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1and 1 domain prices increasing

Thursday, July 26, 2007

I received an e-mail from 1&1 (in the UK) today to let me know that from 3rd September, the price of their domain names will be increasing.

I do recommend 1&1 due to their easy registration process and competitive prices, so it remains to be seen whether the prices stay competitive:

* .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .name, .eu, and .us. will be increased from £8.89 to £8.99 per year

* .uk domains will be increased from £1.99 to £2.99 per year

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Buying a domain name and hosting - a new Squidoo lens

Friday, June 15, 2007

I keep hearing from various sources about a website called 'Squidoo' and how you can create a 'lens' which is a collection of links on a topic.

Today, I finally created my first lenses, pulling together information about buying a domain name and buying website hosting. Why not visit and see what you think? Either comment in the guestbook or rate it - either way, I'll be pleased for your feedback.

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Importance of renewing your domain name

Sunday, April 22, 2007

First, imagine the worst - you've spent time or money or both building up the reputation and popularity of your website and the domain hasn't been renewed...what happens...you lose all your hard work. There are periods where you can get your domain back even if you don't renew on time - the length of time depends on the domain in question. It may cost you more than just the renewal fee though.

The first rule is to keep your details with your domain registration company up to date. If they cannot contact you about renewals, you will have to remember to do this yourself.

Secondly, don't keep putting it off because you don't have time to do it at that second - a renewal takes less than five minutes.

If you employ a web designer and part of their brief is to purchase domain names on your behalf, ensure they register the domains in your name, not theirs.

And if they do the renewals for you, check that you have paid their invoice in time. Better still, ask them to enter your e-mail address as the domain contact and you can do the renewals yourself. If they won't do that, make sure that you aren't paying too far over the odds for the renewal - a domain name costs between about $8 - $15 per year for .com (or £5 per two years for a .co.uk).

If you part company with your designer ensure you get all logins and passwords before this happens - don't let them hold you to ransom. Any web designer that won't automatically give you all passwords and logins should be avoided.

See:
1and1 (UK) - cheapest domains ending in 'uk'
1and1 (US) - cheapest domains (must be US or Canada resident)
GoDaddy - cheapest domains (no geographical restriction)

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Free PHP MySQL website hosting

Friday, April 13, 2007

When searching for free website hosting with no banners or ads, I came across phpnet.us and signed up for an account. It isn't cPanel based, but the control panel "Advanced Hosting Control Panel" is very straightforward to use. The FTP upload is a little slow, but this seems a small price to pay. On signup, you choose a subdomain to use but you can setup your own domain name to work with PHPnet as it gives full setup and nameserver details.

The spec they offer is:

For testing websites, or if you're not ready to commit to a full hosting package, this looks like a great solution.

The immediate drawbacks I can see are no cron jobs (Don't know what I mean? Not a problem for you there then!) and there's no mention of uptime.

Edit - there is a 468x60 banner that appears at the bottom of most pages. You can't get rid of them entirely, but with a little spacing at the bottom of your page, or editing your stylesheet, you can minimise their impact.

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Domain Name Price Comparison

Saturday, March 24, 2007

If you're looking for domain names, there's plenty of choices. Until recently I've recommended 1and1 for UK domain names and GoDaddy for all others.

However, someone told me that 1and1 (US) are cheaper than GoDaddy and include free private domain registration.

1and1 UK:

1and1 US:
GoDaddy:
GoDaddy states the ICANN fee of 22 cents per year is added on top whereas 1and1 (US) does not mention additional fees. UK domains at 1and1 (UK) incur VAT at 17.5%. Oh and you have to be a resident of US or Canada for 1and1 in the US. These prices are as listed on their respective websites today (24 Mar 07).

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Moving Servers

Friday, March 23, 2007

Just a short blog post to let you know that LittleFish Web Design is moving servers this week, so I may disappear off into cyberspace for a while before returning.

I started off hosting with Supanames, who provide a convenient 'all in one' package - domain name and hosting in one. However, I quickly outgrew what they could provide and decided to look for an alternative host. I still recommend them for good, basic web hosting when you're not trying to do too much with dynamic (PHP) files and RSS feeds (if you want RSS you have to apply for that particular feed address to be added to their firewall rules).

I considered GoDaddy and Hostgator - both are big reputable hosts with 99.9% uptime guarantee, more traffic (bandwidth) than you can shake a stick at, allow subdomains blah blah blah. Customer service for both has been really good so far.

In the end, I transferred our .com and .co.uk domain names to GoDaddy and 1and1 respectively (you've got to get the cheapest deal!) and chosen hosting with Hostgator.

Now, I'm just waiting to set the nameservers and then have to wait for them to resolve. Simple as that!

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100 oldest dot coms

Friday, November 03, 2006

Just a bit of fun - see Jottings.com for the 100 oldest registered dot com domains. Their registration dates range between March 1985 and November 1987.

As you might expect, most of them are tech-related and include many companies that are world leaders in their field - Philips, Sun, Xerox, Intel, Adobe, Siemens and Apple.

And no Microsoft as they didn't register their domain until May 1991.

Quite amazing when you realise that there are over 100 million domain names registered!

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How to set domain name servers

Monday, October 16, 2006

When you purchase domain names and hosting separately, you need to tell them how to talk to each other. This is done be setting your domain name servers (DNS setting). You will receive an e-mail from your web host confirming your hosting, and this will contain the addresses of the nameservers. These typically look like ns1.webhostnameserver.com and ns2.webhostnameserver.com. Instructions are provided below for 1&1 and GoDaddy, both of which are our recommended domain sellers .

With 1&1:

  1. Log into your 1&1 account at http://admin.1and1.co.uk; you can do this quite soon after registering your domain, by using your domain name in the account name field, and using the password you chose during registration.
  2. Click on 'Manage Domains'.
  3. You will see your domain name(s) listed - click on the box to the left hand side of the domain you want to change.
  4. Click on the down arrow on the DNS button and choose 'Edit DNS Settings'.
  5. In 'Basic DNS Settings' select 'My name server' from the dropdown list.
  6. In 'Advanced DNS Settings', you'll see 'Primary name server' appear.
  7. Type in the first nameserver as it appears in the e-mail from your webhost.There is no www or http at the start.
  8. Underneath, choose 'My secondary name server' from the drop down box.
  9. Type in the second nameserver as it appears in the e-mail from your webhost. The is no www or http at the start.
  10. Click 'save' and don't forget to logout.
  11. It will take a while for the information to be updated.
  12. Do this as soon as possible after purchasing your domain name and hosting - until you do this, your website will point to a 1&1 page.
With GoDaddy
  1. Log into your GoDaddy account.
  2. Click on 'My Account' that appear under your name on the right hand side of the page.
  3. Click on 'Manage Domains'
  4. You will see your domain name(s) listed - click on the box to the left hand side of the domain(s) you want to change.
  5. Click on the 'Set Nameservers' button in the choices above the list of your domain names.
  6. The screen will refresh and you'll see a new panel on the right hand side of your screen.
  7. Select 'Custom Name Servers'
  8. Type in the nameservers exactly as they appear in the e-mail from your webhost. There is no www or http at the start.
  9. Click on 'Save Changes' and don't forget to logout.
  10. It will take a while for the information to be updated.
  11. Do this as soon as possible after purchasing your domain name and hosting - until you do this, your website will point to a GoDaddy page.

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Top level domains by country code

Thursday, October 12, 2006

In a recent post I talked about how web addresses are formed and one of the things mentioned was top level domains (TLDs) e.g. com or net. There are country level TLDs as well though or cTLDs for short e.g. UK. And don't forget there may be permutations allowed within these e.g. co.uk and org.uk. The full list is below:

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Web addresses explained

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Web addresses, also commonly known as URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) or less commonly domain names, provide a unique, convenient and memorable way to access a particular website. But what do all the parts of the address mean?

Although you can for example type "littlefishwebdesign.com" into your address bar and the LittleFish Web Design page will appear, technically the full address is "http://www.littlefishwebdesign.com" and this is what we'll look at:

http: - this stands for "hypertext transfer protocol" and is the language or method that your internet browser must use to access the webpage in question. You don't have to type this into your address bar - if it is missing, your browser will assume this is the protocol to use.

// - this separates the access method from the address

www - this means 'world wide web' and helps to distinguish the address from other non-internet addresses e.g. a company intranet. It can also be used for a sub-domain e.g. orders.domainname.com.

littlefishwebdesign - this is known as the 'second level' domain and when combined with the next part of the address, make up the unique identifier which allows you to arrive at the correct web page.

com - this is the top level domain (TLD) and there are many different ones to choose from. Different rules apply to each TLD as they are regulated by different organisations.

. - the 'dot' inbetween different parts of the address signify the end of that part.


When you buy a web address, you are really exclusively renting it for the period stated. For addresses ending in UK, you can only have it for two years at a time. Other domains such as COM, NET and ORG can be held for multiples of a year or more. And you can always release the domain back into the system early if you choose you don't want it any more.

If you want to purchase a web address you will need to find a domain registrar. We recommend 1&1 for domains ending in UK (£4.68 inc. VAT for two years) and GoDaddy for other domains (from $5.99 per year) - both companies are reliable and have very competitive prices. For full prices see the LittleFish Domain Name Comparison.

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Small business web hosting tools

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Our sister site LittleFish Web Hosting offers web hosting tools and advice for small businesses.

A hosting comparison table shows reliable and affordable hosting from sources that we use whilst if you need a domain name to go with your hosting, current prices from two of the largest domain registrars are shown, and just to help you out with some of the terms used on the site, there is a glossary.

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eKstreme Domain Geographical Locator Review

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

I've just discovered a new toy!

The Domain Geographical Locator at eKstreme.com is an easy and brilliant way to find out where your backlinks come from.

As well as showing the TLD (top level domain e.g. COM or UK) of a backlink, the country where the site is hosted is also shown.

According to eKstreme, Google puts emphasis on the TLD in search results whereas MSN and Yahoo (probably) use the hosting country as their geographical guide.

To use this, just enter your URL into the search box and hit 'Localize domain'. You then get a list grouped by TLD of your backlinks. Clicking on the 'more' button will list all the backlinks with that TLD and where the site is hosted whilst clicking on the excel icon will download the list in, unsurprisingly, excel format.

You can click through on each sitename but you are only taken to the front page rather than where your link is. To find that out, just click on the Yahoo icon on the previous page.

I think the only thing missing is a visualisation of the data - for a quick overview this would be much easier than trying to absorb all the text data.

Oh, and it's free to use.

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The highest priced domain name sales of the year

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

If you are interested in selling domain names for profit, you should have a look at the Domain Name Journal's reported sales charts for the year to date. As well as showing the overall top 50, there are separate charts for the top 40 global (net, org, info and biz), and top 40 country code extensions. With the top domain selling for $550 000, it shows just how important people perceive online marketing to be!

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Domain Name Search and Suggestion Tool

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

DomainsBot have a great, free and simple-to-use tool that helps you find a suitable domain name. By typing an existing domain, a keyword or short phrase into the search box, DomainsBot comes back with a list of synonyms, related words and domain name possibilities. Clicking on the 'more information' button next to each possibility shows more information such as relevance and popularity.

Next time you are looking for a domain name, just have a look!

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Domain Name and Hosting Reseller Business

Sunday, December 04, 2005

GoDaddy, one of the largest domain name and hosting sellers worldwide have several reseller plans that look to be good value. On the basic plan ($99 per year), net rates start from $7.75 for domains, $3.35 for hosting and $23.10 for SSL certificates. You set your selling price, and pocket the difference. GoDaddy also provide you with a fully customisable website, allows you to sell through affiliate programs such as Commission Junction and ClickBank, throws in loads of useful extras such as customer support for you and your customers, reporting tools, search engine submission software, a free SSL certificate and gives you a Google AdWords credit ($100 credit on the basic plan).

So what's the catch? With all these "sounds too good to be true" opportunities, there is always a sticking point somewhere. With this opportunity, the obvious catch is the $99 annual outlay. However, the real question is whether you are able to commit yourself to marketing the site. If you are established on the web with a mailing list of eager potential customers, it will be a lot easier than starting up with no contacts. See my previous post on a free dating website business for more marketing ideas.

Find the reseller plans here at GoDaddy.

(Approximate prices in GBP - $99 = £57; $7.75 = £4.50; $3.35 = £1.95 ; $23.10 = £13.35)

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Cheapest Hosting and Domain Names

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

We can recommend several affordable and reliable domain name and hosting providers:

Hosting:

GoDaddy
1&1

Domains:

For cheapest .co.uk domains - 1&1
For cheapest .com and most other domains - GoDaddy

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Choosing a domain name (web address)

Saturday, October 22, 2005

With such a huge growth in the number of websites and the resulting difficulty in finding an available domain name, it is tempting to grab the first one that sounds like it might do the trick. However, a small amount of homework will pay big dividends - follow the ten steps below to obtain the optimal domain:

AVAILABILITY
If it's not available you can't have it - simple!

COPYRIGHT
Ensure that you do not breach copyright or infringe trademarks with your choice of domain.

EXTENSIONS
It's widely acknowledged that the best TLD (top level domain) is .com. However, in the UK, web users are more than used to .co.uk so this is equally acceptable for UK websites. If .com isn't available and you use .net instead (for example), check that .com isn't either a competitor or that the .com site content is acceptable! Always try to get the .com first, then your country TLD or finally .net in that order. Web users are still not used to .biz or .info.

BE GREEDY!
If more than one TLD variant is available, buy as many as you can afford and set them all to point to your website. This is a form of brand protection and prevents unscrupulous competitors trying to cash in on your hard-earned web traffic.

BE MEMORABLE
Make sure that potential web users will remember your domain name and that they can spell it properly.

BE PRONOUNCABLE
Try telling people your web address over the phone - can they understand what you tell them? Or do they give up and try someone else's website.

BE DESCRIPTIVE
If you are a new business, very few people will remember or search for your domain name if it is your company name. Try choosing a domain name that is descriptive of your products instead e.g. cheap<>.com. Try testing it with a hyphen as well as using just one word.

OFFLINE MARKETING
Use your domain name in your offline marketing literature and ensure that it is as visible as possible. However, if your domain name consists of more than one word, that isn't hyphenated, try using capital letters e.g. which is easier to read - littlefishwebdesign.com or LittleFishWebDesign.com? Domain names are not case sensitive so your clients will find your site whichever version they use.

BUY YOUR DOMAIN FOR LONGER
Search engines are now looking at less obvious information such as how long you have bought your domain name for. Domain names owned for less than two years are though to be penalised, so buy your domain for as long as possible.

OWN YOUR DOMAIN NAME
If you use a web designer or third party for your domain names, ensure they are registered in your name and that you have a signed agreement with the company that they will release all the details (including password) to you, quibble free, if you choose to move to another design or hosting company.

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