Looking for a web developer and host

[Arkitech]

A few more questions for the web veterans out there:

1. Should I go ahead and reserve my site name/url now or would I be better off waiting and doing it through a web hosting service

2. Can anyone recommend a good book on how to build traffic for a site and some basic information that a web admin/owner should know

3. Once I finally get the site off the ground, how can I protect it from viruses, trojans, spyware, hackers and other unwanted intrusions? (or is that something the web host should take care of)

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
A few more questions for the web veterans out there:

1. Should I go ahead and reserve my site name/url now or would I be better off waiting and doing it through a web hosting service

2. Can anyone recommend a good book on how to build traffic for a site and some basic information that a web admin/owner should know

3. Once I finally get the site off the ground, how can I protect it from viruses, trojans, spyware, hackers and other unwanted intrusions? (or is that something the web host should take care of)

1) Register the domain tomorrow Thursday 1/20 as GoDaddy.com will have a $6.95/yr sale for 2 days!

2) Search Google for SEO and read some SEO forums.

3) If you go with a quality web host (not the typical cheap web host 95% of AT'ers are looking for) they will take care of this for you.

What is your realistic budget for web design/development (this includes everything but web hosting)?

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Arkitech
A few more questions for the web veterans out there:

1. Should I go ahead and reserve my site name/url now or would I be better off waiting and doing it through a web hosting service

2. Can anyone recommend a good book on how to build traffic for a site and some basic information that a web admin/owner should know

3. Once I finally get the site off the ground, how can I protect it from viruses, trojans, spyware, hackers and other unwanted intrusions? (or is that something the web host should take care of)

1) Register the domain tomorrow Thursday 1/20 as GoDaddy.com will have a $6.95/yr sale for 2 days!

2) Search Google for SEO and read some SEO forums.

3) If you go with a quality web host (not the typical cheap web host 95% of AT'ers are looking for) they will take care of this for you.

What is your realistic budget for web design/development (this includes everything but web hosting)?

Thanks for the tips bro, I have about 4 or 5 domains I wanted to register. I guess now is the best time.

My budget would be around 2-3k, I'm willing to go a little higher but if I could keep it around the 2-3k mark I would be very satisfied.

 

[Arkitech]

I think this site is what I'd like to base my own on. I love the simple but attractive design. It also loads very quickly. yep thats the one for me.

 

[virtuamike]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
I think this site is what I'd like to base my own on. I love the simple but attractive design. It also loads very quickly. yep thats the one for me.

Pretty easy to do. I hate opening stuff in a new window though.

I agree with the rossman. Get your domain from godaddy. As far as webhosting goes, my 2 current favs are pair.com and lunarpages.com. Or do your own research at webhostingtalk.com, plenty of helpful folk there.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: Arkitech
I think this site is what I'd like to base my own on. I love the simple but attractive design. It also loads very quickly. yep thats the one for me.

Pretty easy to do. I hate opening stuff in a new window though.

I agree with the rossman. Get your domain from godaddy. As far as webhosting goes, my 2 current favs are pair.com and lunarpages.com. Or do your own research at webhostingtalk.com, plenty of helpful folk there.

Yeah I was thinking the same, I'm not a big fan of the spawning windows. But I do like that the forum layout matches the rest of the site.

Thanks for those links, I'll check em out.

 

[psiu]

Per a previous recommendation, I get my hosting through HostPC. Happy so far.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: psiu
Per a previous recommendation, I get my hosting through HostPC. Happy so far.

HostPC is a great budget web host not really suited for a demanding eCommerce site.

BTW GoDaddy.com .com $6.95/yr sale has started today and expires tomorrow!

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: psiu
Per a previous recommendation, I get my hosting through HostPC. Happy so far.

HostPC is a great budget web host not really suited for a demanding eCommerce site.

BTW GoDaddy.com .com $6.95/yr sale has started today and expires tomorrow!

Its amazing how much time you can waste on that site, its also amazing how many domains are already in use

Edit: Is there any real benefit in having multiple urls leading back to the same site

 

[Kelemvor]

Forgot to check back on this thread. She's in the Milwaukee, WI area... So not too far from Chicago. Not sure what her rates are but I think it depends on exactly what you want...

 

[Winchester]

YGPM

 

[SALvation]

I have a design company and just figured I would add my 2 cents to help you out. Some of the main things to remember when getting bids would be:

- What kind of maintenance agreement do they have? What happens when something breaks or you want to add something.
- Do they have development and staging servers?
- Do you get the code and database schema after it is done?
- What kind of platform do they use? SQL/MySQL/etc...?
- How many developers will be working on your site?
- What payment methods do they accept?
- Are they a registered business?
- What kind of support do they offer?

I would definitely pay the extra money and have a professional business do it instead of a couple of college kids. If this site is going to be a revenue stream for you, make damn sure the above points are covered. While college kids could probably do a good site for you cheap, what happens when they have finals or other things come up? You have to weigh the good with the bad.

If we were giving a quote to you, it would probably be between $4-6k, along with a monthly maintenance/hosting price of anywhere from $49-$299/month which would give you X amount of development hours for any changes you would want. I'm not actually quoting you this price, I'm just giving you an idea of what a professional company would charge. And if anyone is curious, I know that price is reasonable as we have already developed sites for that price, and are also booked for the next few months with more.

Good luck to you and if you have any questions you can always PM me for advice.