New to the nerdery so forgive me if this is a rookie mistake, but I'm interested in a domain name currently owned by someone else. I just started the GoDaddy Domain Buy Service, but I'm assuming it'll be a ripoff.

Is there a fellow Ag I can lean on for advice and support as I navigate the waters of building out a website? If not, is there a company in Houston I can work with to setup a solid, digital foundation?

Not a ripoff if you can get the donain name. Do you know who owns it? Have you contacted the directly to see if they are willing to sell it?

You can go to WhoIs to see who currently owns the domain, should be contact info there.

n_touch said:

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Not a ripoff if you can get the donain name. Do you know who owns it? Have you contacted the directly to see if they are willing to sell it?

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Yeah, unfortunately it's owned via proxy so there's no personal information.

GoDaddy essentially gives you 3 options for hosting once your domain is taken care of: 1) hire GoDaddy to build your website for $800 or so 2) use GoDaddy Builder or whatever they call it where you tell them the type of business and they prepopulate one of their templates with somewhat relevant language and you can tweak a few things (they advertise this as building a website in less than an hour - which is true but it will be super generic) or 3) use Wordpress to either build a website from scratch or choose a theme and modify most of the site to your liking.

I've been toying with the idea of doing some digital marketing work on the side, so I'd be interested in helping / supporting. Send me a PM if you'd like.

Can you post the domain name?

I've purchased domains multiple times from people by just directly calling/emailing them. When there is a proxy, you just have to do more digging.

There are public records to search, etc.

as someone who has recently built an informational site that solves a basic problem, I did it in WordPress on the recommendation of others and it was simple.

If you get the domain through GoDaddy, immediately transfer to someone like Hover. GoDaddy isn't exactly crooked, but there are much better places to do business with.

I've had 100+ domains with Godaddy for over a decade, never had the slightest bit of an issue with them.

Sling Blade said:

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Can you post the domain name?

I've purchased domains multiple times from people by just directly calling/emailing them. When there is a proxy, you just have to do more digging.

There are public records to search, etc.

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Can you PM me your email address? I'd love to discuss more.

I use DreamHost to host a WordPress site. Never had any issues with it.

I've used WP Engine and Flywheel and both are great.

Any opinions on the other website building companies, Squarespace or Wix? I think Squarespace was about 200/yr to use their template.

I buy domain names on Namecheap and host WordPress on Digital Ocean. I have found it to be the best value in terms of cost and reliability and as an added bonus you won't get calls every single day (GoDaddy).

Namecheap is pretty straightforward, but setting up WordPress on Digital Ocean can be slightly more confusing if you have never done it. I would be happy to help if anyone has questions on getting that set up.

If you want to signup for Digital Ocean, I will leave me referral link here. $10 credit to you when you sign up using that link.

CapCity, did you buy a theme or use a free theme. I'm doing the same and curious what you did. What theme did you choose?

Sling Blade said:

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Can you post the domain name?

I've purchased domains multiple times from people by just directly calling/emailing them. When there is a proxy, you just have to do more digging.

There are public records to search, etc.

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If possible, I'd like to avoid GoDaddy at all cost. I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'll never get the $65 back I spent on their "services". The website I was looking to purchase is www.crypsiscamo.com

I use a company called iPage with Wordpress. They have cheap rates and the support is great.