[Muse]

Hello! I would like to seek advice based on experiences on whether I should be registering a domain name with the .com.hk or internationally with the .com only. As well, in searching for a web designer and provider, I often note that these providers offer to domain registry as well. I'm thinking of opening a company-based website for my company but really don't have much clue on the above. Thanks!

[penguinsix]

Get both. A .com costs $9 US or something through Yahoo. You can put in redirects so they both go to the same webpage.

[KnowItAll]

Highly recommend both Yahoo and 1&1 for registering your domain and hosting your website.

Summaries of their offerings are on DevLib (one of our sites)
Yahoo Hosting

1&1

Recommend Yahoo if you're a complete novice.

1) Do not allow your web designer to register the domain on your behalf .. like you would not register your apartment in your interior decorators name.

2) Ditto for hosting.

Both Yahoo and 1&1 offer several templates which you can put together into a neat and useable site.

A good place for designers -- www.designoutpost.com

[Ohlala]

Register with .com or .com.hk doesn’t make too much difference but you may concern the following:

- Cost for .com is a little bit higher than .com.hk because of its internationality
- .com or .com.hk is depends on the majority of your target market. When your business is mainly for international customer, .com is recommended. If you are more focus on the local market and would like to emphasize it, then .com.hk is more suitable.

Agree with KnowItAll. You don’t really need someone to register the domain name for you since it is like finger clicking easy. And at the end of the day, the service charge will be on you.

[tvrlover]

Originally Posted by Muse

Hello! I would like to seek advice based on experiences on whether I should be registering a domain name with the .com.hk or internationally with the .com only. As well, in searching for a web designer and provider, I often note that these providers offer to domain registry as well. I'm thinking of opening a company-based website for my company but really don't have much clue on the above. Thanks!

hosting
I would go with these: .com/.hk/.co.hk and .net.

If it's a fairly small site, you can use shared hosting:
www.ipowerweb.com
if you're having a large site with a lot of traffic, I suggest a VPS or a dedicated self-managed server, try: valueweb for that.

domains
http://www.jump.com.hk/

marketing
As a past "dot-commer" if I may suggest, make sure you're ninche marketing and not blowing money on adwords or overture and don't expect traffic to just pour in. Build the site SE optimize it and buy/get PR, you'll see the sales come in when your marketing plan takes shape.

good luck

[bbchris]

actually .com is cheaper than a .com.hk
Try godaddy.com for .com

Also people are still used to typing in just .com
and it's wordy when you are talking about your website
Visit our website - name is mycompanyname dot com is so much
easier to remember than mycompanyname dot com dot H K

And yes register the domain names yourself.

If you are needing a website for your company, I would recommend you hire a web designer to layout the site initially. Then either get a webmistress or someone in your company to maintain the site.

Yes it's cheaper to 'design it yourself' but if you're a company, a well-designed website is actually cheap and pays for itself in the long run. (And it probably looks a damn sight better too.)

Good luck!

[KnowItAll]

Godaddy is ok. We have a couple of hundred active domains with them. They annoy me... given that they try and sell you a LOT of crap that you don't need.

No clue why anyone would recommend a Hong Kong based design and hosting company... pretty much clueless .. and yes, you'll here crap like "buy links and PR" from them.

No disrespect meant.. but I'd not bother with them.

Their own site is broken ... shows you how seriously they take their business.

http://www.jump.com.hk/webhosting.html

Click on "Billing and Payment". Bleah....

[Muse]

Hey..Thanks for all your suggestions - very helpful. And yes, I'm a complete novice at all this. My company in progress is a 'one-person' show and therefore, I'll eventually need to be looking for a host/designer. I will not be designing it myself as I agree that a professional look is necessary. I do have a concept of what my website should look like although I assume that it will boil down to cost. I intend to go into the 'e-tailing' and therefore would need a shopping cart link etc..and so web-sharing may not be that appropriate. In any case, thanks!! for all your suggestions and good luck wishes. I'll definitely need the luck as I'm a little !!! with thinking about all this (a little on the low-tech mentality side although trying to go up the vertical learning curve on this). Cheers,

[gdawe5]

I'd recommend buying a .com name from Go Daddy, excellent Customer Service.

Perhaps get hosted with Liquid Web (no need to be hosted with a HK company, they probably get their hosting abroad anyway).

As for HK Designers, I think there's some good ones around.

[bbchris]

If you like the look of this site:
http://aresoncpa.com
then contact me privately.
My friend is a web designer
and she designed that site.
Thanks!