4 replies to this topic

[Ohmytech]

Any advice on starting a website for a small business? Particularly with regards to hosting and domain names.
I've seen packages like this http://www.1and1.com/windows-hosting and wonder if anyone would recommend this kind of thing? Or an alternative?

[rharrison]

Ohmytech, You should first consider if you want free or paid hosting, for example get your website hosted by Google sites or pay a host fee. If you're looking at paid options specifically I personally would choose a Linux-based offering, I have very little experience running websites on Windows, except IIS 5/6. I feel Linux gives you a lot of flexibility especially if you use a hosting provider which includes a CPanel/WHM interface. Cpanel lets you control a lot of settings from a dashboard, which could take a lot of manual editing with a standard Linux host, so it reduces the learning curve a little. Rich

[mike_branco]

I would say that those aren't bad deals if you're prepared to pay for hosting and you want it to be on a Windows platform. i do agree with rharrison about the Lniux-based offerings because of the Cpanel, but if you want to go with 1-and-1, i would suggest either the middle package if you don't want to take advantage of dreamweaver which comes with the package on the right.

[VuduMaster]

For the small business I do not recommend to start from expensive plans. However, I do not trust free host... So, currently I am hosting my website with HOSTENS and I am satisfied with their services.  It has a great  deals that might help to save money money. You can check website www.hostens.com/shared-hosting if you need more information on services and deals. 

Hope this was helpful!

Good luck

[BartonTed]

Any advice on starting a website for a small business? Particularly with regards to hosting and domain names.
I've seen packages like this http://www.1and1.com/windows-hosting and wonder if anyone would recommend this kind of thing? Or an alternative?

There are a lot of packages for small businesses nowadays. Haven't heard of the ionos you posted, but the packages seem really affordable. However, I can't speak for the kind of service they give. Bluehost is a good one, especially when you're gonna use Wordpress, as kaltem said. They offer packages with higher costs that the link you posted, but I have tested their service and they're good.