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June 2, 2017 8:38 PM Subscribe
Twenty years too late, probably, I have decided to set up a family domain. But, really, I have no idea what I'm doing. Basic, basic questions below.
I want to register a family domain (for example, chinagrover.com), so that the family all have emails (like, me@chinagrover.com). I would like to access GMail for these (for familiarity purposes).
Is this as simple as using Bluehost (or whomever is a quality hosting company) to purchase the domain, and "host" the website? What am I not considering in purchasing a domain, and allowing my family to use these services? Can I put artwork or pictures on my domain, or more accurately, how easy is that to do?
I am on a budget, but around ~$100 per year is doable for hosting.
(Bonus question: when purchasing a domain through these companies, will I own the domain, or will I be licensing it through the domain? My business got burned on that back 15 years ago.)
Thank you for any and all help you are able to provide!!
I want to register a family domain (for example, chinagrover.com), so that the family all have emails (like, me@chinagrover.com). I would like to access GMail for these (for familiarity purposes).
Is this as simple as using Bluehost (or whomever is a quality hosting company) to purchase the domain, and "host" the website? What am I not considering in purchasing a domain, and allowing my family to use these services? Can I put artwork or pictures on my domain, or more accurately, how easy is that to do?
I am on a budget, but around ~$100 per year is doable for hosting.
(Bonus question: when purchasing a domain through these companies, will I own the domain, or will I be licensing it through the domain? My business got burned on that back 15 years ago.)
Thank you for any and all help you are able to provide!!
It is pretty much that simple.
When you purchase the domain, you can opt to purchase things like E-mail hosting that'll allow you to make a bunch of mailboxes/e-mail addresses for your family, and host a web site. Creating a site is easy these days, with applications provided by the hosting service, or by sites like Squarespace.
You own the domain. It's yours to do with as you please. Keep in mind that it's yours for the duration of time that you've paid for, which can be for a long, long time. All service providers will remind you if your time is nearly up.
It's easy to use Gmail with these sites. Just go under Settings/Accounts and Import, and look under "Send mail as: / Check mail from other accounts:" Here you can add e-mail address and check them through POP3. You'll need to know some basic info such as the hosting company's SMTP server name and port. You can opt to leave messages on your site's server, or delete them.
Additionally, you can configure things on your hosting provider's end to forward e-mails to a Gmail account.
One thing to keep in mind: unless you're simply forwarding the e-mail to your Gmail account, you cannot force a check for new e-mail. Gmail will automatically poll your domain's e-mail accounts every so often. The more active it is, the more it'll check for mail. You can, however, manually check for mail by going under Settings/Accounts and Import/Check mail from other accounts and clicking "Check mail now." But that's a pain in the ass.
Shop around. You should easily be able to find a provider that'll give you a bunch of mailboxes, a bunch of storage space for e-mail, and a decent hosting package with a bunch of space and unlimited bandwidth for a web site, all for under US$100.
Three things to remember:
1) ALL of these companies have coupons/discount codes. Look around or call them directly.
2) Don't forget to sign up for WhoisGuard. Cheap/free way to have some privacy.
3) Look into security practices of these companies. Look for two-factor authentication, e-mail confirmation for log-in attempts/access, etc.
I've gone with Namecheap. They're super nice, I'm in agreement with their way of doing things/politics, and they're cheap. I've had no issues with them apart from the fact that they still use SMS for their two-factor auth, which is pizacrap. They've no phone support, but I've had nothing but good experiences with their online live chat tech support.
posted by herrdoktor at 9:20 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
When you purchase the domain, you can opt to purchase things like E-mail hosting that'll allow you to make a bunch of mailboxes/e-mail addresses for your family, and host a web site. Creating a site is easy these days, with applications provided by the hosting service, or by sites like Squarespace.
You own the domain. It's yours to do with as you please. Keep in mind that it's yours for the duration of time that you've paid for, which can be for a long, long time. All service providers will remind you if your time is nearly up.
It's easy to use Gmail with these sites. Just go under Settings/Accounts and Import, and look under "Send mail as: / Check mail from other accounts:" Here you can add e-mail address and check them through POP3. You'll need to know some basic info such as the hosting company's SMTP server name and port. You can opt to leave messages on your site's server, or delete them.
Additionally, you can configure things on your hosting provider's end to forward e-mails to a Gmail account.
One thing to keep in mind: unless you're simply forwarding the e-mail to your Gmail account, you cannot force a check for new e-mail. Gmail will automatically poll your domain's e-mail accounts every so often. The more active it is, the more it'll check for mail. You can, however, manually check for mail by going under Settings/Accounts and Import/Check mail from other accounts and clicking "Check mail now." But that's a pain in the ass.
Shop around. You should easily be able to find a provider that'll give you a bunch of mailboxes, a bunch of storage space for e-mail, and a decent hosting package with a bunch of space and unlimited bandwidth for a web site, all for under US$100.
Three things to remember:
1) ALL of these companies have coupons/discount codes. Look around or call them directly.
2) Don't forget to sign up for WhoisGuard. Cheap/free way to have some privacy.
3) Look into security practices of these companies. Look for two-factor authentication, e-mail confirmation for log-in attempts/access, etc.
I've gone with Namecheap. They're super nice, I'm in agreement with their way of doing things/politics, and they're cheap. I've had no issues with them apart from the fact that they still use SMS for their two-factor auth, which is pizacrap. They've no phone support, but I've had nothing but good experiences with their online live chat tech support.
posted by herrdoktor at 9:20 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
Once you own the domain it's yours as long as you pay for it. Sign up for email alerts from your hosting company or better yet set it up to auto-renew.
In my experience Dreamhost is pretty cheap. I have 4-5 domains hosted with them and pay maybe $200/yr.
Dreamhost makes it super easy to change your DNS settings for mail to gmail. You can set any domain up to use gmail in a few clicks.
(I'm not paid by dreamhost but I've been a happy customer since 1998.)
posted by bendy at 12:57 AM on June 3, 2017
In my experience Dreamhost is pretty cheap. I have 4-5 domains hosted with them and pay maybe $200/yr.
Dreamhost makes it super easy to change your DNS settings for mail to gmail. You can set any domain up to use gmail in a few clicks.
(I'm not paid by dreamhost but I've been a happy customer since 1998.)
posted by bendy at 12:57 AM on June 3, 2017
You can, however, manually check for mail by going under Settings/Accounts and Import/Check mail from other accounts and clicking "Check mail now." But that's a pain in the ass.
You can also just hit the Refresh button that's right above your Inbox. (Works as long as you have no messages checked.) I've been doing this for years with several email addresses fetched by Gmail. No pain in the ass at all.
posted by beagle at 5:57 AM on June 3, 2017
You can also just hit the Refresh button that's right above your Inbox. (Works as long as you have no messages checked.) I've been doing this for years with several email addresses fetched by Gmail. No pain in the ass at all.
posted by beagle at 5:57 AM on June 3, 2017
The absolute easiest way to purchase a domain and build a website is through Squarespace. With a 10% off coupon for a year it's about $130. For the email hosting, they integrate with Gmail for another $50/user/year which is pretty steep though. I use Zoho for free email on my domains, but I'm not sure how to set that up with Squarespace. Their support is good though, they can probably help you out.
There is definitely cheaper ways to do this (ie Bluehost, etc), but I currently don't have anybody else to recommend that I've been happy with recently.
posted by cgg at 8:12 AM on June 3, 2017
There is definitely cheaper ways to do this (ie Bluehost, etc), but I currently don't have anybody else to recommend that I've been happy with recently.
posted by cgg at 8:12 AM on June 3, 2017
One thing not mentioned so far is that the domain can be from a different company than the web site hosting. You buy the domain name from a domain registrar; I use Namecheap. The website hosting is (or can be) totally separate; you could even run your website on your own computer at home, though that's not really worth the effort. I use NearlyFreeSpeech for hosting sites that get little traffic, because the costs are so little (under ten dollars a year), but also have more-trafficked sites hosted on Namecheap for about $20/quarter.
That is, the domain is just the internet address, and the hosting is the actual "property" (i.e. files) pointed to by the address.
posted by anadem at 9:04 AM on June 3, 2017
That is, the domain is just the internet address, and the hosting is the actual "property" (i.e. files) pointed to by the address.
posted by anadem at 9:04 AM on June 3, 2017
beagle: Holy cow. I always thought that clicking that button refreshed only Gmail mail! Thanks for the tip!
posted by herrdoktor at 6:20 PM on June 3, 2017
posted by herrdoktor at 6:20 PM on June 3, 2017
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posted by metahawk at 9:18 PM on June 2, 2017