Starting a side business

[zhandfull]

Owned two small business in the past. One as a contractor providing services the other was retail with storefront.

Thinking about starting a new side business. Could be sales, services, or consulting. Really not sure yet.

Working on a generic business name that is available with .com

Any advice on acquiring and setting up a domain name? Currently looking on domain.com

Should I pay extra for the privacy option?

 

[brecht]

Yes, but a lot of registrars do privacy for free. Without it you'll just end up with a bunch of spam since anyone who does a lookup of your domain will get your info (name, email, address, etc)

I use either namecheap.com or porkbun.com

cloudflare.com also does domains and I've heard good things but haven't used them

 

[COCA COLA COWBOY]

So, the Internet stuff shouldn't be hard and there are others that will chime in with GoDaddy and whatnot. What I want to say is I have been hiring people in the Philippines for $4/hour for calling, social media and miscellaneous marketing. I'm about to try an Indian company that promises $4/hour too. They are giving me 3 free days so I'll see how that works out.

 

[pkrrvr619]

Go daddy is the easy button for domains etc.

Fivrrr or upwork for outsourcing but your mileage may vary.

Social media is a whole animal itself with meta ads etc.

 

[lbhsbz]

So, the Internet stuff shouldn't be hard and there are others that will chime in with GoDaddy and whatnot. What I want to say is I have been hiring people in the Philippines for $4/hour for calling, social media and miscellaneous marketing. I'm about to try an Indian company that promises $4/hour too. They are giving me 3 free days so I'll see how that works out.

Curious as to your thought process on this one....

I, and everyone I've spoken to on the subject, hang up the phone as soon as I hear that "not in this country" voice on the other end. Every single company that has offshored their support/call centers I cease doing business with if it's at all possible. It tells me they're cheap/stupid, and think their customers are stupid and can be sold something or have their problems solved by someone halfway around the world with no experience or savvy for what they do.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

I believe this is @rivermobster territory....

 

[rivermobster]

I believe this is @rivermobster territory....

Yep. I'll shoot him a PM. Thanks.

 

[Brian]

Godaddy is who I used.

 

[rivermobster]

Godaddy is who I used.

Go Daddy is the devil...

They just charged one of my website clients 189.00 for five years, to host their domain name. Gave them no advance notice. Nothing they can do about it now. They also charged my client for an email address they had never used. My client had to fight to get that refunded.

I charge 20.00 bucks a year, and I've moved a number of my clients to Cloud flare, with no price increase to them.

They suck you in with dirt cheap intro rates, and then hammer you HARD with the intro expires.

Be very careful with them.

 

[pkrrvr619]

Go Daddy is the devil...

They just charged one of my website clients 189.00 for five years, to host their domain name. Gave them no advance notice. Nothing they can do about it now. They also charged my client for an email address they had never used. My client had to fight to get that refunded.

I charge 20.00 bucks a year, and I've moved a number of my clients to Cloud flare, with no price increase to them.

They suck you in with dirt cheap intro rates, and then hammer you HARD with the intro expires.

Be very careful with them.

What do you offer clients for services in this realm?

 

[rivermobster]

What do you offer clients for services in this realm?

Domain names?

Registration/configuration/billing/security.

A lot of people register their domain name at one place, host their email somewhere else, and then have their website at a completely different place. Truthfully, this is the best way to do it, for a whole bunch of different reasons. Of course, all this has to be configured properly at the domain name host, to work properly, and I can handle any of that.

Cloudflare is awesome, but it is definitely tricky to configure. They also don't register domain names for the most part. You have to register the domain name somewhere else, then transfer the DNS to them, and after that's all done, you can transfer the actually hosting to them. I can handle all this as well. It adds extra layers of security that's not offered most anywhere else. I've set it up for a number of my clients.

I'm not really an IT guy for hire. I only do this stuff for my clients.

Websites?

I build exclusively with WordPress with Siteorigin page builder. I build everything from scratch, with the client firmly in control of the design, copy and images.

I included all the SEO with the site build, and create all the necessary Google Business accounts at the same time. It all has to work hand in hand anyway, so it's easy to do it all at the same time.

Website hosting?

I run my own virtual server. The company is located in Florida. Everything on my server is backed up (daily, weekly and monthly) and stored at Amazon S3, in an entirely different location, so my clients data is always safe. I can add memory, disc space, and server CPU's on the fly, if more horsepower is needed for a high demand website.

I'm basically a one stop shop for any business website needs.

RMWeb Elements – Small Business Website Development Since 2007

rmwebelements.com

 

[RiverDave]

Curious as to your thought process on this one....

I, and everyone I've spoken to on the subject, hang up the phone as soon as I hear that "not in this country" voice on the other end. Every single company that has offshored their support/call centers I cease doing business with if it's at all possible. It tells me they're cheap/stupid, and think their customers are stupid and can be sold something or have their problems solved by someone halfway around the world with no experience or savvy for what they do.

The last 10 phone calls we’ve had we haven’t actually had. That is my Filipino assistant that spent six months learning my accent. Jokes on you!

 

[RiverDave]

Go Daddy is the devil...

They just charged one of my website clients 189.00 for five years, to host their domain name. Gave them no advance notice. Nothing they can do about it now. They also charged my client for an email address they had never used. My client had to fight to get that refunded.

I charge 20.00 bucks a year, and I've moved a number of my clients to Cloud flare, with no price increase to them.

They suck you in with dirt cheap intro rates, and then hammer you HARD with the intro expires.

Be very careful with them.

You know I have like 200 domain names register with Go Daddy and it seems like every other fucking day. They are charging me for something. I’m gonna start looking into that.

 

[COCA COLA COWBOY]

Curious as to your thought process on this one....

I, and everyone I've spoken to on the subject, hang up the phone as soon as I hear that "not in this country" voice on the other end. Every single company that has offshored their support/call centers I cease doing business with if it's at all possible. It tells me they're cheap/stupid, and think their customers are stupid and can be sold something or have their problems solved by someone halfway around the world with no experience or savvy for what they do.

I only use women callers with very good voices. Women talk to women, and men will always talk to someone that sounds attractive. The "do not call" list is pretty extensive these days though, but it's a numbers game. Marketing for all industries are overwhelmed so we are going to see changes in the near future where lots of competition falls off. Once that competition falls, the return on investment will increase. You have to be in it for the long haul. Mailers in my industry pay off, but not for at least a year and that's if your call to action is on point. Scrubbing your list and going after a demographic that likes working with you is important. I hate to say it, but liberals are usually easier to work with. Conservatives are tougher because they are reading through the lines, not trusting because they have been screwed over in the past and currently and are usually skeptical of new ideas. Liberals are trusting...who else believes the garbage MSNBC and CNN puts out....

 

[lbhsbz]

I'll recommend @rivermobster for website needs. I started out with him, but I couldn't really figure out WTF I wanted, so ended up trying to learn and screw it all up on my own lol.

He still offers support when I need it and for some reason refuses to take my money.

Stand up guy

 

[rivermobster]

You know I have like 200 domain names register with Go Daddy and it seems like every other fucking day. They are charging me for something. I’m gonna start looking into that.

Jezuz. You're bill with them must be a fortune!

Cloudflare is actually the least expensive, but it is the most difficult to configure.

Transferring 200 names to them, would be a major league project.

 

[Bigbore500r]

So, the Internet stuff shouldn't be hard and there are others that will chime in with GoDaddy and whatnot. What I want to say is I have been hiring people in the Philippines for $4/hour for calling, social media and miscellaneous marketing. I'm about to try an Indian company that promises $4/hour too. They are giving me 3 free days so I'll see how that works out.

So your the guy . . . .

 

[lbhsbz]

The last 10 phone calls we’ve had we haven’t actually had. That is my Filipino assistant that spent six months learning my accent. Jokes on you!

I know that's bullshit because she hasn't learned to take a short pause every 13 seconds to grab a swig of coors light

 

[jetboatperformance]

I have almost 100 domains , Pick one the the most descriptive of your "product"