How do I register a website?

jrokusek · October 22, 2007, 12:50:33 PM

I have been kicking around the idea of a small urban logging/sawmilling/trim and molding operation. I'm not ready to jump in with both feet yet, maybe just test the waters with my big toe. I have an idea for my business name and want to buy the website name. I checked the name and it's available.

I know I need to pick an on-line Registrar, but good grief there are literally dozens of them in the US alone! I checked GoDaddy because I like the girl in the commercial, but someone told me to stay away from them because of their customer service. Anyone have a suggestion? I'm not ready to build a website yet. I'd like to just buy the name and maybe make a one page website. Not starting the business yet either.....just buying the name.......

Radar67 · October 22, 2007, 12:53:19 PM

Check with Lunarpages.com. They have pretty good customer service and will let you park the domain there until you get ready to build the site.

Jeff · October 22, 2007, 12:58:01 PM

I only use network solutions, all the rest have little chunks of red tape that go along with their discounts. Network solutions is the oldest and most stable of the registars. You might think , wow, whata differenct in price, until you work with these everyday and see the difference in not only the customer service, but the customer interphase you need to take care of things. You can get a domain name for 5 years for around $99. more per year if you choose less years, less if you choose more. Any of the lesser registars are not an option with me, as in the last 10 years I have been doing this, I have seen 3 go out of business creating all sorts of problems for its customers.

sawdust · October 22, 2007, 01:53:22 PM

Mine are hosted by Finalhost in B.C. Never had a problem their service is excellent.
Jeff is involved with way more sites than me, he would have a better handle on things.

sawdust

rebocardo · October 22, 2007, 02:14:40 PM

> but someone told me to stay away from them because of their customer service

I have 21 URLs with GoDaddy.com with no problems, have always had good customer service, and I earn a bit of change with my parked domains too.

FWIW: If you check a domain and it is available, register it ASAP. If enough searches are done on the keywords or if you do the search and it gets marked as being valuable, the ISP will register it and auction it.

ronwood · October 22, 2007, 02:50:49 PM

I registered one domain through Yahoo. I believe the cost is similar with what Jeff quoted.

KarenKae · October 22, 2007, 03:04:26 PM

My domain is registered with Yahoo as well. So far, great customer service in the United States. I had my site with Earthlink for years registered with Network Solutions. Network Solutions is a great company, but Earthlink went to foreign tech support. They crashed my site and lost 9 years of work. Very unhappy. If I register any other site, it would be with Network Solutions for a minimum of 10 years.
But if you are new to web writing and the business, Yahoo has a great start up deal with lots of help in building and promoting your site. It is not very expensive and if you decide later to have someone else do the work, it is easy to allow access to your webwriter, no matter where they might be. Absolutely check to see if they have US tech support. Very Important, as a newbie if you get stuck and need help, you want to be talking to an American.

PC-Urban-Sawyer · October 22, 2007, 03:44:20 PM

I have used GoDaddy for several years and never had any problems with them.

SwampDonkey · October 22, 2007, 04:26:32 PM

I use Yahoo. Never really had an issue that I needed to get support for. I use Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, which is now owned by Adobe. Since their GoLive software was too complicated and buggy. There is a lot of stuff in Dreamweaver I have never even explored, and have no need to. I pay $0.99 a month for Yahoo to hide my identity. Do a WHOIS on anyone's domain and you can find out who they are and where they are, unless it's hidden. $11.99/mo for the domain.

jrokusek · October 22, 2007, 05:19:49 PM

Thanks everyone! I'll be breaking out the credit card tonight.

asy · October 22, 2007, 05:51:08 PM

I have my domains with GoDaddy. I'll be following a friend's lead and buying the kids their own domains for Christmas this year! "sashahayes.com" and "Stephaniehayes.com" :D

haven't checked if they're available yet, but have other permutations (using middle names) if not.

GoDaddy is (without discounts) $9.95aud for a .com domain for a year. AGain, you can buy multiple years and it gets cheaper. I tend to buy for a year or two at most and set them to auto-renew off my paypal account. That way I can make sure I'm going to use the account before I buy 10 years worth. For example I registered "larysahayes.com" a couple of years ago, but now I've changed my name... so I'll let it lapse next renewal (I've turned the autorenew off). Haven't registered my new name yet, but not sure I will...

Also, don't forget, whatever you do, choose the "PRIVATE" option, that way you aren't registered in the whois database, you'll only get spam if you do. There's a 'middleman' company who registers with the 'whois'. It's sorta like the paypal of registration. People searching the ownership database only see (for example) GoDaddy-registration-service and THEY keep your details secure. Costs a few $ more, but definitely worth it. Every provider should have this service.

The most important advice, as the Boss said, is go with a known company. IMHO (and my opinion's never humble :

) It's worth the few extra $ (although usually it's the same price) to get known service and help. I'd stick with the likes of the one the Boss said, or GoDaddy.

asy :D

jrokusek · October 22, 2007, 11:36:54 PM

Thanks everyone. I went with Yahoo and it was actually quite easy to do all of this. At least now I have a placeholder for a potential future business. http://www.prairielumber.com

Dave Shepard · October 22, 2007, 11:54:32 PM

I second what Jeff, said, spend the money on a reliable host. My sister had a ton of trouble when the "partners" of the one she was using had a falling out and people could not access their websites. Many people went out of business.

Dave