Domain Names...Free or Pay?

[Doug Palumbo]

I am in the market for a website to promote a business I am starting. I know the name I want but am an admitted novice to the whole start up process. I know of places like GoDaddyand others. I have also seen places that offer free custom domain names. There has to be a catch of some kind to go the free route, I just don't know the right questions to ask or the right things to look out for. The same would go for the hosting service. Free or pay? What are the benefits to both and what are the catches?

[DavidH]

Doug, over the years I've owned many domain names and still have a dozen or so hosted sites.

I'd say you should avoid free stuff - there is always a catch and you need to be able to move you business elsewhere if needed.

At the moment, most of my domains and hosting are with GoDaddy and a couple are with BlueHost. I also had some with network solutions, but transferred because the pricing was too high.

GoDaddy .com domains run about $12 a year I think & I pay about $5 a month for Linux hosting - I never had much luck with their Windows hosting, especially with WordPress sites - might be better now, but I'd stick with Linux.

BlueHost is OK as well, they give you the domain for free if you buy a hosting account - $100 a year for the ones I have.

Both companies are pretty easy to get everything set up - I don't think I ever used either ones tech support, so must be easy.

Good luck with the new biz!!

[Cousi]

Completely agree with DavidH - avoid free. You always get what you pay for. Hosting is very expensive for a company when done properly, so if they're not charging you then they're cutting back massively somewhere. Places like GoDaddy make up for it in bulk and they typically run a lot of virtual servers for the individuals who pay for a "unique server". That reduces their costs while not skimping on quality.

Things to look for:
Uptime: if it isn't what we call "dot four" or 99.9999% uptime then they're skimping somewhere and/or have some serious problems.
Bandwidth: many places are now offering "unlimited" bandwidth but if you're expecting a lot of traffic, you'll want to look for hidden fees associated with massive bandwidth. There are different names for them like 'excessive upload' fees. Basically a place that has such fees has shoddy business practices.
DB support: do they use SQL or Oracle? Do they support DB problems? If they support other DBs like MySql or DB2, that's not a bad thing but it depends on how DB intensive the site will be. If you're not sure, you can PM me (or call since you have my number) but generally speaking most sites are not DB intensive.
Tech support: can you call them at 3am and get a live person that isn't being woken up? Like David said, typically you won't have to but its a good question to ask because you just never know.
Odds and ends: I prefer a place where I can build the site on my own without having to use some trumped up application they bought or set up to create a website. That makes the tech support less relevant (I wouldn't want to support some idiot's idea of a self-made website) but I know how to code and I'm fussy when it comes to that sort of thing. That doesn't mean those applications don't work or have value, but how willing are they to work with you for something non-standard will tell you a lot about the company. I recommend talking to someone. If you get a good feeling and all the other things check out, then go for it.

I like BlueHost too and let's face it, GoDaddy isn't the biggest name in the business just because of their "wardrobe malfunction" commercial.

[Eric Renderking Fisk]

Nexcess is a little more expensive than most other hosting sites, but I've never had a problem that they couldn't solve with-in a couple of hours. The only problems that they couldn't solve quickly were instances when people were hacking or spamming our site.