Web Hosting

Joe-C_4

Hey,

I run a small web hosting business.

If anyone has any questions related to getting there web site up and running I'll be happy to answer any questions.

madmummy_2

Great timing!
I want to get my greetings cards on a website, nothing fancy. I've got someone who will design it for me - we're exchanging skills as I've got very little money - but he says that I need to buy my domain (which I believe is my site address) and some web space.
Am I right about the domain? Where's the best place to buy it from (bearing in mind I haven't got much/any money)and what sort of money are we talking? I've seen one for £1.99 per year but when I went into it, it was going to cost me about £75 in the end.
And what about webspace? How much am I likely to need for, say, a simple website with loads (circa 75/100) of photo's of my cards on it? Is the 30mb from my ISP enough? If I have to buy more, where do I start? How much should I be paying? What should I be looking for?
You'll be right if you guess I know nothing about websites and space!

Thanks!

1jim

I would like advice on how to design or who to get to design a web site for a small business selling ex chain store clothes

blinky

Re: domain names. if it's a .co.uk (.uk really) then the name is actually registered for 2 years. If the name hasn't already been bought it should cost around £20. (Some companies buy domain names and then sell them to you at inflated prices).

NellyLock

madmummy wrote:

Am I right about the domain? Where's the best place to buy it from (bearing in mind I haven't got much/any money)and what sort of money are we talking? I've seen one for £1.99 per year but when I went into it, it was going to cost me about £75 in the end.

The domains are cheap if you dont require hosting a .co.uk is as you said around that price (but remember domains are bought on a 2 year basis). the greater costs you are seeing involve hosting aswell. companies to look at are 123-reg or ukreg (do a google search).

madmummy wrote:

nd what about webspace? How much am I likely to need for, say, a simple website with loads (circa 75/100) of photo's of my cards on it? Is the 30mb from my ISP enough? If I have to buy more, where do I start? How much should I be paying? What should I be looking for?

you should know if thats enough space, how big are the photos on your hard drive the html/web files are minimal if you can fit the files in 20ish megs you;ll be fine to store on isp. as for more hosting talk to the guy above (or me;) dont want to steal his thunder ) it shouldnt be too costly depending on the demands of the site.

i thnk that answers your questions if not pm me and i will get back to you.

neil

NellyLock

1jim wrote:

I would like advice on how to design or who to get to design a web site for a small business selling ex chain store clothes

this is awkward depending on what you want...if you want a fully fledged shop then look at http://www.miva.com/galleria/ ir you want other methods then home designed solutions are available... neither solutions will come cheap...and te other issue to consider is how transactions will need to be impelemented...pm me for more or talk to the above guy

Joe-C_4

Where's the best place to buy it from (bearing in mind I haven't got much/any money)and what sort of money are we talking?

I'm not sure if I can post company addresses but I use DirectNic and have had no problems with them at all. They're a big American company, I'm not related to them at all! Pricelist: http://www.directnic.com/features/prices.php

One big piece of advice when buying domains is the 'RENEWAL PRICE', I used to work at a company whereby customers would register .com's and .co.uk's for a year at around £10 and then they would get a renewal bill for about £50 for the next year if they wanted to keep there domain.

Is the 30mb from my ISP enough?

Just right-click on the folder with the photos in and see what the filesize comes too.

I would like advice on how to design or who to get to design a web site for a small business selling ex chain store clothes

You could open a hosting account with a company that has a program called Fantastico which would allow you to install the free shopping cart called oScommerce; which is fairly simple to use and has a great community behind it.

madmummy_2

Thank you for all the responses hints and suggestions.

I'm off to do a bit more research.

NellyLock

madmummy wrote:

Thank you for all the responses hints and suggestions.

I'm off to do a bit more research.

No probs on my part...feel free to ask more questions or mail me on (moneysaving[at]neillock[dot]dreamhosters[dot]com) and i'm sure some1 will be here to help!

NellyLock

RE: The shopping....i did a little more browsing around and alternatives could be http://www.cubecart.com/site/home/ or http://www.oscommerce.com/ i have no affiliation to either of these just found them while browsing...have a look at them...

blinky

OSCommerce is okay but as is common with many Open Source stuff it's not really well documented and to change a lot of things you need to be a bit techy.

Personally I like Actinic as it's easy to use and it generates static pages, with no sessionID and unique titles (spiders hate sessionID's and avoid anything which look vaguely like one).

You need to decide how you are going to handle the transaction e.g. Paypal, NoChex, WorldPay or other PSP or capture details for separate processing.