Help with buying a domain name

SheepBeast · 8 Feb 2012 at 09:06

[EDIT: looks like what I really need help with is web hosting. Cheap, cheap web hosting]

I need to buy a domain name for a new website for a university society I am involved with. The initial purpose of the domain is just to redirect to another site, but in the future we will create a proper website for it. Can someone help me with where to buy a domain from, cheaply? I'm not sure whether it's just as simple as selecting the domain and clicking "buy", or do I have to pay for storage space etc?

Bit of a nub here as you can tell.

[FnG]magnolia · 8 Feb 2012 at 09:11

Overclockers.de

Get it while it's cheap!

antijoke · 8 Feb 2012 at 09:12

vidahost
Fasthosts

SheepBeast · 8 Feb 2012 at 09:21

vidahost looks pretty good but is there any way I can get the webspace cheaper? The society doesn't have enough money for ~£200/year. Could maybe afford up to £50.

antijoke · 8 Feb 2012 at 09:25

£200 a year?

What package are you looking at?

starter package

£29 per year with domain name registration and 2Gb space and 25Gb bandwidth.

paradigm · 8 Feb 2012 at 09:25

SheepBeast said:
vidahost looks pretty good but is there any way I can get the webspace cheaper? The society doesn't have enough money for ~£200/year. Could maybe afford up to £50.

www.123-reg.co.uk

PaulyD · 8 Feb 2012 at 09:54

QuickhostUK for cheap hosting, 99p a month for starter package

SheepBeast · 8 Feb 2012 at 13:26

What about the "basic" package? Details here https://www.vidahost.com/web-hosting/overview

Would 500MB space and 5GB bandwidth be enough? The site we are planning to build is gonna be a blog style thing. We have a mock-up here http://sekritforum.com/davidblog/ so do you reckon we'd go over the 500MB? Usage probably won't be too high but I'm not sure whether 5GB would be enough?

Also, by "hosted sites" I assume it means the number of domains. So if I just want one page with a decent amount of content, the basic package would be fine?

Ricochet J · 8 Feb 2012 at 13:38

Surely just buy a cheapo £5 domain name and use Google Sites for free?

edscdk · 8 Feb 2012 at 13:44

SheepBeast said:
What about the "basic" package? Details here https://www.vidahost.com/web-hosting/overview

Would 500MB space and 5GB bandwidth be enough? The site we are planning to build is gonna be a blog style thing. We have a mock-up here http://sekritforum.com/davidblog/ so do you reckon we'd go over the 500MB? Usage probably won't be too high but I'm not sure whether 5GB would be enough?
?

500mb web space not enough.. i doubt it...

5GB bandwidth - depends on how many visitors you expect and how many images you are going to put on there as well as how many pages people view...

5gb = 5000mb

so if your home page is 2mb it can take 2500 hits a month (asuming no other pages are visited)

Edward01 · 8 Feb 2012 at 15:14

Yes it's plenty

SheepBeast · 8 Feb 2012 at 23:58

Ricochet J said:
Surely just buy a cheapo £5 domain name and use Google Sites for free?

Would this allow us to use html?

welshdragon · 9 Feb 2012 at 00:18

I just started out recently and went with tso host. Their customer service is phenominal! Answered all of my support tickets inside an hour.

cerriex · 9 Feb 2012 at 08:15

Great Site.. Would recommend.

PaulyD said:
QuickhostUK for cheap hosting, 99p a month for starter package

Great Site.. Would recommend.

£0.99
500 MB Diskspace
Unlimited GB Bandwidth
1 Mail Boxes
1 MySQL Database
SSH Access - No
Website Builder
Free & Fast Support
Powerful Control Panel
30-Day Money Back Guarantee

£1.50
1000 MB Web Space
Unlimited GB Bandwidth
Unlimited Mail Boxes
Unlimited MySQL Databases
SSH Access - Yes

£2.50
Unlimited MB Web Space
Unlimited GB Bandwidth
Unlimited Mail Boxes
Unlimited MySQL Databases
SSH Access - Yes

100% free for all our customers our iPhone control panel provides exactly the same level of functionality as the normal control panel.

100% free 1-Click Installations - Choose from our huge range of one click install scripts to get your website online in just a few clicks.

cerriex · 9 Feb 2012 at 08:25

SheepBeast said:
vidahost looks pretty good but is there any way I can get the webspace cheaper? The society doesn't have enough money for ~£200/year. Could maybe afford up to £50.

It would be £11.88 a year for the starter package..

http://quickhostuk.com

Tripnologist · 9 Feb 2012 at 08:58

£5 says that cerriex works for quickhostuk.

cerriex · 9 Feb 2012 at 09:10

Just Saying...

daz · 9 Feb 2012 at 12:05

Considering the registrant on the WHOIS of quickhostuk.com is someone called 'Cerrie' I don't think we'll need Columbo on this one.

Whoever you go for, just make sure you do your due diligence - blogs, forums and twitter tend to be better than "Top 10 review sites" which simply list hosts in the order of their highest paying affiliates...

Check for things like "Unlimited Bandwidth" - this is likely to come with caveats like no video, or other similar small print to prevent you from hosting a bandwidth hogging site on their "unlimited" service.

Mark M · 9 Feb 2012 at 13:01

I wouldnt go with QuickhostsUK just for the above "cheap trick" by the poster not declaring his interest in the company.

My sites are all with tsohost and couldnt be happier with them but vidahost are also very highly thought of on here.

welshdragon · 9 Feb 2012 at 13:36

Just to add a further comment, contacted TSO Host earlier, largely in part due to my noobness being new to all this myself. Had all my replies fomr the same support guy, each time in under 10 mins, sometimes in under 5 mins. Best support service I have ever come across. Really patient with me too as he mustve been rolling his eyes as my knowledge of hosting is limited at this time!