Other than “dont’ use Godaddy”, what do I need to know? I’ve never owned a domain or had a website of my own before.
- Domain registration/host recommendations?
- Web hosting recommendations? Should I mix #1 and #2?
- Website template creation suggestions? Have fairly simple needs like service offerings and contact forms but want something without rotating construction cones.
- What else should I consider? Security? e-mail?
- Am open to all-in-one for the above, just would like to understand tradeoffs, what to look for/avoid.
TIA
You should als mention the country. Helps if you’re a business and not just looking for the cheapest. And maybe get a all-in-one solution if you don’t want to set up and maintain mail yourself.
hetzner.de uberspace.de all-inkl.com netcup.de inwx.de are some I use or used.
What’s the type of business? Are you just needing a contact page, or is it an online store?
I recently went with square space and I’ve been pretty impressed with it, but it wasn’t cheap. Google around for signup codes.
For domain registration, check out porkbun or namecheap. Email you can use proton or Google workspaces.
If you create accounts on various sites with an email address on your new domain keep a list of those. If decide to let the domain expire you need to close the accounts beforehand, otherwise someone else can get access if they purchase the domain.
Also you will likely be playing for the domain forever, so just register/renew it for 10 years, maybe you’ll also get a discount.
Depends on what you need for your business. I wouldn’t self host if you don’t know anything about it. There’s plenty of companies that makes having a website for a reasonable cost with significantly less hassle. If you are big enough to have your own dedicated IT team then maybe consider transitioning to a more self controlled environment.
If you aren’t online retail, I’d start with a Facebook page. That’s free, and gives you the ability to post the important details and have some outreach without spending money.
If you are e-commerce, then I’d start with a company designed to help build sites like that, or even just selling on etsy/eBay/Amazon.
I have a personal website, not a business one but if all you want is to display some information and contact details etc then Hover for domain hosting and Squarespace for the website, they are easy to use and relatively cheap for a simple website that looks professional. If you want things like e-commerce or online booking you might want something else although linking to another service from a Squarespace site could work.
I’m currently shifting to self hosting and having troubles with Hover, but for an easy to use service that doesn’t require any technical knowledge it works fine. They also offer email@yourdomain.com which I use as my main personal email with no worries.
Please don’t just have a Facebook page, it becomes a real pain for non-facebook users, especially on mobile, and it makes you look like a complete amateur.
