# Setting up a website



## pgrim (29 Mar 2007)

Hi all
Does anyone know the process of setting up a website.
I found a company called blacknight Solutions that would register the Domain eg ....... .ie for 35 euros a year and they will offer their basic hosting for 150 a year. Is this value for money???
I also need to design the website, does anyone know how much this could cost and any reccomendation to who could do this. I know the cost depends on the content but ballpark figures would be a start.
Thanks all


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## brian.mobile (29 Mar 2007)

Blacknight are one of the cheaper Domain name resgiters, I suspect 35 is on the cheap end - they've had offers in the past for cheaper.

Hosting sounds like a starter package. Not sure but for a basic site that should be fine.

Cost of web-site? How long is a piece of string! But like everything else you, generally, pay for what you get. Invest wisely in design. It'll pay you pack ten fold...

BM


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## beefy2003 (29 Mar 2007)

I use letshost which costs 24.99 euro for the domain and 59.40 a year for the hosting. 

www.letshost.ie


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## paddi22 (29 Mar 2007)

heya, its hard to get a ballpark figure without having some idea what kind of thing you are looking for. Its like saying to a builder 'how much is it to build a house!'. What do you want the website to do? Is it just four or five pages about your business, or is it a larger site where you have a lot of products to sell. Will you be giving him images or does the designer need to source them for you? Is it something that needs to be updated a lot?

The first thing when going top any web designer is to know what the goals of your site are..Why are you building the site. Is it for sales or marketing? Is it a tool for communication or an online brochure? Do you want to sell products through the site, or just educate consumers about them? Do you want to increase membership in your organization, or offer Web-based benefits to current members? Do you want visitors to email you? Call you? Subscribe to a newsletter? Knowing your goals will help focus your ideas for the site. Or is it just a personal site for friends and family?


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## pgrim (29 Mar 2007)

Thanks for the replies
I do have alot to think about still but i know roughly what i want, i will put it down on paper. Thanks beefy2003 I will check out letshost.
Once i have paid for the domain can i leave things at that until i get the website designed or will i have to pay for hosting aswell even though the site wont be up and running. Can anyone recommend some web designers.
Thanks


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## beefy2003 (29 Mar 2007)

Yes you can register just the domain and once the website is ready just order the hosting package.


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## positivenote (29 Mar 2007)

hi, i use hostingireland for all the websites i design, they charge 20 eyro a year for a .com domain and all my dealings with them they have been very helpful


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## picene (30 Mar 2007)

once you have the domain you have to pay for it even if you are not using it.

as for designers there are loads out there.
I'm one. If you pm me your requirements I can give you a quote.


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## Zapatista (31 Mar 2007)

Hey pgrim,

If you PM me with the details of what you want I could give you a quote

Zapa


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## HelenQ (1 Apr 2007)

Try www.hostireland.com as they helped me to set up my support website 

Helen


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## pgrim (2 Apr 2007)

Thanks ill PM you guys when im sure of exactly what i need.
For everyones information Letshost.ie  have Domains for 28.99
and hosting for 60 per year or 95 for 2 years
pretty good deal i think.
can anyone find a better deal??


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## blacknight (3 Apr 2007)

You'll find hosting *in Ireland* from around 30 euro per year

Several of the Irish companies are listed here:


(and yes, I do run one of them)


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## RedStix (5 Apr 2007)

In relation to the actual website design, i've used www.creativestate.ie and they were fantastic.


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## Thirsty (5 Apr 2007)

Depends on what you are planning to do, but for a community group I am involved with I found this site to be good value for money and very easy to use; particularly for those volunteers whose knowledge of computing is limited to sending emails or typing letters - they were able to update the site, add new pages, text & images etc.   Fancy stuff can also be added when you know what you are doing!

www.homestead.com


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## boskonay (6 Apr 2007)

You could also try www.hosting365.ie - the largest in Ireland and the host of this site


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## jeff01 (9 Apr 2007)

NewOdyssey (www.NewOdyssey.biz) specialize in the development of e-commerce shops but will also develop a standard brochure style site for you.

They also include free web hosting and domain name registration for 1 year in all their packages. Seems like great value.


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## RainyDay (9 Apr 2007)

jeff01 said:


> NewOdyssey (www.NewOdyssey.biz) specialize in the development of e-commerce shops but will also develop a standard brochure style site for you.
> 
> They also include free web hosting and domain name registration for 1 year in all their packages. Seems like great value.


Hi Jeff - Recommendations like this from first-time posters are likely to be treated with some cynicism round here.

Community groups in Dublin might like to check out the free community website facilities available from both Dublin City Council and South Dublin Co Co - see their respective websites for more info.


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## boskonay (9 Apr 2007)

If you're after a turn-key solution with a good measure of search engine help, try http://www.sitestogo.biz/ - been a round years now, well connected with business groups, etc, etc, and based in Offaly - highly recommended.

HTH


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## techman (9 Apr 2007)

www.sitestogo.biz - very impressive.

Good tips on web marketing and search engine optimisation.

Seem to have developed their own CMS.


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## blacknight (10 Apr 2007)

boskonay said:


> You could also try [broken link removed] - the largest in Ireland and the host of this site


And shouldn't you come clean and state your relationship to them?


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## tyler_d (30 May 2007)

I found host Ireland to be quite good. I paid 100 euros (+vat) for space and domain name. (.ie: more expenisve than .com's) Their support is brilliant too. Theres a guy called ryan who has helped me with alot of my stupid questions. 

In terms of web design, i went to redlemon.ie. Their prices are brilliant and they produce some really nice websites. They also did my logo, business card and printed them for me for the best prices i could find.


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## z108 (30 May 2007)

Why go for the expensive Irish web hosting companies unless you want a .ie domain ?

Have a look here  www.godaddy.com

*At godaddy it costs 6.70 euro to register a .com domain  *  (inclusive of all charges with exchange rate factored in). Everything you buy there benefits from the good exchange rate  from euro to dollar . Its the biggest domain registrar in the states and the worlds largest I think. They make websites for small businesses too but if you simply buy the domain you get free emails at your domain and other stuff thrown in like a very basic webpage.

http://www.123-reg.co.uk/   were also reasonably cheap last time I looked.



Google have also brought out hosting. Googles basic package (with free emails and a webpage to display your contact details) is free:

http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/editions_spe.html


Bottom line is dont spend 30 to 100 euro for a .com registration when they're available for less than 7 euro !!!


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## blacknight (30 May 2007)

sign said:


> Why go for the expensive Irish web hosting companies unless you want a .ie domain ?



Not all Irish hosting companies are expensive and there are many reasons why they are more attractive to deal with than faceless US corporations



sign said:


> Bottom line is dont spend 30 to 100 euro for a .com registration when they're available for less than 7 euro !!!



There's no need to pay that kind of money for a .com registration. I did this up recently:


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## z108 (30 May 2007)

blacknight said:


> Not all Irish hosting companies are expensive and there are many reasons why they are more attractive to deal with than faceless US corporations
> 
> 
> 
> There's no need to pay that kind of money for a .com registration. I did this up recently:




I still dont see the point of paying  €9.98* (including VAT and Tax) for a .com

(the cheapest I could find on your list. The price to buy a dot com with an Irish host must have come down hugely since I last looked)

when I can purchase one for €6.70 at godaddy.com  and get stuff like free email  and free webpage thrown in etc 




And all thats involved in my credit card, my email address and 10 minutes. Its not that complicated and I dont need a face at the other end for this transaction. The only time when I feel the need for a face is when I dont know the company or am worried about trusting them. In this case godaddy is extremely well known and trusted.


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## blacknight (30 May 2007)

sign said:


> I still dont see the point of paying  €9.98* (including VAT and Tax) for a .com
> (the cheapest I could find on your list)
> 
> when I can purchase one for €6.70 at godaddy.
> ...


The domain name is just the starting point. Without reliable hosting it's not going to be of much use to you. And you will find cheaper than 9.98 on that list by the way.


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## z108 (30 May 2007)

blacknight said:


> The domain name is just the starting point. Without reliable hosting it's not going to be of much use to you. And you will find cheaper than 9.98 on that list by the way.



In the world of E Commerce theres no more reason to be tied to any physical location.
I'm all for buying Irish if  I can but which one is cheaper than godaddy's approx  €6.70 ? And why wouldnt a huge corporation be able to provide reliable hosting ?
And yes the domain name is just the starting point but if you can find the same discount for hosting elsewhere in my opinion its definitely worth a look especially if someone is short of money and  beginning a start up a business on borrowed money.


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## blacknight (30 May 2007)

sign said:


> I'm all for buying irish if  I can but which one is cheaper than godaddy's approx  €6.70 ?



None are going to match their price inc. VAT



sign said:


> And why wouldnt a huge corporation be able to provide reliable hosting ?



I can think of many reasons why choosing a local host will be beneficial. If you are dealing with a US host you will just be another number in another timezone.

On a practical level this means that you won't get to deal with the primary staff, as they won't be working the night shift. (West coast is 8 hours behind Ireland)

Hosting companies tend to conduct maintenance outside office hours, so that means it will probably be within office hours Irish time.

From an SEO point of view you should always host as close to your market as possible.

From a technical perspective you'll get better connection rates / speeds
if you use an Irish host that peers at Inex (http://www.inex.ie)



sign said:


> And yes the domain name is just the starting point but if you can find the same discount for hosting elsewhere in my opinion its definitely worth a look especially if someone is short of money and  beginning a start up a business on borrowed money.



You can get a perfectly good hosting plan and domain name from an Irish provider for about 50 euro a year. If you can't afford that then there's something seriously wrong with your business plan.


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## z108 (30 May 2007)

pgrim said:


> Hi all
> Does anyone know the process of setting up a website.
> I found a company called blacknight Solutions that would register the Domain eg ....... .ie for 35 euros a year and they will offer their basic hosting for 150 a year. Is this value for money???



Well the first post didnt inspire me when I first read the thread
 35 euro for a Dot Com or is that for an .ie ?  




blacknight said:


> Hosting companies tend to conduct maintenance outside office hours, so that means it will probably be within office hours Irish time....
> ....
> On a practical level this means that you won't get to deal with the primary staff, as they won't be working the night shift. (West coast is 8 hours behind Ireland)



New York is only 4 hours behind. And many companies guarantee 99% uptime



blacknight said:


> From a technical perspective you'll get better connection rates / speeds
> if you use an Irish host that peers at Inex (http://www.inex.ie)



If its as fast as my amazon,youtube, gmail which isnt hosted in Ireland why worry ?



I would hope an Irish host can do a good deal for someone one day


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## blacknight (30 May 2007)

sign said:


> Well the first post didnt inspire me when I first read the thread
> 35 euro for a Dot Com or is that for an .ie ?



Probably a .IE





sign said:


> If its as fast as my amazon,youtube, gmail which isnt hosted in Ireland why worry ?



Amazon is hosted in Ireland 





sign said:


> I would hope an Irish host can do a good deal for someone one day



A lot of us already do. We might not be trying to go bankrupt in the process, unlike some companies ....


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## z108 (30 May 2007)

blacknight said:


> Amazon is hosted in Ireland



 Im happy to hear that


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## thespecialon (30 May 2007)

pm me


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