Creating an Online Presence – Part 1
People with lesser “web” experience often don’t know where to start in setting up a website. Many people don’t know how easy it can be to buy a domain, get web hosting, e-mail, or what software to use. In this series of posts, I’ll be discussing the best websites/tools to use.
The first step in getting your message or website online is to register a domain name. Finding a good domain name can be quite difficult, as there are thousands of domains being “squatted” – used to advertising purposes or to sell the domain at an exuberant price. I’d advise against buying a domain from someone doing this – their costs are often in the high thousands, if not more.
So how do you find a good domain name? I like to start with an excellent website called BustAName. The site allows you to input keywords and potential domain names you have in mind, and will tell you which are available, and even provides a link to domain name registrars.
Registering the domain name is the next step. You can choose from any number of registrars – GoDaddy, NetworkSolutions, DreamHost, and many more. While all of these services are fantastic, the one I recommend isn’t on that list and it may surprise you. My registrar of choice is none other than the internet giant Google. Registering with the Mountain View technology giant has its perks – Google Apps, customized for your domain being the biggest. Their domains cost you $10 a year, automatically billed to you so your domain shouldn’t expire. This provides you with an excellent web mail interface with 7GB of space – just like GMail. Also included is GCal, GDocs, and Google Sites – the latter being a way you could build a community-based site easily.
Many registrars, like DreamHost and GoDaddy also offer hosting packages with their domain names. Google’s allows you to use Google Sites – a simple, easy to use way to build your site without having to fuss with an extra hosting bill. However, if you want to create something outside of Google’s templates, you’re best served going with hosting. A webhost I’ve found to be quite excellent is NearlyFreeSpeech. They only charge you for what you use. You can calculate how much their hosting will cost by using their calculator.
Check back for Part 2 where I’ll discuss the different options for DNS and even how you can get free hosting if you have a spare computer lying around.
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