Host & Domain

[Megg81]

As a first-timer I need to buy my domain name and find a good host...
There's loads of well known sites and inevitably people only write reviews when they have something to complain about. Tbh Im not sure of the key things to be looking for in a good value package...

So can anyone recommend some good ones from personal experience?
That'd be really useful. Cheers.

[gwpriester]

Where are you Megg? Country specifically. It makes a difference.

GoDaddy is big and full service and has good technical support. I have a commercial web hosting account with Network Solutions and have been happy (not ecstatic) with their service. They also offer individual accounts.

Most web hosting companies can also register a domain name for you. I recommend this as it consolidates your hosting and domain name registration with one company. But the important thing is tech support. Network Solutions outsources their tech support to India and while the support people have been helpful, it is sometimes difficult to understand. And mostly they are reading off a prepared list.

I did work with GoDaddy for a few client's accounts and their tech support was in the US which was great.

[Megg81]

Im in the UK, would most likely choose a .co.uk address.

Do I need to look for something in particular to know that my site built with Xara will be compatible? A lot say supports Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Publisher... but what about the Xara files?

Thanks for the advice. GoDaddy I've heard a lot about, but also read some bad reviews too. It's never easy to get a balanced argument from those review sites.

[jimhanus]

I use GoDaddy, and have been very happy with them for many years. I think people are more likely to go to the trouble of writing a negative comment when they are upset, than to spend the time to write a positive one when they are happy with a service. I have about 40 domain names with them and also lease a server from them, so my entire web business goes through them. Tech support has been mostly excellent, although I'll get an occasional noobie on the phone that can't answer my server questions. Otherwise I'm very happy with their price and service.

Jim

[scruffy.thedog]

Hi M

I use 1+1 uk I find it easy to use lots of bolt ons if you want. i use them for for domain reg and hosting - no real complaints tech wise usual outsource to india at the mo they offer some good deals (6 mo free) . Be aware if you have brought your domain else where it can be a bit of an arse to get it to 1+1 plus there can be a transfer fee so best to order through them

[Megg81]

Thanks all, that's good info. Im just taking a look at webhost.uk.net at the mo - 4GB monthly bandwidth, is that a useful amount? I mean I have no idea how much traffic that might equate to? There's nothing really to download from my site, just few forms and online payment via PayPal. Site will prob be around 40MB when finished.

[Miko]

Take a look at Krystal http://krystal.co.uk/ I have just set up my first website for someone.

[mikehihn]

I'm a GoDaddy reseller for about ten years now and recommend them highly. It's not just the fine tech support some have mentioned. They're the only "budget" provider I know of with 24/7 customer service, by phone. And they PROMOTE their phone service by telling you in many places how many minutes you will wait if you call now.

You're not going to phone them from England, but that may assure you how well they respond to email inquiries. In ten years, I've had ONE complaint with the service I got, and as a reseller I seek their service a lot more than most folks.

I've been doing websites since 1995, and I've tried them all!

Luck.

[Cloud]

Tried godaddy, tried 1 and 1, tried 123 reg, tried fasthost. The best by a long stretch is ipage, unlimited hosting, free domain, just £1.99 per month and the service is incredible, live chat 24 hours a day, I recommend it to all my customers for their sites and they all heap praise on ipage. As for being country specific, from experience it makes no difference whatsoever from an seo point of view. Just use google webmaster tools to tell google which country the site is aimed at, no matter what the domain suffix. or location of server

[jeb]

I use StartLogic and have nothing bad to say about them - unlimited domains, 24 hr support, live chat. - jb