Montana
Poetry.com

A New Site for Montana Poets
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Montana Poetry and Writing Groups.

Please support this site by clicking on the advertiser links below. You don’t have to buy anything; just click on the links and look around. They are affiliate links but clicking on them will show traffic and make the companies happy. (They are all interesting sites).

The Montana Writers Guild is a group of published and unpublished writers. The periodically produce an anthology. Their first anthology was entitled: A Blend of Voices, came out in 2003. A second anthology followed in 2006 entitled: Montana Voices. The group began in 1993 in Missoula as a group of women writers, but has since opened membership to men. The MWG provides support by encouraging smaller critique groups. The literary context of the group includes: poetry, fiction, science fiction and non-fiction. Every Montana writer is welcome to participate in the group.

In 2015, Montana established a state Poet Laureate position. The Montana Poet Laureate is currently shared by two very good Montana poets, Melissa Kwasny and M.L. Smoker. Both were appointed to a two-year term in 2019..

The Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Western Music Rendezvous is usually held every summer in Lewiston, MT. This year’s gathering has been rescheduled for August 12-15, 2021. The award winning 4 day event has been held every year since 1986, but will not be held in 2020. Watch the above link for news on the 2021 gathering.

The Montana Mouthful is an independent, nonprofit literary magazine devoted to publishing short fiction and nonfiction, poetry, and visual artwork. The anthology publishes both digitally and by ‘print on demand’ copies. Please check the link for submission guidelines and information on how to get a copy of publications.

The Authors of the Flathead is a group of writers from Northwest Montana. The group includes: poets, novelists, journalists, non-fiction writers and journalists. The group provides conferences (currently online), holds writing competitions for high school students, and hosts the Annual Flathead River Writers Conference (see site for updates on the conference). That conference is held in Kalispell. The Authors of the Flathead is a nonprofit group and open to everyone.

The Whitefish Review is a nonprofit literary journal. They seek submissions of poetry and fiction. Guidelines for submissions and information on obtaining copies can be found on their link.

The Oval is a literary magazine of the University of Montana. It features poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Anyone can purchase copies and support the project, but The Oval only takes submissions from University of Montana undergraduates.

Montana StoryKeepers is a group dedicated to preserving history and Montana culture through story telling. They organize storytelling workshops and events. The group also provides information on how to write down and preserve family histories.

The Montana Arts Council is the official Montana Arts government site. They provide information on grants, resources and programs for Montana poets, writers and artists

Breaking News!
Steven Robert Heine launches Ukrainepoetry.com. It is a new site s to post the poetry of Ukraine poets.

About the author: Steven Robert Heine is a West Coast poet. He has spent his life writing poetry and promoting the reading of it.
In 2011 Heine was seriously crippled in a fall. Several surgeries later, Heine lives with a great deal of pain. (He is not on any disability).
He tries to provide this site as a service to the poets of Montana.

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Webhost reviews.

I have exciting news for you! I have spent months researching web hosting and studying web host providers. Below you will find information on how to set up your own website. I have reviewed dozens of web hosts. I am providing information on ten of them, PLUS there are additional writing links, including inexpensive sites to purchase domain names. At the end of this page is the full article on the Basics of Websites. I think you will find the article very useful.

1) Bluehost. Bluehost offers pretty much all services. Design is through Wordpress. Plans: ‘Basic’, $7.99 per month. Allows one website and one included domain. ‘Plus’ $10.99. Allows unlimited number of websites. ‘Choice Plus’, $14.99 per month. Allows unlimited number of domain and some extra services, such as domain privacy. For an ecommerce site, you will want to use ‘Woocommerce’, plans run from $13.99 (for one store) to $17.99 (for unlimited stores.
Bluehost is a full-service provider with all the tools you could ask for and good support. They even sell They even sell domain names. I have used Bluehost for several years.

A2 Hosting. Drag and drop platform for building with A2 software. Plans include ‘Startup’ $2.99 per month (one website), ‘Drive’ $4.99 (unlimited websites), and ‘Turbo-boost’ for $9.99 per month, (unlimited sites).

Siteground. Wordpress hosting. Plans include: Startup, $3.95 per month, allows one website, GrowBig, $5.95 per month, allows unlimited websites, and GoGeek, $11.95 per month, unlimited websites and more features. (no free domain with account).

Hostinger is one of the biggest webhosting companies on the internet. They provide ‘drag and drop’ as well as cloud hosting and Wordpress. Plans include: ‘Single Shared’ $2.15 per month (allows one website, ‘Premium’ $3.49 per month (allows unlimited websites), and ‘Business Shared’ $7.95 per month (allows unlimited websites and many other features. Premium and Premium and Business plans also come with a fee domain name. It is easy to see why Hostinger is so popular. And yes, I really like this hosting service.

i Page. Wordpress hosting. ‘WP Starter’ $9.49 per month (billed yearly). ‘WP Essential’ $12.49 per month. Good for selling online. Provides a number of choices of shopping carts.

Webflow: I’ve included Webflow in this list because it uses a unique interface. It is not a Webflow in this list because it uses a unique interface. It is not a Wordpress site. It may take some time to learn and get used to the Webflow user design tool. Keep in mind that ALL website designers are an interface to move the html code.

Namecheap Dot.coms start at $8.88 per year. Hosting plans are $2.88 per month to $8.88 per month. NameCheap has their own ‘drag and drop’ builder.

Domain.com Domains start at: $9.99. Domain dot com also offers websites for personal use and business plans.

I used Malwarebytes for many years. They provide very good virus protection and also provide good technical support.

Web Hosting Article
Magnificent 7seven Reviews.
Webhosting.
I have reviewed many more than seven web hosts and even some domain sellers. Some of these are affiliate links (meaning there is no additional cost to you above what the web hosts charge, but if you purchase from them you will help support my poetry information sites). I hope these reviews will save you time and money. Please pay close attention to what you are paying for domain names. I have listed three inexpensive domain registrars. Most hosting companies will sell them to you and many provide a domain free with your paid account.

You may be looking at creating a website and don’t know where to start. OR you may have a product or book and don’t know how to create a website to sell it. Then this blog is a great place to start! I have reviewed many webhosts from CARRD to Zyro. I think you will find the following suggestions useful.

As recently as a few years ago, most sites provided access to the programming language of the website, or html. This allowed you to make changes to the programming and see how that reflected on your website. Fortunately, knowledge of html is no longer necessary. (You may still find it helpful to learn what the basic elements of html are, in case you need to insert a link in your site or see the code for your site).
Please note: I was not paid by any of the companies listed below to promote their sites. They are Affiliate lnks, meaning that I do earn a small amount if you click on their links and purchase their products or services. I did find it interesting to research what they have to offer and list some of the main points for you to consider. I think this information can save you time and money!

1. What is the cost of a website?
Many hosts can get you started for free! OR with a very monthly rate for the 1st year. Cost is usually listed as a ‘monthly cost’ provided you pay for a whole year at a time. IE: if the cost is $20.00 per month, you may be required to pay $240.00. Make sure you get a plan that fits your needs. Usually you can upgrade to a more expensive plan as your needs grow.

2. What is the platform the ecommerce site uses? Generally, sites use either Wordpress or what I call, a ‘House’ software. Wordpress is in my experience a platform that requires an intermediate level of computer savvy. You will do better when you put some time into working with it and develop a ‘feel for it’. ‘House’ software is unique to the webhost site you are using. Most are ‘plug and play’. Like any application, you just have to get comfortable moving around in them. Each has some unique features. When you go to the webhost, you will see samples of web pages. When you like the look... go for it!

3. If you are going to be selling products through your site, you will need to know what bank does the ecommerce site use? This is extremely important. It is great you made a sale on your website, but how do you get the customer’s payment into your bank account? You want banking tools that your customer will feel comfortable ordering with, AND you want banking tools that will give you access to your money. While many sites use PAYPAL, some use other financial tools.

4. How many domains can I use on one account? If you have several domains, you will want to host them all in the same place. If you have different stores selling different products, you may want to use more than one site. Ecommerce sites vary from one domain per account to ‘unlimited’ domains.

5. What kind of stats will this ecommerce site provide? You may want to look around to see how much traffic you are getting and where people are seeing your site. (You may be surprised to note how many people in other countries are viewing your site).

6. How good is the technical support from this ecommerce site? You don’t want to wait days for a question to be answered. A good test or response time is to ask the Web host a question as ‘a potential client’ to measure response time.

7. Does this vendor sell domain names and for how much? And will they provide me with a free domain name with my order?

8. What is the difference between shared web hosting and a dedicated server?’ The answer is, that a dedicated server is a server used by no other sites and thus those sites can’t impact the server or slow it down. Dedicated servers are quite a bit more expensive per month. Most websites should be fine running on shared hosting.
We will try to answer those questions. You can click on the link provided to get Common Website Terms you should know:
Html: hypertext markup language. This is the actual programming code. No matter which programming tool you are using, whether it be Wordpress a sitebuilder, that interface is adjusting the html as you move and change features.
CSS: cascading style sheets. This refers to how you website is presented in the programming.
When you have purchased hosting and are ready to build a website on the hosting server, you must put your domain on that hosts server. You do this by putting in the code numbers for that server into your domain names. Both the hosting provider and your domain seller will explain to you how to do this.

VPS Hosting: ‘virtual private server hosting’. VPS hosting acts similar to a private server with more flexibility than shared hosting. Most new users will only need shared hosting.

Domain names: this is VERY important, when purchasing a domain name, pay little attention to the initial price of the domain name. What is important is the renewal cost. I have seen domain registers that charge very little for the initial price but upwards of $30.00 per year to renew. Most paid hosting plans give you one free domain name with the purchase of a plan. Beyond that, you will need to go to the market to buy additional names.

Here are some inexpensive domain registers:

NameCheap. Dot.coms start at $8.88 per year. Hosting plans are $2.88 per month to $8.88 per month. NameCheap has their own ‘drag and drop’ builder.

Porkbun. Dot.coms start at $8.56 per year. Renew at $8.56 per year. Porkbun also offers hosting at prices ranging from $3.00 per month to $38.00 per month through Weebly.

Domain.com has domains starting at $9.99 per month and also provides hosting plans starting at $3.75 per month.

Steven Robert Heine is a Northwest poet & author. He has spent his life promoting poetry, serving as founder for many poetry contests. He traveled extensively through Montana. Heine was crippled in a fall in 2011 and now makes very few public appearances.

Books by Steven Robert Heine are available on Ebay, Amazon, and Kindle.