Domain Name, Website & Hosting Questions - Virtual Assistant Forums

splarske · #1 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

Hi,

How do I actually purchase a domain name?

I found a site I want to use to build a website and I think I want to go with bluehost to host my site after reading all the wonderful reviews here but where do I actually purchase my domain name?

Thanks.

ParadiseLegal · #2 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

Godaddy is supposed to be the cheapest place to purchase a domain name. However, I love Doteasy! You get your domain name and hosting all in one place for $25/yr and you get a free website creator to help you build your site. They have a number of templates available and it is very easy to navigate.

All of my websites were built using Doteasy - www.paradisesecretarial.com, www.websites199.biz, and www.shellyespeaks.com.

splarske · #3 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

Great Shellye! I'll check out doteasy tonight! Thank you!

splarske · #4 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

Shelley - did you purchase an upgraded package or just the basic package with free hosting? Is email storage necessary if emails are going to a regular email address?

splarske · #5 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

Domain locking yes/no?? There are so many things I don't know if I need or not.

Your websites are excellent. I hope I have success building mine!

ParadiseLegal · #6 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

Hey there!! Because I only have text and pictures, I used the $0 basic hosting and I did not lock my domain. I probably should!! But I usually renew on time so I don't. I did everything basic. You can create 9 emails in addition to your webmaster email address so I didn't do anything extra there. And you can have your emails forward to another email like sbcglobal, yahoo, or gmail... Hope this helps!!

P.S. If you decided on Doteasy, please use the link from my paradisesecretarial site. I get a $5 referral fee!!

P.P.S. Thanks for the comment on my sites. It's pretty easy to build them. Just have all your text ready to go. No html is needed unless you have some special coded things, like a badge from Virtualassistantforums or your social networking sites. Feel free to contact me if you get stuck and I'll walk you through it!

splarske · #7 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

Thank you Shellye. I already signed up and I said referral but it didn't ask me who from. Maybe I'll call them and tell them it was you so you can get the $5 credit.

I appreciate you allowing me to contact you if I get stuck along the way. I may just do that. You have a wonderful rest of your evening!

Sandy

ParadiseLegal · #8 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010

You're welcome. It's no biggie!! Just let me know! I'm trying to stay logged on here throughout the day and check in every 2-3 hours so if I don't respond right away, know that I'll be on sometime soon!!

Ta ta for now!!

splarske · #9 (**permalink**) 02-13-2010

Hi Shellye,

I have most of my website done. Can we talk tomorrow or Monday evening on the issues I'm having - My company name is too long on the header, I can't get the rate calculator to display, I can't get an image to load and how did you create your contact page. Thanks in advance.

ParadiseLegal · #10 (**permalink**) 02-13-2010

Hey Sandy!! Monday's good for me!! I can tell you this...

Header: Someone posted a link to create a header for your webpage - http://www.xheader.com/ I've not tried it before, but that's what I'd suggest to have your company name on the header. Once you create it, I'll show you how to load it so it shows on each page.

Rate calculator: Change your layout to the one huge toolbar. I forget what it's called since I'm not on the cpanel. But, when you change the layout, you click on the area and post the code for the calculator in there. You won't be able to see it until you publish the site.

Contact Us Page: Use your webtools on the right hand side of the cpanel. It will allow you to create a form and then you'll change the layout as you did with the calculator so that you can paste the code.

Try these and see if you can do this before we talk!! Let me know what's a good time.

Ciao - I'm off to dinner with the hubby!!

splarske · #11 (**permalink**) 02-15-2010

Thank you so much for the info above Shellye. It was a great help with getting my contact form created. I had copied the code for the rate calculator but because I couldn't see it, I thought I did it wrong.

I signed up for xheader but didn't get the confirm email until today so I'll have to work on my header tonight.

I had some issues getting my photo to load but finally got that figured that out too except ... it's way too large so hopefully you can help me with that.

If I publish the site, won't that make it so everyone can see it? What if it's not final yet? Can you unpublish it again then republish?

Can we talk at 7:30pm CT tonight? If so, please PM me your phone number and I'll call you.

Thanks bunches!

ParadiseLegal · #12 (**permalink**) 02-15-2010

Hi Sandy!! 7:30pm will be fine. Phone number is on the way. Glad I was able to help with most of your questions!! I can't wait to see your site.

To answer your current question, you can publish and unpublish and make changes as often as you like!! That's another benefit to using Doteasy! As long as you don't announce your site, you should be fine.

With regard to photos, resize them prior to uploading them. This should help. I've never used Xheader so I'm curious to see how it works. If you don't like it, know that I've created my own headers using Photoshop when I wanted to create a personalized site and they seem to work just fine.

ParadiseLegal · #13 (**permalink**) 02-15-2010

P.S. You know another cool thing about Doteasy? You can go and change the template whenever you like for a fresh new look to your website without losing your content. You may lose pictures, but your text remains the same!!!

Gravics · #14 (**permalink**) 02-24-2010

Originally Posted by ParadiseLegal

P.S. You know another cool thing about Doteasy? You can go and change the template whenever you like for a fresh new look to your website without losing your content. You may lose pictures, but your text remains the same!!!

It sounds like doteasy is a great place to use. I've been wondering how I was going to create a website without web creation software. You say doteasy has the software to do this so I'm anxious to check them out.

Can anyone else out there tell me if other web hosting places have a way you can create your site?

splarske · #15 (**permalink**) 02-24-2010

The doteasy website is fairly easy to use. I created a webpage a few years back with frontpage and that was all HTML stuff and it would take me a while to figure that out again.

I needed a website and I needed it now. You can check out my website and see if you like it. It was not difficult to create (with Shelly's help) and I would be happy to help you along.

doteasy.com is reasonably priced also.

Good luck!