Bootstrappers may wish to reserve a domain name without actually hosting their website. Here is some information shared by our fellow bootstrappers about domain name registrars and things to keep in mind when purchasing domain names and hosting services
- It is better to use the same service to register the domain name and then to host your website as everything is in one place.
- From a bootstrappers’ perspective, while cheap is definitely good, keep in mind that
- you need to maintain control over your domain name. There have been instances where companies allow a consultant or web design shop register the domain on their behalf. You might later find that you cannot transfer that domain when you no longer use that vendor.
- In some cases, if you let the domain expire, even by a day or two, you might have trouble renewing it.
- Make sure to register the domain in the name of your company, that you have the registrar login credentials and access to the associated email account (that email account is critical if there is ever a problem).
- Some Registrars
- Weebly: : Free website hosting. Easy-to-use GUI to build a basic free website. Can upgrade to paid service to use more features.
- Site5.com as a hosting provider : Satisfied with prices and services.
- WSM Domains: price on the higher side but isn’t as spammed/annoying/low quality experience
- GoDaddy: usually priced below the competition for .com domains, easy to scale up with them as you need more and more services, they do present a lot of “add-on” options, but nothing is pre-selected by default, before checkout, click here to get promo codes which will make it even cheaper. There have been some people who were not too happy with their UI.
- DreamHost: Has been used for registering domain name as well as hosting
- PowerPipe: Cheap and easy to use.
- Google Apps: You don’t have to host it in Google, but if you want to build a simple site, the tools are there. It’s easier to hook into Google Apps services (IMAP, Calendar, etc) while having your web site hosted somewhere that offers full web services (PHP, MySQL, etc). If you sign up, however, please remember to uncheck automatic renewal.
- Hover from Tucows. Good price, reliable service. Technical support is stellar, Can talk to ‘people’ within a few minutes.
Contributors:
Raghav Gupta GeoGroups
Liz Fraley Single-Sourcing Solutions
Sasha Ovsankin CodeBistro
Christopher Price Christopher Price
Massimo Paolini MPThree Consulting
Carl Ludwig Ludewig Multimedia
Dorai Thodla iMorph
Griffin Caprio 1530 Technologies
Giacomo Vacca Kinetic River
Leonard Greenberg Assistyx
Zac Hanna The Back Pack Zac Attack