Purchasing blog domain... how to?

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Permalink Reply by cooper on May 31, 2009 at 3:29pm

I like my host, siteground,they just upped my bandwidth to unlimited which is really helpful and they are easier to deal with than dreamhost though I've worked with a blog on dreamhost as well and it isn't difficult. Blue Host is also a good hosting site. I think you get what you pay for, in the end there are many our there. I am more than happy with siteground, any time I've had a problem it is usually only a few minutes before they get back to me, when they say 24/7 they mean it, and of course there is phone access to them as wel,l something which makes it much easier in the long run.

You go to a hosting site, you purchase a plan, the domain name comes with to you look around and choose one just like if you were just purchasing only a domain, siteground and many others with even transfer your old stuff over for you and install wp or whatever platform you want to use. It's always cheaper to purchase a year in advance.

This is for many people not worth it, just remember that. There is a little bit of a learning curve and if you haven't been blogging awhile and don't care that much about having control of Your php, themes, or back end template it might not be worth it.

I would never go back though but I'm a bit of a control freak.

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Permalink Reply by Erini CS on May 31, 2009 at 4:30pm

I disagree with Cooper about Dreamhost.... I've only been hosting with them since September '08, but have had positive experiences thus far. The only time I had any issues was when they were working on my server, but that's it.
When I was moving my wordpress blog between domains, I ended up killing my blog for a bit, but I talked with their support and they got everything moved over and sorted out for me.

One of my friends who's a freelance designer uses wordpress, and he tipped me off to them. I also like that you can set up discounts for new members -- he got me a discount on my annual fee and an extra domain name. I plan on giving my dad a discount code when he switches over from godaddy -- which I DO NOT recommend using at all.

Do some research and check out different hosting sites.

Also, if I remember correctly, you can just purchase a domain (in which case, godaddy might not be the worse choice) and use with with your wordpress.com blog... but I'd have to go back and look to be sure. But like Cooper said, if you don't care about having control of your php, et cetera, then I'd go with this option.

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Permalink Reply by cooper on May 31, 2009 at 5:48pm

Dream Host does have much better discounts and coupons, sometimes you can get a huge discount. For ease of use, having used both I'd have to say the one I use now is far easier, and response time is almost immediate, plus they are a phone call away which I don't believe dream host is. That having been said there are many who swear by Dream Host and the coupons alone probably make if worthwhile. I know someone who paid almost zero for their first year of hosting.

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Permalink Reply by Erini CS on June 1, 2009 at 10:58am

Yeah, I haven't tried any others -- other than GoDaddy... which I absolutely hated in terms of their hosting. I think I generally got most of my replies within an hour...

Having phone support would be nice, though I'd have to find my bluetooth headset to actually be able to troubleshoot and talk on the phone.. (I could do speaker phone, but I know my kittens too well.. they'll either sit on the phone, or talk back to whomever is on the other line..)

I will say that siteground is $2 less a month than what I'm paying for my 2 year account... And it seems many of the basic features are the same...

So really it's all personal preference....

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Permalink Reply by Oribi on May 31, 2009 at 9:17pm

I think that the OP may be wanting to just buy a domain name as opposed to an entire hosting plan, although I might be wrong! But in case you just want a domain and want to keep hosting your blog on wordpress.com, domains tend to be fairly cheap. Check out GoDaddy

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Permalink Reply by David Stehle on May 31, 2009 at 9:35pm

GoDaddy.com

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on June 1, 2009 at 3:23am

Awesome, thanks guys! I'll check out your suggestions!

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Permalink Reply by Cee on June 1, 2009 at 1:17pm

A place that sells domains can tell you if the domain you want is available. I used GoDaddy. Dreamhost is my host. I looooove them! I haven't had any issues.

When I first started w/ DreamHost, I had sooooooo many questions and they were really quick to get back to me. I really liked that about them.

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Permalink Reply by Esley S on June 1, 2009 at 10:30pm

Hey there-- I use host gator (http://www.hostgator.com). While I don't have experience with any other hosts, I like Host Gator. I am not what you would call tech/internet savvy so this was really easy to figure out. I think my name is around $8/mo and there was an initial (maybe annual?) fee of around $30... Let me know if you have any further questions about this host.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Lawson on May 30, 2011 at 3:29pm

There are many really great webhosts that have quite cheap hosting, especially for WordPress. HostClearly.com is really good...

As far as buying a domain name, namecheap.com is what I've been using for about three years - I love their freebies and discounts for members! However, most hosting packages come with a domain name. :p

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