Website advice

scottduffy

scottduffy

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Scott
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Guys I had a meeting today with business gateway and had a discussion about websites and creating one. Luckily for me my chosen name is available and the guy was telling me to go home and purchase the domain name from somewhere called TSO something or other (I have it written down) but then I had to go to wordpress and choose their lite package which he said was around £15 a year. That's all fine but I'm wondering who owns my site name? Who am I paying the money to and why if it's my company name. Hope that makes sense. What happens after the year? Do I buy again or do others have the chance to purchase this? Getting in a bit of a muddle.

Lastly are these two companies TSO and wordpress reputable? How easy and how much does it cost to build a site with them as I'm assuming there will be add on costs.
 
scottduffy said:
but I'm wondering who owns my site name? Who am I paying the money to and why if it's my company name. Hope that makes sense. What happens after the year? Do I buy again or do others have the chance to purchase this? s.
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Domain names are owned by a registrar.. you rent it for a priod of time.. 1 yr 2 yr 10 yr.. ONLY YOU have the bability to re register it and you get lots of reminders and plenty fo time.. if you don't and let it become unregistered then others can register it.. Nobody can buy a domain name... only rent them.. but they are safe enough once you ahve it. just make sure it is registered in your name and you are the *owner... If you already bought the domain then you can check online who the *owner is (when i say *owner.. its just a term as to *owners of the name for x period of time)
 
TSO host are fine. The domain name will be in your name and you can set auto renewal so it will renew each year without you having to worry about it.

You can also transfer the domain to another host very easily.
 
Thanks guys. I think the thing I'm struggling to get my head around is that surely as the person who came up with the name I should own it. Is that daft or is every Website name already created and owned by someone? I'll get onto it tonight then and get the site registered at least. Thanks again.
 
scottduffy said:
Thanks guys. I think the thing I'm struggling to get my head around is that surely as the person who came up with the name I should own it. Is that daft or is every Website name already created and owned by someone? I'll get onto it tonight then and get the site registered at least. Thanks again.
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even asda or tesco or microsoft doesn't own there domain names.. they can only rent it like we would... nobody ever actually buys one :) But to all intents and purposes its as good as the same
 
Cheers mate. It's sinking in now. Haha

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk
 
You are registering the name (if it's available), and paying for its registration and the right to use it exclusively on the web for as long as you keep up with the payments. I don't bother with one these days but a few years ago it was something like £10 for 2 yrs, I think, though there were firms that would prey on the uninitiated and register it for you with a hefty mark-up.

You can build your own WPress site for nothing and host it yourself somewhere like your internet provider if they give you 'free' space, or pay for hosting elsewhere. I'd say that it's a bit hands-on and there might be easier solutions but generally you've got to pay for them. So there are three things that I've thought of - domain-name registration, site design, and hosting. A range of options. It depends what you can cope with, mentally and financially.
 
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I can put a bit of time into maintaining the site and don't mind paying a few quid a month if required. I am hoping to sell images through the site and that's where I think I'd need the help. Someone who can provide a template or site with this facility would be worth me paying.
 
Guys i am confusing myself here. I went onto a website called websitestartup or something and they recommended bluehost to host my site. I am confused as to whether i can take my existing domain name andhost it here AND still build my site through wordpress. If i can how to i get away from wordpress's monthly payments? I can't see anywhere to jump past the monthly payment plans.
 
If i chose wordpress to host too can anyone who is a current user tell me which pack would be best. I am hoping to showcase images and hopefully sell some at a later date. I was thinking that the £7 a month one would be enough for now. It doesn't tell you a whole lot about each and i'm unsure.
 
Don't forget if it's for business use you may want to purchase the domain name in more than one ending, say both .co.uk and .com. If your domain name has something that's specifically related to you and buisiness in the domain name, say **yourname**photography, do you want someone else with a similar name and photography business having .com whilst you have .co.uk? You should be able to set both to redirect to your website. It depends if that's important to you and your business if you could not get mixed up with other similar businesses.
 
Would normally say TSO host are fine, but given the problems I've been having with e-mail (they have been tinkering round with their servers) through them during the last couple of days, I'm starting to re-evaluate that.
 
Harriers9 said:
Wordpress do not charge for using it. The charge is from the host
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I don't know who the host is then as when I clicked onto wordpress they asked me to choose a package and it ran from free for students to £20 a month for online store.
 
scottduffy said:
I don't know who the host is then as when I clicked onto wordpress they asked me to choose a package and it ran from free for students to £20 a month for online store.
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"Wordpress" means two different things, and people get them confused: Worpdress.com and Wordpress.org. Most people when they talk about "Wordpress" mean the software provided by Wordpress,org, but often when googling you will come across Wordpress.com. Which is confusing if you are new to this.

Wordpress.org provide open source blogging software that you can run on your own server, or you can use via a host provided by an internet provider, where the software runs on their server. This has various costs depending on the wordpress package they provide. e.g. no cost beyond the basic fee to the provider for some server space to host Wordpress on, to potentially a fair amount of money if they provide specialist Wordpress services/support and allow for high levels of traffic to your site.

Wordpress.com is a host for Wordpress software created, I believe by some of the people originally involved in writing the Wordpress software. Here you can sign up for a free account where Wordpress.com provide you with free hosting and access to a working copy of Wordpress. This free account has limitations so you can also pay £3, £7 or £20 a month for added features, its relatively expensive compare to the competition, but its very easy to set up.

If you are not on the Wordpress.com site, then it sounds as if you are on a host who offers a specialist Wordpress service. You mentioned TSOHosting earlier, and they do indeed offer specialist wordpress hosting, but the prices you quote above don't agree with the prices on their web site.

If you have already signed up to a host, you must have some email correspondence from them, which will indicate who you have signed up to.
 
Harriers9 said:
Wordpress do not charge for using it. The charge is from the host
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Wordpress.org don't but Wordpress.com do.

It's easy for someone new to get this confused, as Wordpress.com is a host for the software provided by Wordpress.org.
 
myotis said:
"Wordpress" means two different things, and people get them confused: Worpdress.com and Wordpress.org. Most people when they talk about "Wordpress" mean the software provided by Wordpress,org, but often when googling you will come across Wordpress.com. Which is confusing if you are new to this.

Wordpress.org provide open source blogging software that you can run on your own server, or you can use via a host provided by an internet provider, where the software runs on their server. This has various costs depending on the wordpress package they provide. e.g. no cost beyond the basic fee to the provider for some server space to host Wordpress on, to potentially a fair amount of money if they provide specialist Wordpress services/support and allow for high levels of traffic to your site.

Wordpress.com is a host for Wordpress software created, I believe by some of the people originally involved in writing the Wordpress software. Here you can sign up for a free account where Wordpress.com provide you with free hosting and access to a working copy of Wordpress. This free account has limitations so you can also pay £3, £7 or £20 a month for added features, its relatively expensive compare to the competition, but its very easy to set up.

If you are not on the Wordpress.com site, then it sounds as if you are on a host who offers a specialist Wordpress service. You mentioned TSOHosting earlier, and they do indeed offer specialist wordpress hosting, but the prices you quote above don't agree with the prices on their web site.

If you have already signed up to a host, you must have some email correspondence from them, which will indicate who you have signed up to.
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Thanks. This is a great help. I bought my domain name then headed to WordPress for the site build and they say start with a blog, a website, a online store etc then I got the prices. Where would you recommend hosting and building the site?
 
scottduffy said:
Thanks. This is a great help. I bought my domain name then headed to WordPress for the site build and they say start with a blog, a website, a online store etc then I got the prices. Where would you recommend hosting and building the site?
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I'm afraid you have exhausted my expertise, I just happened to have gone through the wordpress.org/wordpress.com confusion my self at one time. however, I took advice from here and other places, and now have an account with SiteGround, but as of yet not got my blog up and running, I also registered a domain name through SiteGround.

I'm still confused by where you have been going for your wordpress hosting as none of the prices you mention match the places I have been looking.

Wordpress.com have three options Personal, Premium and Business at £3, £7 and £20 respectively. TSOhosting, which you mentioned earlier, has four wordpress hosting prices at £1.61, £3.50, £7.91 and £21.62. Bluehost has prices in dollars

But you say you headed "to Wordpress" so I'm still not sure where you actually "headed". Do you just mean you clicked on the Wordpress service at the hosting company web page that you just happened to be on.

Even with a specialist Wordpress hosting company, there is rather a lot to learn about how to use Wordpress. I have installed the software on my local hard drive and am working through some courses to build my wordpress site locally before going public on SiteGround.
 
If you sign up with a host such as siteground (I recommend them over TSO, much faster servers) then you should have an option to install WordPress from the cPanel (control panel). That should be a simple one click install.

You would also need to find a nice template, preferably one with woocommerce built in for handling the shop side of things.

My template cost around £50 and my hosting cost £24/year.
For taking payments you can sign up for a free Stripe account or Paypal or both. Both are free but they take a small percentage of the sale for processing the payment, usually around 2-3%
 
myotis said:
I'm afraid you have exhausted my expertise, I just happened to have gone through the wordpress.org/wordpress.com confusion my self at one time. however, I took advice from here and other places, and now have an account with SiteGround, but as of yet not got my blog up and running, I also registered a domain name through SiteGround.

I'm still confused by where you have been going for your wordpress hosting as none of the prices you mention match the places I have been looking.

Wordpress.com have three options Personal, Premium and Business at £3, £7 and £20 respectively. TSOhosting, which you mentioned earlier, has four wordpress hosting prices at £1.61, £3.50, £7.91 and £21.62. Bluehost has prices in dollars

But you say you headed "to Wordpress" so I'm still not sure where you actually "headed". Do you just mean you clicked on the Wordpress service at the hosting company web page that you just happened to be on.

Even with a specialist Wordpress hosting company, there is rather a lot to learn about how to use Wordpress. I have installed the software on my local hard drive and am working through some courses to build my wordpress site locally before going public on SiteGround.
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3,7 & 20 were the prices I saw when I clicked onto Wordpress too. I was about to take the 7pcm option and wasn’t sure it was correct and didn’t want to throw away £84. I’ll check out the option Elliot mentioned above. Thanks guys.
 
Before you dive into building a website, you need to have a clear plan of what your business is, because that drives the kind of website you need.

Is it a gallery, a shop window or a store?
You’ve said you don’t mind building and maintaining it yourself, without the faintest idea what that entails.
1 decide what you definitely need
2 Look for the way that you can get that with the right amount of input from you.

Just as an insight: I ‘maintain’ my website which involves understanding SEO, design, marketing, copywriting, security, and has meant I’ve learned all that but I haven’t had to learn to code anything, that’s a skill I buy in.
 
ecoleman said:
If you sign up with a host such as siteground (I recommend them over TSO, much faster servers)
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Interesting. I had noticed they are slow, but had thought it was something to do with the wordpress configuration or the theme/plugins rather than the host. That said, maybe there are faster options out there.
 
Peter Drought said:
Interesting. I had noticed they are slow, but had thought it was something to do with the wordpress configuration or the theme/plugins rather than the host. That said, maybe there are faster options out there.
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I had my WordPress on a £4.99/month package with TSO. I moved to siteground on a £24/year package and is so much quicker..

I also have my main business website with TSO on a £70/month VDS and the site is sluggish. I’ll be moving that over in the new year too, but unlike my photo site, my main site takes order all day every day so it needs to be planned a bit better for minimal down time.
 
Phil V said:
Before you dive into building a website, you need to have a clear plan of what your business is, because that drives the kind of website you need.

Is it a gallery, a shop window or a store?
You’ve said you don’t mind building and maintaining it yourself, without the faintest idea what that entails.
1 decide what you definitely need
2 Look for the way that you can get that with the right amount of input from you.

Just as an insight: I ‘maintain’ my website which involves understanding SEO, design, marketing, copywriting, security, and has meant I’ve learned all that but I haven’t had to learn to code anything, that’s a skill I buy in.
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When I said maintain I meant update album photos, prices, maybe changing the aesthetics of the site. I don't know anything about building sites other than learning html many moons ago but remember well writing pages of code for a silly wee moving image so I'd definitely like that done for me.

I would have been normally happy to create a site to showcase images but I'm more inclined to opt for an online store as the school photos dictate that. Parents being able to buy more items from me directly can only be a good thing. When I'm supplying proof cards there's only so much info on there and I think it would be good to offer as many buying options as possible.
 
scottduffy said:
When I said maintain I meant update album photos, prices, maybe changing the aesthetics of the site. I don't know anything about building sites other than learning html many moons ago but remember well writing pages of code for a silly wee moving image so I'd definitely like that done for me.

I would have been normally happy to create a site to showcase images but I'm more inclined to opt for an online store as the school photos dictate that. Parents being able to buy more items from me directly can only be a good thing. When I'm supplying proof cards there's only so much info on there and I think it would be good to offer as many buying options as possible.
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This has been discussed in the past, you need to search online store or ordering or galleries rather than websites.

AFAIR there’s a couple of major players in the ‘off the shelf ‘ space, and some suppliers with a subscription model.
Then you have the choice between using that alone or linked to a site that does other things.
 
I've been speaking to dscolour labs who are going to fulfill this order anyway and we'll see how we get on from there. Hopefully I'll be happy and so will the parents.
 
My host (www.34sp.com) can install Wordpress with a simple installer in the cPanel, much like ecoleman's provider siteground.

You CAN move your host, it will cost you a years domain renewal but you also get that added on to your "expiry" date so effectively it is cost neutral / minimal.

For selling images, I would use a pre-existing site but a link to it from your site?
Means you do not have to worry about having a secure site / may take a lot more effort in setup if doing it all self-hosted.
 
Captain Fizz said:
My host (www.34sp.com) can install Wordpress with a simple installer in the cPanel, much like ecoleman's provider siteground.

You CAN move your host, it will cost you a years domain renewal but you also get that added on to your "expiry" date so effectively it is cost neutral / minimal.

For selling images, I would use a pre-existing site but a link to it from your site?
Means you do not have to worry about having a secure site / may take a lot more effort in setup if doing it all self-hosted.
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It shouldn't cost you a years domain renewal at all. There is no need to transfer the domain over to the new host. You just need to change the DNS settings. The when the domain is up for renewal, you can transfer it then.
 
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