I’ve been wanting to start a site for awhile. I am unsure of how to go about this. I have a friend of a friend in mind to help me with graphics and whatnot, and I’ll be asking him about domains, but it can’t hurt to get a second opinion. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good domain I can purchase for a low monthly rate? (I wont be paying for it anyway). Do low monthly rates gaurantee customer disatisfaction? I want to actually start two websites- a personal one, and a fansite dedicated to a a book series I like. And I also want a blog. So I guess I’m going for three websites- but I want them all together. I want my main page to be my blog, and then my personal and fansite to be off shoots from that. Like I want them all to have different urls. Is this possible? I’m sure it is. I’m making a forum, as well, and I’d like to have that linked to my blog page. You can do that as well, right? See, I’m the last person to be making a site, yet I have all of these great ideas for how I can go about making one. I want to have some online personal project of mine to be proud of. So can anyone point me in the right direction and give me some advice? What is the minimum amount of…storage I should accept when I’m looking for domains? I need to know stuff like that.
So.
Advice.
Blog.
Domain.
I am baffled by how I should proceed with the three topics above ^
Look for $20-40 a month for the hosting. The URLs will cost about $10-15 each for a certain amount of years that they are reserved to you. There might also be a one-time setup fee involved for the server ($40-100). You can pretty much store everything you mentioned in the one server that you pay for, as long as you’re not doing anything super crazy bandwidth-intense, like hosting video streaming or something.
For the blog part, you buy software that allows the blog to run. Look into <a href=“http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/”>Movable Type</a>, Radio. There are also many free scripts availible, such as <a href=“http://www.scratchforward.com/scratchlog/index.php”>ScratchLog</a>. Blogs of this type are called Server-Side/Server-Installed scripts, so google that for more.
And you could always link your LJ to your site. Meaning, each update you make through the LiveJournal site connects to the blog area on your site, instead of your blog on LJ’s site (i hope that made sense =). You’ll need a paid account to do this (on LJ), but many blogging services (such as <a href=“http://www.pitas.com”>pitas</a>, <a href=“http://diaryland.com/”>diaryland</a>, and i’m sure there are more but pitas is the only one i know off the top of my head), off this for free.
There is really no way to be dissatisfied with a <i>domain</i> service. I’m sure you already know, but the domain just masks your IP. So if your ip of your site is 555.555.555.5, people can type in your domain and access your site, instead of all those numbers. So unless something goes wrong with the registration, theres really no way to be dissatsified.
However, if you’ll also need <i>webspace</i> (as in, an area on a server to place your site’s files), then you’ll need to look around for the best host. Read reviews, look for ratings. I’d give advice, but i’ve always hosted my things personally, then paid for only the domain. =\
Ah Dev you have clearly pointed out my ignorance and used it against me I stand corrected.
Yes I’m looking for web space. I think that over 20 dollars a month is a bit steep for me, but somewhere’s around that range. I just don’t know where the best webhosts are, and how to compare them.
Well, doteasy.com offers a bunch of free webspace if you buy a domain name through them. I have no idea of what their customer service is like, however, nor do I know if the space they offer is enough for you.
bBlog. It’s a good blogscript.
If you’re not too picky, I could always host you. I can’t guarantee it’ll go fast at all times, but I’ve got a pretty good uptime that rivals most cheap, and some expensive, webhosts. Just ask me in a PM or IM.
Is there any way you can just have your own server and just buy a domain name for it?
Yes there is Steve: All you have to do is buy a domain, setup a server, and set the domain redirect to that server. What do you think I’m doing?
Of course. If you have no problem with leaving your computer on and connected to the Internet around the clock, you can download web-server software and use it to turn the computer into a server. Then you can buy a domain through register.com or somebody else, and tell them to direct the domain to your computer’s IP address.
Not much to read, just setup a computer with linux, <a href=“http://apache.org”>Apache</a>, and then buy a domain. But if you’re hosting files (like roms :P), it can take up alot of bandwidth, which is your personal bandwidth too, since you are hosting it on your personal connection to the internet.
We’re probably gonna offer server space on the RPGC server shortly for pretty cheap. Stay tuned for details. You could even still have your own personal domain name if you’d like.
See, I’m the last person to be making a site, yet I have all of these great ideas for how I can go about making one. I want to have some online personal project of mine to be proud of. So can anyone point me in the right direction and give me some advice? What is the minimum amount of…storage I should accept when I’m looking for domains? I need to know stuff like that.
I stand corrected.