|
|
Cheap Web Hosting - When Cheaper is Better
Anyone who has ever shopped for web hosting knows that you can spend anywhere from nothing up to several hundred dollars to host your web site. So what's the difference? Well often times if you're talking about typical shared web hosting in the $6 to $20 range ? nothing. That's right ? nothing! Nothing that is, except good old fashioned marketing and hype!
We compared standard features on 5 well known shared hosting accounts to see exactly what you get for your money ? and the results may surprise you. What we really care about in our test is probably what you would care about as a small business owner looking for hosting for a basic site: adequate disk space, ample email accounts, and reasonable bandwidth. We looked over all the other bells and whistles ? but weren't really willing to pay loads extra for them. We were also looking for a short term contract (monthly or quarterly) ? not a year or two commitment.
Upscale
Verio's Bronze Plan - http://hosting.verio.com/index.php/unixwin_bronze.html
Monthly Price (including set up fees) - $24.95 per month + free setup
Basic Specs ? 250 MB of diskspace, 7.5 GB of bandwidth, and 20 email accounts
Extra's ? Web design software, free domain pointing, Urchin web stats, free chat software
Our take ? If this were 1998 I might consider paying $24.95 for a package like this?oh wait, it's 2004.
Mid Tier
Interland's b100 Account - http://www.interland.com/shared/bluehalo/?package=b100
Monthly Price (including set up fees) - $12.95 per month + free setup
Basic Specs ? 250 MB of diskspace, 10 GB of bandwidth, and 30 email accounts
Extra's ? WebTrends web stats, access to log files, firewall protection
Our take ? This is one of the biggest brands in hosting and their prices have been reduced of late. Still pretty expensive compared to aggressive lower priced competitors.
SuperbHosting's U Power Service - http://www.superbhosting.net/upower.php
Monthly Price (including set up fees) - $12.50 per month + free setup
Basic Specs ? 1000 MB of diskspace, 50 GB of bandwidth, and 250 email accounts
Extra's ? Free domain, 30-day money back guarantee, daily data backups, free search engine submission, no content restrictions
Our take ? Another well known hosting service that seems to offer considerably more value in the mid-tier than other companies.
Cheap Hosting
IPowerWeb - http://www.ipowerweb.com/products/webhosting/index.html
Monthly Price (including set up fees) - $9.95 per month + $30 setup
Basic Specs ? 800 MB of diskspace, 40 GB of bandwidth, and 400 email accounts
Extra's ? $50 Google AdWords credit, money back guarantee, SSL included, unlimited email forwarding
Our take ? Often thought of as the low priced hosting leader. Their plans really shine when signing up for an annual account where the price drops to $7.95 per month.
HostSave Standard Hosting - http://www.hostsave.com/hosting/plan_features.htm
Monthly Price (including set up fees) - $8.95 per month + free setup
Basic Specs ? 1000 MB of diskspace, 100 GB of bandwidth, and 500 email accounts
Extra's ? Free MySQL database, catch-all email address, PERL v5, log file access
Our take ? This looks like the best deal for our basic needs. They have a big brand name and all the features we need plus the MySQL database thrown in.
Conclusions
You can pay a lot for basic shared web hosting ? you can also get it on the cheap. While certain specialty features might justify paying a premium, our analysis suggests that you can probably get the same specs ? maybe even better specs ? without paying more money. So for our hard earned bucks, cheaper is definitely better!
About The Author
Bob Frazer
Email: info@cheaphostingdirectory.com
CheapHostingDirectory.Com is a resource for webmasters and consumers looking to find a web hosting company or a quality expiring domain names with traffic. CHD is part of the TechPad Agency network of web hosting related sites, visit www.thetechpad.com for more information.
Woe the Web
Finding a good and reliable web hosting company is like looking for the right husband. The word 'right' and 'husband' don't belong together in the first place, many insists! Well, how can I argue with something to inadvertantly correct and incorrect at the same time?
The 2 Sides of Reseller Web Hosting
In the first case the customer is really looking for a large shared hosting plan that allows multiple domains. More frequently in the industry you see the term "Multi-Domain account" to refer to these plans. These customers can be webmasters with a network of websites, web designers, or a company that wants separate websites for their different brands. Most people doing business on the internet have more then 1 website. Hosting companies have recently taken notice to this and started offering "multiple domain" accounts. Before customers were left with the choice of a full blown Reseller plan, dedicated server, or multiple hosting accounts.
Use Your Hobby To Launch A Successful Website
When you study the really successful websites, you will quickly notice that many are based on seemingly strange subjects, many of which may not easily pass for a serious business.
Free Or Not Free -- Its Your Choice
The internet is one of the world's top sources of information, products and just about anything else you could possibly want. And, if you have spent any amount of time online, you must have noticed that much of it is free.
Demand Unlimited Auto-Responders with Your Hosting Accounting
AutoResponders are nifty scripts that run in your web server 24/7 serving immediate email responses to questions, support and sales. Think about this, your customer comes to your website and spends a round 200$ to get your product. And after the payment they don't get back any response for the next 10 hours, would they like it? No, and this is more damaging if they have requested some additional pre-sales information and don't receive any notification in the next 1 hour. In this Internet world, your competitor is just a click away. Your customer goes back to the search results and clicks the next website that gives a similar product. Lost sales, and more money in your competitor's hands! This is twice the loss as the competitor is going to spend a percentage of the money in advertising the product or building a better product. Auto responders help reduce this possibility by carefully scripting the follow up messages based on the incoming queries your pre-sales information can be safely and securely delivered without delays. This translates into better sales.
How to Move Your Domain Without Any Downtime
With a little advanced planning, moving your domain to a new hosting company is a painless process. The approach outlined here will allow you to move any domain without downtime. The basic steps are:
What You Should Know About Your Web Host
Yesterday I received a nice email in my inbox, I read that short and interesting email, it was like 5 to 6 lines max, at the end was a link which I was asked to click on. I did exactly that. I wait for about 1 minute but no page downloaded. I think my Internet connection gets down so I checked it but it was perfect.
Windows Hosting versus Linux Hosting ? Which is right for you?
There are literally hundreds of thousands of web hosting companies out there. Many of these companies offer both Windows hosting and Linux hosting plans. Windows plans usually cost more because of the license costs imposed by Microsoft. Knowing this, how can you know when you need Windows hosting and when Linux hosting will work just as well or better? Keep reading to find out.
Cheap Web Hosting ? Choose The Right Company
You have carried out the hard part and that's creating the web site. The next step is to get it hosted as to allow the public find your site. So why do so many first time web host seekers fall into the trap of a bad web host company? Well there are a number of factors to consider and none bigger than the price. We all want cheap web hosting but unfortunately price is not always what you should go for.
10 Helpful Tips to Follow When Switching Web Hosts
You've made your decision to move from your website from your current web host to a new web host. The following tips will help you make the transition easier and make you aware of some potential pitfalls to avoid.
Choosing The Wrong Server Will Literally Make Or Break You
Choosing the right web server will be one of the most important decisions you will ever make with your online business. Why? Because the web server you choose will literally make or break your online business.
Web Hosting - Choose Affordable, Cheap Web Hosting
The Basics:
How to Start Your Own Hosting Services
If your like many another webmasters you might be thinking of starting a web hosting company. But where do you start? And more importantly, what do you need to know? Well, in this article I will show the basic things that you will need in order to succeed as a web hosting provider.
How to Choose a Web Hosting Company
Web Hosting Advice
Niche Hosting
There is story of David and Goliath where Goliath would come and challenge everybody - "is there anyone amongst you who would dare to fight against me?" Who would dare to fight against him? He was a giant, there was nothing one could do to humble him.
Cheap Web Hosting is No Bargain
Ever heard the saying "Penny-wise and Dollar-foolish"?
Battle Of The Hostings
There are literally thousands of hosting solutions on the internet right now, from the free ones at www.geocities.com to the ones who charge you an arm and a leg. After filtering out the sharks, the copy cats & other crap, finally I have decided to review two of the best and most complete hostings package available on this planet. Please note that these are not the cheapest hostings around but these really give good value for your money, instead of asking you to upgrade later for an additional fee. Here is why :
7 Key Points to Consider When Choosing a Web Host
With literally thousands of web hosting companies in the industry all vieing for your business, carefully consider these key points to ensure you make the most well informed decision possible.
CHMOD - Undertanding File Permissions on a Unix-Based Server
The basic command for changing file permissions in unix based operating systems is the 'chmod' command. This command is executed with a set of parameters after it. With most FTP clients, you can simply select the filename you want to change the permissions of, right click, and choose the chmod command.
Uptime Guarantee ? Good Idea?
When looking for a Web Host there are lots of factors that come into play. Usually the deciding factors are price and bandwidth. A common overlooked item is the uptime guarantee. This is the percentage of time your account will be up and running What do these numbers really mean? If we look at these percentages and convert them into the amount of time your site is going to be down we get some very telling information. The chart below lists the uptime gurantee percentage and how that equates to time.