I've come up with a simple side business and I want a simple website (for now) to accompany it. The domain name is available from what I can tell and ends in .com. The URL doesn't respond if I type it in manually to a browser and no response from ping.

At first my website is going to be very basic/static. Just some prices of the service I offer plus a few basic pictures. At some point later I might add a payment form with checkout, etc...

Anyone have experience with hosting & registration services? I want to make sure if it's available I (my business) owns it. I've already registered my business with my secretary of state and have an EIN.

Hostgator might fit the bill, but wanted real world experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
I've come up with a simple side business and I want a simple website (for now) to accompany it. The domain name is available from what I can tell and ends in .com. The URL doesn't respond if I type it in manually to a browser and no response from ping.

Run a WHOIS to see if it's owned but unused. https://www.epik.com/whois/

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
At first my website is going to be very basic/static. Just some prices of the service I offer plus a few basic pictures. At some point later I might add a payment form with checkout, etc...

Anyone have experience with hosting & registration services? I want to make sure if it's available I (my business) owns it. I've already registered my business with my secretary of state and have an EIN.

Hostgator might fit the bill, but wanted real world experiences.

Avoid any that are owned by EIG. They bought up a load of hosting companies and their customer service went right into the crapper. I had site5 for years and then they sold to EIG and I couldn't leave fast enough. My email was placed on a list because EIG doesn't care if someone on your shared server is sending out spam and they won't do anything to help. Looks like EIG ran Hostgator into the ground. https://researchasahobby.com/f...ng-companies-brands/

I moved to InMotion Hosting and am far happier. I can give you an affiliate link that gives me a free month if you sign up. http://inmotion.host/1affb0b6 They have online chat and always answer when I call. Sometimes there is a bit of a wait though.

For domain registrar, I use Epik.com but they were hacked by the leftist group anonymous and my info was disseminated on the dark web, now I get spam. I've never had to deal with spam before this but I accidentally gave epik my actual business email address. I never do that except for this one time. lesson learned.

I've used Hostgator for years, they're easy to deal with and have useful tools to help manage files, email addresses, etc.

For years I used mydomain.com for my domain registration but they merged with web.com recently. I haven't had to do anything since then - I assume it'll be as smooth as before but can't say for sure.

If you want to be sure your chosen domain is available, use a 'whois' search site like this: ICANN domain 'whois' search

One pro tip - it's worth paying for 'privacy' when you do register. If you don't, your actual contact info will be provided to any and all who look up your domain info using tools like the above. And spammers etc. know very well to search ICANN looking for addresses.

Dreamhost has a low dollar plan, includes a free domain name registration, $24. You can upgrade for more features. They offer "free privacy" for registration info.

No hassle to move your domain registration to another entity if you find better hosting.

I have used them for over 20 years.

https://www.dreamhost.com/hosting

Be mindful of "frontrunning" when checking domains by typing them in URL or searching, as it drives up that name in "hits" and it might get snagged, then "offered" to you at a higher price.

Great info, thanks!

Unfortunately someone already owns the domain I wanted...looks like they own a large number of domain names and sell them. However, my business is an LLC so it ends in ltd. The original name I wanted, with the addition of ltd, is still available according to ICANN.

Thanks for the advice so far!

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
Great info, thanks!

Unfortunately someone already owns the domain I wanted...looks like they own a large number of domain names and sell them. However, my business is an LLC so it ends in ltd. The original name I wanted, with the addition of ltd, is still available according to ICANN.

Domain name speculators rarely bother with anything not ending in .com. Never pay the asking price for a speculator's domain, they are very negotiable. Never, ever "rent" one!

Whether or not the lower visibility of a .ltd domain is worth obtaining, is far from certain. Many people naively assume that only the original TLD suffixes (.com .gov .net .org .mil .edu) are valid, or hold some kind of legacy legitimacy. This, of course, is ridiculous. You may also want to consider a ccTLD (country code top-level domain), they are usually less thoroughly mined than the industry-oriented TLDs, they are short, usually two letters, and many are very easy to remember.

Remember, your registrar, DNS provider, and hosting company to not have to be the same, nor do you have to use your ISP for any of these functions. If you want to use your domain name to send and receive e-mail, it would be very helpful to choose a DNS provider that supports DNSSEC, DMARC, and DKIM.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Whether or not the lower visibility of a .ltd domain is worth obtaining, is far from certain.

I'm still going to use .com, but I'm adding ltd to the domain name. Rather than mysite.com, it's mysiteltd.com

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Whether or not the lower visibility of a .ltd domain is worth obtaining, is far from certain.

I'm still going to use .com, but I'm adding ltd to the domain name. Rather than mysite.com, it's mysiteltd.com

OK, I get you, however, if your business name is distinctive, making it mysite.ltd might work. Nothing to stop you, except the annual fee, from registering both. You can track which is more effective via your web server logs. Most people these days just click on links anyway and don't even bother to read the URL.

Also, don't forget that numbers and the character "-" are allowed in domain names. First token must be a letter, last must be a letter or digit.

I’ve been happy with Gandi.net, but I don’t use them for anything other than domain registration, so I can’t speak to their hosting services.

I ran my own mail and DNS servers for years until finally switching over to proton mail.

we used GoDaddy to buy a domain name for email,

seems a large number of folks could not spell Armament, so we shortened it in the emails to arms,


Godaddy had our old websites (upgraded once to a differnt format/creator) as well,


kilt that due to it being old, out of date, and a PITA to upload product to for sale,


not sure who is our new sites' host, but it is mostly for info and advertising, we do not have an online store attached to it

Simple to do, go to any Registrar and do the WHOIS.
If available, buy (register) the name.

Note: a lot of companies will ALSO try to sell you additional services.
Such as DNS, Web Hosting, Email.
However, you will need all of these eventually.
You do NOT have to buy these until you need them and you do NOT have to buy them from one place.

IF you want to control everything then buy them ala carte.
If you want someone else to deal with the details then get them all together.
Hopefully they provide the services you need and the support to go with it.


Good Luck