Domain name and web host - DONE !

[Fred in NC]

Any recommendations? I know some of you have a web page, and I am going to get started for next year.

Thank you !

ADDED: Thank you guys !!! I got the name I wanted, and the process started. www.turningstuff.com

 

[alamocdc]

Fred, I've been doing A LOT of research on this lately and I'm leaning toward Bluehost. But that's just me.

 

[Dario]

Another one to check is http://www.littleflower.org/

Domain name can be had at godaddy.com

 

[Paul in OKC]

Is using Yahoo just a bad idea? they always seem to run 'specials', but is that just the hook, and when the time is up, you're stuck.

 

[DCBluesman]

Paul--I used !Yahoo for over a year. Their uptime and service are excellent, BUT, there are significant technical deficiencies, such as no support for .asp, MYSQL and numerous others. Also, if you plan on using a shopping cart, they restrict things like which credit card services you can use and a few other glitches. They aren't the most expensive or the cheapest, but they are one of the more restrictive for small, start-up, retail businesses.

 

[Tangboy5000]

I just want to put this out there for some who may not have noticed. There has been an increasing amount of buzz on the net about some kind of new form of domain squatting, and it's centered around the big 3, but mainly GoDaddy. You perform a domain name search, and find that the domain name is available. When you go back to purchase, sometimes in as little as 2 hours, you find that the domain has been registered. Alot of people thought this was rather strange and started sharing their feelings on the subject. It turns out the story is always the same, the domain turns out to be registered 2 months ago. Not only that, from all accounts it is the same name and address for a guy in the Grand Caymans. So of course US law can't touch it. Something fishy is going on and it smells of fraud and collusion. My advice, if you search for a domain name and it turns out to be free, purchase it right then, don't wait and think about it, or it will be gone. I'm sure the feds are putting something together as I type, because this has been too far spread to not be noticed. Just letting some info out for those interested.

 

[dwilasnd]

I have been using a company http://www.3-95.com for hosting.
I am using OsCommerce for a shopping cart, free using PHP and MySQL.
PayPal for credit cards (for now)

I am still in process of getting my site off the ground.
Have a look at my OsCommerce at http://www.virtualpens.com

 

[ograywolf]

I recommend www.shoppingcartsplus.com. Lots of good base templates for your pages, great integrated shopping cart system, Paypal, or any other credit card, easy to use and relatively cheap. Even does basic inventory management for you.

Dave

 

[wicook]

I came across a reference to a web host site a while back that's based in France. I don't have personal experience with them, but their prices certainly can't be beat. They offer 20 MB of webspace for 1.2 Euros for setup and then 1.2 Euros per year for hosting. They also offer domain names for 6 Euros plus 20% VAT. I have my own domain name and am just about ready to try them out (gotta get some free time to actually do more than think that someday I'll build a website that I can use to sell pens).

I suppose it would help if I actually included a link to their site... [:I] http://www.ovh.com/en/mutualise/

 

[timdaleiden]

Originally posted by DCBluesman
<br />Paul--I used !Yahoo for over a year. Their uptime and service are excellent, BUT, there are significant technical deficiencies, such as no support for .asp, MYSQL and numerous others. Also, if you plan on using a shopping cart, they restrict things like which credit card services you can use and a few other glitches. They aren't the most expensive or the cheapest, but they are one of the more restrictive for small, start-up, retail businesses.

Yahoo web hosting does support PHP and MYSQL scripting. I am not sure that matters to most people who want to sell pens. If anybody really cares, here is a short article about .asp (which Yahoo does not support, as far as I can tell) vs. php...

http://marty.anstey.ca/programming/php_asp.html


Their latest WYSIWYG software does have the PAYPAL add-on (included in the starter package), which makes it easy to accept payments. It (Sitebuilder V2) is very user friendly, but limited in a number of ways. You can use your own software to create a Web Site on Yahoo hosting, such as Dreamweaver, Frontpage, or other. If you go that route, I don't "think" they can limit the way you accept payments.

Here is a link for more info...

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/


Tim

 

[Ron Mc]

Charles has a very good point here and this should be taken seriously. I own lots of domain names and I learned years ago that when the registration company checks for availability and it comes up available you had better buy it right then. If you don't forget about the domain name. It'll be gone.

 

[Fred in NC]

Thanks, guys !!!! I took the advice and successfully registered my domain. The coming weeks will be very busy for me, so my web page will have to wait a little.

I am planning to have pics and descriptions of my turning tools and accessories in my site. It will be kind of a catalog.

 

[dwilasnd]

Fred, if you haven't picked a hosting company.
Check out www.aabox.com

They have an OsCommerece package, ready to go.
This is a catalog site already to go.

I have been using this package (on my own hosting) for 5 years now.
See www.bigjimsrims.com for my other site, and check out www.oscommerce.com for a look at other "Live" OsCommerce sites.

I think Pens of Color also uses the OsCommerce package.