Please pardon the newb questions. I have never registered a domain before or had a website. I am interested in making a personal website for myself. I already coded most of it and need a place to upload it to. I have been reading in different forums and I hear some people talking about how I shouldn't register my domain with the same company that is doing my hosting. I found a cheap coupon code for netfirms and with registeration they give 2 free domain names. So I could just do everything through them and then next year, switch it somewhere else. Is that a bad idea? Should I register my domain name with godaddy instead and just host the site with netfirms? Also, a lot of my friends have used godaddy but it seems people in these forums have had a lot of trouble with them. Does anyone have suggestions for who I should go with instead (if I indeed need to register it with someone else)? How hard is it to transfer domains? Do domain registering companies give you trouble when you try to transfer your domain away?

If the hosting company is a reputable host, you shouldn't have any problems. But I have heard horror stories where a host won't allow for transfer of the domain away from their control. They use it as a means of control over the client, in order to keep business. I have a few clients who when moving to us, had to register new domains because of this.

Yes. In the personal, i have my Web gost business domain in bluerazor, thinking in change to moniker, and the majority of the other domains in resellerclub.

How do I determine if someone is reputable? I have been told that godaddy was reputable but now I am seeing people complaining about them...

How do I determine if someone is reputable? I have been told that godaddy was reputable but now I am seeing people complaining about them...

Browse through the threads in this forum. You will find plenty of reports about different registrars. Since you are just starting, staying away from GoDaddy might be a very good idea.

Namepros.com also have a nice forum dedicated to reviewing registrars and they have a thread for each registrar. I counted at least 20 to 30 registrars. Each registrar had nearly 6-10 pages worth of posts by people.

I personally use Namecheap.com. They are slightly expensive than others at $8.88, but they give Whois privacy free for the first year and their control panel is incredibly easy to use. There is even a discount coupon valid until April 1 2007. It's called March Madness.

Note: I have no other relationship with Namecheap except as a satisfied customer. Also, the discount code seemed to do nothing for me, but that may be because I was trying to register a .in domain. You may have better luck.

undoubtedly!

Thanks for all the replies... Still wondering about some of the questions I asked in the first post... (ie. Is it a bad idea to host your site at the same place as your domain? etc.) Can anyone help?

Please read http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=564900

reading the tuts will save you from asking tons of q's
godaddy is bound to have more complaints because they're the largest

Still wondering about some of the questions I asked in the first post... (ie. Is it a bad idea to host your site at the same place as your domain? etc.) Can anyone help?
I'd say unless you're looking for some free domain registration with your hosting or you're really a very non-techie person (which I don't think so, at least you know this place), getting them done in different places doesn't hurt but renders more flexibility down the road.

And if you intend to "grow" your personal website, I would go with a larger company (for either domain registration or website hosting). A few dollars a month's savings aren't really worth the hassle.

You can register your domain with yahoo and transfer it to another hosting provider with no problem. I always do. never a problem.
try yahoo then.

Please read http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=564900
I somehow missed that informative post. After following your link here, I posted a response there not realizing that it was a couple of months old.

zoobie- I have been reading through tutorials but sometimes it is hard to find the correct one...

So I registered my domain name with namecheap (thanks ramdak5000). Now I am trying to sign up for webhosting with another company. How do I get the domain name to point to the place where it is hosted. The hosting companies are asking me if I want to transfer the name. Do I? Maybe there is a tutorial on how to do this that someone can point me to? :-D

zoobie- I have been reading through tutorials but sometimes it is hard to find the correct one...

So I registered my domain name with namecheap (thanks ramdak5000). Now I am trying to sign up for webhosting with another company. How do I get the domain name to point to the place where it is hosted. The hosting companies are asking me if I want to transfer the name. Do I? Maybe there is a tutorial on how to do this that someone can point me to? :-D
You cannot transfer your domain even if you wanted to for the next 60 days. After that, I would still not transfer. I believe the entire thrust of this thread was not to use – or take great caution in using - the same host and registrar.

Assuming you will not be creating your own name servers, go to your registrar’s control panel for your domain and change the DNS servers to the ones your host is using for your account – they most likely sent you that information in a welcome email.

Yeah... I didn't think that I transfering it was the right way to go but wasn't sure how to proceed. Thanks for the instructions!

Just to clarify... When I sign up with this new webhosting they are asking me to either pick a new domain name (free) or transfer an existing one... Should I just pick a new one (which is a domain I will not care about) and then have the domain I registered through namecheap point to the new host?

Yeah... I didn't think that I transfering it was the right way to go but wasn't sure how to proceed. Thanks for the instructions!

Just to clarify... When I sign up with this new webhosting they are asking me to either pick a new domain name (free) or transfer an existing one... Should I just pick a new one (which is a domain I will not care about) and then have the domain I registered through namecheap point to the new host?
I am not sure I fully understand your post. Nonetheless, it is always a good idea to begin a correspondence with a potential host before signing up. While it is not an assurance of the future, it may provide some insight on the current support. Having said that, why not ask them?

Never register your domain name from the same hosting company
i lost 2 domain when i refuse to renew hosting they refuse to give me domain & get there for sale by 500$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!