Get your pro website/blog free of charge.
Mauritian Web designers (and Mauritian budding/experienced bloggers), go pro while saving your money! One of the major hindrances web designers go through in Mauritius is the availability of ressources. Along with that comes the price to be paid for hosting and domain name. There has been a good discussion about domain names over at Islandcrisis some time ago.
I don’t really know if this is true but I think that it gives credit to a Web designer to have his/her own website on a hosted domain name. The problem remains that foreign currencies are still too much compared to the Mauritian rupee and with the economic crisis, things are not that easy. So here’s the deal: get yourself a free hosting, a free domain name and a free CMS or blog platform and get it running.
How can this be done? Easy, just use the free things available to you over the Internet while trying not to fall in the traps that hosting companies tend to prepare for you.
You asked for a “free” domain name?
First of all you’ll need a domain name. Get it free for life over at Co.cc. What is interesting with this domain name offer is its free for life guarantee. There you have a domain name free of charge. Opposed to well-known hosting companies offering you free domain names and hosting, co.cc does not trick you. Most of the forementioned companies usually offer a domain name and ask you to pay for it a year after.
Your site needs a home.
Hosting is what usually costs the most. You don’t need to go for professional ultra user centered hosting with dedicated servers and what not. You might be interested in paid hosting over at big hosting companies. If you still want to keep the money in your pocket head over to 000 Web Host where your hosting will cost nothing. Not nothing like in “very cheap” but nothing like in “nothing”, completely free hosting.
You now need a site.
Well, for Mauritian Web designers, I’m sure you have your own recipes. For non developers and designers alike here is a series of 13 CMS (CMS = Content Management System) that you can use. Designers, you might even get inspired by one or several of them. For bloggers, you might get on with a WordPress install which will be different from the Saas usually found like blogger or wordpress.com. WordPress is also interesting in the sense that it can absorb all blogger (and several other platforms’) posts.
The good thing about CMS or blogging platform is that you don’t need to be a developer or designer to have a great site. Most CMS have skins or templates that you just have to download and add to your site to change its look and feel. This is the case actually for the Web Design Bureau of Mauritius.
Your turn to work now!
So here you have it. The recipe to go “pro” while saving all your money. This is a real investment in terms of visibility. Best of luck to you all.
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Very interesting article. I used co.cc and all I can say is that this is a very good alternative to those who cant pay for a domain name. Co.cc also have a very rewarding affiliate program. The main problem in Mauritius is that many people do not have a credit card to pay online and even if they have… the price is not that friendly.
I recently pay my new domain at about Rs 275 and thats after adding a coupon code to get some discount for the first year. Co.cc is also very easy to set up compare to the slow godaddy panel..yea the godaddy panel takes about 5 to 10 minutes to just load here! (On nomad) I heard from Sailesh that even on his myt its slow :S
000 webhost… I used to be their affiliate time ago. There service is really good. infact they are a major reseller of byet organisation. They offer cpanel on the free account.
Nice original post!
Well i completely disagree! Nowadays domain names and hosting are really cheap! Say a .com is around $10/yr and shared hosting around $8/mth, roughly sums up to Rs 290/mth. If mauritian webdesigners/bloggers wanna go pro, they have to put the money on the table. Forget about free hosting or free domain names. They will be happier and this will be the best investment till they grow BIG!
I understand your point of view Ravi but quite a lot of Mauritian Web designers are not ready to put the necessary money on the table. Instead of having nothing at all, this tutorial gives an alternative. I agree that you need to put the money where it will do its job when you want to go pro, so why don’t we see professional Mauritian Web designers online? We do see the companies but we don’t see the talented guys’ portfolios. Its a real shame.
eh, so true! The thing is that, hosting and domain name is not the only investment for a web design company/freelancer. It includes the prices and licensing fees for adobe softwares. There are open alternatives, but none deliver the stuffs like adobe pack does. This is the reason why most of us are hiding.
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That’s currently the guide which got me started..:
thx for sharing