New web domain and email hosting recommendations

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jasonownsansw20

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#239789 3-Aug-2018 21:08

Hi All

Im starting a small business and im wanting to buy a new web domain name and have up to 3 emails hosted ideally using G-suite for emails and wanting to park a webpage and ideally build a website myself (or alternatively if anyone can recommend someone that can build a good website for an affordable price) might be easier to give that workload to someone else. im wanting to be able to add content to it myself after its complete to keep it up to date.
the hosting will be ideally in nz and NZD (visited by kiwis mainly) most kiwis seem to be used to a .co.nz domain

Can anyone provide me with some recommendations im not sure how much these things cost exactly not wanting to be held to ransom just want to get a good deal. im hesitant at even typing in my desired domain knowing that theres software out there that can snap up recently searched domains before people decide to purchase them to inflate the price.

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#2067807 3-Aug-2018 21:22

just go to discount domains and buy the domain you want its easy as to do, if you are going to buy the .co.nz buy the .nz one as well, once you have the domain then look for a web guy. secure that domain first

timmmay

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#2067813 3-Aug-2018 21:38

I do a bit of small business email / web work. I agree that Google is good for email, easy, fairly bulletproof. For your website SquareSpace is easy and makes nice websites, so long as you don't want anything too unusual or unique. I got a very basic but functional website up in 3 hours on SquareSpace for a friend's restaurant business a few weeks ago, no images, but with an extensive menu, map, front page, etc.

I think you can do this yourself, though some guidance might be helpful. I'm not really taking on work right now, not until September. But you can post here and myself and many others will help if they can.

First, register the domain - Metaname is a good registrar - ugly website but they have good technical stuff. Discount domains is good too, as is 1st domains.

Next sign up for Google Email. They have good instructions. Try to get SPF records set up.

Next sign up for SquareSpace. They also have good instructions. Use a template closest to what you need.

jasonownsansw20

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2067827 3-Aug-2018 22:55

Hi all thanks for the replies already!

Some more quick questions what kind of price sounds ok for a domain is $19/yr ok?

also purchasing additional domains with different suffix is it easy enough to have these re-direct to a single page?

When you say SPF records what are you referring to?

Also once you have purchased the domain how are the emails with matching domain handled/created? do you pay a yearly fee for each one or are they part of a package with the domain or?
can the emails be created using Gsuite?

If im creating a page myself do I need a provider to host the webpage, are there fees for this also?

Im obviously totally new to this haha

michaelmurfy

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#2067839 4-Aug-2018 00:02

Squarespace is the way to go here for the website stuff. You can have a site up in no time.

As for the domain - Metaname is by far the best: https://metaname.net/ - Just purchase the domain first even if you're not going to use it right away. I'd personally go with a .nz domain name instead of a .co.nz or if possible, just purchase both and redirect the .co.nz to the .nz (easy to do in Metaname also).

For email, I really do recommend GSuite for Business. It is only $5/mo/user but is easy to get set up and just works.

The SPF record is key to securing your email. GSuite offers a whole bunch of email security that you do want to get set up. If @timmmay isn't free then flick me a PM and I can likely help out with all this.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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mattwnz

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#2067840 4-Aug-2018 00:10

Depends if you want to own the website, or just rent it. SAAS websites all seem to quite restrictive compared to using a CMS like wordpress. Also depends on your technical knowledge and how much hand holding you need.

timmmay

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#2067854 4-Aug-2018 06:18

Based on your questions I suggest you have someone do this for you. It's all trivially easy for someone who's done it a few times, but you'll possibly struggle and have problems, mess things up. Perhaps get @michaelmurfy to help you, I do offer this service as part of a side business I run but I'm too busy until September. As a general guide, it'd take me a couple of hours to set up your email, 2-8 hours to set up a basic website based on content you supply, plus between 1 and 20 hours communication time to work out what you want - the more you want to talk and the more detailed your requirements the more it'll cost you. Most professionals will charge $70 to $150 per hour for their time for this level of work.

$19/year per domain is cheap, it's usually more expensive than that. Yes you can redirect other domains to the main domains.

Antispam technologies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sender_Policy_Framework
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DomainKeys_Identified_Mail

Once you have the domain you set up the service, which associates the domain with the service and lets you receive email. You usually pay per email account - each account can have multiple addresses. eg sales@example.com and fred@example.com can go to the same inbox, with nelly@example.com and support@example.com going to another email box.

SquareSpace for website.

jarledb

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#2067863 4-Aug-2018 08:42

A little tip if you want to use Squarespace:

Use this to get 10% off your first order on Squarespace:

Link: squarespace.com/talkshow and enter code TALKSHOW

Jarle Dahl Bergersen | Referral Links: Want $50 off when you join Octopus Energy? Use this referral code
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modcar

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#2067926 4-Aug-2018 10:33

Checkout http://hostingnz.co.nz

They support virtually any content management system, and have a Web Builder too.

Nz based servers, nz based support

AKT

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#2075308 18-Aug-2018 14:52

I need to do virtually the same thing as the OP. Which way did you go in the end? I need a pretty basic website (not selling anything on it, possibly with a contact me form but that’s as complex as it will get). I’d wanted to have multiple email addresses but don’t care if they all end up in one place. I’ve not really looked at G-suite as I had thought that each email address would equate to a user, which can add up quickly, but it sounds like this is incorrect, judging from one of the posts above. Fax-to-email is important too, but I think this is something that most VoiP providers do.

OP, have you done it yet and any tips from your experience?

Thanks

jarledb

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#2075318 18-Aug-2018 15:04

AKT:

I need to do virtually the same thing as the OP. Which way did you go in the end? I need a pretty basic website (not selling anything on it, possibly with a contact me form but that’s as complex as it will get).

Squarespace is $144 USD per year.

You can get hosted WordPress at WordPress.com - thats $96 USD per year.

With WordPress.com you can easily migrate to self hosted WordPress in the future if you need a more advanced website.

I’d wanted to have multiple email addresses but don’t care if they all end up in one place. I’ve not really looked at G-suite as I had thought that each email address would equate to a user, which can add up quickly, but it sounds like this is incorrect, judging from one of the posts above.

You can set up a total of 30 aliases per user on Google Suite. Can not recommend Google Mail enough, its a really good service.

You can also set up alias domains. So if you have example.com and 1example.com you can quickly have email adresses for both on the same subscription, without any extra cost.

Fax-to-email is important too, but I think this is something that most VoiP providers do.

I would think so too, but I have not used fax in many years. When we stopped using fax we were really only getting spam to the fax number, nothing else.

Do people still use fax?

AKT

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#2075324 18-Aug-2018 15:13

jarledb:

Do people still use fax?

Unfortunately they do. it is seen as being 'secure' in the industry I work in. I suspect that at some stage we'll discover that we've all been using fax machines to receive email-to-fax messages!

My email has to be secure too, but given that the privacy commissioner can only recommend a single provider of secure email (where both parties need to have subscribed) which no-one I know uses, I figured G-suite would be fine.

Thanks for your tips.

nunz

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#2079057 25-Aug-2018 15:39

Sitehost http://sitehost.co.nz. Easy to use portal, fast as servers and absolutely insanely good service. They may cost slightly more but we are talking the price of a cup of coffee not a kings ransom here.

nunz

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Uber Geek
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#2079059 25-Aug-2018 15:45

AKT:

I need to do virtually the same thing as the OP. Which way did you go in the end? I need a pretty basic website (not selling anything on it, possibly with a contact me form but that’s as complex as it will get). I’d wanted to have multiple email addresses but don’t care if they all end up in one place. I’ve not really looked at G-suite as I had thought that each email address would equate to a user, which can add up quickly, but it sounds like this is incorrect, judging from one of the posts above. Fax-to-email is important too, but I think this is something that most VoiP providers do.

OP, have you done it yet and any tips from your experience?

Thanks

A

fax2email. Check out 2Talk.co.nz. A few bucks per month or pay per call.

Gmail - like most other providers give you aliases. An alias is an email address that points at another mail box. e.g. you have one mail box for say joe.Bloggs@example.com. THen setup an alias or two for joe@, joeB2 j.bloggs@ etc and point them all at joe.bloggs@exampl.com all mail to all those addresses goes to the one box.

Again - sitehost. NZ based. Awesome support. Not too expensive. They allow nicknames / aliases as well. https://kb.sitehost.nz/cp-mail/add-nicknames

Also do site hosting. https://kb.sitehost.nz/cp-websites/website-create

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OwenWatson

93 posts

Master Geek

#2080502 28-Aug-2018 23:14

Would hostingnz.co.nz be any better than openhost.co.nz? I've got a small site on openhost and I'm a bit fed up with Wordpress timeouts (in admin mode, so no blaming filesizes etc).

jarledb

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#2080516 28-Aug-2018 23:58

OwenWatson:

Would hostingnz.co.nz be any better than openhost.co.nz? I've got a small site on openhost and I'm a bit fed up with Wordpress timeouts (in admin mode, so no blaming filesizes etc).

I would recommend you take a look at Cloudways with a Vultr server in Australia. Will probably work better than any shared hosting for the money you probably spend on it.

Hostingnz.co.nz seems to have very tight packages.

With Cloudways and Vultr you get a VPS server with 1 CPU, 1GB RAM and 25GB with storage for $11 USD a month.

Their stack with Varnish caching is really speedy. You can choose more RAM and CPU if you need it, and scaling up is at a click of a button. (Scaling down is harder, unless you choose some of the more expensive providers).

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