Anyone among us any good with Domain names and setting up Web Pages? I got a Name for my future business using my future CNC, and I've established that it's not being used anywhere yet. However, I think I can design a Web Page with the tools available to me, but what concerns me is not to commit myself accidentally to a Host who is rubbish, or making a real Novice mess-up! I've done a lot of reading with regard to setting up a Web page and obtaining a Domain name etc, but I'm never sure if I'm reading something which is just trying to sell me something. In other words, not advise, but a sales pitch, if you know what I mean. I think I need to buy my Domain name from an independent source, rather than commit myself to the whole package supplier thing. I know the "package" can be cheaper this way, but then you are, I believe, locked in so to speak. Also, only some people sell the .co.uk tag, like Go Daddy. If any of you guys have been there and done it, I'd be grateful any advise, or a point in the right direction, which I know would be unbiased. Cheers Gray P.S. (Hope you don't mind me using the Forum for this sort of advice. I thought you Guys could be helpful here.)
Gray, You should be able to buy the domain without committing to a hosting package. I can't recommend any one specifically for hosting but I can warn you off Yahoo...I just canceled my account with them (that I had for almost a decade) because they couldn't get my email to work for the last 6 months. And forget trying to talk to a live person or even finding a way to generate a help ticket. They are the least customer friendly company I have ever dealt with.
I would buy the domain name from namecheap.com - they have a great interface and don't spam/bug me to buy other services from them. As far as hosting, it really depends on how much you want to spend and what kind of reliability you want from your hosting company. I usually recommend A Small Orange or Rackspace for hosting. ASO is pretty affordable (<$200 yearly) and has a standard cpanel for the servers.
I have used Bluehost in the past and they have a very helpful tech support (cpanel as well with them). Mark
Cheers Sami and Mark. I'll look at those couple Sami. I had a brief look at Bluehost the other day on someone elses recommendation. It looked quite good. There is no rush yet and I'll shop around. Thanks for the input. Gray
I have been using namecheap for domain names for years, avoid godaddy. You should be able to get a basic hosting package for less than $10 a month. I've used Hostgator, Dreamhost and Bluehost. They are all pretty large operations with reasonable reputations. The $10 a month is for shared hosting, which can bog down depending on how hard the other websites on the shared server are getting hit. The next step up is a VPS, which gives you exclusive access to a portion of the servers resources. A bit more expensive but generally more responsive.
Hawkhost for me. They're the best I've found for basic shared hosting. Unlimited add-on domains and mysql databases on even their cheapest package. I highly recommend.