Question
I am starting a website and need to get a domain name. Are there free ones, and are they any good. You have to register them also I think, but don't know how to do that. Any free ones for this.
If you were new, with little to no monies to spend, were would you go for a website and domain name and registering the domain name. Could always upgrade after I made some monies doing this, I hope.
thanks in advance for anyone help with this.
Michiganann
Answer
Good morning, MichiganAnn!
Here's a site which does a cost comparison for the cost of purchasing a domain name. (None are free to my knowledge). Make SURE that you are the OWNER of the domain, not the registar. Also, make sure that the domain name will be (or can be) locked down. Most registars do this for free, a few charge a fee.
http://www.free-webhosts.com/domain-...gistration.php
Here's a link to (one of MANY) comparison charts for website hosting.
You should FIRST figure out what you NEED from a host, then go shopping.
Do you need FTP? Shopping Cart? Editor? Data-base driven?
http://www.hostcompare.com/
For me personally, especially in hosting, you get what you pay for in most instances.
Answer
This guide may help you on your quest.
http://www.hostcompare.com/guide/guidetohosting.html
Answer
You can register a domain through Yahoo for like $5 today. Free? No, but almost. I did find a free site offering some off the wall extension, but unless you have a reason not to, I'd recommend a dot.com name. If you don't like Yahoo, there are plenty of other registrars for $10 or less, but Yahoo is the cheapest one I have found as of late.
For hosting, depending on your needs, you can find hosting packages for as little as $1 a month on up, with around $15/mo and up being the cost for hosting to include most of what's needed for an ecommerce shopping site. in which case you might look for a hosting package through one of the shopping cart vendors or one of the credit card merchants. I can offer a recommendation or two if you would like, but I don't want to advertise (spam) a link to them here. With CC processing included, you're probably looking at around $30/mo or more, plus incremental transaction costs.
Many storefront solutions offer domain name redirection. As an example, a person clicks a lionk to your domain and they're redirected to a storefront in one of the online malls. My biggest peeve with malls and storefronts and such is that you lose your autonomity - and end up with a weakened, less discrete identity.
Probably the most important considerations would be...
1. your level of expertise or desire to learn the intracacies of being a webmaster vs ease of use for the less technical minded.
2. The amount of involvement you are willing to devote to marketing.
3. How much control you will hope to retain when customizing the features and content for your site.
Answer
One thing to consider is actual domain name. Such as Bettys-store.com is not too good. Bettys-widgets.com is a lot better. You have one of your keywords (widgets) in your domain name.