So, I’m generously considering this to be under the loot category since I’ll have to pay money.
I need to buy a domain name and find hosting for a very small website. I don’t need email or any of that sort of shit. I simply have a small personal/professional website that currently has about 25mb of material on it and I doubt I’d need more than 100mb in the next five years. Traffic is basically zero.
I currently have my website hosted via space on my university’s servers but that server is getting shut down and instead of moving to a new address I’d rather just get my own site since hopefully I’ll be changing jobs in the near future.
Any advice on a cheap option where I can get my own domain name (think “upa.lumpa.xxx”)?
BlogSpot or WordPress.com would work if you don’t need to host files via FTP. Otherwise, GoDaddy has super cheap domain hosting packages (like $7 a month).
These are solid sites if you want more of a blog style website. My limited experience these are harder to create a more professional style customer facing site. On random note, a growing number of businesses do blogging to increase their traffic and brand name.
Google Sites (formerly Google Pages) can be a easy free option for web hosting and bandwidth for your need level. http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html
Last I checked when it launched was that Google Sites had no easy way for domain name forwarding aka URL masking.
Domain name - Go for it, personal branding is great. Make sure you have an auto-renewal otherwise your domain may be gobbled up by domain squatters after expiry, or company may ‘hold’ it for a special large fee. GoDaddy would likely be the cheapest but I hated their interface and transferring a domain out from them was silliness. I’m with NetFirms and pricing is similar for domain names. For the above free hosting, check with the domain registrar that they have free domain name forwarding. Most do I believe these days. That gives you the ability to forward yourdomainname.com to whateverhostingplacebecausekintanonsmells.com address.
+1 for godaddy - just don’t go overkill on useless add ons, that’s where they make their money. The good thin about their setup is that it is simple and easy to use, plus the email package they offer is very handy.
-100 for godaddy. Their hosting blows. Good registrar, terrible host. They over populate their servers. http://www.dreamhost.com and http://www.1and1.com are the two best hosting providers I’ve found.
1and1’s cheapest linux hosting package (and you want linux, not windows) is 3.99/mo.
FREE for Everyone,
The All New Doteasy
Basic Hosting Plan
More Info
US$0.00/mo
* No Ad Banner
* Host 10 Add-on Domains
* No Setup Fee, No Monthly Fee
* 100 MB Web Hosting Storage
* 1000 MB Web Data Transfer
* 10 POP/Webmail Email Accounts
* Website Statistic
They do charge $25/year to register your domain,
then don’t bother you again until next year. And,
no ads from the company on your pages to bother
your visitors. So, a little more than $2 a month?
Thanks all. I’m just going to host it on university space set aside for my supervisor. Presumably if I ever get a faculty job I’ll have space again. No one really will ever look at the site but you’re kind of expected to have one these days.
