domains & hosting

Domain Name Registration

Once your site is built, you’ll need a place to put it on the Web so others can see it. This means registering a unique domain name (the “address” users will type in to view your site) that can be the “address” for your website and email addresses .  You want it to be easy to remember, easy to spell, and relatively short.

Why reserve your domain name through AndiSites?

• AndiSites partners with the largest wholesaler of Internet domains in the world to provide you with domain names that are often unavailable through other registrars.
• Our powerful domain name servers (or DNS, the computers that “serve” requests for your website or email address) are configured for the quickest possible access.  Also, whereas most companies offer customers only one or two domain servers–one main, one for backup–AndiSites domains are backed by six servers distributed around the U.S. The result?  Superior connectivity and reliability.
• Our domain store is always open, so you can register domain names anytime, day or night.
• With AndiSites, you can be sure that once your domain name is reserved, nobody else will be able to access it unless you either cancel the registration or let it expire.

Pricing

Standard domain name registration (.com, .net, .org, .biz) is free for the first year with any new website.  After that, it’s just $12.00/year.  There’s no obligation to get a website built right away, so feel free to register as many as you’d like.  We can also provide non-standard domain names for an additional charge (.name, .me, .tv, .eu, etc.).

Ready to register?  Contact us.

Web Hosting

Once you have a domain name registered and a website built, you’ll need a web host to handle your site files and make them available for the world to see.  A web host’s computer servers (basically, really big computers with powerful software installed to “serve” a particular purpose) are hooked up to the Internet round-the-clock.  All your site files (HTML, graphics, CSS, databases, Javascripts, etc.) are hosted on these computers, connected to your domain name, and accessed whenever someone types your web address into their browser.

Why host your website with AndiSites?

• Many web hosts are simply resellers for the hosting giants you’re probably already familiar with (GoDaddy, Yahoo, Network Solutions, Hostgator, etc.).  Many of these behemoths are in turn resellers for other, even larger, hosting providers.  Websites hosted with these services share computer space with millions of other clients, which can often result in slow performance and customer service issues.  AndiSites has its own dedicated server, with 24/7/365 customer service and monitoring provided by The Planet, the #1 dedicated server hosting provider in the world.  This means your site is sharing space only with AndiSites’ other clients, resulting in better performance and more reliable customer service.
• Because AndiSites has its own server, we can control what software is installed on the system.  So if, for example, your website requires a particular version of PHP or a particular type of image handling software to function to its fullest, we can install it on the server within minutes.  Try getting a big hosting provider to do that…they’ll probably tell you they can’t.
• Hosting an AndiSites-built website on AndiSites servers means guaranteed performance and easier administration.  Because the site will be hosted on the testing area of our server while it’s being built, moving it over to your domain is a snap–plus, you’ll know that it will work exactly the same way as it did during testing (not always the case when we move a site to another hosting provider)  It’s also much easier for us to access the files for updating, bug fixes, and general maintenance.
• Because our main business is web design/development and not hosting, we can offer you dedicated-server service at shared-server prices.  We’re not in hosting to make money; rather, it’s an easy way for our customers to get all they need at one place, and we can have better control over how your site runs.
• Many large, community-based sites simply won’t run on large shared hosting services.  For example, The Spinistry is built on a WordPress multi-user platform with a BuddyPress networking layer (in layman’s terms, kinda like a streamlined Facebook).  With more files, multiple blogs, more users, and more simultaneous activity than a standard website, it needs the enterprise-level power that AndiSites hosting provides in order to move.  With most consumer-level hosting services, it would literally stand still.

Pricing

Our basic web hosting plan has more than enough storage space to host all your files; generous bandwidth that allows thousands of visitors to cruise your site each month; unlimited email addresses that can be administered and checked through any Internet connection or forwarded to another email address, Outlook, or a mobile email device; 24/7 monitoring with regular backups; and a 100% uptime guarantee (if your site goes down because of an issue with our hosting server, we’ll give you that month’s hosting free).

The basic web hosting plan is free for the first year with any new website.  After that, it’s $6.95/month for actors, artists, individuals, and non-profits; and $10.95/month for businesses and organizations.

If you have an unusually large enterprise-level site (we’ll let you know that as we’re building it), upgraded plans are available for an additional monthly cost; however, the Basic Plan will fit most AndiSites customers.