Website Domain Buying Question? Please help newbie here.

kimberlyanne546

kimberlyanne546

Final Approach
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
7,730
Location
California
Display Name
Kimberly
Home Airfield
O69
Hello IT folks.

I have decided rather than YouTube, Flickr, POA, my home computer, etc.....

I should just bite the bullet and put all my stuff on one website.

Aviation stuff, I mean.

I guess you could call it an electronic scrapbook.

The first step, then, is for me to search for a name that is not taken. Done. (More on that later after I buy the name since there is a back story).

I found the name and I think it linked to GoDaddy or something. It seemed to be roughly $9.99 but I could not tell if it was on sale. Then, for only a few bucks more, it asked me if I wanted to buy:

dot org

dot info

etc.

It had the $50 price tag crossed out and said "add these three matching names for only $15 more."

A few questions:

1. Do I really need to buy the other names?

2. Will the prices go back "up" next year (Is this stuff yearly?)

3. How much does it cost to own a website besides these costs? Can I pay another company or will I be with GoDaddy forever?


A quote from them:

The Top-Level Domain .COM is the most popular domain name extension in the world. It's the natural first choice when you're launching your own online presence, but it's far from the only option. Charities and other non-profits tend to choose .ORG for their domain name registration. While it's not as well known as .COM, .ORG is short for "Organization" and it's developed a reputation for being trustworthy. Other Top-Level Domain extensions are even more specialized, to the point of being off-limits to the average consumer. These include .EDU (reserved for educational institutions), .GOV (government) and .MIL (military).

Another option for those looking to buy domain names is country-code TLDs. Some of these are obvious, such as .US for the United States or .CO.UK for the United Kingdom, while others have found a niche market of their own. .TV is the official domain extension for the island of Tuvalu, but thanks to its memorable abbreviation, it's become popular with video hosting sites across the Web. And of course, there are domain extensions that were created for specific purposes, such as .BIZ for business, .MOBI for mobile and .JOBS for employment information.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
A few questions:

1. Do I really need to buy the other names?
Click to expand...

Nope

kimberlyanne546 said:
2. Will the prices go back "up" next year (Is this stuff yearly?)
Click to expand...

Probably not. They do change occasionally and GoDaddy has sales all the time.

kimberlyanne546 said:
3. How much does it cost to own a website besides these costs? Can I pay another company or will I be with GoDaddy forever?
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I believe GoDaddy offers some simple website stuff for free (it would have ads attached) Other than that they have some fairly inexpensive hosting options. Of course there are other hosting companies like 1 & 1 or something like that. You can have the domain registered in one place the site hosted elsewhere. You would have to have the DNS setup to point at the hosted site.

As a disclaimer I have some stuff hosted at GoDaddy.
 
register the domain at godaddy decline every stinkin' option they offer you and only do it for one year, you should come out for less than $10.00 (I've been selling/letting my domains lapse, so it's been a while since I registered on but 9 dollars seems about right). after you do that. I'll host it and setup a simple wordpress site for you if that's what you want. you just have to tell me the domain and set your nameservers to mine. Register the domain, then PM me if you want.
 
bartmc said:
register the domain at godaddy decline every stinkin' option they offer you and only do it for one year, you should come out for less than $10.00 (I've been selling/letting my domains lapse, so it's been a while since I registered on but 9 dollars seems about right). after you do that. I'll host it and setup a simple wordpress site for you if that's what you want. you just have to tell me the domain and set your nameservers to mine. Register the domain, then PM me if you want.
Click to expand...


WOW. I almost bought a bunch of their crap (like an email address and 10 years hosting) then thought "nah I'll just get a year for 7 bucks."

I am almost done but a few things they do to scare you:

WhoIs makes me want to use a fake name and not my home address. Why does it act like my information will be posted?

If I use

Kimberly Anne

and then enter my last name on the credit card screen only hopefully that will work.
 
Holy crap they are evil.

I paid the 7 or 8 bucks and I got a "free email account" at the end.

WTF why did they try to charge me $32 per year for one?

Regardless, cool that I now "own" a website.

Kimberly
 
bartmc said:
register the domain at godaddy decline every stinkin' option they offer you and only do it for one year, you should come out for less than $10.00 (I've been selling/letting my domains lapse, so it's been a while since I registered on but 9 dollars seems about right). after you do that. I'll host it and setup a simple wordpress site for you if that's what you want. you just have to tell me the domain and set your nameservers to mine. Register the domain, then PM me if you want.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that is very generous. I wonder though how much content I have (in terms of G B ) - just some photos and short videos, for now. And text.

I will also research what it would cost me to pay for hosting.
 
This all started from the hat I designed at the Reno Air Races:

dvpptx.jpg


The hat features a pink Stearman and says "I Fly Like A Girl".

I thought it was unique but later found a pink website selling the T-Shirts and bumper stickers.

I called the owner tonight (a nice lady pilot) and she talked to me about Young Eagles, the 99s, etc. and said I could totally use the words to make my own site.

I felt better rather than go behind her back. I sent her pictures of the hat too.

IFLYLIKEAGIRL

dot com

Hooray.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Holy crap they are evil.

I paid the 7 or 8 bucks and I got a "free email account" at the end.

WTF why did they try to charge me $32 per year for one?

Regardless, cool that I now "own" a website.

Kimberly
Click to expand...

GoDaddy's not evil. They're probably one of the best registrars out there. How many other companies give you 24/7/365 live, U.S.-based phone support in return for a $10.00 purchase once a year? They're certainly the best registrar I've ever dealt with.

But yeah, they do try to sell you on their other services, which are also very good if you happen to need them. That's business. Just say no and buy what you need. But the fact that they're trying to make some money doesn't make them evil. A little pushy, sure.

If you want some plain, no-frills Web space to play with, I or any of several others here can give you some -- gratis. A lot of people here have Web servers, and most would even be willing to install some sort of open-source gallery software or the like. But if you know little or nothing about Web design, then maybe you're better off with a plan that offers some kind of site-builder software, such as one of GoDaddy's deals.

-Rich
 
RJM62 said:
GoDaddy's not evil. They're probably one of the best registrars out there. How many other companies give you 24/7/365 live, U.S.-based phone support in return for a $10.00 purchase once a year? They're certainly the best registrar I've ever dealt with.

But yeah, they do try to sell you on their other services, which are also very good if you happen to need them. That's business. Just say no and buy what you need. But the fact that they're trying to make some money doesn't make them evil. A little pushy, sure.

If you want some plain, no-frills Web space to play with, I or any of several others here can give you some -- gratis. A lot of people here have Web servers, and most would even be willing to install some sort of open-source gallery software or the like. But if you know little or nothing about Web design, then maybe you're better off with a plan that offers some kind of site-builder software, such as one of GoDaddy's deals.

-Rich
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Back in "the day" I was webmaster at each company I worked for. I would just read / write code in HTML and use an editor like hot dog or Microsoft Front Page.

I enjoy technical stuff.

Kimberly
 
HotDog! Wow. Haven't heard that name in ten years. Brought back memories.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Back in "the day" I was webmaster at each company I worked for. I would just read / write code in HTML and use an editor like hot dog or Microsoft Front Page.

I enjoy technical stuff.

Kimberly
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Well, FP is history, and DreamWeaver's pricey and probably not worth it unless you do this stuff for a living.

But Notepad still works; or Crimson Editor, or any number of other text editors with or without enhancements. There also are quite a few open-source WYSIWYG HTML editors out there if you're a bit rusty. There also are a wealth of good open-source galleries, forums, and so forth if you really don't want to be bothered coding.

Rusty's offer of a Wordpress site is something you also should consider. You can do a ton of things with WP. It's well-supported and very flexible, and would be a fine option.

-Rich
 
I've used namecheap.com and have been happy them. You can change registrars when desired, but they are all about the same cost.

Congrats on your new website. You should put up one of these as soon as possible.

CoCollegeParkCenter3660webpageconstruction.gif
 
The private registry is marginally worth it, considering the amount of domains I own, it doesn't make much sense (I dunno a couple hundred domains or so). You'll get an ocassional snail mail from "Domain Registlry of America" just throw it away, it's a scam. And every now and then you'll get an email from someone wanting to sell you a similar domain. Just ignore it, use a free throw away email address and don't don't worry about it. if you want me to set you up a wordpress site or something like that. PM me and I'll tell you the name servers to set the domain to. and it should be running in an hour or so. I have enough server to handle it. A word press site is easily moved should you outgrow your free space.
 
bartmc said:
The private registry is marginally worth it, considering the amount of domains I own, it doesn't make much sense (I dunno a couple hundred domains or so). You'll get an ocassional snail mail from "Domain Registlry of America" just throw it away, it's a scam. And every now and then you'll get an email from someone wanting to sell you a similar domain. Just ignore it, use a free throw away email address and don't don't worry about it. if you want me to set you up a wordpress site or something like that. PM me and I'll tell you the name servers to set the domain to. and it should be running in an hour or so. I have enough server to handle it. A word press site is easily moved should you outgrow your free space.
Click to expand...

Thank you, PM sent.
 
One other thing is whether or not your home address ends up in WHOIS data. If you care, or don't is up to you, but a good registrar will proxy that for you and put their business info in WHOIS and a special way to reach you that doesn't leak your information.
 
denverpilot said:
One other thing is whether or not your home address ends up in WHOIS data. If you care, or don't is up to you, but a good registrar will proxy that for you and put their business info in WHOIS and a special way to reach you that doesn't leak your information.
Click to expand...

I thought of all that.

I used the address of somebody else. I did not use my last name.

They wanted to charge monthly or yearly to "hide" my information.

That seemed odd. How can I look for my whois?
 
denverpilot said:
One other thing is whether or not your home address ends up in WHOIS data. If you care, or don't is up to you, but a good registrar will proxy that for you and put their business info in WHOIS and a special way to reach you that doesn't leak your information.
Click to expand...

The only consequence of making it public I have found is that I get a scam snail mail from "Domain Registry of America" and about 1 or 2 emails per year from someone trying to sell me a similar domain. Now if you registered something you don't want your name attached to like "insidethemafia.com"... you might want to look into the private registration.
 
I checked "make email a catch all email" but the emails are bouncing back.

It says pending setup not sure what that means. I think this all has to do with the "waiting" period when setting up a new domain.

2 or more hours I guess.

Patience is a virtue.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I checked "make email a catch all email" but the emails are bouncing back.

It says pending setup not sure what that means. I think this all has to do with the "waiting" period when setting up a new domain.

2 or more hours I guess.

Patience is a virtue.
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...a virtue which I have never possessed. :D
 
I have a website and a WordPress blog but I'm just playing around with learning how to use it. My problem is that I am not focused on any one subject and I can't imagine anyone being interested in what I write. One of these days I'll get it together... maybe.
 
EppyGA said:
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads#d-express-windows-desktop

Microsoft's latest free version of Visual Studio.
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pffffffffffffffffff

vi is all you need. Kim's site is up a real computer... a UNIX one... and no it doesn't have cPanel or any of that other junk. Just vi.

back in the day, I used to write cgi-bin programs in using vi, make and cc good stuff, will put hair on your chest.

let me tell you how fun it was writing printf statements with html embedded in them.
 
Everskyward said:
I have a website and a WordPress blog but I'm just playing around with learning how to use it. My problem is that I am not focused on any one subject and I can't imagine anyone being interested in what I write. One of these days I'll get it together... maybe.
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I understand. This just made sense somehow especially after my Flickr incident. I kind of like the idea of an email address, instead of "at yahoo dot com" to be like:

kimberly

at

IFLYLIKEAGIRL.COM

I have "pilot business cards" right now that were given to me, which are super cool, but I go to enough pilot-related stuff I need to make my own.

I love moo cards (which use Flickr to populate 100 unique mini cards) and this just makes sense, having a domain.

I don't really want to pay for an email now, maybe I will later, but the "catch all" thing allows me to write anything at iflylikeagirl.com and it all gets to me. Pretty cool.
 
bartmc said:
The only consequence of making it public I have found is that I get a scam snail mail from "Domain Registry of America" and about 1 or 2 emails per year from someone trying to sell me a similar domain. Now if you registered something you don't want your name attached to like "insidethemafia.com"... you might want to look into the private registration.
Click to expand...

I use it for some domains, like my soapbox site. I got tired of worrying about some of the idiots who sent me hate mail actually hunting me down like they threatened, because some other idiot posted something they didn't like on the soapbox.

I mean, if you're going to visit an unmoderated, barely-monitored soapbox site, where there is no censorship, and anyone can post anything, then there's likely to be something on it that offends you, right?

Seems like common sense to me. But not everyone agrees, apparently.

-Rich
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I understand. This just made sense somehow especially after my Flickr incident. I kind of like the idea of an email address, instead of "at yahoo dot com" to be like:

kimberly

at

IFLYLIKEAGIRL.COM

I have "pilot business cards" right now that were given to me, which are super cool, but I go to enough pilot-related stuff I need to make my own.

I love moo cards (which use Flickr to populate 100 unique mini cards) and this just makes sense, having a domain.

I don't really want to pay for an email now, maybe I will later, but the "catch all" thing allows me to write anything at iflylikeagirl.com and it all gets to me. Pretty cool.
Click to expand...

I'll set that up for you too, I'm going to bed tonight. just don't use the email server to send out viagra discounts or nigerian investment opportunities.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I understand. This just made sense somehow especially after my Flickr incident. I kind of like the idea of an email address, instead of "at yahoo dot com" to be like:

kimberly

at

IFLYLIKEAGIRL.COM

I have "pilot business cards" right now that were given to me, which are super cool, but I go to enough pilot-related stuff I need to make my own.

I love moo cards (which use Flickr to populate 100 unique mini cards) and this just makes sense, having a domain.

I don't really want to pay for an email now, maybe I will later, but the "catch all" thing allows me to write anything at iflylikeagirl.com and it all gets to me. Pretty cool.
Click to expand...

You can use gmail with your own domain name. See Google apps for your domain.
 
bartmc said:
I'll set that up for you too, I'm going to bed tonight. just don't use the email server to send out viagra discounts or nigerian investment opportunities.
Click to expand...

Rusty,

Thanks but they gave me an account already which I set up (info). I did a catch all and tested it. It also cc:es my "real" yahoo address which I check often.

It is info at (my domain name) dot com

but

If you send an email to kimberly(at) the same domain - it goes to info, hence, a catch all.

Thanks again, POA is full of generous folks!
 
Wordpress might be a good way to go. It is a blog hosting application. You won't need to edit HTML. You can upload pictures text, etc. Word 2010 has the ability to post directly to a blog site and will maintain formatting. You just create the Word document and then click the publish button and voila. There are also plugins for Wordpress that let you stream your Twitter Feed to the site.
 
chartbundle said:
Even though you didn't register with them, you can see the published whois info by putting your domain name in here:

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp
Click to expand...

I wonder if I update it on GoDaddy if Whois will change or if they only stick with what you used when you bought the domain?

I won't change my email, since I think they will send me notifications there, but I want to change my physical address.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I wonder if I update it on GoDaddy if Whois will change or if they only stick with what you used when you bought the domain?

I won't change my email, since I think they will send me notifications there, but I want to change my physical address.
Click to expand...

You can update it yourself on GoDaddy's site, or just mark t private. For communications, it is only the email that matters.
 
I ordered cards and they charged me twice, argh. Moo is in the UK so they won't email me back until tomorrow. Hopefully it is a glitch.

This site will be useful for the future, since it can point to photos (people often ask me to send them photos after a fly in). I may still use flickr but I can upload to my site, hand them a card, and say "check the website in a few days".

The problem with this idea, however, is that I want to go back to the beginning. AKA post blog entries from 2011 to now, in the correct order, which means I have a lot of research to do.

During my training I was privately contacted by enough student pilots RE: my posts that I thought it would "help" future students to write my journey down.... so that it is there in one place.

The fact that I took so long to solo and took so long to get to the checkride and almost gave up many times seemed to help others and hopefully this site can get some women (and men) to their certs.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
It won't let me mark it private, they want $10 for that.
Click to expand...

Oh, I have never bothered. I always register with my work info, which is pretty available to anyone who wants it, anyways. My front desk must screen 20 or 30 calls a day for me.
 
John221us said:
Oh, I have never bothered. I always register with my work info, which is pretty available to anyone who wants it, anyways. My front desk must screen 20 or 30 calls a day for me.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Oh, well. I updated the address to some fake one, we'll see if that works. Not sure if I should update my email but I could make a throw away email. The mailing address was never mine, and I never used my last name, so even if the original info sticks I'm OK. I made the business cards with my real (full) name though.... figuring pilots who I meet and hand the card to might want to look me up in the airman database to be sure I'm OK especially if they fly with me or use me as a safety pilot.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Exactly. Oh, well. I updated the address to some fake one, we'll see if that works. Not sure if I should update my email but I could make a throw away email. The mailing address was never mine, and I never used my last name, so even if the original info sticks I'm OK. I made the business cards with my real (full) name though.... figuring pilots who I meet and hand the card to might want to look me up in the airman database to be sure I'm OK especially if they fly with me or use me as a safety pilot.
Click to expand...

The only place the mailing address might matter a little is if you are going to do ecommerce and need a vetted SSL certificate. That doesn't sound like an issue for you, though.
 
denverpilot said:
HotDog! Wow. Haven't heard that name in ten years. Brought back memories.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was a teenager when I used it, worked for a publisher (small one) who made IT books. Even books with world wide web site lists (this is before search engines, when you needed guide books LOL)
 
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