Domain name and search engine

[Claire]

I'm new at website development and need help..How do I go about getting a domain name ?..Once I get it ,how do I get it to register good results with search engines??Also, how do I go about setting up my site to accept credit card numbers for purchases? Thanks for the help.....

[cobra]

Claire,
Internic is the "governing" body of domain names, all domain names go through them. I believe it is $35/year for each name. Then you need to have a host, which some are very cheap, I have one for $5.95/month, that is w/out e-commerce(which can get expensive) Usually there is a set up fee($25-50). As for e-commerce, I would recommend going through one of these "pre-packaged" deals (unless you are an experienced web/-ecommerce designer It can be a full time job in itself.
Just search for web hosting and the list is long, they can search for a domain name for you, even register it with Internic for you.
Good Luck!

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Miami, flee it like a native.

[Statica]

Hi Cobra:
What host do you use @ 5.95/mth, I'd appreciate it if you could send me a link. Thanx

Claire:
Though Internic [blech!] does have a $35/mth fee, you can find some places offer it at much subsidized rates .. my suggestion would be to go to http://www.internic.net/regist.html and look for the list of accredited registrars, now surf thru the ones closest to you [say the US] and check out their rates. As a matter of preferences, if you do find one that suits your purposes, make sure to check if they have 24/7 support or if they have a web based control panel EVEN for domain parking/registration services, I cant tell you how annoying it is to go to a site that doesnt have it, and you need to tweak the DNS servers.

Usually search engines are best subscribed to individually, make sure that you have proper META headers and robot.txt files in your webpages/public_html. I'll post a link to a unified search engine submission site [I cant find it at the moment and our webmaster is 'missing in action'], or you can even search out such sites from the web. In addition if you are proficient in PERL etc. and do have a NIX, you can get such codes from places like freshmeat.net

Good luck.

[cobra]

www.hostsave.com
When I signed up about a year ago w/ them it was $5.95/mo.

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Miami, flee it like a native.

[Statica]

Hi Cobra:
thats who I used too It was $6.95/mth when i'd used them and still is.
U got them at a low point .. cheers!!
Thanx for the info



[This message has been edited by Ex-Static-Cling (edited 07-25-2000).]