HOSTING TID BITS

One of the challenges facing any organization, business or person looking to be a part of the web is to find a reputable and reliable web hosting service. Let's face it - there a ton of them out there. The web hosting business is not always what it appears to be. I have been creating web pages for over a decade and like everyone else I too have needed to find a place to host my sites. I too, like so many others, have learned some valuable lessons along the way (some costly ones too).

I truly feel there are some factors that set apart one web hosting service from another. First, how reliable is their service. As the geeks say, what is their uptime? Second what is their pricing structure (sometimes you get what you pay for) especially in terms of the amount of storage space you get and just as importantly how much bandwidth are you able to use? Thirdly, what can you do on their server? As a web designer do you have access to databases, mail scripts, cgi, asp or php, and the list goes on. You also have to know up front what kind of support they provide. Many tout 24/7 support but good luck finding help at 3am in the morning when your sites go down. And lastly, who is the real service you are looking at?

There is a little known secret (unless you have been around the block) about the web hosting world, one which I am going to reveal. While I mentioned there are tons of web hosting services out there the tidbit is that there aren't as many as you think. Their are web hosting services, and then there are web hosting resellers. I am by no means saying that resellers are a bad think, they just are more often than not very upfront about it. They go to great lengths to hide the fact they actually are selling another companies "world class data centers".

Before I get too much farther, the second most important tidbit on this page is that I am a reseller for a fantastic company, GoDaddy, Inc. As a web designer I have designed alot of web sites. As a result I have needed to put those web sites someplace and that has meant I have dealt with alot of different web hosting companies. Some worked but most of the time my clients ended up spending alot of money just trying to get their web hosting service to perform as promiseed. So becoming a GoDaddy reseller was partly selfish as it makes my job much easier working on server systems that I know and trust, but more importantly, I strongly believe that GoDaddy by far gives more bang for the buck. As I have mentioned before, I truly care about my client's needs and every client deserves a stable and efficient website.

It was a long road to get to GoDaddy. Over ten years ago I started hosting with several local companies, none of which could keep up with the constantly changing scripting and program features needed to make websites. Then I used companies out there such as WebHost4Life, Datapacket and finally BroadWeb. While some worked some of the time, others barely worked at all. It seemed like I was spending more time trying to keep my hosting running (or looking for another provider) than I did making web sites. It was frustrating for me to say the least. Way back in 2000 I opted to become a GoDaddy customer and I finally stopped looking!

Having my web design customers hosting on GoDaddy as I mentioned, just plain makes my job easier. Besides that, I really think it makes their web experience easier. My sites (I have 20 personal sites on GoDaddy) don't go down, my email is virtually spam free and well their tech support answers the phone whenever I call (that is a nice feeling trust me!). As if that is not enough, I have never been able to beat their prices.

So the final tidbit I want to pass along is why resellers don't do what I just did (come clean). Their fear is that you will head to who they resell for and sign up there, effectively cutting them out of their commission. Take for example my Linux 1-month hosting plan. Yes, you can get it cheaper (by 59 cents a month) at GoDaddy, I do confess. For 59 cents however I will offer you advice on what works and sometimes what doesn't; what services you need to get your site up and running and heck I will even do the setup for you if you wish. I can be your first line of questioning if need be and rest assured, standing in the wings is a fantastic group of support techs who answer the phone 24/7 (I don't by the way) and yes, truth be told, they DO have a world class data center. Okay there, the secret is out! I truly look forward to helping you with your hosting needs.