Sup techie peoples. I've done a little light reading and searching. But, didn't find much specific.

So. My partner and I are starting a business. I get my ABN number in a few days, and insurance etc shortly. But, that is not the problem at hand! I wanna make a website to advertise etc. But, wanting to see what is around. I wanna just start on a free one, and see how I go. I've gone looking for the free host's. But, what I found where all pretty lame, and seemed like if I used my domain name, I'd lose it forever if I wanted to own a proper site.

So. What do people recommend I try? And, go about building and getting it out there. I have okish photoshop skillz, so, how would I utilize this into the crap, I mean free webhost?

Any info you think would be usefull to me, would be a great help. Thanks guys.

I say run your own IIS/Apache server on your machine. You can get the feel of what works etc.

When you like it, stop being a tight-arse and go pay the $5.95 a month it will cost for a US based webhost and show everyone else from there

You expect someone who seemly doesn't know much about it to be able to setup and manage an iis or apache server? Just because you know how to do it doesn't mean everyone will find it as simple as you.

Seriously for the $5/month it costs to get some server space it's worth it. The 'free' sites are a waste of time.

http://www.hostgator.com/ -easy, cheap, good support and a great interface with everything you would need.

My partner or I have no idea what IIS or Apache even is....



Cheers man. I'll look into those tomorrow and see what I come up with.

Anyone who has the nouse to do their own webpage has the nouse to read the readme and set up a home webserver. Not like a lot of management is required.

You've obviously never done web support.

i use Hosting24. i've found them to be pretty good. very good packages. well priced and good support.

All I can say is good luck. When you have no prior skills with HTML, you are probably worth shelling out the cash and paying somebody to create a site for you. Chances are you will create something that looks butt ugly and only works in 1 browser (the one you created the site in).

I'm not a total newb with computers and stuff, And. Not a fan of paying someone for something I can attempt at doing myself. Everything is planed now, and will start on something soon. Thanks for the input guys.

That's why I wished you good luck. Anybody can slap HTML together, but given you have no skill in doing so, you are setting yourself up for dissapointment. Practice making pages for a personal blog or something before exposing your customers to an amateur webpage.

protip: www.monstertemplates.com

they have free ones

and hosting - do NOT buy australian hosting, they will charge you x10 of what you can get from some company in america.

If you want a hand with the specifics, send me a PM and I'll help a brother out.

But I'm not interested in explaining the entire system nor teaching you HTML, so dont ask that

Basically:
(1) Work out a domain name you want. If its .au it has to be relevant to your business, and will require you putting your ABN against it. If its .com/net/org/info/etc, then pretty much anything goes. Somewhere like Intaserve or Cove or Hightekhosting will register a domain name for .au... .com/net/org/info/etc can be done at a huge variety of places. (I recommend http://www.dreamhost.com for .com/net/org/info, they dont do .au)
(2) Signup with a host (I recommend http://www.dreamhost.com with the promo code 100PERCENT)
(3) Assign the hosts nameservers to your domain name (Usually ns1.hostingcompany.com / ns2.hostingcompany.com
(4) Upload webpage, create email accounts, do whatever the hell you want it for.



NB - Dont waste your time on a free host. Theyre shit, full of ads, shit, full of ads and shit. Complete waste of your time, and you'll end up ditching it anyway. A domain name costs all of $10/year, and hosting around $10/month (or less, depending on options).

Thanks mate. I'll shoot a PM soon. Waiting for the ABN and such. Dont want you to teach me nothing technical, dont worry. I wont ask about HTML. lol.

why would you be "waiting for you abn"? you get it as soon as you submit your application online, which takes all of 15 minutes. only thing you really wait for is your ABR. even the certificate of registration of a business name only takes 2 hours from application..

They told me three 3 weeks...

who is they? did you do it through the ATO website or through one of these "we'll help you start your company" places?

Thats what me ma said. I just finished the GST stuff and submitted. Hopefully you are right! Went through the ATO website.

have you bought the domain yet?

namecheap are good

Bwahaha. I got myself Dreamweaver CS4 thinking it was reasonably easy to use (Drag, type etc) Buggered if I know HTML! lol!!

Anyone suggest a good tutorial I can read up on? Sorry I r noob, but I got nothing better to use.

To quote TRK..

jks..

Youtube is always great for tutorials on Adobe suite stuff... Other than that, there's no quick way to learn html, but it is stupidly simple once you get the hang of it.. Try also googling 'free css templates', and downloading a couple and looking through the code to see how they are put together.. you'll get the hang of it, it's definitely not rocket science.

goodluck.

Suck it up, pay for somebody else to do it. You will get far better results.