Website Creation/Host/Marketing

13 replies
Hi Warriors:

Hope all is well today.

I hoping as always I can have some great insight on questions I pose regarding naming a website, registration, content, and marketing.

I’m thinking of creating a website to promote the books, writing, and marketing services I offer. In the past (many years ago) I had a website that I named after one of the books and the ability to write content, edit, upload photos, audio, and video was very easy (even for somebody like me with no technical skills at all).

The company I used did not offer good pricing as I found out and the customer service wasn’t satisfactory.

If I were to go ahead and start a website from scratch would you recommend I use my name such as craigfenton.com? Something catchy instead or a combination such as acraigfentonproduct.com?

Can you have something other than a dot com that is considered professional such as dot net?

In terms of samples how many are considered good (balancing not enough but avoiding overkill)? Off the bat I was thinking of at the very least including the liner notes that I have written for a band in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (4 CD’s worth).

Do you have recommendations for a basic website company that I can get the domain name and hosting all in one, good customer service, good pricing, excellent up time, and ease of use? I do not like splitting domain registration and host.

Are there basic things (please even if the answer is obvious I will not take it as condescending) that should be on the do and don’t list for the site to look proper and professional?

Do the same rules apply once you are done creating the content and want the site available for others to see is there still a button you click that says “Publish?” Do you ping the site the first time and after each update and if this is true are there Pinging Sites that you recommend?

Thank you for your time as always.

All the best,
Craig
#website
  • Profile picture of the author CustomDevo
    Hi Craig,

    To answer your some of questions, I usually recommend hostgator to register your domain name and host your site, but lately there are complaints regarding their uptime, the one I currently use and have no problem so far is Hawkhost. Not a well known name especially in this forum but has good rep on hosting forum like webmastertalk.

    If you use Wordpress as your website platform, you don't have to worry about pinging cause it will automatically ping your content as soon as you publish it.

    For the design of your site, I prefer simple and minimalist design and focus on your content.

    dot com is commonly use domain extension, other than that I'd prefer local extension such as .co.uk or other local extension depends on your location to look more professional.
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  • Profile picture of the author thinesh
    Thanks for your post. Really it was useful.
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  • Profile picture of the author djneill
    The company I use is namecheap.com or maybe cheapname.com the domain and hosting a really low priced and the service is still good. You can create your site in WordPress which you can get for free in Cpanel and I would recommend a premium theme like OptimizePress It's very user friendly. The name of your domain should be search engine optimized so if someone was looking at google for something then your page will show up.
    With freebies you want to give them just enough of a taste to show you know what you're talking about, but not so much that they won't have a reason to buy.

    For building webpages Kompozer is a free HTML editor and DreamWeaver is a good HTML editor too but comes with a good size one time price or monthly price.
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  • Profile picture of the author micksss
    Register your domain name separate from your web hosting company through a domain registrar like namecheap or godaddy (Avoid GoDaddy for Web Hosting). Wordpress is an easy platform to create your website on. Most web hosting companies today have an easy 1 click install option within their cPanel to set it up for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author Geni758
      Originally Posted by micksss View Post

      Register your domain name separate from your web hosting company through a domain registrar like namecheap or godaddy (Avoid GoDaddy for Web Hosting). Wordpress is an easy platform to create your website on. Most web hosting companies today have an easy 1 click install option within their cPanel to set it up for you.
      I have read several times about the need to keep your hosting separate from your registrar but I'm not sure what the rationale behind this is. Could someone please explain?

      Thanks,

      Geni
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      • Profile picture of the author tritrain
        Originally Posted by Geni758 View Post

        I have read several times about the need to keep your hosting separate from your registrar but I'm not sure what the rationale behind this is. Could someone please explain?

        Thanks,

        Geni
        Well, having experienced problems with hosting and registrars, I would not want to have 'all my eggs in one basket', especially with the likes of GoDaddy.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheMadHatter
    For someone with basic computer skills, Godaddy is the easiest interface imo. cPanel can look somewhat intimidating to newbies. You can also use a .biz ending on your domain. I feel it encourages people to buy from you. I suggest using WooCommerce as your Wordpress ecommerce solution. It is pretty good with SEO and works with most themes. Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jamie Lin
    I have to disagree with Godaddy for newbies. They have the most confusing interface which contains lots of offers on a single page. You should stick to namecheap when dealing with domain registration and learn to use cPanel because that is long term investment. You will be using it a lot afterwards.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nick Lawless
      Hi Craig,

      Good luck with you new venture. In answer to your questions:

      1. Domain name recommendation. For this consider your branding. You want it to be easy to remember and depending on your market you may want it to say what it does.

      It sounds like you are offering creative services. Personally would either use your name (CraigFenton.com - because essentially you are marketing yourself and your skills) or something catchy but short like "BookWorm.com". Just remember if you do something other than your name you will need to brand it well so people understand what it is you offer.

      2. .com or .xxxxx. Consider what you think is more professional to your target market. Personally I go with .com

      3. Number of samples. Why not supply a couple of samples for each "niche" you write for (eg 3 samples) and advise that more are available. Make this a separate area of your site and divide them up into similar samples so people can drill down as needed and are not bombarded with all samples on one page.

      4. Recommend a basic website company. I am going to be totally self serving and cheeky here and recommend myself! We offer a one stop solution exactly for your kind of purpose.

      We offer hosting with hostgator (I personally use and recommend them), install and configure a free website for you, set up a professional email and you can also buy a domain at the same time. We also have videos that train you how to add content and pages so you don't have to keep paying someone every time you want to make a change or add content.

      5. Do's and Don'ts to make a site look proper and professional. Do have your contact information so that you appear legitimate. Do use a site theme that is suitable to your audience (eg adds to your marketing message). Do make sure you have proof read the site for correct spelling and grammar. Do focus on what's important.

      Don't have too many ads/pop ups or flashing signs. These can turn visitors away. Don't just place information everywhere. Have it structured. Use menus and make it easy to navigate. Don't overdo it with too many different colors. Don't make it too wordy. Break up paragraphs, Use headings make the page easy to scan.

      Remember the golden rule. KISS - Keep it simple stupid.

      6. Pinging. I think this has been answered. WordPress does this automatically.

      Hope that helps.

      Nick
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      • Profile picture of the author Craig Fenton
        Hi Nick:

        Thank you for taking the time for such an articulate response.

        All the best,
        Craig
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  • Profile picture of the author tritrain
    Craig,

    Wordpress is fantastic and easy to use. There are a ton of great plugins available, as well as themes for a custom look.

    Many hosts use Fantastico or something similar to do an autoinstall for you.

    You can easily start with an inexpensive shared hosting plan for as little as $3 or $4 per month. You could also buy one that is slightly more expensive (ie Business grade) that would have more options and less people on the shared server.
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    Domains for sale - see seopositions.net
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  • Profile picture of the author deorudra
    My experience is with many ones and I feel easy in working with all but I chose the one which satisfy me at the time of booking. Whether it is hostgator or Godaddy, all looks similar inn performance yes, money makes the difference with additional advantages!
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