Computer Repairs, Computer Servicing - Computer Support in Devonport, Auckland, North Shore

Setting up your own website, with your own unique name, is a relatively easy and straightforward process - but only if you know what you are looking for and know which pitfalls to avoid!

The reason it appears confusing is simply because there are so many options and so many choices. As with many things with computers, it is best to keep things simple and straightforward. The primary pitfall to avoid is one of paying too much money for what is, essentially, a digitalised form of advertising.

There are basically three steps to setting up your own website:
(1) choose your Domain Name and get it officially registered
(2) choose your Domain Name holder - usually the same as in (1)
(3) choose a company to actually host your website

There are many places you can register your domain name. For example, an easy option which many people choose because they are not sure where else to go, is to register your domain name through your ISP. However, many of these companies (Xtra, ClearNet, iHug etc) actually charge a great deal of money for registering a domain name and 'holding' that name for you. What seems familiar may not be the best place to go at all! Have a look at: this chart to see a table of comparative costs for Domain Name registration and domain name holding.

Xtra charge $70 to set up your Domain Name and then $168 per year for a year's registration: total = $238 =gst for the first year
ClearNet charge $54 in registration fees and $89 for reserving your name for one year: total = $143.88 +gst for the first year
iHug charge $39.11 to register your Domain Name and then $74.66 per year: total = $122.65 +gst for the first year

Until very recently, all Domain Name registration had to be done through centralised domain name registrars. New Zealand's official body is DomainZ However, recently this has all been de-regulated and now there are a number of places you can go to to register your Domain Name. Where you register your domain name and who you register your domain name with is an important decision to make - it can make the difference of some $200.

This is an important point to note: when you register a domain name, you don't actually become the 'owner' of it. In fact, all you are doing is paying some money to 'reserve' that name for your exclusive use - for a maximum of ten years. In effect, you are 'renting' your domain name, so it pays to be careful not to choose an expensive landlord.

One of the least expensive companies which whom you can 'reserve' your name is FreeParking - http://www.freeparking.biz/ Since the de-regulation of the domain name business, they now able to conduct the initial registration of your domain name, for which they only charge $39.95 +gst. The cost for reserving that name for your exclusive use for one year is $0.00 - hence FreeParking! So, to reserve your domain name for your exclusive use, this is what you should do:

(1) Go to the Freeparking website, enter your chosen domain name in the 'Search for a domain name' field and choose which suffix you want (.com, .co.nz etc). The service will then check to see whether that domain name has already been taken and whether or not you can use it.
(2) If the domain name is available, click on 'continue' and follow the steps from there. Sign up for one or two (or more) years in advance, complete all the forms they ask of you and get your credit card ready. You only need to register the domain name at FreeParking, you don't need any other services from them such as webhosting or email hosting.
(3) Once completed, FreeParking will send you an email with your Domain Name nameholder ID and password. Keep this in a safe place. You will need this information to login at FreeParking when you want to change the details regarding your website later.

The next step is to find a company to host your website. This high-falutin' term boils down to something actually very simple. What it really means is 'renting a small amount of space on somebody's hard drive'.

Many webhosters have packages which offer 10MB, 20MB, 50MB or even 100MB of webspace - in other words, agreements for you to reserve different sized areas of their hard drive for your use, the greater the size, the greater the amount of rent. Unless you plan to serve music or movie files from your website, it is very unlikely that you will need more than 10MB of webspace. Many websites actually only take up less than 1MB of hard drive space! You would never rent a whole floor of an office block if all you were ever going to use was one small room. So it is with websites. Don't pay for more than you need.

The other confusing thing about these webhosting packages is all the other options they offer - SQL Databases, FrontPage Extensions, Perl /CGI support etc etc. Don't worry about all of these! Most webhosters offer different packages with all of these options.These are all quite specific things which you are unlikely to use unless you have specific needs such as e-commerce (and if you do need them, your webdesigner will tell you). For a simple website, all you need is a small amount of webspace and the facility to use a POP3 email server for your domain name email address. Once again, don't pay for services that you don't need and are never going to use.

Many people, again because they are not sure of where else to go, use the webhosting services of their ISP. However, note that some Internet Service Providers are actually relatively expensive webhosters.

One of the least expensive webhosting companies in New Zealand are Nethost. There is no charge to set up your account; and, with their 'Basic Plan', the monthly cost to rent 20MB of webspace is $10 (inclusive of GST).

To set up your webhosting, go to http://www.nethost.co.nz/ and complete the 'online hosting form' you will find there. You will need to provide your Domain Name Nameholder ID and password so that the website address can be directed to their computers. Otherwise, all you need is your credit card!