Why Do This At All?
Well, I do it because I love attention.
That's the shortest way to say that I am grateful to Neocities for giving me my first taste of the independent web. It's a great platform for beginners, and even veteran webmasters can see its networking appeal. How blessed I've been to be a part of the community— I've made so many friends here! And I've never done proper analytics, but I'd guess that 99% of the people who wander onto Vivarism discovered it through Neocities tags or "following" lists. Though I've recently started an RSS feed, for many years my Neocities profile was the best way to stay abreast of my updates.
Basically, you can do this if you want a more robust host but you're attached to the community or generally just want more eyes on your work. In the end, the choice is up to you. I'm just here to offer suggestions and share my methods to help you work out the best system for your unique needs.
Do NOT rush into any purchases! Before spending any money, read this guide in full. Ask your tech-savvy friends for help as often as you can stand. If you're still unsure, contact the support team at prospective webhosts with questions. Everyone wants to see you succeed!
First, Figure out Where You're Hosting
Personally, I use NearlyFreeSpeech, and for a second I tried out FreeHostingNoAds. Here are some services that I've heard good things about:
- Teacake
- Leprd
- FC2 (Click "Blog" if you want a template, "Website" if you don't)
- Github or Gitgud (See Nenrikido's deployment guide)
- Nixihost
- Porkbun
- WebSupport
- HostGator
- FreeHostingNoAds (Won't redirect to HTTPS unless you attach your own domain)
- NearlyFreeSpeech
Factors to consider: cost, convenience, overall vibe. I love NSFN to bits but would not recommend it to most people because it's very DIY. Tech support is limited. Its interface is dated. But the founders share my values; I'm curious and open to learning new technology; and— most importantly— it's dirt cheap! So I'll most likely be loyal to them to the day I die.
It all comes down to personal preference. Don't be afraid to try one host and switch to another later. As long as you have a local copy of your website, you can upload it anywhere! Make sure to read your webhost's fine print about domains, though. I'm pretty sure that if you buy a domain through Porkbun, you can't use it anywhere else for a year.
Speaking of Domains...
If you've never looked into it before, don't worry! They're very easy to buy and renew. I suggest purchasing the domain through your webhost because it's convenient (fine print notwithstanding). Otherwise, try Namecheap or Spaceship or something.
If you already have a custom domain attached to your Neocities site, don't worry about that either! It's super easy to remove. Just follow the set-up instructions on your new webhost. It will automatically take the domain away from Neocities and point it towards your new host. The Neocities version of your website will resume using the ".neocities.org" version.
Use Your New Host
Neocities is very, very beginner friendly. So beginner friendly, Kyle makes you pay for SFTP and does not at any point encourage you to work locally. So I'm sure many people reading this guide are familiar only with the Neocities drag-n-drop dashboard and in-browser editor. 99% of the time, wherever you've chosen to go, things will be different.
How to Link your Neocities to The New Host
The name of the game is redirection.