So, I’ve discovered that my IRL name is available as a domain name (Mariusvanderlubbe.com, who’d have thunk it*). It occurs to me that I could purchase the domain name, stick a version of my resume on it, and get my email at marius@mariusvanderlubbe.com.
I have no clue how to do this. If I had to do it today, I’d buy it via dreamhost, and…well, then I don’t know. How does this work?
*I might be joking.
Find a domain registrar that supports address redirection so you don’t have to set up your own email/web servers.
The registrar I use (namecheap.com) will allow you to set up your domain so that anyone who types in “Mariusvanderlubbe.com” in their browser will get redirected to a web address of your choice (for instance: example.wordpress.com). Namecheap also can redirect any emails with “@Mariusvanderlubbe.com” in them to any email you select (for instance: example@gmail.com).
Dreamhost probably isn’t the best choice for this. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and use them for like 7 different websites, but they’re tailored towards advanced users and are not the easiest to use for a simple website.
You probably want something with more simplicity and less raw power… 1and1 seems to offer a simple package with a no-coding-involved website builder (including resume functions) and hosted email, together. Never used them though, so not sure how good they are.
You can also optionally consider using a service like Flavors.me for a prettier online presence, but I’m not sure how work they well with custom email addresses. I know they support custom domains as part of their premium service, but email addresses are different and they make no mention of MX settings and the like – this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s altogether impossible, but it will be more work.
Godaddy will currently fill the needs you indicate for $2.99 a month: http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?ci=9009
Web-hosting + “free” domain name. How well their interface is suited your level of expertice I don’t know, but I expect, as they’re one of the more visible providers, they’re used to handle quite clueless customers. (Not that I’m calling you clueless, but if they can handle the clueless they can handle the clued.)
I’ve been considering getting a 1and1 site. I’ll keep an eye on this thread and see if anyone has any experience with it.
I’ve had excellent experience for several years with Lunarpages. My sites use gigabytes and high bandwidth with no problem. Customer service via e-mail has been prompt and helpful. They’ve offered free software (though I’ve not taken advantage). E-mail and domain names are just a click away. … it’s just a click away … it’s just a click away (apologies to Rolling Stones).
I see that they quote “Starter Blog Hosting - $3.95/mo” with $7.95/year per domain name. I pay about twice that – offhand I’m not even sure of the name of the program I have, but as I say, hosting has been excellent in every way.
I’ve had good experience with Tiger Technologies, and bad experience with GoDaddy. There are much better choices available than GoDaddy.
I use Bluehost. Can’t compare them to anyone else, because they’re the only host I’ve used, but it works well enough.
My question, which I don’t need the answer to any time soon, is: When I decide to host my own web/email server, how does that work? How do I get DNS to stop associating my domain name with bluehost.com’s servers, and associate it with my own? Is self hosting possible at all if my server is behind a NAT router? How about if it has a dynamically assigned IP address? Is it possible to host my own web page, but have it fall back to bluehost or somebody if my server goes down?
I wouldn’t host email if I were you (it gets pretty hairy), but web traffic is fairly trivial. Assuming you have a reasonably static IP, you can do it on your home ISP connection (I do). Just have your router forward the appropriate ports to whatever on your network is hosting services.
Your domain provider should have a control panel where you can direct yourdomainname.org, www.yourdomainname.org, etc. to whatever IP you want.
AFAIK, there’s no option for failover, but dynamic IPs aren’t a problem. You can sign up for any of a dozen dynamic IP services, and get a domain like drcube.somedynamicipcompany.com, and set your own domain to redirect to that domain name.
Having a domain is super-cheap, and for most providers, basic services aren’t too difficult to set up, so I’d recommend it to anyone who thinks they want one.
My suggestion is to buy the domain at Namecheap and host a simple Wordpress site at Hostgator.
Depending on the name, you should be able to purchase it at less than $12 per year and hosting shouldn’t cost more than $9 per month…less if you pay annually.
You can bypass hosting and simply purchase the URL and have an email address that redirects to your current email addy, but if you want to post a resume on an actual site, you’ll need hosting and a very simple build option, which is why I recommend Wordpress.
The process is fairly easy, but if you’d rather not tinker with it then I suggest purchasing the name and the hosting and then hiring someone at Fiverr to install Wordpress and post your resume for you.
If you think you may want more sites in the future, though, you really should do it yourself. There are plenty of YouTube tutorials that can walk you through the process from start to finish. If taking that route, I highly recommend Tyler Moore’s channel.
Your domain name is independent of your hosting (technically, anyhow - I don’t know anything at all about bluehost). You should just be able to request the transfer of the domain to the DNS provider of your choice. You can easily host behind a NAT router with a bit of pinholing/port forwarding. However, some ISPs are experimenting with what is called Carrier Grade NAT - i.e. NATting a bunch of residential customers behind a single IP address. You cannot easily host in that situation, and would require a static IP address that is your own. I know that DynDNS provide additional services (such as fallback web hosting/mail hosting) but that is only because I use them and it has worked for me for years.
I have hosted my own mail server for years. It has been about as hirsute as a billiard ball - with one proviso: you need to route your email out through a trusted host. I use DynDNS (I do have a static IP address, though) - I transferred my domain name to them, and I pay for 150 outgoing emails per day. It means my emails don’t get blocked at receiving SMTP servers for coming from a residential IP block. My server is linux (low power AMD processor, running SME), secure, easy to set up and runs for months at a time without attention.
Thanks for the tips, team.
A3D
Namecheap is offering the first year of a *.me domain name for $0.98.
So it used to be .yu, and now it is .me? That’s adorable.