Who should I have host my domain?

1. 76

   Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

   I bought a Godaddy domain (so don't tell me that was dumb, because it's already paid for, so it doesn't matter if you agree or not with that choice lol).
   
   So, should I use their hosting ($2.99 a month if I pay 36 months out), or should I get someone else? If so, who and why?

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   1. 71

      earnestshubposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think it depends on a few factors, like how much bandwidth you reckon you'll need and how much server side software you need to run for tracking, autoresponders, security, analysis etc.
      For one of our family businesses we need to connect to a pretty expensive host as we have to send out a lot of newsletters, and send the product automatically. The average server just doesn't cut it. We now outsource SEO.

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   2. 60

      kshankinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      GoDaddy's actually a pretty good choice. before I started self hosting websites I went through GoDaddy, they've got some really useful tools and EXCELLENT customer service. They will walk you through things you don't understand.
      
      The only downside to using GoDaddy is that their site is EXTREMELY cluttered, they've got ads, and tools and pictures everywhere.  If you don't mind dealing with that then I'd say GoDaddy is a great choice.
      
      @earnesthub is right about deciding on how much bandwidth you need, however, you can start off with an inexpensive shared server. As your need for more capacity increases (which it hopefully will!), you can rent a dedicated server from GoDaddy.

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      1. 85

         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Are you basing that purely on your own experience?  Has it ever occurred to you that, maybe, you were just lucky?
         
         When I researched hosting providers, it took only a quick Google search to find thousands of people very unhappy with their GoDaddy experience.  I'd rather trust that information than take the word of one individual customer.
         
         As I said before, GoDaddy sounds a bit like eBay or Paypal - when they're good, they're great, but when things go wrong, the wheels fall off.  Why take the chance?

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         1. 60

            kshankinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Hah, I suppose I could be lucky. However, I've made a couple of phone calls to their customer service department and always received nothing less than excellence from the different customer service and technical support representatives.
            
            And yes Google is a fantastic resource for just about anything, however, I rarely trust a "quick" search. A quick search will do things like show you that the iPhone 4 has an antenna issue and lots of upset customers, but it may leave out the fact that the iPhone is the most popular phone in the world. 
            
            Google is so vast that I'm sure anyone can easily find points that will back up either side of any argument.
            
            So now I must ask, are you basing your replies off of experience or are you simply backing information that took you 15 seconds to acquire? None of your comments show that you've actually used GoDaddy before.
            
            If I was asking a question to a community, I sure hope that someone would provide me with an answer of their personal experience instead of just doing a quick google search and blindly backing other peoples opinions.
            
            Please do not belittle my opinion of a company that I had a good experience with.

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            1. 85

               Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Kshankin, I'm not "belittling" your opinion, and I'm sorry if it came out that way. I'm just questioning how glowing your reference was, based on one experience.  I'm questioning it not to upset you, but to prevent a casual visitor to the forum reading your post, acting on your recommendation and perhaps regretting it. 
               
               I suggested you do a quick search - I didn't say I only did a quick search.  Before choosing a host, I asked experienced internet entrepreneurs here on HP, joined some webmaster forums and asked questions, as well as searching on Google.  The overwhelming advice was "don't touch GoDaddy". I'm not an expert so I certainly wasn't going to disregard the advice of my betters on the subject of web hosting!

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               1. 60

                  kshankinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Very good. If the asker has her questions answered and can make an informed decision, then everyone's a winner.
                  
                  Cheers

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2. 86

   WryLiltposted 13 years ago

   I personally use Hostgator - you'll find that many people on HP do.
   
   I'd avoid going with bluehost, they have a few niggling annoyances once you get high traffic.
   
   Hostgator gives you (almost) instance online chat contact with someone to help you out with any issue. Longest I've waited is five minutes and they solve all the problems!
   
   I usually buy my domains through Godaddy then host them on hostgator. I think at the moment I'm paying $10/month to host unlimited domains.
   
   Good luck!

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I've had the same experience. 
      
      You'll find a few reasons not to use GoDaddy here:
      
      http://nodaddy.com/

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   2. 91

      wordscribe43posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Completely agree, that's what I do (buy from GoDaddy, host on HostGator)  I just had Hostgator help me with a complex problem VERY quickly with the online chat.  I have zero complaints... 

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3. 69

   lrohnerposted 13 years ago

   Since you're new to the space, I would seriously consider GoDaddy. Their 24X7 customer service is really easy to work with and understand (ie American call centers), and they're very helpful to newbies.

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4. 90

   AdeleCosgroveBrayposted 13 years ago

   I've used Godaddy for around four years now, for domain name and hosting, and I use their Website Tonight software which is more than adequate for my needs.  I've found their company to be economical and any queries were dealt with rapidly and efficiently.  I'd recommend them. 
   
   And no, they didn't pay me to type this! 

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      To me, GoDaddy sounds very like eBay or Paypal - they're brilliant when things are going right, but if something goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong.
      
      I believe you have to pay extra for the Website Tonight package, which is a very basic website builder.   Switching to their basic hosting and learning how to use Wordpress would save you money and give you a better site in the long run.
      
      Edit:  actually, since your website is so simple, you could simply attach your domain name to a blogspot or wordpress.com blog and pay nothing for hosting at all!

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5. 71

   Bill Manningposted 13 years ago

   I do not recommend godaddy. I use Hawk Host and am very happy with them.

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6. 40

   Ritsosposted 13 years ago

   clook.com or .co.uk depending on where you are ... very good support

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7. 76

   Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

   Thanks to all who are piping in here. This is awesome, seriously.
   
   
   
   I don't know if this was addressed to me, I don't think it was, but if it was, for what it's worth, I'm planning to have a site that grows. Books pages, video, blog page, sales/shopping cart, Amazon and other retail stuff, guest authors, cover/graphic artists, maybe a forum, etc. And I have people who are going to set up WordPress on it for me, but who will help me with the complicated stuff.

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   1. 71

      Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If your going to spend a lot of time on it and grow it big, also get a dedicated IP address for it. Most of the time it's only around 2 bucks a month more.

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   2. 60

      recommend1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I did all the searching and looking etc - and chose Hostgator.  I have had no trouble at all and the 3 occasions I have used their help were awesomely good, on one occasion the helper checked the Wordpress files that I could not get to behave and fixed it for me, beyond the scope of the help.  I wentthe extra dollars and got the Business package with the free bits that make it all work better and easier.

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   3. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      No Shades, it was addressed to Adele. 
      
      All my sites are Wordpress and I wouldn't use anything else.  It's just so powerful and really, not that hard to use.  So it sounds to me like you're on the right track!

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8. 76

   Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

   I may want to host book downloads. Does that count as needing a business option?  Surely I can upgrade down the road, right?

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   1. 71

      earnestshubposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, we started on godaddy and sell a book.
      The marketing is what burns bandwidth. You should be fine up to around 20,000 subscribers just using 1shoppingcart and a standard host. After that you will need a better host.

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9. 71

   tritrainposted 13 years ago

   Do not use GoDaddy for hosting.  Registrar, fine, but not hosting.
   
   I have a Hub that compares them (people vote) and I can personally tell you from experience that GoDaddy is the worst.

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10. 77

    rocketjsquposted 13 years ago

    If you have not made a choice already, you may want to check out IX Webhosting.  I know it's a bit late already but they include a free domain registration for one year with their web hosting.
    
    One of the nice things about their web hosting is they include two dedicated IP addresses with their hosting for only $3.95 a month or up to 15 with their unlimited Pro plan.
    
    Go Daddy for example charges an additional $4.95 per month for a dedicated IP address. I am not sure about Hostgator whether or not they have dedicated IP addresses or shared addresses. 
    
    They also offer a seven day free trial and a 30 day money back guarantee.  And just like the other two services mentioned they offer 24/7 live chat support as well.

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    1. 0

       Amie Warrenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       NEVER NEVER NEVER get "free domain with hosting"  deals. When you go to renew, they jack the price up to an exorbitant number, and they will not let you transfer your domain without buying it for an even more exorbitant price.
       
       It's a scam. Just don't do it! I have a couple of friends online who got caught by that and had to change their domain name, which isn't good at all.
       
       I suggest always keeping your domain and your hosting separate, with separate sites.

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       1. 77

          rocketjsquposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Amie,
          
          "one bad apple does not spoil the whole bushel"
          
          While I can sympathize with your friends bad experience, that has not been the case with IX Webhosting.  I have hosted some of my domains and my web hosting for several years now with them and until recently three domains renewed for FREE each year. 
          
          Unfortunately, this year I did receive advance notification that domain renewals would cost $7.49 per year. 
          
          Previously I had received  my domain renewals at no additional cost as long as I renewed my web hosting.  Which by the way, is competitively priced with Go Daddy and Host Gator.  The difference is in the fine print details that I would recommend everyone read very carefully. 
          
          Ron
          
          P.S. New web hosting accounts still receive one or more free domain registrations for one year, and then renewals are $7.49 per year.  Domain registration alone is $19.95/yr which I think is a little expensive compared to other services.

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          1. 0

             Amie Warrenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Yeah, well try to move that site and take that domain name with you. That's what I'm talking about. Sure, as long as you are hosting there, everything is fine and dandy. It's when you try to leave that it gets sticky.

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11. 76

    Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

    This is probably a really dumb question, but why is the static IP important, and if it is, why do they not all offer it?

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12. 85

    Len Cannonposted 13 years ago

    I am very, very, very happy with Dreamhost.

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13. 92

    puter_drposted 13 years ago

    If you are planning on selling anything that requires a SSL certificate(shopping cart, etc), you will need a dedicated IP.
    
    I also like to keep my content segregated from others on shared hosts. I don't want my children's book site on the same ip with a porn site.

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    1. 71

       Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       What puter_dr above says.
       
       If you share the same IP with a blocked or "bad" site it could reflect badly on your site. Also if you share the same IP with an adult site, adult filters could block your site just by association.
       
       That's why the adult sites I have I always use dedicated IP's. It protects other sites that share my server. Cause that's the kind of guy I am!

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14. 92

    puter_drposted 13 years ago

    Another rule that I have been told, and found to be true.
    
    Buy your domains from one company, and host with another. Don't buy domains from your host, and don't host with your domain provider.
    
    If they are on the up and up, all should be fine, but sometimes you might decide you want to move your domain to another host, and the host you currently have will not allow it.

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15. 75

    sunforgedposted 13 years ago

    Do NOT use GoDaddy - it wont matter when your site is small - it will matter later - they oversell their shared hosting, they dont use cpanel and they NEVER admit problems on their end
    
    as for 24/7 support - lol , a phone call is a minimum 7 minute wait and eticket are 8-18 hours for response
    
    between clients and my own sites I use 6 of the top hosts regularly
    
    http://hubpages.com/hub/Slowdaddycom-Ye … -Does-Suck
    
    ^ I was so adamant about my hatred, i dint even stick any aff links in for hosting so that my story would be more trusted
    
    I actually just spent 20 hours working on godaddy hosting relate problems and after 6 months of me telling them that my database server was whacked and migrating most of my sites - i finally forced a database migration and the speed up was instant! (after fixing 6 sites that the migration broke that is   )
    
    
    Just say NOdaddy
    
    
    I do prefer Hostgator - chat support is instant and the techs are smart - gd techs CAN be good - but they are also forced to make sales suggestions, its annoying - you call pissed that they are messing something up and then they try and sell you something ... i dont think so

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    1. 70

       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Good to know for future use.

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16. 76

    Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

    Okay, you guys have convinced me. Hostgator it is.
    
    So, I'm assuming there will be an option for the static IP thing on sign up?  I don't want any of that porn site bleed over or whatever. Not because I don't like porn, but because I don't want issues.

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17. 76

    skyfireposted 13 years ago

    No need to get static IP immediately because you're hosting with hostgator. Unless you're selling physical products or require secure login there is no need for static IP and SSL certificate. HG do have policies against plagiarized content and adult content.

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18. 71

    tritrainposted 13 years ago

    Don't rule out Blue Host either.
    
    Right now both Blue Host and Hostgator are neck and neck in overall value.  <snipped link - do not promote your Hubs in the forums>

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    1. 76

       skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       ?
       
       Hostgator never prefers CPU throttling on shared server. I can't say the same for bluehost.

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19. 71

    Bill Manningposted 13 years ago

    HG does allow porn sites, just not illegal porn sites. Also if your going to get a dedicated IP down the road, it's better to get it as soon as you start your site.
    
    Changing your IP later can cause problems and even make your site go down in rank in SE's.

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20. 86

    Salocaposted 13 years ago

    Some great advice on this thread! Has helpe me alot and given me ideas for when I finally delve into the world of domains and hosting!

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21. 65

    brandonhart100posted 13 years ago

    Has anyone used InMotion?

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