anyone have experience with Domain names?

[Ed Packer]

I will be starting a small home-based business, and would like to eventually have a website, etc. I think I need to register my domain name. Has anyone done this? There seem to be a lot of options available, all with differing prices, etc. Which would be the best way to go?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Kappy]

I use godaddy.com to register the domain name (mypersonaldomain-whatever.com) b/c they are cheap. But they are spam hell to navigate (trying to sell you crap you don't need). It's very annoying (almost enough for me to give them up). Just ignore everything they offer you, a domain registration should cost around $10/yr (usually a couple bucks less). I would register the domain under a P.O. Box or a business address, because domains are public knowledge and you WILL get junk/bulk mail (both at the physical address you register under and the email address for your contacts). You can pay extra for a private registration (which is nice). There is probably a way to have a private domain without paying extra, but I don't know how to do that. If anyone knows how, please let me know!

After registering your domain, you need to find a web host to host the site. There are many good ones (it's a very competitive market). I am very happy with dreamhost.com. I pay yearly and it works out to like $8-$9/mo. I also host like a dozen domains for that much. You can register your domain(s) with most web hosts too, but I personally don't like putting all my eggs in one basket. I like keeping everything separate and keeping as much control over the rights to my domains as possible (read the terms of service!).

Before you pick a web host, however, you need to determine what kinda' site you want to run and what works for you in keeping the site up to date and running. It's important to match the technologies you will need (and what you know how to use) with the web host. Dreamhost is great for me, but I have a lot of experience with web servers and web programming. It might not be everyone's cup of tea.

My recommendation if you're starting from scratch, technologically speaking, is to use open source software because it's free, fairly well-documented on the web, not that hard to use (but does have a learning curve, I won't fool you about that), o yeah and did I mention it's free? Going with Microsoft products for the web and becoming dependent on them is a bad idea because if your business grows a lot, there will be huge costs.

Good luck! Hit me up if you have any questions.

Dave

 

[Birddog]

I'm no expert, but have run and owned a few sites over the last few years. I've exclusively used smallbusiness.yahoo.com and had the domains registered through them, as well as hosted the sites. It's cheap, simple and has some good programs for building your own sites as part of the deal.

Good luck!

 

[Neer]

Once you decide on a web host (where your website will reside), you are usually given 1 free domain, and in the case of some business plans, more. It's confusing at first, but gets easier. Make sure to use a web host with decent customer service. I use 1&1 hosting and they've been very good.

 

[kludge]

I've been using dreamhost.com for several years. Ten bucks a month, at least on the program I'm on, for hosting and one free domain. Ten bucks a year per additional domain. So I have a half-dozen domains, pay ten bucks a year for each and ten bucks a month to host ALL of them. And the system works well.

 

[clothwiring]

I use coastlandtech.com for most of my domain registration and hosting needs.

 

[Ed Packer]

Thanks, guys, keep 'em coming!

 

[chucke99]

If you register through GoDaddy and also host with them (you can get plans for under $10/month, easy) the domain registration is free, as long as you continue to host with them.

I just switched to them after years with another hosting company who just didn't get customer service, and who didn't keep their prices low to address the competition. That's a recipe for ruin. I stayed with them a long time more because I was too lazy to move my site. It took a prolonged outage last year to finally get me to say "enough" and switch.

I'm very happy with GoDaddy (and I ignored their extra offers). I have a business-level site with multiple emails and domains, tons of storage, and even an online storefront (which I have yet to set up) all for under $10/month. It was cheap enough that I prepaid the entire year.

 

[NyteOwl]

Well, as long as you're shopping around, check out namecheap.com

 

[barryg_nyc]

As others have pointed out, GoDaddy is among the cheapest alternatives.
I've used Register.com for years, though. They're a bit more expensive (but, let's face it, we're talking in the tens of dollars per year) but when I last evaluated options, their tools were a bit more mature and easy-to-use.
If you don't have much expertise, I'd choose a single provider to host and handle your domain registration.

Part of the decision will be based upon what you want to do with the site. If you want a simple, template-based website, then the tools the hosting company has will be very important.

Another option would be to use a blogging host to host your site. The blogging platforms (Typepad, Wordpress and Blogger) are much more advanced than they once were and, if your site is focused on pushing out content, you might find them to be a great option for building the site.

You will still want to buy a domain name (you don't want your URL to be mysite.typepad.com; you'll want www.mysite.com) and would then "redirect" it to the blog domain.

The first thing you'll want to start thinking about is the URL. Almost any URL you can think of is probably already taken.
Use one of the WhoIs lookups, e.g. http://www.register.com/ to see if the domain you want is still available.
You may have to use an alternate domain - e.g. .biz, .net, .us.com, etc if your desired domain is gone.

Good luck!

 

[Kappy]

Another option would be to use a blogging host to host your site. The blogging platforms (Typepad, Wordpress and Blogger) are much more advanced than they once were and, if your site is focused on pushing out content, you might find them to be a great option for building the site.

You will still want to buy a domain name (you don't want your URL to be mysite.typepad.com; you'll want www.mysite.com) and would then "redirect" it to the blog domain.

The only potential problem with this is that you're handing your content off to a 3rd party for free, which most likely means that they exert some control over your data and the statistics your pages generate. For a lot of people this might not be a problem, but for some who care about making sure their content remains under their control, it's an issue to consider. That's why I always recommend understanding the TOS before committing to those kinds of solutions. BTW, Wordpress is ridiculously easy to install on your own web server. It's gotten even more ridiculously easy to keep up to date within the control panel. I've been hosting my own wordpress blog for 7-8 years now without a single hitch. It's probably the easiest part of the web admin stuff I have to do on my sites.

Dave

 

[Rob Taft]

I've used Cedant (now Aplus.net) for webhosting,email,FTP for the past 4 years. I use it for business purposes. I purchased my domain names when I set up the hosting service. I've been happy with the service.