Best Place to Buy a Domain?

[trinketsbydana]

Hi everyone!

I've been researching for quite some time about purchasing a domain for my online business. I was wondering what hosting services you have used in the past or currently that you find good.

I love how a lot of etsians buy a domain and have a website that directs traffic to their etsy while organizing their social networks ad blog all on one site.

Any tips?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If you worked with any awesome web designers also, please let me know!

Share your websites and etsy shops with me as well so I can check them out!

D

[Former_Member]

Bought my domain at GoDaddy and never used it!

[Former_Member]

I've bought through GoDaddy before. I don't find it all that easy to use but I don't have much to compare it to.

Thanks for asking! I'm eager to hear what others have to say too.

[Former_Member]

Well a great way to save on buying a domain & hosting is to sign up for Ebates then purchase the domain from godaddy. You'll get 15% back from your purchase. You can get a domain name for as little as .99 cents.

The hosting depends on your site, if you plan to have a wordpress or if something else there's a variety of plans. If you go to retailmenot.com they have a bunch of codes like free domain & half-off economy hosting on go-daddy.

That's just the best way for saving money, I got 2 domains & a year of hosting for less than $30. Plus ebates sent me a $10 gift card for signing up and making a purchase.

For designing I highly recommend using a WordPress template. There are a lot of free ones and some very affordable custom ones here on Etsy.

[threestonebirds]

I'm not a fan of GoDaddy so I used NameCheap last year and it was very easy to redirect the address to my Etsy shop.

[Former_Member]

Ditto that Vanessa! I've used GoDaddy before and wasn't crazy about it (plus I felt like a scumbag supporting a company with such awful commercials) so switched to NameCheap and I love it. It's way easy to redirect straight to your Etsy shop. I love being able to give out a simple domain instead of the whole etsy thing, haha.

So, my web address is www.scoutaroopaper.com and it goes straight to my Etsy shop. =)

[Former_Member]

I run a few fan websites through fan-sites.org but they require you to show previous work on sites, but it's free hosting. They will host some personal sites if you send them an overview of what exactly you are planning to do with the site.
For just the domain name I use namecheap.com

[Stickerscape]

I've used GoDaddy.com and currently use hosting through Rochen and found them very good. If you're not familiar with web design I thoroughly recommend www.wix.com - you can build HTML5 website with very little expertise as its all what you see is what you get. I've only built non e-commerce sites through their - I suspect if you're after an e-commerce platform it could be a limited but might be enough to get you started :-)

[Stickerscape]

P.S. Our own website is www.stickerscape.co.uk :-)

[trinketsbydana]

Aww thanks everyone!

Namecheap.com sounds very very popular. And yes, godaddy is popular but I hear pretty dodgy things about their service and layout. So thanks for the advice.

I'm looking into ecommerce sites as well for other business ventures so its nice to hear about both non/ecommerce sites.

I find what I need to do very confusing because of all of the different hosting services and domain purchasing options. It's easier for my etsy platform but for my ecommerce one, I'm very frazzled by the amount of things I need to do from tax permits to web design.

Thanks everyone!

Hope this page is helpful to others!

[Former_Member]

I use domain name sanity. I think it is 20 dollars yearly. I forward my etsy account to kekoriginals.com.
I am not ready to have my own website at the moment.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I purchased a domain name from GoDaddy for a little over a dollar at the beginning of this year. Someone here on this forum posted a promo discount code so I figured why not. I use it strictly to redirect to my Etsy shop. It's easier to remember than the Etsy URL. We'll see what happens when it expires after a year. The one thing I did not like was I foolishly registered with my real phone number. Within a week or two I started getting strange phone calls. I got the tell-tale telemarketer pause when I'd pick up the phone, then a male voice that I could barely hear would ask for me. Assuming it was a telemarketer I hung up. This happened for 2-3 days in a row. One day I was checking my phone calls on line (I have Comcast) and noticed GoDaddy was listed. They started calling me after I registered. Not cool. I immediately redirected their calls to a Google number that I never use (and changed the information in my GoDaddy account). So buyer beware. They'll be calling if you give them your phone number.

[MyDistinctDesigns]

GoDaddy is where I went.

[Former_Member]

I had both godaddy and namecheap, but now I am working only with namecheap. Godaddy always tries to sell me something that i definitely don't need. At namecheap you can have free whoisguard (your real info is hidden, so a stranger can't access your address and phone number)

[Former_Member]

Definitely buy your domain name (or someone else will--it happened with my first shop). Also, make sure you OWN the name and can take it with you if you decide to move your domain elsewhere. I know that's how GoDaddy work.,

I'm not thrilled with them for all the reasons mentioned above, but I have to say they have great customer support. Even if you're not ready to set up shop, they will walk you through redirecting your domain name to your Etsy shop.

Having a <dot>com looks great on your business cards and once you print them, you'll never have to redo them, even if you change hosts!

[MetalRoosterOrganics]

I got a really great deal during black friday this year through Hostgator.com, I signed up to do the web hosting through them and got the domain for free.

I just checked the website and you can get unlimited domain hosting starting at 7.96 per month and a domain name reserved for 12.95 per year. So far I didn't know a lick about doing my own website so I took to my technologically advanced husband to help me set it all up and Host Gator is super easy, fast to use, and really has great customer service so far. .

So far I've been working on my own Wordpress blog that hopefully I'll get fully fixed up and proper in the next month or so. I am gearing up to be extremely busy for the next four months so hopefully, just hopefully, my blog will be up and running in no time flat.

[Untwistedsister]

I use Go Daddy to redirect to my etsy shop. Their phone support is SUPERB!!

[Former_Member]

godaddy was the cheapest for me and right now they are doing $8.99 specials

But I actually use it for a shop, not just a central hub. With godaddy you have a lot of other options than just buying the domain. They will also host your site, etc, or you can always direct traffic to the domain name from another host, like Big Cartel, which is where I am.

ETA: in response to those who don't like godaddy because they "sell you other things", I told godaddy in their initial check up call to me that I bought the domain name and am hosting with Big Cartel and that's all I needed to domain for. They don't ever bother me. You can always opt out of communication too, by the way. That's a personal choice.

[Former_Member]

I use Namecheap for domain registration, HostGator for web hosting, and build my sites with WordPress.

If you're ready for a domain name, but not quite sure about the website part, check out my free course: http://www.pixelfrau.com/learn-how-to-register-a-domain-name/

And if you're ready for a domain name and your own website, check out this free WordPress installation service: http://www.pixelfrau.com/free-wordpress-installation-service/

[FleecefulFarm]

I and some others I know have been happy with Weebly.com. They had switched to Weebly after not being happy with GoDaddy.
-Lisa

[PotteryLodge]

I bought mine with godaddy.com and have my website redirect back to my etsy shop.

[Former_Member]

I bought mine with godaddy, but am considering switching it over to a different host.

I have mine redirected to my blog, and there's actually a way to set it up so that when people visit my blog on blogspot it actually shows the url as my domain name, instead of the .blogspot name.

I've found that directing it to my blog is more successful than directing it to my Etsy shop. Etsy makes it too easy for people to "wander off". How many times have you clicked into someone's shop from a direct link and immediately got sidetracked by all the other links that Etsy provides?

[Former_Member]

I am super happy with weebly.

[Former_Member]

I personally love iPages, it allowed me to purchase my domain name and hosting all on the same site, they have a drag and drop layout builder or if you're a little more website-savvy you can make your site in Wordpress all from your dashboard on the iPages. It's pretty fabulous and isn't a terrible price either. If you're new to creating a website (like I was) it takes a little bit to figure everything out, but there is so much information out there and iPages itself has so many help pages that I think it's definitely worth it!
-Audrey!

P.S. One tip though, if you go with iPages, be discerning with what add-ons your purchase at first, because they definitely try to rope you in to more expensive things with the promotional prices for hosting/domain registry, and it can add up FAST.

[Former_Member]

Been considering buying a domain and after seeing this thread I finally have :D