New URL needed--opinions requested

[TravelGal]

I was going to put "opinions solicited" but with all the Duggar news, etc. I thought the better of it.

These days top level domains have gone way beyond .com .org .biz I need a separate website for honeymoons and destination weddings. I plan to use my company name followed by the word "romance."

Here's the question. I can buy .com but it's so plain. I can buy .rocks, which I love. I mean, my service rocks! TravelGuy loves it. Everyone else says, "too complicated and no one will remember it."

Whaddaya think oh net gurus?? Sensible or sensational? (I could use .guru also but I thought that might be stretching it.)

[WickerBill]

Buy .com and forward it to the one you like. Buy them both. Do not fail to buy .com. You say plain and boring, I say it is the foundation of the web and what absolutely everyone defaults to.

[TravelGal]

Buy .com and forward it to the one you like. Buy them both. Do not fail to buy .com. You say plain and boring, I say it is the foundation of the web and what absolutely everyone defaults to.

Thanks. Yes, definitely buying .com. I'm getting the drift that I might just as well get only .com.

I'm a total novice at web design, hosting, building, etc. If I buy both, are both hosted? Built? Mirrored to each other? What good would it do if I buy .com forward to .rocks?

You suggest forwarding from .com but then wouldn't my email address still have to greatagent@xyzromance.com? If that's the case, no need for rocks, except in my drink. It's a puzzlement. PS, if anyone wants to built a site for next to nothing, you may certainly apply. ;) :laugh:

[WickerBill]

There are two parts to owning a domain and running a website.

1. Owning the domain name. You (obviously) must own the domain to which you want people to go. This is an annual cost, between $1 and $75, depending on who sells you the name and what specials they're running. You will find that the cheaper the domain name, the more requirements there are to do #2, hosting. If you want to buy a domain name and "park" it (i.e. not really have anything hosted there; the domain name just shows a "coming soon" message, or forwards to another domain name), there is usually a nominal annual fee for that, but actually buying the domain name isn't nearly as discounted.

2. Hosting the website. You own the domain name, now you must attach it to webpages. Most simply, this is done by purchasing a hosting package (which can be website only, website + email, website + email + analytics, ad nauseam) from the same company that sold you the domain name (step 1), so you don't have to muck about with A records, MX records, etc. The company will tie the domain name to the space they give you to put webpages and to an IP address to which the domain name will resolve, and voila, you can go to ladygagasbadromance.com and your website shows up.


Let's say, for the sake of your scenario, you buy zzz.com and zzz.rocks, and you want .com to forward to .rocks and your email address to be travel@zzz.rocks. You purchase zzz.rocks (step 1) and purchase a hosting package that includes a website and email (step 2). Then you purchase zzz.com and park/forward it to zzz.rocks. Now, web traffic to zzz.com automatically (for the user) brings up zzz.rocks (and nobody poaches the .com domain and steals your business); traffic to zzz.rocks works fine, and your email address can be set up as travel@zzz.rocks. You pay annually for each domain name (.com and .rocks), and you pay monthly/annually for whatever hosting package you choose for the actual website and email.


Clear? Yeah... I didn't think so. Ask questions and I (we) will answer.

[nrc]

Perfect example, we got offcamber.net from WB but at some point offcamber.org became available and we bought that as well. Both of those take you to this same site (although I'm considering switching .org to be my personal site for pondering wheel alignment).

.com is still the best domain for businesses, I think. Once upon a time people would register all the variations they could get to prevent squatters from grabbing them, but I don't think that particularly worthwhile in a world with infinite top level domains.

I would particularly recommend putting your email address on the .com domain. My experience with multiple .org email addresses is that some people will try to use .com no matter how clear you try to make it that it's something else. If your email address is travelgirl@travelgirl.rocks some people will still email travelgirl.rocks.com or travelgirl.com.

On building the site, you should look into what services your provider offers to simplify that process. Some providers have easy to use template based site builders. wix.com is one example of this.

[TravelGal]

travelgirl@travelgirl.rocks[/email] some people will still email travelgirl.rocks.com or travelgirl.com.

On building the site, you should look into what services your provider offers to simplify that process. Some providers have easy to use template based site builders. wix.com is one example of this.

First conclusion: Based on the knowledge here and other agents, I think I'll just leave it at .com. No reason to pay extra for something that will only muddy the waters.

Believe it or not, I have a GoDaddy account (pre-Danica and now post-Danica) for URLs. Wix is highly recommended by other agents also but my question is, does GoDaddy use that as their "builder", if not, is their "site builder" just as easy for neophytes like me?

I can buy the domain name with hosting and site builder for $5.99 a month. Domain name and hosting is the SAME $5.99. I might as well get the builder also as long as I can figure out how to do it. OR, can I use Wix anyway?

:confused::confused:

[TravelGal]

There are two parts to owning a domain and running a website.

1. Owning the domain name. You (obviously) must own the domain to which you want people to go. This is an annual cost, between $1 and $75, depending on who sells you the name and what specials they're running. You will find that the cheaper the domain name, the more requirements there are to do #2, hosting. If you want to buy a domain name and "park" it (i.e. not really have anything hosted there; the domain name just shows a "coming soon" message, or forwards to another domain name), there is usually a nominal annual fee for that, but actually buying the domain name isn't nearly as discounted.

2. Hosting the website. You own the domain name, now you must attach it to webpages. Most simply, this is done by purchasing a hosting package (which can be website only, website + email, website + email + analytics, ad nauseam) from the same company that sold you the domain name (step 1), so you don't have to muck about with A records, MX records, etc. The company will tie the domain name to the space they give you to put webpages and to an IP address to which the domain name will resolve, and voila, you can go to ladygagasbadromance.com and your website shows up.

Let's say, for the sake of your scenario, you buy zzz.com and zzz.rocks, and you want .com to forward to .rocks and your email address to be travel@zzz.rocks. You purchase zzz.rocks (step 1) and purchase a hosting package that includes a website and email (step 2). Then you purchase zzz.com and park/forward it to zzz.rocks. Now, web traffic to zzz.com automatically (for the user) brings up zzz.rocks (and nobody poaches the .com domain and steals your business); traffic to zzz.rocks works fine, and your email address can be set up as travel@zzz.rocks. You pay annually for each domain name (.com and .rocks), and you pay monthly/annually for whatever hosting package you choose for the actual website and email.

Clear? Yeah... I didn't think so. Ask questions and I (we) will answer.

Actually, I did get it all. Very useful. It's what led me to decide just to stick with .com. :)

I have a few domain names purchased and parked. You've given me the idea to relay them to my main site That's a whole other issue. Main site has not been redone. Ever. Seven or eight years. Mom stuff intervened. Major work needed. On the "todo" list somewhere. On the top is ladygagasbadromance. That has to be done by next week. :)

[RaceGrrl]

I used Wix to design our team project website for my capstone project in my eMarketing program and found it extremely easy to use: so much so that now I don't want to use anything else. Drag and drop makes it simple to come up with a site design you like even with no web design background.