How do I find a good host for my website?

Prawn

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I want an author web site, but I am poor. I need a few gigs of space, an e-mail app that will forward my e-mail to the one check everyday.

I have looked, at places like godaddy and moster host, but I am not sure if those are good because there are so many complaints against them.

Any ideas?

P
 

JamieFord

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I registered with plain ol' Network Solutions, but have bought other domains from godaddy with no problems. I use SquareSpace for my site.
 

Fahim

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Some people say very good things about GoDaddy as hosts (not as domain registrar, which is a different thing) and others hate them. The same with quite a few other hosting companies. Your choice would also depend on what *you* need and your website administration experience level. For instance, if you nothing about webservers, you might want a lot of customer support and handholding and when you don't get it, you might think the hosting service bad. On the other hand, if you are a webserver expert, you would only want the servers to be maintained and administered well by a company and you would know how to do all the rest. So, your expectations determine how good or bad a host is, to an extent.

Additionally, the host you go with would also be determined based on how much you are willing to spend, the level of control you require and the features/functionality that you expect. I believe you have specified the latter to an extent but you haven't mentioned if you need PHP, mySQL or any other extra features. If you don't, and price is a consideration, you should be able to get a basic site with about 500MB - 1GB of space for about $5 a month. Or, you can go a bit higher and get your own virtual private server (VPS) for about $20-$40 a month. The advantage of a VPS is that it's a self-contained virtual server that you can manage on your own - you control what's installed, what's not installed and so on. But, you have to have the Linux knowledge to do that.

The best thing would be to check out a forum like WebHostingTalk (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/) for hosts in the particular category you're interested and make your own decision based on the feedback provided by others. If there's a specific host you are interested in and they don't have any feedback on the forums, you can even start a new thread asking for feedback.

ETA:
Since this question comes up about once every month, I'm sticking this thread and changing the title slightly so that others can find it easily :)
 
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Prawn

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Ooo! Ooo! I'm all sticky!

Thanks Fahim. I don't need a virtual server. I just want some basic features that I think any of the bargain basement hosts can provide. Thanks for your help!
 

She_wulf

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StartLogic.com is providing a 24 month package with domain name registration. It got four stars in an independent review.

the one time fee is: $118.80
- that works out to 4.95/month

It has multiple databases, blogs, asp/java/php, subdomain hosting and other bells and whistles.

But, it's not for the novice web designer. There are templates you can use, but they are not that functional for some of the things you could be doing. And, if you don't have a clear plan of how your site should look + content ideas, it becomes even harder because you need to understand how to change the pages. Of course, if you're that new you really should go with a provider like GoDaddy, or just create a MySpace page instead.
 

Fahim

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StartLogic.com is providing a 24 month package with domain name registration. It got four stars in an independent review.

the one time fee is: $118.80
- that works out to 4.95/month

About $5 a month used to be standard for a low-end hosting package even like 4-5 years ago. Of course, what you get for that $5 varies from host to host.

But, it's not for the novice web designer. There are templates you can use, but they are not that functional for some of the things you could be doing. And, if you don't have a clear plan of how your site should look + content ideas, it becomes even harder because you need to understand how to change the pages. Of course, if you're that new you really should go with a provider like GoDaddy, or just create a MySpace page instead.

I am not sure, but I don't believe GoDaddy holds your hand either - so if you don't know what you're doing, that might not be an option either. But then again, GoDaddy might provide WYSIWYG site development tools which might help you but the best thing to do if you don't know much about hosting a site, is to first learn how to do it properly :)
 

kara

I have nothing but good things to say about hostmonster.com. They have great customer service, wonderful features (cpanel 11) and reasonable pricing.
 

ALG71

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Okay I don't know anything about starting a website but everything posted above has been a big help already.

I have a couple questions though. I gather that I can register a domain name with one place, and find a place to host it somewhere else. Correct?

Also, for example, could I register a domain name today, and then find a host a month or two from now when I'm ready to create the website? Or do you have to find a host and start the website immediately after you've registered the domain name?

Thanks in advance.
 

Cath

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That's right, Alex. You can buy a domain name and some server space, on which to host your domain, separately. The web-host will tell you how to get the DNS servers pointed to your webspace so your page links up to your domain name whenever you get it set up.
 

akiwiguy

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I have an account with http://www.webhost4life.com and they are very very well priced and every feature you could think of. They are not "fly by nighters" and have a great reputation. For example... for $US9 a month I get 3Gb disk space, unlimited bandwidth, every language (PSP, Perl, .NET etc)... what I like is, they are Windows hosted and support latest .NET versions, along with SQL Server databases. In fact I can create a new SQL Server database within about a minute, with no support needed. I work with .NET and SQL Server, and usually the lower priced sites are freeware tools such as mySQL etc. Whilst those options are still there, this is by far the lowest priced Windows-basd site I have seen.

And in terms of support... recently a .NET app I'd written wouldn't run, and I opened a support query. Within the next 5 minutes I re-tried the url and it worked. Puzzled I went back in to support to tell them there was no problem, and saw their response to my problem, which they'd fixed in that five minutes. I was stunned.

Hope it's not considered spam to mention this site by name, I have no financial incentive to do so... I just can't speak highly enough of them.
 

tupp

looking for a good host for a small shopping cart business

I¨am looking for a good cheap but fast host for a small on-line shopping cart business ,,,,could you give me some ideas on good hosts thanks
 

Fahim

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I¨am looking for a good cheap but fast host for a small on-line shopping cart business ,,,,could you give me some ideas on good hosts thanks

Please read the information contained in this thread. That should give you enough information to get you started as to what you need to look for.
 

madmumbler

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(EDIT: Okay, I didn't pay attention to the date on the original post! So it's an oooooold thread, but the info is still valid. Sorry, not enough coffee this morning!)


Okay, if you want to stay REALLY cheap, for now do this.

Set up a Gmail account to take your email. It's really easy to do, you can forward accounts into it or set it up to pull email from other accounts. I now do this.

Register your domain name through Godaddy.com (I used to use them for hosting, long story short, I don't anymore because their service went downhill.) You can also check out their domain email address pricing if you really want custom.

THEN, get a free site like Blogger.com or WordPress.com (you can find LOTS of templates for free) and set the domain name to forward there.

That way you can set up a website cheap without any concerns for maintaining a hosting account on a server.

HTH.
 

MoonStone

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I know this question has already been answered but for anyone else I would like to offer this hosting site. It is FREE with limitations (though I fail to see any limitations that affected me yet). It has flash and let's you create animations and awesome material with just a click of a button. It's really simple and looks professional if you want it too.

www.wix.com
 

Tirjasdyn

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Hi!

As a web designer, I suggest using a package deal...I recommend Bluehost, Hostgator or Hostmonster.

You can register one place and move it to another hosting but I find it's best to keep them in the same place.

If you chose another host (I do not recommend godaddy unless your just buying domains and pointing them other places...as a host they are extremely limited and hard to deal with both on line and via customer service).

Choose a host that offers Control Panel to manage your website. Not Plesk, not Parallels, not "their own special control panel) but the actual Control Panel software. Nothing measures up to the Control Panel imnsho.

Also Unlimited bandwidth is good but bandwidth is the dirty secret of the web...there is no such thing, bandwidth is limited by the hardware, and software of the host...there is always a limit but unlimited means that you won't bust the limit unless you are getting millions of hits a day.
 
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Emerson

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I recommend InfluxHost. I don't know what their current plans are, but I've had a website with them for several years for about 35 bucks a year. That's domain and hosting, and a pretty good hosting plan at that.

EDIT: Now that I look, it seems their website is under reconstruction and you can only make sales inquiries for now. Still, I highly recommend them when they get back up.

I pay 10 bucks a year for my domain, and 24 a year for the hosting plan. That includes 3 GB webspace, 150 GB of bandwith, cPanel (as the above poster said, an absolute must), and all the basic amenities of a hosting plan (email, subdomains, etc.)
 
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BookFormatterJen

I am using GoDaddy. They are very affordable and easy to use for a newbie. Just buy a domain and a year of hosting. If you do not know anything about web design, you can just install WordPress and choose any out of a thousands templates that they offer. GoDaddy also has a quick shopping cart product, a good way to sell your books. Just the basic and nothing fancy if you are not the techie type.

Hope this helps.


TheBookFormatterJen
 

Deleted member 42

I am using GoDaddy. They are very affordable and easy to use for a newbie. Just buy a domain and a year of hosting.

Do not buy a domain and hosting from the same company

The chance of a problem later on if you switch hosts, for instance, is huge; they can choose to not transfer your domain, or even, to kill the DNS.
 

Deleted member 42

Yes, but people still are using it for hosting reccs.

The question isn't outdated, in other words, even if the OP has a solution in place.
 

shelleyo

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This thread is nearly four years old.......

It'd be different if the last response was four years ago.

I ditto the not buying the domain and hosting from the same place. Too many people have had their sites held hostage that way. I use Hostgator and am perfectly satisfied, but there are many options out there.

I'll admit I do like GoDaddy for domain purchases, after having done it through other companies that are really just offshoots of the big ones like GD, and being faced with delays, mistakes and other problems. I once bought a domain through a discount domain company, and a week after I purchased it I went to GoDaddy and bought the domain, then a week later the company came back with "your domain was unavailable after all." Sometimes you do get what you pay for. Bears remembering.

Shelley
 

2 Moon Press

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We have found that Liquid Web is a great host. They have had great up time, and their security is second to none. We use them for our site, and also our tracking system for authors.

GoDaddy also in our opinion is a solid place if you are looking for a web design one stop place. However, also they have severe limitations and their tech support is not the greatest.