The Wholesale Forums

[Jbomb]

I have never built a website before and i now own a domain name. 123 reg is offering a deal to build a starter website fro free, this is a 1 page site. Its free but if later on i want to create a professional site, can i get rid of 123 reg 1 page and start again?

Many thanks

[Saajan]

Would be better to ask 123 reg themselves

[BrandDirect]

I wouldnt bother.
If your wanting to try building some websites or some webstores you could try here:
www.freehostia.com
As in the name its free, No ads, mysql, 250mb space and 5gb transfer plus it can host 2 domains.
Your probably better off with something like that as it will allow you more freedom to try different things like shopping carts or blogs as opposed to a one page website.

[anotheruser]

With respect, BrandDirect, it's a similar offering. I haven't read your recommendation's T&C but I do know 123-reg won't put any obstacles in the way of moving later on if you feel the need.

So the answer to your question, jbomb, is Yes. So go ahead and learn a little bit about how a web site works so yo will be in a better position to make decisions about what you need and how to go about it.

[BrandDirect]

No offence anotheruser, but you stated you hadn't read the T&C's of freehostia.
I would go as far as saying you haven't even viewed the website let alone the terms and conditions.
In no way is it a similar offering. I have 8 domain names registered with 123 and an account with freehostia and in no way is a 1 page website similar to a package which offers oscommerce, drupal, b2evolution, wordpress, joomla etc etc.

In the end of the day its his choice but to address the statement with regards moving on.
In what way will a free hosting package stop you from moving elsewhere or in fact hinder you from doing so?. Its free as is 123's offering.

Jbomb, choose the package your comfortable with but i would recommend a free hosting package or even a paid for package if you could afford it and simply learn as you go.

BrandDirect

[anotheruser]

Not quite what I meant. It's the same in respect of he can use the space to practice and learn a bit. Then he can go where he chooses, as you say. I didn't mean the actual web space or facilities on offer are similar.

I'd recommend anyone who has the time to do it, to use all the free space they can get and link the various sites together anyway. e.g. a personal blog tells about the business interests, with a link to the main site, a family page and any others you can think of do the same thing. Or just have different aspects of the same business, with a few interesting articles on one site, technical info on another and so forth, still all linking to the main one where you get sales from.

From the learning perspective, it's good to have space to learn on away from the main site, so you can test the techniques before implementing them in a live situation.

[Lafeenoire]

You can upgrade to a bigger more complete package. I am with 123 reg and its great, can be complicated but basically straight forward www.lafeenoire.com I like the way you dont need to be a programmer or coder. Most comprehensive package only about £60, cant do much with just one page really! x

[wragge11]

Try going for a host that offers cPanel. With cPanel you can create many different types of site if your host has Fantastico installed.

Even if the host doesn't have Fantastico, cPanel is the best as it is easy to add new databases from which PHP sites function.

I personally don't like using the hosting that Domain Registrar's offer due to the fact that the sites are normally hard to edit, although I personally haven't tried to use 123-reg.

Hope this gives you another option!

[Pete]

Much of this is going to be Toyota vs Nissan vs Honda, etc. Most everyone thinks they've got the best deal, the best package, the best whatever. Only if they have had truly rotten experiences are thy going to say something bad about a host or domaon registrar.

The fact is that GoDaddy is the most popular. I've got a number of clients with .co.uk domains who have used GoDaddy. I use them myself, but I'm moving away. I've seen cases where they will find some silly reason for cancelling a domain for someone and then selling it immediately to a higher bidder.

I've let one go for nearly two months, I simply don't want it any more. But I'll get a notice from them every other day or so, reminding me it has expired. I can't tell you how many "final notices" I've received. If they had someone on the line for that domain it would have been gone at 12:01 AM the first day it was available.

I'm moving to www.dynadot.com. Right now they are a buck less than GoDaddy, but they are going up in 4 days.

The reall issue many have discussed is the value of the rest of what the registrars have to offer. Most of the rest of their services, are over-priced and under-valued. And they are of no help at all to a newbie.

My clients from this forum, and there are quite a few, have all spent days and weeks back and forth with questions and answers before actually paying a penny. See how much of that you get with GoDaddy, 123, 456, 789 or anybody else.

Plus, my carts are free and you don't need to know squat to use them. I install them and you enter your products, set up your shipping amounts and taxes and you're off selling. More than one has been selling the first day they've actually had their site.

That's what it's all about!

[anotheruser]

I couldn't agree more, Pete. My domain reseller account is with OpenSRS (Tucows). It cost a bit to set it up in the first place. But they are there to help me and I am there to help the site owners. They're not competing with me for the same clients. That's the way I like it and when I made the comparison, that's not what GoDaddy or others were offering.

I have to say I don't like either cPanel, as mentioned by an earlier contributor, or Plesk for that matter. There are better alternatives around, in my humble opinion. Nor do I understand the thinking behind using more than one database on a web site. When using PHP based applications with MySQL, it's easier to get them working together with judicious use of table prefixes on the same database.

Still, it's a good idea if people can find their own way around the insides of a web site. They're then in a far better position to judge if they're getting what they need at a reasonable price. I'd take up a free one even if it were just to have a play around with for a few days, if I had no idea to start with.