Website Help Requested

[Mike VB]

This thread might get bumped out of this category, but I knew this is where the people with an answer would be browsing.

I'm setting up my business, and I want to have a website. Not one of the ones buried in the EZhost types like personal webpages often are (no offense meant). But, a real honest to goodness "www.nameofmybusiness.com" website.

Where is the best internet resource for learning how to reserve a name and get a website? All opinions welcome.

Thanks.

[Jim Garber]

You can go to register.com and check if the name you want is available. After that you need a hosting service. I went with hostek.com - there are lots of services like that - and they will get to domain name set up for you. You might ask around to your friends who have sites. Good luck.

Jim

[Magnus Geijer]

My wife has a small web design company, so I guess you could see it as personal interest, but this is my take:

Have a professional do your site. You'll get it done right and it will work in all browsers. You won't have any issues with copy righted images. A web site can be your foremost contact surface to your customers, and you don't want that surface to look like it's been made by an amateur. With the way the economy is you can get a professional web site for a couple of hundred, and your web designer will set you up with both hosting and name registration.

/soap box

Magnus

[Mike VB]

Kyswede, thanks for the help. By a professional I assume you mean someone/business locally here. I'll have to look in the yellowed pages.

[August Watters]

Another good registry site is www.domainsearch.com.

It's true it's a good idea to get a professional -- but this can get VERY expensive if your site is complicated, and will continue to be a big expense if you need to update your site on a regular basis.

if you don't have the money and are good with the computer, it's possible to do it yourself -- the tools are so good now that it's possible to get professional-looking results with simple software -- if you're willing to invest the time to learn it. I did my own website for the Gallery of Strings, and most folks seem to think it looks professional.

August Watters
http://www.galleryofstrings.com

[dasspunk]

As a web developer, I will say, you get what you pay for. On the other hand, a bad designer will offer you a site that shows what they can do and not what is best for your site. Too often I see splash screens (a main page that says "Enter" and takes you to the real main page (why?)) or worse, they make everything Flash or Java. These types of sites tend to show snappy images that are cool to the novice but really only distract and confuse the user.

My advice is to find a designer that subscribes to the KISS theory (keep it simple stupid) and save your visitors the agony.

Unless you're starting a gaming site... if so, forget everything I just said and get the most flashy, MTV-like designer you can afford.

[Bill James]

One thing I've learned that most people are not aware of is that for your site to be "searchable" it must be submitted to all the major search engines. There are services that do this for a fee. I'm using hypersubmit.com (http://hypersubmit.com) and so far it's working pretty well. They have things like meta tag generators that can be of help to the novice. I would suggest if you're hiring someone he/she should have a handle on this otherwise I would keep looking. It's important for a business.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

You can go to register.com and check if the name you want is available.

I suggest against using Register.com for anything. #They are expensive, they give terrible customer service, and they even hijacked my site for about a week.

Instead, register your domain name at www.namesarecheap.com

A few months ago Register.com placed their own DNS servers into my Whois information. This redirected all traffic for my web site to their advertising page. #However, all my email addresses are also at that domain name so all my business email was hijacked as well. It turns out that I was only one of several hundred websites that they did this to. # They said that since I registered through a different company that in turn registered through them they couldn't/wouldn't help me.

It took about a week of angry emails and phone calls and threatened lawsuits to get them to give me back my domain. #To this day they have placed a lock on the domain name and refuse to release that lock. #Locking the domain means that I can't transfer my domain to a different registrar AND I can't update the infomation in my whois data.

This is not the first time Register.com has taken it upon themselves to hijack people's domains. #Last year they decided to point all unregistered domains to thier advertising pages. #That means every mis-spelled URL went to their ad page. #Why is this bad? #Here's one reason: #Some spam filters check to see if the return address is valid. #If the spammer spoofed his return address to a bogus domain then it's marked as spam. #Because of Register.com's little stunt there was no such thing as an invalid domain. #They all point to Register.com's advertising site. #That broke all the spam filters. It took a threat from ICANN to revoke their regitrar privledges get them to stop doing that.

They are neither a moral nor a service oriented company.

So I suggest www.namesarecheap.com to register your domain name. #I have my site hosted via www.xo.com XO communications. #When I had these issues with Register.com they were the ones who worked to get it resolved. #Register.com was no help at all. #The only "help" I got from Register.com was an email address to which I could email my complaints.

[Bill James]

That's the kind of advice that can be the most beneficial. Learning from others misfortunes. To bad you had to go through all the hassle Dru.

I've also had good luck with the hosting service hostonce.com (http://hostonce.com) I notice that I don't get any pop-ups when I access my site.

Good luck to you.

[Magnus Geijer]

Mike,

Where your web designer is located physically is of no great importance, unless it's important for you to meet face to face. The average web page for a small/medium business is designed without the parties ever meeting face to face, but that's your preference.

If I were you I'd look at some of your competetion, whether that is builders or a music store or what have you, find a site that you like. If there isn't a link on there to the web designer, ask the owner. Seeing how helpful the mando-community is in general, I don't see anyone denying you the information.

Or PM me and we'll see what we can do for you. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

/Magnus

[Mike VB]

Lots of great information on here - I knew ya'll would have good advice!

If I'm not ready with photos, info, pricelists, blah, blah, blah to actually have a site ready for another say six months, but I still want to reserve the domain name - can I just do that? And, will it be reserved throughout ALL of the ETHER, or only in/on/whathaveyou certain "sections," if you will?

As you can tell I like to surf, but I ain't no "marine biologist" when it comes to the net.

[mandofiddle]

Yeah, it's called "Parking" your domain. I'd use Dotster. All you have to do is go there, type in the domain you want, and it'll tell you if its available. They do a 14.95 a year deal, which is what I use... You don't even have to pay for hosting, only the registration for the domain.

www.dotster.com

[Magnus Geijer]

And at www.godaddy.com it's $6.95. I use them all the time.

/Magnus