allow unlimited domains on one account and use name based virtual hosts.  It will really help as you continue to roll out your marketing destinations.