Hi, I'm a newbie looking for a cheap but reliable Web Host to register and mantain my domain. I'm a freelance fiction/non-fiction writer and would like to base the domain on my travels. Any (serious) ideas?

If you want someone to register and maintain a domain then I suggest you use registerfly.com , enom.com or namecheap.com

If you are actually looking for a web host then I recommend my host which is jaguarpc.com

Originally posted by ani1899
Any (serious) ideas?
Yes :)

1. Buy your domain separate to hosting.
2. Don't choose a cheap host unless they have been in (hosting) business for over a year at least.

Cheap and reliable usually do not go together but there are some exceptions.

Listen to what the other 2 have said, register your domain with a REAL DOMAIN REGISTRAR (www.godaddy.com or www.namecheap.com) do not register your domain with your web host.

Since you're looking for cheap web hosting recommendations, what's your monthly or annual budget?

The price you will pay is somewhat dependant upon how much space and bandwidth you need.

Will you be uploading lots of pictures of your travels?
Audio or video?

How many people do you expect will be visiting the site?

Knowing these answers makes it easier to look for a specific hosting plan.

2 things I would suggest.
1. Look for a host that will easily allow you to upgrade as required. That way you can start with a smaller package to test the waters and upgrade when you know what your usage needs are.
2. Check out the level of support that will be offered. When you say "reliable", that should mean reliability of their servers as well as reliability of their support. In hosting, support is everything.

Test out the support response times before you go with the host. Email them a few times and see what the average response time is.

Originally posted by RossMAN
Cheap and reliable usually do not go together but there are some exceptions.

Listen to what the other 2 have said, register your domain with a REAL DOMAIN REGISTRAR (www.godaddy.com or www.namecheap.com) do not register your domain with your web host.

Since you're looking for cheap web hosting recommendations, what's your monthly or annual budget?

" Do not register your Domain with your web host"

Maybe you could be a little more specific about, this. We allow our clients to register domains through enom, we are an enom reseller, and I really do not see any reason why you would tell someone not to do this!Or at least wothout giving a little more detail as to why, they should not.

Jim

For a personal site like that (provided you aren't planning on uploading videos)

You'd be fine with 30 - 100 megs of space and about 1 GB of transfer.

Originally posted by newpoint
" Do not register your Domain with your web host"

Maybe you could be a little more specific about, this. We allow our clients to register domains through enom, we are an enom reseller, and I really do not see any reason why you would tell someone not to do this!Or at least wothout giving a little more detail as to why, they should not.

Jim

Well I let a host register my domain once and when I became unhappy with their service I had a bit of a time getting them to unlock it so i could transfer it and make changes. So i for one would not recommend that route.

Originally posted by newpop
Well I let a host register my domain once and when I became unhappy with their service I had a bit of a time getting them to unlock it so i could transfer it and make changes. Si i for one would not recommend that route.

There is a big difference in letting your host register a domain for you, and registering a domain through your hosts Domain registration. This is my point, and when making these kinds of statements they should be clear, I do not register Domains for my clients, they register them and they are in total control of them at all times. The quote said "Do not register your Domain with your web host" , not all hosts are dishonest, I know that some are and I would agree that it is a bad idea to let anyone register your domain for you. The above quote is misleading, and many people will assume that they should never use a hosts Domain registration services.When what was meant I believe, is do not let yur host register your domain,for you, because you then have no control over it.

Jim

I always recommend http://www.dotster.com for domain registrations. While not the cheapest one around they're very easy to work with via their control panel.

Originally posted by newpop
Well I let a host register my domain once and when I became unhappy with their service I had a bit of a time getting them to unlock it so i could transfer it and make changes. So i for one would not recommend that route.

Thats just poor leadership of the busines sin question. If they were taking care of their people and made sure their business was being run properly that kind of thing shouldn't happen.

Just becuase you lose a customer today doesn't mean you won't see them again tomorrow. We have had a lot of return customers in our day so we don't try to burn any bridges and would recommend other hosts don't either. ... or wait, go ahead and burn your bridges... we'll be here to catch your clients ;) .

For the first time user it can be a good thing to register both domain and hosting in once place and with one company. Registering them seperately must be fairly daunting for some in that you've then got to organise the DNS side of things (bearing in mind you might not know that this even us!)

I agree that this can be a problem though when dealing with dishonest web hosts.