Web Hosting with MobileMe?

[Noisemaker]

Due to some issues with the free web hosting that I'm using, I'm looking for an alternative. Since I'm basically all Apple, I'm interested in MobileMe. Not only for web hosting, but also for email, as Gmail is more than disappointing, and I constantly have issues with it.

Now, I have some questions on MobileMe for hosting.

First, what kind of URL will my site get? Can I get it to show up as "www.mysite.com"?

Next, how many sites can I host? Am I limited to one, or can I host a few sites? I currently have a site for each of my small businesses, and I've been thinking about setting up an actual blog.

Will my site/sites show up in Google without me having to do anything?

What is the cost for MobileMe with Web Hosting? I've seen $99 a year, $60 a year, and other prices, so I'm not sure? Does it bill monthly, or yearly? Is there a service agreement (IE, two year contract or something similar?)

I'd appreciate any info!

 

[OneMike]

You can use http://www.mysite.com and have a normal URL format as you would at any other host.

You only can add one domain though.

I've had sites show up in google without submitting them, but at any rate it takes 15 seconds to submit your site at http://www.google.com/addurl/

The thing about mobileme that made me stop using it for hosting was the allowed content types. You can't use PHP or MySQL so you can't install a blog such as wordpress. You can use iWeb or other to create a blog but it's still just HTML pages. I like to create content on the go from my iPhone and it's no simple way to do this using their hosting.

The price is $99 a year. You pay for what you get so if you get a one year box that's what you're paid for. If you signed up online with your credit card I know you can remove it, but if you keep it on file I'm not sure if it auto-renews or not. You can search amazon for mobileme and get the same thing you'd get from apple for $70 or even less on ebay. If you go the ebay route just make sure it's the full version, not a sub account on a family subscription and also that it's a reputable seller that can provide the actual box.

If you have static sites I'd use mobileme. otherwise no.

 

[Noisemaker]

You can use http://www.mysite.com and have a normal URL format as you would at any other host.

You only can add one domain though.

I've had sites show up in google without submitting them, but at any rate it takes 15 seconds to submit your site at http://www.google.com/addurl/

The thing about mobileme that made me stop using it for hosting was the allowed content types. You can't use PHP or MySQL so you can't install a blog such as wordpress. You can use iWeb or other to create a blog but it's still just HTML pages. I like to create content on the go from my iPhone and it's no simple way to do this using their hosting.

The price is $99 a year. You pay for what you get so if you get a one year box that's what you're paid for. If you signed up online with your credit card I know you can remove it, but if you keep it on file I'm not sure if it auto-renews or not. You can search amazon for mobileme and get the same thing you'd get from apple for $70 or even less on ebay. If you go the ebay route just make sure it's the full version, not a sub account on a family subscription and also that it's a reputable seller that can provide the actual box.

If you have static sites I'd use mobileme. otherwise no.

Do I still need to buy a domain name on top of MobileMe, or will MobileMe allow me to set it up as "www.mysite.com" without already having a domain name from, say, GoDaddy.com or a similar provider?

Will submitting the site to Google work if I'm using iWeb to publish?

 

[stridemat]

Do I still need to buy a domain name on top of MobileMe, or will MobileMe allow me to set it up as "www.mysite.com" without already having a domain name from, say, GoDaddy.com or a similar provider?

Will submitting the site to Google work if I'm using iWeb to publish?

From the Apple website

To set up MobileMe to use a personal domain name:
If you haven’t already registered a domain name, visit an accredited domain name registrar on the Internet and register the personal domain name you want to use.

For information about registering a domain name, search the Internet for “domain name registrars.”

Point your personal domain to MobileMe by going to your domain name registrar’s domain name service (DNS) management area, creating a “www” CNAME record, and then pointing it to “web.me.com” or “web.me.com.” (including the period) in the address field.

Whether you need to add the period at the end of the address depends on your registrar. For more specific instructions about creating a cname record, contact your domain name registrar.

If you’re not already logged in to MobileMe, go to http://www.me.com, log in, and then click the Account button in the toolbar at the top of the window.


Click Personal Domain in the sidebar (on the left).

Click Add Domain.

Enter your domain name. Be sure to type the entire domain name (including the extension, such as .com, .net) that you’ve registered.

Click Continue, and then click Done.

and you can still submit to Google, but some aspects of iWeb are not SEO optimised.

 

[Noisemaker]

What will my normal site address look like if I don't buy a domain elsewhere?

Does Apple have a recommended group of Domain Registrars, or will any work the same?

As far as publishing with iWeb, what can I do to make my sites more Google-Friendly?

 

[stridemat]

SEO FAQ
Any domain registers will work roughly the same, but prices do vary.

Your domain direct from Apple will be http://www.me.com/username

 

[Noisemaker]

What should I expect to pay for a domain name?

 

[stridemat]

Probably around £3.99 - £4.99 but it varies. Shop around!

 

[jgodden]

you can host as many sites as you want. I have 3 hosted trough mobile me. You just need to understand domain forwarding. here is a tutorial that shows you how, it's very easy.

http://newmacuser.com/multiple-domains-with-mobileme/

 

[Hmac]

You can buy a year of web hosting with free domain name, unlimited storage and transfer, and up to 2500 email accounts on your domain for about $75 year from places like iPowerweb.

 

[jgodden]

You can buy a year of web hosting with free domain name, unlimited storage and transfer, and up to 2500 email accounts on your domain for about $75 year from places like iPowerweb.

Why pay for hosting if you are already paying $99/yr for mobileme? I use my mobile me to host 3 different websites, all with their own unique domain name.

Also, when i bought the domain names from godaddy ($6.99-14.99/yr depending on type) I got a free email address with that name, so each has their own info@whatever.com address.

 

[Hmac]

Why pay for hosting if you are already paying $99/yr for mobileme? I use my mobile me to host 3 different websites, all with their own unique domain name.

Also, when i bought the domain names from godaddy ($6.99-14.99/yr depending on type) I got a free email address with that name, so each has their own info@whatever.com address.

That would be dumb, of course, but I never suggested the OP do both. The OP was looking for alternatives to free hosting and was considering MobilMe. I posed the alternative of iPowerweb because I think it's a better (and cheaper) option than MobilMe.

And yes, iPowerweb comes with up to 2500 email address accounts on the domains you buy.

 

[jgodden]

That would be dumb, of course, but I never suggested the OP do both. The OP was looking for alternatives to free hosting and was considering MobilMe. I posed the alternative of iPowerweb because I think it's a better (and cheaper) option than MobilMe.

And yes, iPowerweb comes with up to 2500 email address accounts on the domains you buy.

I see. I thought he already had mobileme. I have mobileme because i like the syncing of contacts, calendars etc, plus i have my account (just the calendars) synced with my wife's iphone so when she puts stuff in, it shows on my macbook and iphone as well, which is nice. I dont really use it for file storage other than when someone needs big files, i throw them up there and share it out. The web hosting is a nice added perk, and IMO if you are a mac user, and will make use of the calendar and email parts of mobile me, and plan to have web hosting, mobileme is a better choice. Sure its a little more pricey than paying $50/yr for hosting, but the stuff you get with it makes up for it, imo.

 

[josephvaisman]

mobile me hosting problems!

I have successfully forwarded my godaddy domain to my mobile me account. When I type http://www.residencyfacts.com into my browser it works with no problems. However, if i type just residencyfacts.com into my browser I get a godaddy oops page. Any ideas on how to resolve this problem.

 

[nunes013]

sorry to bring back an old thread. im just clearing this up before i do this. if i publish through mobileme it is free. all i have to pay for is the yearly mobileme service, no extra cost correct?

 

[stridemat]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Correct.

 

[nunes013]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Correct.

thanks!

 

[stridemat]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

I would imagine that there is a fair usage policy within the mobile me T&C's. If your site get a lot of traffic you may see done issues.