Need to register SMB website domain name

KofDelight

KofDelight

New member
Hi Guys
Most of you know that I am in the process of starting a business.

P.S, SMB = Small and Medium Business

I need help in selecting a reliable and affordable website host for the business and registering the domain name.One that does not have hassles and unnecessary paperwork and so on.

Please guys if you can assist, it would help me a lot.
 
Hey dude

I'm glad to hear you're going through the motions of setting up your own business. I wish you all the luck in the world!!

Okay, on to domain name registering, have a look at these two links for more info.

http://www.cozahost.com/domain-name
http://co.za/intro/what.shtml

This should guide you in registering the domain at least. Register the domain first and make sure you get the name you wanted. Then onto web hosting. There are a lot of companies that can do this for you from a SMB perspective. Have a look at what both Mweb, Afrihost and others are giving. They'll probably be able to help you with the domain registering as well.

When deciding on a web hosting package, think about what your site's purpose is going to be. Will you require all the features that the high end packages delivers? Maybe start off with a smaller packages, get the site live, do some online marketing and generate traffic to your site before moving over to bigger and better sites.
 
I use Hetzner for everything. From domain registration to dedicated server hosting. (Have 2 with them)
Good prices and excellent service.
 
ViperGTI said:
I use Hetzner for everything. From domain registration to dedicated server hosting. (Have 2 with them)
Good prices and excellent service.
Click to expand...

Would you think 5GB of space is sufficient for a business website as there will be videos on the site and flash?
Cause that is what the standard package is.

I suppose I could take the 10GB package,but I'd have to speak to my partners first.
 
KofDelight said:
Would you think 5GB of space is sufficient for a business website as there will be videos on the site and flash?
Cause that is what the standard package is.

I suppose I could take the 10GB package,but I'd have to speak to my partners first.
Click to expand...
I suppose that would depend on the video quality and quantity. If it is just for a website, that would be enough. If you're talking about something like hosting eLearning courses or something like that, then that would be a different story, but just for a website... I can't see it taking up close to that amount and if it does, you should change it so that it is optimised for the web. Especially in SA where bandwidth isn't as cheap as other countries, you can't expect your visitors to use all that bandwidth just to browse your site.
 
KofDelight said:
Hi Guys
Most of you know that I am in the process of starting a business.

P.S, SMB = Small and Medium Business

I need help in selecting a reliable and affordable website host for the business and registering the domain name.One that does not have hassles and unnecessary paperwork and so on.

Please guys if you can assist, it would help me a lot.
Click to expand...

ViperGTI said:
I use Hetzner for everything. From domain registration to dedicated server hosting. (Have 2 with them)
Good prices and excellent service.
Click to expand...

+1 for Hetzner

They will register your domain for you, and you can get an entry level hosting package for R19 per month, which will give you shared web hosting on a Linux box, supporting PHP, (No databases though), and 20 mailboxes. 1.5GB bandwidth and 1GB disk space.
http://www.hetzner.co.za/webhosting/home/micro
 
matt said:
+1 for Hetzner

They will register your domain for you, and you can get an entry level hosting package for R19 per month, which will give you shared web hosting on a Linux box, supporting PHP, (No databases though), and 20 mailboxes. 1.5GB bandwidth and 1GB disk space.
http://www.hetzner.co.za/webhosting/home/micro
Click to expand...

Do you think I can use the R19 p/m package for a business starter?Cause I don't want to spend so much so soon on a site that's business barley took off the ground.
 
KofDelight said:
Do you think I can use the R19 p/m package for a business starter?Cause I don't want to spend so much so soon on a site that's business barley took off the ground.
Click to expand...

Depends on your requirements. A plain HTML or PHP site will do fine, and I doubt you would be doing massive amounts of traffic anyway. If you need more, you can upgrade to a business package later.

One thing to note is that the R19 package won't work for CMS systems like Wordpress because they would require a database.

Also check out WebAfrica
http://www.webafrica.co.za/hosting/?referrer=AFFCA5F&utm_medium=gigafan-link
(Has my referral link "whistling:)

Their starter pack is:
R19pm
750MB disk space
750MB traffic
FREE.co.za domain
FREE Google AdWords voucher
5 email addresses
Supports PHP5+ and Python

EDIT: with any of these hosting packages, you can start out on a basic package, and when you need more out of it, you can upgrade to a better package.

The important thing about choosing a hosting package it to know what the system requirements are for your website. Eg, is it written in PHP / ASP, etc, do you need a database (MySQL / MS SQL Server)
 
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KofDelight said:
I see the premium package is R1?????

I'm not understanding what they mean by it.I see the *details but I'm still confused.
Click to expand...

Looks like for the month you sign up, and the next month, it's just R1, and then R79 p/m thereafter.

I am assuming here that you want website and email hosting in addition to domain registration hey?
 
While I personally can't complain about WebAfrica's service, I've heard some bad reviews about them on MyBB. We used them a couple of years ago for a dedicated server and eventually moved to Hetzner because we were getting much better value for money.

The only other real problem we had with them is that they only host their servers in Cape Town which was a problem because of Verizon (I think) issues causing a break in the link between Jhb and Cpt which meant that we were cut off from our server at times.
 
KofDelight said:
Yes,I want everyone one time,less hassle by getting everything done at the same time.
Click to expand...

Then you should sign up for an appropriate hosting package, and they will handle domain registration on your behalf, and sort out DNS and all that sort of stuff.

I quite like Web Africa and Hetzner as service providers, you must just pick the package that would suit your needs the best.

For a small business site, the Premium package from Web Africa looks great, unlimited traffic and email addresses, and enough server side scripting options and unlimited databases. Just a limit on the disk space that they give you, but 5GB should be plenty unless you plan on having tons of media on your site.

Just make sure if you want your hosting on a Linux or a Windows server, the option is at the top. They are the same price, but if you want to run ASP .Net, or use a MS SQL Server database, you'll have to go for a Windows server.

Either option would allow you PHP and MySQL, and as such CMS systems like Wordpress or Joomla will work, but if you're going for one of those, Linux might be the better option.
 
ViperGTI said:
While I personally can't complain about WebAfrica's service, I've heard some bad reviews about them on MyBB. We used them a couple of years ago for a dedicated server and eventually moved to Hetzner because we were getting much better value for money.

The only other real problem we had with them is that they only host their servers in Cape Town which was a problem because of Verizon (I think) issues causing a break in the link between Jhb and Cpt which meant that we were cut off from our server at times.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, WA has a data center in JHB now as well. I've never had any issues with them, and I've found their customer support to be very good.

Speaking of Hetzner and Verizon, Hetzner's data center in JHB is actually in the same building as Verizon, they both run on MTN's network if I'm not mistaken. I've been in that data center a bunch of times.

Web Africa has their own backbone, and they used to run all their traffic on that, but I think they have now moved all their ADSL clients over onto the IS network, so their network is just for hosting clients now.

Disclaimer: This information is all off the top of my head, so I may be proven wrong on a point or two, or if things have changed, but I think it's all correct.
 
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