Domain Names

Choosing the right domain name is an important step to a successful site. Often many of the most desirable names have already been taken.

Regular domain names such as .com and .org are easy to register on your own, but what if you require international domain names such as .de or .eu, and what if you need several domain names pointing to the same site?

We'll brainstorm with you about the best domain name strategies, and can register and set up hosting for any and all domains, including country extensions such as .es and .co.uk.

Google Apps

"Google Apps For Your Domain" (a.k.a. GAFYD) allows you to use Gmail with your own domain name, while also providing access to and integration with Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Groups, and many other applications. This approach to e-mail hosting means that if you move your web site to another hosting provider in the future, you do not need to worry about migrating your e-mails, since they will be housed on Google's servers. We have found this approach especially useful for schools and non-profits.

Web Site Hosting

We will help you select the right web host for your needs. We have many years of experience setting up accounts with various web hosts, including switching from one host to another without interruption of service. We can handle all aspects of hosting for you on an ongoing basis.

Hosting packages can have disk space limits anywhere from 50 Mb to 12 Gb or more, with the possibility of configuring your own e-mail addresses, subdomains, forwarders, FTP, and more. We typically recommend anything from shared hosting to a virtual private server, with optional features such as dedicated IP and SSL certificates as needed. However, your needs may demand a more robust package. In most cases, it makes sense to order annual billing since it gives you a discount on the monthly hosting costs.

Choosing the physical location of your server can also have some impact on your search engine rankings.

Our experiences with and advice on popular web hosts:

  • SharkSpace - this is where this site and many of our customers' sites are currently hosted.
  • InMotion Hosting - their shared hosting is very reliable and feature-packed, and the virtual private servers are quite affordable. Their packages offer plenty of room to grow. Their VPS packages allow you to host multiple sites on the same account. Their customer support is lightning fast and very responsive.
  • iPower - they only do shared hosting, which is cheaper. They are just wrapping up a major transition to a new hosting platform, and it is looking good. You won't have as much room to grow here, but this is more than enough for many people. Not recommended if your site will require a database.
  • WestHost - a solid and reliable host that offers its own kind of virtual private server instead of shared hosting, but at shared hosting prices. This means you can install applications, manage e-mail accounts, and dedicated FTP, manage various server settings, and so on - things that are for the most part not possible with shared hosting.
  • For more discussion about web hosts, check out Web Hosting Talk, a discussion forum.

Already have hosting?

Perhaps you have hosting but are uncomfortable managing it on a day-to-day basis. We have over five years of experience with the most popular control panels and hosting companies such as cPanel, vDeck, Plesk, Miva, iPower, GoDaddy, PowWeb, and WestHost, to name a few. Let us help you get the most out of your hosting.

Statistics

We can install install and configure web statistics software for your site, but for most of our clients we run Google Analytics, which we highly recommend. It provides detailed graphs and Excel-exportable data that help you understand how people are using your site.