Current Favorite Registrar and Host

JoeSelch

JoeSelch

Pattern Altitude
PoA Supporter
Joined
Apr 2, 2006
Messages
1,933
Location
Detroit-ish
Display Name
JoeSelch
OK. So, I want to grab a new domain name and set up a site for a new small business.

This ain't my first rodeo, but I'm neither current nor proficient. (I peaked 15 years ago. ;) )

Who do you like and why?

Site is likely to be a WordPress blog (or similar) - there will be a couple of pages of static content about the business then regular "blog"-style entries to provide value-added content for clients and prospects.
Any alternatives you prefer to WP?

I will also need some way of collecting payments - PayPal or Amazon?

I'm at the stage where I'm no longer interested in creating projects for myself, I just want something that's low maintenance and works.

Any ideas?
 
Godaddy is fine.

I use linode for all my hosting. ( owner of linode is a POA member too, though I haven't seen him around in a while )
 
I have a couple of WordPress sites hosted on Linode with Hover as the registrar. Been happy with that setup for a couple of years now.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
I'm aware of Linode but can't figure out what I'd do with a "Linode."
Is it overkill for my task?
Is it tough to set up WP on it?

I have other domains registered through Dotster and 1&1.

Currently have sites hosted by HostForWeb (having seen Rich's recommendation) but I'm not feeling so warm and fuzzy about them.
I've abandoned GoDaddy.
 
I used to really like Namecheap as a registrar but I do not recommend them anymore, their website is a mess.

For hosting, if you're considering Linode, you ought to check out DigitalOcean also.
 
Currently using Arvixe for both registrar and hosting.
 
JoeSelch said:
I'm aware of Linode but can't figure out what I'd do with a "Linode."
Is it overkill for my task?
Is it tough to set up WP on it?

I have other domains registered through Dotster and 1&1.

Currently have sites hosted by HostForWeb (having seen Rich's recommendation) but I'm not feeling so warm and fuzzy about them.
I've abandoned GoDaddy.
Click to expand...

I can login to linode, spin up a server and have a WP site up in 15 minutes. Let me know if you need help.

Or, if you just need a site. PM me. I have a pretty serious hosting plan and can host your site. It's now backed up daily after I lost everything a year or so ago.
 
bartmc said:
Godaddy is fine.

I use linode for all my hosting. ( owner of linode is a POA member too, though I haven't seen him around in a while )
Click to expand...
GoDaddy has violated my trust more than one, so I'll use just about anybody else... And linode is expensive for a low end VPS. I'm using hostus.us for cheap VPSs now, but I jump around about one a year.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
 
mkosmo said:
GoDaddy has violated my trust more than one, so I'll use just about anybody else... And linode is expensive for a low end VPS. I'm using hostus.us for cheap VPSs now, but I jump around about one a year.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

$10/mo is expensive?
 
I don't especially care for GoDaddy, but I still use them. It's mainly an inertia thing. I have a lot of domains registered with them. I mainly hate having to click through three pages of bull**** services every time I register or renew a domain.

I also have issues with the fact that they start sending billing statements to clients whose domains I hold on my account (because the particular clients are too dopey to be trusted to renew them themselves) three months before they expire. For ethical reasons, I keep the client listed as the registrant when I hold the domain, and just list myself as the admin, tech, and billing contact. But GoDaddy starts sending scary-sounding renewal notices to the client three months early, which makes me look like I'm sleeping on the job.

On the other hand, on the very few times I've had to call GoDaddy in the past 15 years or so (invariably on behalf of dopey clients who didn't renew their domain names), they've actually answered the phone, always spoke English, and have been generally helpful; so I guess they're not all bad.

For hosting, hostforweb has been very reliable for me and has good connectivity, which are the only things I really care about. Pricing is reasonable. I'm running several unmanaged CentOS instances on their Cloud Servers platform with no complaints. I'm at the Chicago (Equinix) DC.

I'd say uptime is 100 percent most months over the past two or three years, and most of what few outages there have been have been very short ones. So all in all, I'm happy with the company.

I have zero experience with their shared hosting, however, and I've found that just because a company does one thing well doesn't necessarily mean that they do other things equally well.

Rich
 
I buy my domains from AWS and use AWS for servers.

If I want to do things a little "cheaper"...I would use hover and digitalocean.
 
Thanks, this is all very helpful.

Starting to put the picture together ... If I wind up with a VPS, I can use it to do other things, too. Like, create more projects for myself!

So, now I'm compelled to ask:
What are some of the most useful things you're running? (IOW, how can I take personal advantage of my piece of the cloud?)
 
JoeSelch said:
Thanks, this is all very helpful.

Starting to put the picture together ... If I wind up with a VPS, I can use it to do other things, too. Like, create more projects for myself!

So, now I'm compelled to ask:
What are some of the most useful things you're running? (IOW, how can I take personal advantage of my piece of the cloud?)
Click to expand...

Well... if you have root access, you can do pretty much whatever you want within the TOS, your skills, and the virtual machine's resources. Those are really the only limitations.

You can also hose the system with root access, however; so if you decide to play, have good backups. I personally have three sets: primaries on the server itself for quick restores if a client hoses his account, images on another server at the DC in case the VM or node goes down in a fiery heap, and tertiaries on Amazon S3 in case the DC disappears from the face of the earth or the entire City of Chicago loses its connectivity. All are weekly full backups with daily incrementals.

Rich
 
Last edited:
I've used go daddy for years and years, always done right by me, plus their tech support is US based and actually helpful.

One .aero domain I have is registered with another company, wish I could have it over at godaddy.
 
I've been with yahoo web hosting sine 2010...basic. My aviation blog is through Google blogspot (www.obxflight.blogspot.com). Any thing more technically complicated and I probably couldn't handle it. At 53, just flying and practicing medicine are complicated enough (haha).
 
James331 said:
I've used go daddy for years and years, always done right by me, plus their tech support is US based and actually helpful.

One .aero domain I have is registered with another company, wish I could have it over at godaddy.
Click to expand...

for about $10 bucks you can move it. It's not terribly difficult.
 
mkosmo said:
GoDaddy has violated my trust more than one, so I'll use just about anybody else... And linode is expensive for a low end VPS. I'm using hostus.us for cheap VPSs now, but I jump around about one a year.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Was using digitalocean for testing. Found cheaper dev servers. :-)
 
Dreamhost.com has been good me for (hosting and registration). Great customer support.
 
bartmc said:
for about $10 bucks you can move it. It's not terribly difficult.
Click to expand...

A .aero domain?

Not in my experience, If you can tell me how, all ears on how.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top