Best Web Host

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  1. NateB11 profile image85
    NateB11posted 12 years ago

    I want to start my own blog/website, maybe a few. Been checking the different hosts, reading reviews, seeing what they offer, paying attention to the ones Hubbers use; and I'm not certain which is the best. Hostgator seems good in terms of price and what is offered, can use multiple domains. Webhosting Hub seems pretty good, have some SEO features, but what I understand you can't use multiple domains (don't know if that's right). BlueHost has been suggested, don't now a lot about them; most Hubbers have suggested HostGator. There are bad reviews of Hostgator and Webhosting Hub, but some good reviews too; some talk of sites being down, servers being down and not lots of help in this regard. So, I wanted to ask the HP community, see what your experiences are. Thanks in advance.

    1. Marisa Wright profile image84
      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You'll find bad reviews of every host company you care to name!   

      One thing to bear in mind is that there's a big difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting.  If you're only going to create two or three blogs, then shared hosting is perfectly fine to start with.  If you start getting thousands of visitors a day, then you'll have to upgrade - but I'm sure it will be a while before you get to that point!

      1. NateB11 profile image85
        NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Yes, I was thinking that too, that there will always be some bad reviews. I was thinking about the issue of traffic, and of course, I don't have to worry about that yet; but you clarified it there for me what I can do in the future when it becomes an issue. I still don't fully understand, though. I have a vague idea what is shared hosting (my understanding is that there's multiple webmasters on the host); dedicated hosting, I don't know what it means; I'm assuming it means the host can handle more. I have a question I want to put out here: I already bought a domain name, but I haven't got it hosted yet. Does it matter how long I wait to get it hosted? I don't want anything to happen to my domain name in the meantime.

    2. BlissfulWriter profile image82
      BlissfulWriterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I would recommend BlueHost.  The best thing about them is their 24x7 phone support which picks up the phone with very little wait time.

  2. Willprospector profile image59
    Willprospectorposted 12 years ago

    I use Host4Profit which has the absolute best support but they are $17.95 a month unlimited. You have to ask for special tools or apps which the admin will install if you cannot or do not want to.
    I also use GoDaddy where I house over 45 websites with excellent support and a massive amount of apps and tools that are very easily available. You have to have their Unlimited package to get WP3.5  or over. GoDaddy has the most tools and apps other than marketing tools of nay site.
    Next is HostGator and there affilate and webhosting sies are separate and hard to understand in terms of navigation. I have 3 Paid-To-Click sites on these even though I am told they do not host PTC sites, so I know they do. There tech support is pretty good but not as good as Host4Profit and GoDaddy. As a matter of fact,I would only give it a C+ .
    Yosro is just an affiliate/reseller site for GoDaddy so there is not much difference there,except the C-Class IP addresses.
    Last but not least is HostThenProfit or GVO. The best tool they have is EasyVideoProducer which sort of makes up for the poor technical support. I believe I have been responsiblke for the vast improvement in their technical support service, but I have not needed them in quite a while. I cannot begin to tell you how stupid they were when I first joined 2 years ago. They accused me of spam email when I emailed Admin messages that had a Remembrance and warning quote at the bottom of the page reminding each member that since they signed up for my Traffic exchange they agreed to accept all Admin emails from the Admin as is the case in every traffic exchange on the internet. But, they do have a free autoresponder,which can run anywhere from $12 to $45 a month depending upon what service you are using. You can send out to 10,000 addresses (I think) at a time which is really excellent. There Academy Web Confreneces and CheapMeet are unavailable on any other hosting facility.   I am not promoting any hosting facility nor do I have any affiiate links on this page.  Since this is a review I need to declare that I receive commisssions from these sites, according to the FTC Guidelines:"If you provide reviews, rankings, endorsements or testimonials about a service for which you receive commissions from us, you must clearly disclose the fact that you receive such compensation in a clear and prominent place--that is close to your endorsement."

    1. NateB11 profile image85
      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the good and detailed info, gives me a lot to work with. Sounds like Host4Profit could be worth, if their support is good. I'm considering GoDaddy, getting mixed reviews about them.

    2. Marisa Wright profile image84
      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      $17.95 a month?   Ouch!   I'm with Hostgator and I pay less than $4 a month.

      1. Willprospector profile image59
        Willprospectorposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        You are right. It is a lot, but I have 4 websites and one is a massive 12,000 page website with 15,000 unique visitors a day and the technical support
        is unsurpassed. It was originally the host site for all Plug-In-Profit-Sites,then
        Stone Evans switched to HostGator, then HostThenProfit/GVO. I use 5 webhosfacilities to spread my Class C-IP addresses around. All my PTC sites are on HostGator. I own about 100 domains and resell some.

        1. Marisa Wright profile image84
          Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          That makes sense.  Once you start getting massive traffic, then of course, shared hosting isn't going to be enough.

          I have six websites on Hostgator with absolutely no problems, but my traffic is a fraction of yours!

  3. jacharless profile image70
    jacharlessposted 12 years ago

    This depends on how "big" a blog/site you expect, what platform your site will be on and whether or not you will need a lot of storage. Hosting is all about numbers. Once you buy the domain, register the Name Servers, it is a matter of necessity.

    Bandwidth Usage {inbound & outbound traffic, upload & download}
    Megabyte Storage / Sticky or Cloud for data, platform, filll-in, photos, videos, etc.
    Dovecote Usage [mail service]
    Solution [Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, Simple Machines, Ruby on Rails -or just plain old html, html5, xml, etc]

    I have used:
    HostGator - horrible shared server, just horrible
    BlueHost - extremely limited shared server
    One N One -worse than HostGator, this is affiliate/resell based shared hosting
    GoDaddy -excellent provisions, weird server-side events at times if on shared server, but definitely a great choice. Upgrading is easy and painless. Tons of extras, phone support rocks!
    Rackspace - shared Cloud hosting, managed by them, pricey
    WMC w/CPanel or Plesk -dedicated server slot for extended use, functionality and self-control. More expensive but unlimited storage, bandwidth and maximum daily dovecote service.
    Self-hosted: WAMP, MAMP or LAMP [AMP stands for Apache MySQL & PHP] stack environments exist for Windows, Mac or Linux machines. As long as you set up the Apache correctly, you can host sites from your own computer/server -so long as your service provider knows/allows it. Else buy a T3 and iMac Server and have a go of it.

    Small note about WordPress 3.x: It is an extremely unsecured platform, often full of bugs from plugin compatibility and very difficult to re-design the templates/themes. I know, having redesigned hundreds -and added 50 gray hairs per site. lol. If you retain a developer, expect $30-$100 per hour {$20-$50 per/hour for a college student}. Both very well worth it.

    James.

    1. NateB11 profile image85
      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the very detailed information. I don't know a lot about this stuff honestly, so a lot of it is going over my head. I'd like basically a blog, educational type one, on which I can continue to add content and put on ads. I'm curious what you said about WordPress; it seems it is the platform that most people use, and the claim is that it's easy to use; so it's troublesome to me, because I intend to use it, if it has bugs.

  4. WriteAngled profile image80
    WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

    I know a number of people who run a lot of web sites as part of the way in which they make a living. One thing they are unanimous about is that GoDaddy should be avoided at all costs, for domain purchase as well as for hosting.

    1. Willprospector profile image59
      Willprospectorposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Why? This has not been my experience at all and I host over 45 sites on GoDaddy.

      1. NateB11 profile image85
        NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Yes, I'm uncertain about this, because I've heard good and bad about GoDaddy.

      2. Marisa Wright profile image84
        Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this



        I've heard exactly the same thing.  There was a site called "NoDaddy", which was dedicated to unhappy GoDaddy customers. GoDaddy finally managed to get it shut down (I forget how).

        I get the impression that GoDaddy is very much like eBay and Paypal - if you never run into a problem, you'll be very happy with them.  But if there is a glitch of some kind, it all goes to h*** in a handbasket and it's very hard to get it resolved. 

        I also find it irritating the way they try to upsell you all the time.   I don't use any apps or tools outside of Wordpress and they're not necessary for what I do, so getting emailed about them is just an irritation.

        I'm like Misty, I'm very happy with Hostgator and I have dealt with their customer service a lot.  Even though the problem is virtually always caused by my own stupidity, they are unfailingly helpful and patient.

        1. mistyhorizon2003 profile image88
          mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years agoin reply to this

          +1 for sure.

  5. WriteAngled profile image80
    WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

    I was just passing on what I heard.

    I don't have details, just a general impression of opinions and recommendations. Haven't looked into it myself because the question is not of direct relevance. I use a UK host for my company site and have unlimited free hosting elsewhere as part of something else. I use the latter to experiment with sites that might one day bring in some income.

  6. Bryan W Cole profile image60
    Bryan W Coleposted 12 years ago

    FatCow is one to consider. It's pretty straight forward and not weird like GoDaddy.

    1. NateB11 profile image85
      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I read about FatCow and the reviews were good. Will have to check it out.

  7. livewirez profile image69
    livewirezposted 12 years ago

    Some of the best web hoist as far as I know are HostGator, BlueHost, and  GoDaddy.

    1. NateB11 profile image85
      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So far several people have recommended HostGator. I might have to go with them to be safe; seems to be most popular. Getting mixed reviews for GoDaddy.

  8. mistyhorizon2003 profile image88
    mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years ago

    Definitely Hostgator, I actually did something stupid that mucked up one of websites recently. I contacted their help section and within about 20 minutes they emailed me back to tell me they had undone the mistake I had made, and told me what I should have known in the first place to avoid the problem recurring. I sent them a glowing thank you in return and said they needed to give the guy on their help desk a raise as he totally deserved it. Brilliant customer service.

    All the top Webmasters I know also say to avoid Go Daddy at all costs and these are people who I trust implicitly.

    1. NateB11 profile image85
      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I'm very convinced at this point to go with Hostgator. Plenty of positive reviews, and I like their prices, plus I like that I can put as many domains as I want on there and also use Wordpress (well, it seems like wordpress is used on pretty much all of them). Thanks again for your help. I already asked Marisa this, but I think I'll ask you too: I already registered a domain name, but I haven't chosen a host. Is it alright to let that domain name sit for a awhile until I get ready and find a host?

      1. mistyhorizon2003 profile image88
        mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Many people have hundreds of domain names that they have not yet built sites around. As long as you remember to pay the relevant price when the domain comes up for renewal (maybe every year, two years or whatever you paid for) then you can leave it 'parked' for as long as you like without associating it with a host until you are ready to.

        You will be fine, and Hostgator will not disappoint you. I was really glad I listened to expert advice regarding this choice, and having purchased my first domain name through Go Daddy where I naively agreed to more and more services they were offering me during the transaction (resulting in my having to call them long distance to get rid of the unwanted services once I took advice from those same experts), I now wouldn't consider any other host than Hostgator. I buy my domain names through Namecheap however because they seem to be the best for that service.

        1. NateB11 profile image85
          NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Thank you, that definitely eases my mind about the domain name and parking it. Yes, I've decided to avoid GoDaddy, and I have used Namecheap, which you had recommended before on another thread. Thanks again. Hostgator it is. Will be using them. You and several others have recommended them and they offer a good deal.

          1. Marisa Wright profile image84
            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If you're going to park a domain name for a while before using it, try domainapps.com.

            It adds content to your parked domain so that it looks like a real website - you might even make a few cents from it while it's parked!

            1. NateB11 profile image85
              NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

              Good idea. I'll have to check it out.

  9. Greekgeek profile image76
    Greekgeekposted 12 years ago

    A little late to the table, but I will forever sing the praises of ICDSoft, which has hosted my websites and blogs reliably and with excellent 24/7 tech support since 2003. They will optionally register a domain name for you for $5 extra a year, or you can register elsewhere and just use their webhosting ($6/month). Their tech support is online, but I generally get a reply back within ten minutes no matter how half-assed my question.

    I installed some Wordpress blogs on the site. Their tech support area includes an easy tutorial on how to set it up, although these days WP is fairly automated.

    1. NateB11 profile image85
      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, I'll have to look them up.

  10. Rosie2010 profile image66
    Rosie2010posted 12 years ago

    Hi, NateB11.  I had been wanting to build by own website for a long time, but was too scared because I wasn't sure I could do it for lack of knowledge.  Some hubbers had been recommending Hostgator, but as a newbie, their price was a little high for me. 

    I had read a lot of good things about Webhosting Hub, and their price was quite reasonable for me to start my own site.  So, when Webhosting Hub advertised 50% off at the beginning of the year, I jumped at the opportunity.  I paid $53 for a whole year:  includes multiple websites, unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email addresses, free domain registration and transfer.  Not bad... for a beginner.

    Hub's support staff is very friendly and helpful.  They have support chat 24/7 and I'd used it twice already and both times I was satisfied.  There is no down time that I've experienced, but then again, I've just been using them for about six weeks.  So far, so good.

    I use Wordpress as most people recommend it for newbies.  Very easy to use and Wordpress has hundreds of themes to choose from.  I'm still learning, but I'm so eager to wake up in the morning and work on my own site.  Such a wonderful feeling.  I can do whatever I want... well, to some extent anyway.  smile

    Good luck to you.  Cheers!

  11. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 12 years ago

    Host Gator has always been a favorite. I had Go Daddy, and nothing but problems.  Fat Cow came out of the woodwork awhile back, but they are running neck and neck with Host Gator.   I contacted Host Gator awhile back with lots of questions about their Word Press platform, and comparing their platform with WP. This rep was on the phone at least an hour with me, and I am not even a customer of theirs. Then at the end, the rep wanted to know if I understood everything, etc and be sure to call back if I have any other questions, etc.  I am still looking for a good website platform where it is easy to use HTML for HTML dummies, images such as Amazon products without the built in Amazon product with price tag they use for associates. I hate Weebly.

    1. Marisa Wright profile image84
      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Linda, how could you compare Hostgator with Wordpress?  Do you mean Wordpress.com? 

      You can use the Wordpress.org software with any hosting company - that's the great thing about it, it's universal, so you can change hosts as often as you like and your website just transfers with a few clicks.  It's easy to install on Hostgator - and if you get stuck, you just go to the live chat and bat your eyelashes helplessly, and they'll do it for you.

      Personally, I don't know why you would want to create a website using HTML when it's so easy with Wordpress.  There are plugins which you can use to feature Amazon and eBay products, some of which just import the image and affiliate link without the pricing.  Or alternatively, you can use the Skimlinks plugin, which automatically turns all Amazon links into affiliate links and guarantees you 6% commission.

  12. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 12 years ago

    Hostgator platform leaves you stuck with their templates.   If you use WP, you have a wider choice of themes and can get one elsewhere and use it. 

    I have a blog which I do nothing with on the Free WP.    WP sounds difficult. Everything you need to do requires a plug in, some you have to pay for from what I have read.  The main thing with HTML is affiliate programs only give you your links in HTML.    Blogger has made some changes which makes it easier to use.  But, for some reason, I still don't like it.

    1. mistyhorizon2003 profile image88
      mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Linda, I am confused by your last two comments completely. Hostgator is just a host, it doesn't have 'templates'. You can use a domain name with a Wordpress theme and host it on Hostgator. There are plenty of free themes you can use, and you barely need to use any plugins to do things. I only have 2 plugins on one of my sites and three on the other. The only plugins I have used were optional extras like having a 'contact form' as opposed to just an email address and having a 'back up' system in place for the complete site that I could save regularly in case of any dire emergency where I 'lost' my site for any reason. Everything basic you need is included in the templates/themes themselves, no plugins required. I have never had to pay for any of my plugins.

      On Wordpress sites you can use HTML for affiliate links, you just click the tab marked HTML on the page or post you are working on and insert the HTML code, them click back to the original tab and continue typing as normal. When you preview the page your HTML will appear as the affiliate link along with the product image. I know this works because I have them on my WP site.

      As we know you can't advertise on the Free Wordpress.com site, but if you buy a domain name of your own and use a Wordpress theme (free or paid) and host it somewhere like Hostgator, you can use advertising.

      I am sure Marisa may be able to add to this or possibly explain it better.

    2. Marisa Wright profile image84
      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You do not have to use Hostgator's sitebuilder.  You simply install Wordpress from cPanel.

      As Misty says, you can use HTML links in Wordpress easily.  However, it's even easier to sign up for Skimlinks or Viglinks (if you've used Wizzley I guess you're in Viglinks already).  Then you just install the Skimlinks or Viglinks plugin, and it converts ordinary hyperlinks to affiliate links so you don't need the HTML. 

      Wordpress is not as scary as it looks.  It's almost exactly the same as the free WP.  Start with the basic theme and the Jetpack plugin and you won't need much else at first.

      When you want to do something clever or fancy, go searching for a plugin that can do the job - there's a very good chance you'll find one.   Plugins are one of the great strengths of Wordpress: instead of having to know how to write HTML and customise code yourself, you just install a plugin where all the work has been done for you.

  13. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 12 years ago

    Another thing with WP if you use the free one and buy a domain, you can't use affiliate links of any kind.

  14. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 12 years ago

    Misty:  Hostgator has a site builder platform. You can use theirs, get domain name, and pay for their hosting or you can use WP with them as hosting, etc.   If you use the Site builder, and not WP, you are stuck with the templates they provide.  If you use WP on there, you do what you want to do.

  15. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 12 years ago

    You can go to WP and download the thing, or Hostgator site does it for you, which is why I contacted them.  They have everything for WP built in.  Then I started asking about the Site Builder using Hostgator and that is what you see is what you get for themes.

    1. mistyhorizon2003 profile image88
      mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      On that basis why not just do what I did, buy a domain name, host it on Hostgator and download a free theme on to it. There are literally hundreds to choose from online. I never used the 'Site Builder'

      http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

      1. NateB11 profile image85
        NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Good info. I was wondering about that, because I have a theme that I want to use, but I read a bit about site builder which kind of confused me.

        1. Marisa Wright profile image84
          Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Yup, ignore Site builder.   It's an alternative way to build a website but Wordpress is (IMO) a better option.

 
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