Which Company is right for you.
This is perhaps the most important question in the whole article and the one that prompted me to write it. The company you choose is infinitely more important than the plan, because in dire situation the right company will offer good advice and assistance and point you in the right direction. Here I will discuss the Good, Bad and the Ugly of the hosting community. Of course statements below are only opinions of a single individual and do not reflect the general mood of our company, since I didn’t ask anyone their opinion prior to writing this. There thousands of hosting companies available on the internet for your hosting needs. From big like GoDaddy to small like my friend Nate. Nate runs his own server and so does GoDaddy. GoDaddy just has more space. I chose Nate in the past when my hosting requirements were modest. Why? Because of personal experience. Personal experience is the only one that counts. I personally experience Nate while being his friend throughout college and personally experience GoDaddy while being their customer since 2004.
I chose Nate because he was nicer even though I knew full well that he was less reliable. Your host should be nice and not snooty. I did not write this to “host bash” anyone so lets list some reputable companies out there and pick the best ones for your to look at. No, I was not paid for this – I wish!
I hosted my first website in 1995 and at that time the choice was clear. Cruzio in Santa Cruz. They were the only ones that had hosting I was aware of, unless you
count AOL sites which was my first website. Now if you type in hosting into Google you will get 718 million results, even if you narrow your results to actual legitimate companies out there, the number will be so staggering you want to blow up the internet rather sift through the masses. Please don’t, that’s how I make money, this is why I wrote this piece, to make it easier to choose an already established, tested reputable company I have personally experienced.
SiteGround
My website right now is being hosted with a company out of GB – SiteGround. Their customer support and technology won me over in the short time I have been with these guys. They answer to a ticket with-in 15 minutes and are actually helpful during online chat, rather than clueless and abrasive. I have not had a lot of issues here and all of the issues I had here were due to another host which shall remain nameless, suffice it to say I still have Daddy issues. SiteGround has all of the hosting solution types we discussed and very decent shared hosting plan. I cannot promise, but I heard that they don’t overload their servers and I have been personally able to run a fairly large website with heavy traffic load at under 3 sec for the homepage load time. Admittedly I employed the assistance of Caching software, Google and Amazon CloudFront, I was nevertheless impressed with the speed of their server. I have recently purchased another hosting package from them and will provide a review of their other services in the near future. Currently I have a VPS and a Geek Pro shared hosting plan with these guys and am pretty happy with the service and technology they provide. You get lots of extras with any account level you choose and their domain tools are some of the best I have had with others.
BlueHost
BlueHost is based in US and has a very large HQ office. They have a variety of hosting plans with decent pricing, especially during the times that you can get a break. This is the only time I recommend locking in hosting for a longer period than a month. If you can save a considerable amount of money the risk is worth it. Especially if you can save a couple of hundred dollars a year with their VPS services, that are actually pretty fast and decent. Customer service is good and they do answer very
quickly when you dial their toll free. BlueHost advertises 30-second wait times on their website. I was impressed just hearing someone voice after a few prompts. Most hosting companies will either make you wait or will not provide phone support. BlueHost houses good technology and is fairly reliable. I currently have a VPS and a shared hosting plan with them as well.
A Small Orange
This is a small company, or at least they used to be, and they offer superior support with decently priced hosting services. They have many satisfied customers and will address your issues in a more personal and pleasant manner. My experience with them was short lived, through no fault of theirs, and I had to speak with support a few dozen times. Each time they were knowledgeable and courteous. My issue was not resolved and only later I found my mistake, so I am planning on coming back to these guys and will post a more in-depth review once I have a few months under my belt with their services.
Arvixe
I have not personally used these guys, but was very close to. I have read a ton of great publicity and their prices are very reasonable when compared to other higher end hosting companies. They offer a complete hosting solution from shared to dedicated and will not nickel and dime you on the add-ons. Most of the things
you need are already included. A few of my colleagues have used their service in the past and were happy with the outcome.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is the largest domain register in North America. As far as domain registration goes, these guys are great. Do not make the mistake of getting your domain and your hosting from the same place. If the company you are using has a technical issue, there is little you can do if they control your hosting and url at the same time. Besides, there much better hosts out there. If you buy a lot of Domains get their Domain Club and buy a domain for $8.29 a year. I am happy with their domain service and can recommend them.
I am not affiliated with this website -http://www.whoishostingthis.com, but I have found them to be helpful in terms of other reviews from consumers. Here you can compare hosting reviews from a few more companies I did not mention.
I hope I have been able to shed some light on the dark forest of hosting companies and your decision will be easier to make. In my next guide in January I will be addressing Google Computer Engine and Amazon EC2 as a hosting solution.
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