Hey guys

My father and I are starting a small business. I was wondering if MobileMe can provide the following:

- a webpage domain like this (Register company name .com or register and form a corporation online. (http://www.companyname.com))
- a few email addresses like this (myname@companyname.com)

This is all we need right now. If it doesn't do this, what you guys recommend?

Thanks

Adrian

I absolutely wouldn't host a business with MobileMe.

For email, use Google Apps (http://google.com/a/). It's free, feature filled, and never goes down.

Webhosting can be found for cheap in Canada. I've used DotEasy.com before, with good results.

You might want to give Microsoft Office Live Small Business a try:

Free website, website hosting, and email - Microsoft Office Live Small Business (http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/)

"Take your business online with a FREE website and e-mail, plus low cost e-commerce"

I've been playing around with it for the past 6 months and it's pretty impressive and other than the cost for registering a domain, it's free. In fact, you can register a domain with someone else and point it to OfficeLive and it works just a well. For example, I use NamesPro and point it over to OfficeLive.

Otherwise, the domain registration through Microsoft is FREE for the first year and $14.95/year thereafter.

I use Infologistix - Small office, home office web and email hosting (http://infologistix.ca/index.php/web-and-email-hosting) for $99/year, a boutique service located in the Gulag of Eastern Ontario. It gives me lots of control and capacity. I have been with Blake (the proprietor) for years. Service and support response are great and it has been utterly reliable.

These are fantastic links everyone, thanks for the help. I am going to look into all of them.

Do they all provide push email, so we can get emails on our iPhones?

Could I upload my iWeb sites to there via "Publish to Folder"?

Thanks so much

As much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't recommend mobile me for small business....yet. It has huge potential for Mac users, but I keep getting weird little issues with webmail and syncing.

If they get it running smoothly, it could be really good.

As much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't recommend mobile me for small business....yet. It has huge potential for Mac users, but I keep getting weird little issues with webmail and syncing.

If they get it running smoothly, it could be really good.

I have no experience with it, but I found out earlier today that you cannot create custom email and web page domains. So you are stuck with name@me.com and www.name.mac.com

That is not very good for business. I might as well keep my gmail account and open a wordpress blog...

The package I mentioned above includes a self-hosted Wordpress blog, PHPBB forum among other things. IMAP mail is available but I'm not sure about 'Push'.

i wouldn't use mobileme for the already described reasons and this one - it can be painfully slow.

good luck,
keebler

Push on Microsoft Exchange servers on hosted domains is usually extra. Probably around 10 bucks a month more from what I have seen in the past. Could be cheaper..

You should really do some research on web hosts that will fit your budget and your needs.

While Mobile Me is okay for personal use, it suffers from too many reliability issues to be considered seriously for business. Plus as others have mentioned, there are some great hosting companies out there that earn their living catering to small businesses, offering better service for less money.

One more bit of related advice to share with you and others. It's wise to not tie your email and website to the same hosting service. That way, if one goes down (it's uncommon, but it does happen), then you're not cut off at the knees with no website/blog/webmail or email all at once.

I use Gmail for domains to route my email. It's free and has the added benefit of serving as a backup of all email (which can come in handy when you're on the road with the laptop and need to find an attachment you sent from your desktop months ago).

While Mobile Me is okay for personal use, it suffers from too many reliability issues to be considered seriously for business. Plus as others have mentioned, there are some great hosting companies out there that earn their living catering to small businesses, offering better service for less money.

One more bit of related advice to share with you and others. It's wise to not tie your email and website to the same hosting service. That way, if one goes down (it's uncommon, but it does happen), then you're not cut off at the knees with no website/blog/webmail or email all at once.

I use Gmail for domains to route my email. It's free and has the added benefit of serving as a backup of all email (which can come in handy when you're on the road with the laptop and need to find an attachment you sent from your desktop months ago).

That is good advice PG. I suppose I will get the emails through GMAIL and I can use the IMAP top for our iPhones and then I will look into a hosting service. I really like that Microsoft provides online Workgroups and online documents etc. I use that for my main job via the corporate website and it works great.

Thanks again for all the replies.

The other negative in regards to MobileMe is that is a personal service, priced per person. If you need three synched emails you will be paying full price for each. With a proper host, your package will include several email address with a domain name of your choosing. The rest is all in the setup and may or may not cost extra depending on your host.

Having full push isn't that big of an advantage provided you remember to check your email regularly. Nothing worse than feeling you have to respond to each bing and bloop coming out of your phone. Better to do your email on your term in the time you make available for it.

seems that even Ms can't tell if I am using Firefox as it states as a must in order to use this software...

seems that even Ms can't tell if I am using Firefox as it states as a must in order to use this software...

Worked just fine for me. Even recognized that my email address was already tied to other services and didn't require all of the setup details to continue on. Check your requirements and try again maybe.

The other negative in regards to MobileMe is that is a personal service, priced per person. If you need three synched emails you will be paying full price for each. With a proper host, your package will include several email address with a domain name of your choosing. The rest is all in the setup and may or may not cost extra depending on your host.

Having full push isn't that big of an advantage provided you remember to check your email regularly. Nothing worse than feeling you have to respond to each bing and bloop coming out of your phone. Better to do your email on your term in the time you make available for it.

You can purchase additional email addresses at a reduced rate with mobile me.

The family pack also works great for my family of 5. Everyone is all setup with email and iPhoto sharing space.

Adrian,

Why don't you contact each of the above providers and ask them to justify themselves to you? Explain exactly what you are looking for and expect and choose the one that best fits. Although MobileMe doesn't seem to be designed to support business from the ground up (and hence is unlikely to be the best choice), this is an area that Apple wants to serve - especially given the iPhone, a device you intimate is important for your business. Make the providers work for your business (not that you haven't gotten good advice from this board, as usual).

Adrian,

Why don't you contact each of the above providers and ask them to justify themselves to you? Explain exactly what you are looking for and expect and choose the one that best fits. Although MobileMe doesn't seem to be designed to support business from the ground up (and hence is unlikely to be the best choice), this is an area that Apple wants to serve - especially given the iPhone, a device you intimate is important for your business. Make the providers work for your business (not that you haven't gotten good advice from this board, as usual).

I will do exactly that. I just wanted to generate a list of possible suppliers to start from. I did some googling myself, but the internet is so filled with scetchy looking webpages. I am new to this, and so I wanted some opinion and experiences from others.

To summarise what's been learned here:

1. MobileMe is a great service, but not particularly good for business purposes (because it's explicitly NOT designed for that). I know of some people who are using it that way, and you "kinda sorta" can, but even as big a fan as I am of it, I can't suggest it for a serious business.

2. It's easy and inexpensive to get a web domain name AND email service with that domain name. If you are serious about a business, this is the way to go -- using AOL or GMail or any other "consumer" services for your email IMMEDIATELY tells customers you're not serious about your business, that you're an amateur etc.

3. You don't need push to get email on your iPhone. POP works fine, IMAP works fine. If you can get PUSH, that's nice, but it's not required by any stretch.

4. MS offers a service that can help launch a small business. One of the rare times I can say "good for them." It's worth looking into.

5. If you need a lot of control over your image online, you'll probably want to design your own website. You can do this with iWeb, but personally I'd suggest Rapidweaver and a few select plug-ins to go with it instead, at least in the early years of a business. If you really need a "world-class"/high-traffic website, either master Dreamweaver and about half-a-dozen scripting languages and database formats, OR hire a web designer (like our own Manny P or Karl!) to help you.

6. Starting a business costs money, sweat and lots and lots of time. This is no less true on the web than it is with brick & mortar. The main difference is that you can start an online business without ever putting your pants on. :)

If you are considering MS's Office Live service, definitely take a look at their forums to get a good idea of what's possible, what isn't and what people are generally saying about the service.

Microsoft Office Live Small Business Community | Forums (http://myofficelivecommunity.com/discuss/forums/)

Not only was I impressed with the service but the community is extremely friendly and there's always people providing answers and giving a helping hand.