You've found a host that looks like it suits your needs. You've done research, talked to clients (and perhaps former clients), and tested the staff, servers and network. Well, at least I hope you did. If you didn't do that I suggest you go back and read this (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77678) before proceeding with this part of the tutorial.

Anyways, now that you're absolutely sure you want to go with this host it's time to get necessary information ready. A credit card is almost a must (or else you could be waiting a long time for the account to be activated). Also, get the domain name you're going to use and your personal billing information. It's best to have all that stuff ready before you fill out the signup screen to prevent mistakes. There's nothing worse than accidently putting in the wrong information and getting denied by the merchant processor.

Now, go into the site. There should be a signup link clearly shown underneath the virtual hosting section of the site. If it takes you more than a few minutes to find the link, you may want to reconsider. Click on it. In a few moments you should see the signup form. It should be protected by SSL (there should be a padlock in the status bar in IE indicating that it's a secure site). If not, be concerned. Email the sales department and ask before going any further. Also be concerned if the signup form is somewhere outside the site. It might mean they're a scam.

Once you're certain the page is ok, fill out the form. One note though: if it asks you for very personal information like a Social Security number, back out of there immediately. No host needs information like that to complete your order. Once the form is completely filled out, print out the signup page with everything filled out, then click on Register. After a few minutes, a confirmation screen should appear. Make sure you don't click on that button more than once, or you could be billed twice. Print that page out as well.

Some hosts do not automatically create accounts. If they don't, it usually takes up to a day to create it. After a few days, if they don't create your account, email them about the status of your order. If they don't have anything useful to say about the delay, try to cancel the order and get your money refunded. Sometimes though, if they're scammers, they won't refund your money, no matter what you do. In that case it's time to initiate a chargeback. (that's why I said credit cards are a necessity; if you had used a check to pay for hosting you would be out of luck) A chargeback usually gets their attention, but it should be used as a last resort.

Barring all those problems, you should now have hosting with the host of your dreams. Have fun! :D

P.S.: As for Part 1, tell me how you guys like it. Was it useful? Comments would be apperciated. Thanks!

Originally posted by mind21_98
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P.S.: As for Part 1, tell me how you guys like it. Was it useful? Comments would be apperciated. Thanks! I don't have comments about the first one. I think that most of us agreed it was quite useful.

But, this one seems to bounce around between finding the best host and finding a scam.

Why not write it to include your signup advice and save the "chargeback" stuff for your next article about "what to do if you've signed up with the wrong host (even though you did your homework)?"

Originally posted by mind21_98
It should be protected by SSL (there should be a padlock in the status bar in IE indicating that it's a secure site). If not, be concerned. Email the sales department and ask before going any further. Also be concerned if the signup form is somewhere outside the site. It might mean they're a scam.Hmm... so a host that has a signup form at Revecom, or Hostcharge, or 2checkout, or PayPal [etc.] might be a "scam?" Interesting...

I'd think you'd want to reword that, and honestly I think the same about most of what follows. Its explanation of the procedure is way too specific to be useful... "click on Register," for example. What percentage of the time will that specific text be on the the signup form's submit button?

As for the paragraph quoted above, many times the signup process involves more than one step and the only one in which the absence of SSL would really be a concern is the one where credit card information is entered. It's not a problem if the signup page you're looking at involves entering, say, your domain and company name.

I guess my basic comment is that "Part Two" doesn't seem to be nearly as well thought out as "Part One" was.

Nice to know where you think the sign up link should be.
I am leary of sites that have "sign up" on the first page. I mean, it looks like they are encouraging people to sign up without even reading the plans / prices / features or TOS.
Personally, I think the link to plans / prices / features should be on the first page, and the honest host would put the sign up link there under a link encouraging people to read the TOS first.
I have seen many hosts that hide their TOS by placing the link on the step two of the sign up, knowing that most don't want to click on any links at that point afraid that another page will load, and they have to start the sign up all over again. Some sneakier ones only put the TOS link on the "Welcome" email. Some don't even put it anywhere, but refer to it in the "Welcome email" as if they already gave it to you.
Another thing to place promiently would be the contact page with a number of ways to contact them which should include a couple of email addresses, a snail mail address registered to the business, and if not the phone number, then a request form for it.
When one does a whois on the domain, it should match what's on the contact page.
As far as payment goes, who cares if your name and addy aren't on a secure page? Like who is going to bother trying to trap that info?
I feel safer with a link to third party processing, because security is a large part of their business. They do thousands of transactions, and are quite good at it. It is also more cost effective, as the host can devote more attention to hosting issues instead of securing payments.

darn, I hit "quote" instead of edit. :rolleyes: