Getting British Business Online: FREE DOMAIN AND HOSTING

[Investors-Wanted]

I have just set up a site on Getting British Business Online. The great this about this service, is that it is totally FREE.

This services has been sponsored by the government, Google and BT

If you would like to find out more then visit: http://www.gbbo.co.uk/

Free hosting, Free .co.uk domain.

The only downsite is that you dont get an email address with it!!!! But you do get access to the dns of the domain to have it pointing to somewhere else for your email service.

 

[Eagle]

Is this the official scheme that HMG were talking about?

 

[Investors-Wanted]

It appears to be so.

Quote from the site

The Getting British Business Online initiative is a collaboration between Enterprise UK, Google, BT, and e-skills UK, with the support of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

 

[MASSEY]

Are they paying for the seo aswell? lol

 

[Investors-Wanted]

They are not paying for seo. All you get is a free .co.uk and a template driven platform. It is designed for people who are not technically minded and just needs a basic site.

Quite good

 

[MASSEY]

They are not paying for seo. All you get is a free .co.uk and a template driven platform. It is designed for people who are not technically minded and just needs a basic site.

Quite good

Well form what i have read on here a basic site does not add value to your business, especially if the sites are going to be given to people who do not know what seo is,

Im not knockin the idea maybe it will open peoples eyes more.

 

[Investors-Wanted]

I guess becuase it is on the Google Platform, there will be some seo functions. I have been on the site and I have that the site can be linked into many of googles functions. There is also a nice bit of widgetry where you can allow others access to amend or add content.

It is good for people who don't know anything about the web, but are looking for a free online catelogue of their business that they could give to customers.

 

[FaerieB]

Hi Investors Wanted ... Is this the site you were talking about on the thread "Small Investor Wanted"? ... If so ... well done you

I have to say that I was tempted to respond on that thread with "Im only 5'3" " ... but thought "better not"

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Hi Investors Wanted ... Is this the site you were talking about on the thread "Small Investor Wanted"? ... If so ... well done you

I have to say that I was tempted to respond on that thread with "Im only 5'3" " ... but thought "better not"

Hi FaerieB

Sorry to hear about your height, I will send you some grow feed .
No this is not the site I was talking about, I have however found this solution to that problem. I thought would benefit others who are looking for free hosting of a basic site and a free .co.uk name.

Think, if you found it hard to get a .co.uk name for your business, think what it will be like after this has taken off.

 

[fisicx]

Have you seen any of the sites in the portfoliio. They are pant's beyond naffness.

If you read the T&C it's all a big con. Second year costs are way above going rate and Google is keen to push adwords to generate traffic.

It's yet another useless government initiative.

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Have you seen any of the sites in the portfoliio. They are pant's beyond naffness.

I agree, the templates are very basic. But for a business who can not afford professional web development, this is a good start.

If you read the T&C it's all a big con. Second year costs are way above going rate and Google is keen to push adwords to generate traffic.

There is nothing in the T&C's about pricing for the second year. You can however change the administrator of the domain after 60 days. With reference to google wanting to push their traffic, I thought this would be good for the people that pay for this service. The more your advert is seen, the more chance of getting new business.

It's yet another useless government initiative.

We will have to wait and see. I can see this scheme having an effect of hosting companies, domain providers and designers. But for a business who just want to get a foot on the website ladder, this has got to be a good thing.

 

[popunder]

If you read the T&C it's all a big con. Second year costs are way above going rate and Google is keen to push adwords to generate traffic.

Not sure about that, free for 2 years and then BT domains are ".co.uk, .org.uk - £2.95 per year (ex VAT)" according to their website.

It's not the most exciting initiative in the world but I'd suggest it isn't a "big con".

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Not sure about that, free for 2 years and then BT domains are ".co.uk, .org.uk - £2.95 per year (ex VAT)" according to their website.

It's not the most exciting initiative in the world but I'd suggest it isn't a "big con".

I agree, I don't this is a con as you are are tied into any contract, there is nothing stopping you from transfering the domain after 60 days, and it does give you a basic website.

 

[Dawg]

The domains are not registered with BT, they are registered with Register.com which is American.
Register.com charge $90 (Ninety dollars) for a .co.uk domain, and an extra $34.99 for email. They add VAT onto this despite being Yank, so a domain will be $147, or about £98. Presuming they charge the same for renewal, (normal practice), that is a bloody disgrace for HM Govt to get involved with.

Furthermore the templates are totally dire. If all I had was a 10 year old Fiesta I would not drive it to a business meeting, I'd get a cab. Similarly, using a buttwipe template is worse than having no website at all, and for HM Govt to encourage this is cruddy at the least.

On the bright side there will be a lot of microbusinesses with new ghastly websites who will need the help of entry level web designers to fix the dang things, so there might be plenty of work for some.
Glass half full, eh?

 

[directmarketingadvice]

The domains are not registered with BT, they are registered with Register.com which is American.
Register.com charge $90 (Ninety dollars) for a .co.uk domain, and an extra $34.99 for email. They add VAT onto this despite being Yank, so a domain will be $147, or about £98. Presuming they charge the same for renewal, (normal practice), that is a bloody disgrace for HM Govt to get involved with.

I wonder who's getting the money?

I suspect it's a case of ****-for-brains politicians being taken for a ride because... well, because they have **** for brains, meddle in stuff they don't understand and can easily be taken for a ride...

Steve

 

[Investors-Wanted]

I have looked into the register of the domains. The domains are registered to BT. The details of the domain sits on BT server in the UK. Therefore, as you own the domain, you can apply to nominet after the initial 60 days to transfer it to another provider like 123-reg.

The reason they are charging VAT is that the company, though in the US is registered in the EU. It does state that if you have a valid VAT number that you will not be charged for vat.

I have found this on their webiste though:

What's the catch?

This service is offered completely free, and is backed by the UK government. The scheme is a partnership between local business associations, Google and BT. After two years, all you'll need to pay is a few pounds to renew your website's address with our partners at BT.

 

[fisicx]

From the gbbo help pages:

You may think that advertising online is only for big businesses with big budgets. But the truth is that thousands of companies of all shapes and sizes win new business every day using search-based advertising.

http://www.gbbo.co.uk/toolkit/#advertise_online

Guess where this leads you...

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Guess where this leads you...

Well if the hosting is free, they got to make some money somewhere.

I am not a big fan of the Government at the mo, but this does seem to be a good thing

 

[Investors-Wanted]

I have registered a domain, to try it out. Well what can I say....

I am able to log into the domain control panel and change the dns to point to my own server. Plus I can change the nameserver details.

So I have a free domain for the next 2 years.

 

[fisicx]

Well if the hosting is free, they got to make some money somewhere.

Of course it's free, it's hosted on Google sites who will then offer lots of advice on how to use adwords.

 

[Dawg]

I have registered a domain, to try it out. Well what can I say....

I am able to log into the domain control panel and change the dns to point to my own server. Plus I can change the nameserver details.

So I have a free domain for the next 2 years.

Well I registered a domain on 01/03/2010. This was confirmed by email.
Like you I went to the CP and tried to change the nameservers. This failed:"nsName failed validation"* I inquired via email to [email protected] who suggested I go to register.com. Register.com said I had to phone them as they wouldn't deal by email.

I may be wrong in believing the buck stops with Register.com, but thats what it looks like to me.


Still your post gives hope, maybe things have settled from the first day and I'll give them another tug.
The template is still poo.

*I have 71 domains on this host, 70 of which I have changed the nameservers for. I have checked the details I entered; they are OK.

UPDATE

email sent to link from gbbodoains site bounced. Heh. Feh &Pah.

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Of course it's free, it's hosted on Google sites who will then offer lots of advice on how to use adwords.

You may buy a news paper, don't mean you are going to advertise in it.

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Well I registered a domain on 01/03/2010. This was confirmed by email.
Like you I went to the CP and tried to change the nameservers. This failed:"nsName failed validation"* I inquired via email to [email protected] who suggested I go to register.com. Register.com said I had to phone them as they wouldn't deal by email.

Mine is working fine, took a couple of hours for the dns to update, but mine is working fine. I have pinged all the various sub domains and they are working fine too.

The template is still poo.

Like I have said before, I agree that they are pants. But for certain businesses who are looking for a business card type site which gives the basics, this will be ideal for them. They can try it for 2 years and if they dont get anything from it, what have they really lost.

 

[An Oasis]

It's the type of scheme that you recommend to your competitors...

Anyone who runs successful websites knows this is NOT the way forward and why Mandlebum our business bod MP recommended the scheme I have no idea, oh wait that should read he has no idea.

 

[NBDealer]

Now I have been using this for a couple of weeks now. I've set up a business for my best friend and decided this would be a good way of getting him up and running (doing this for free, what a great friend I am!)

antarctic-imagery.co.uk if anyone wants a look (not quite finished yet)

The templates are indeed pants, I found the best way was to use the simplest format and alter it to your needs from scratch. I have spent hours and hours messing around with this, I have had no previous experience of building a website. On balance, I would not recommend this for a business, but for a personal website it would be fine, which kind of defeats the object of the governments scheme. Here is a list of pro's & cons:

Pros
It's free - charged in 2 yrs time unless you don't want to renew
No programming knowledge neccessary
Simple navigation and menu system
Reliable hosting
Google have lots of their own applications and works in progress that are simple to set up, such as Checkout and Google Analytics.

Cons
Annoying bugs eg for some reason I can't embed a link in just one of my images, no matter what I try even though the rest of them work.
Loads of different, separate sites for google website tools and applications that aren't linked together, which takes time and chance to find.
Have to use many workarounds for adding gadgets and widgets - ie linking to 'containers' to support the code in google sites to be able to insert slideshows (other than in Picasa).
Does not support Java or Flash
Many hours will be lost searching and trying to use these 'containers' to get your gadgets working.
Templates look amateurish, again have to use many workarounds and photoshop tricks to get close to the way you want it.
Overall, I felt my creative juices were being restricted which resulted in occassional bouts of frustration.

These are the main issues, in conclusion it's fine for basic, personal use but not great for a business.
Gary

 

[Investors-Wanted]

I think this does have good and bad reasons to use this service. I have setup a domain, but changed the dns to use on my own server.

I have copied all the comments and I have forward them to the scheme. I think with some support from people on this service, if they are happy to listen, then maybe they will create a good service.

 

[NBDealer]

would have been much better if they'd have used wordpress instead to be honest

 

[Investors-Wanted]

would have been much better if they'd have used wordpress instead to be honest

That's a better idea.

 

[NBDealer]

In fact, DONT use this rubbish. My website pages have for no reason been changed. The backgrounbd has changed to black so now my text is invisible, my header has dissapeared and the images are out of line. The settings haven't changed so I can't seem to change it back!

antarctic-imagery.co.uk

 

[fisicx]

Worse than that, antarctic-imagery.co.uk leads nowhere. www.antarctic-imagery.co.uk works but as you say, it's all gone a bit pear shaped.

A salutory warning to qall those thinking about taking up this 'free' offer.

BTW: it does say in the T&C that Google can do anything they like to your site, even remove the whole thing.

 

[NBDealer]

BTW: it does say in the T&C that Google can do anything they like to your site, even remove the whole thing.

here's hoping

btw, does anyone know how/if I can move my site from google to Wordpress? had a brief search on the internet but couldn't find a definitive answer