Hi everyone,
I'm very new to this. I had done a bunch of research over a year and a half ago (including some time on this forum) but had some failure to launch issues. This time around I'm definitely giving it a go.
I've read through the first 7 listings of the STM tutorials and think I have a decent grasp of a lot of it. One thing that has me a bit confused is the bit in section 3 about purchasing a server with tracking installed.
What exactly is the purpose of the server? To host landing pages? Obviously it seems to also be to track results but this is a bit foreign to me. I played many years of full-time online poker and the tracking programs I ran were directly on my computer, not on a hosted server.
Lastly what server packages should a newbie on a budget be considering from a company like Beyondhosting.net?
If anyone can point me towards articles, posts, etc to read in order to get a better grasp of this side of it I would be very grateful. I also wouldn't complain to anyone who wanted to explain it to me here but I figure it's been covered and I'm just not seeing it.
Thanks,
Evan
In reverse order: the starter VPS from Beyond Hosting will do you just fine when you're starting.
The server's there for two reasons: firstly, to host landing pages, and secondly, to track visitors, as you say. As a poker player, you'll probably understand the tracking part pretty simply - the tracking programs are essentially PokerTracker for your affiliate campaigns.
The reason you need to host them on a remote computer are two-fold: firstly, your campaigns will run 24/7, so if you were running a tracker on your home computer you'd never be able to turn it off! And secondly, speed matters: your home computer and your home network is probably not ideally suited to run a web server, so you buy a web server that's never turned off and is optimised to track and serve pages as fast as possible.
Does that make sense?
It makes perfect sense now.
Thanks Caurmen!
One more question for anyone who may know.
When I go to purchase the basic VPS package it asks me for my server domain name. Do I need to first buy a domain to do this?
If I do I'm unsure of what to name it (or if it matters much at this point). I'm going to start out running dating offers on POF so something like www.pofdatingservice.com be okay?
Edit- Or should my base server be something a lot more generic and I tailor each campaign with its own url?
Thanks and sorry for what I'm sure seem like silly questions.
If I recall correctly, you can type in the name you want into the server domain name and BH will give you the option to buy it if it's not already owned so you can buy it directly through them to make it easy.
Thanks MSC,
Does anyone have input on picking an actual server name/how much it matters initially? I can't find much reading on the topic.
Domain name doesn't matter that much. CHoose something generic and you'll be fine!
Thanks.
I had sort of figured that out and just went with something generic. Figured I could always change it later.