Help registering a domain name

[VanHlebar]

I am getting ready to open up a new business and need to try to register a domain name. Where can/do I go to do this? Does anyone recommend a good hosting company for the website? The site will not be large or have any need for a discussion forum or any other type of database. Just something to give information about our firm, services, history and contact information.

Thanks for the help,
-Eric

[trachy]

You're bound to get tons of differing advice on this subject. I register my domains with Go Daddy (http://www.godaddy.com), whose prices are reasonable and, once you've set up an account, it's easy to register multiple domains. They'll also host domains, but for that I use Westhost (http://www.westhost.com). I've been with them for a couple of years and can't say enough good about them. They're cheap ($8.95/month for 100Mb), extremely reliable, and allow PhP, CGI, etc. I highly recommend them. If you decide to use them, please use me (domain on sig) as a reference so I can get a free month of service.

[VanHlebar]

Trachy,
Thanks for the help. I was just looking at GoDaddy and was wondering, is the "private" listing really necessary? Since this is a business that will have a physical location wouldn't I be better off with a public registration?

Thanks again,
-Eric

[trachy]

Thanks for the help. I was just looking at GoDaddy and was wondering, is the "private" listing really necessary? Since this is a business that will have a physical location wouldn't I be better off with a public registration?

The private registration is good for reducing the amount of spam you might get from those trolling DNS records; however, if you're going to have your contact information posted on your site it won't be of much use. Regardless, it looks like they're having a sale on them, so for only .05 more I'd get it. It can't hurt.

[drop]

Depends on what kind of webserver. I use CrystalTech (http://www.crystaltech.com/sharedhosting.htm) for ASP or ColdFusion website hosting, and Spenix (http://www.spenix.com) for PHP. If it is IIS server that you are looking for, or it doesn't matter to you, I highly recommend CrystalTech for customer service, reliability, security and timely (but painless) upgrades.

For domain registration, I use Dotster (http://www.dotster.com).

Good luck!

[trachy]

drop makes a good point. Westhost servers do run on Apache; however, they support Front Page extensions as well. For the simple site you're talking about I'm sure they're more than capable of hosting it.

BTW, their customer service is also top notch. I harass them all the time with trivial questions and they always respond quickly.

Note: I do not work for WestHost. :D

[dotcomguy]

I've been with Hostway (http://www.hostway.com) for over a year. The prices aren't the cheapest, but they have great service.

[dean_shan]

I was just about to ask for a good cheap web host. Now I don't have to. Thanks for asking.