Web hosting

[steven-g]

Does anyone have any pointers of things to look out for when finding a web host, I'm learning to create web pages, and have the outline for a site, and I want to get it started, probably won't be going live for a while yet, but I want to get something up and running to start testing a few ideas. I'd be really interested to hear any horror stories of things to avoid. As well as any tips for finding a reliable host.

[CADMASTER1128]

I personally use 1 and 1 web hosting. My website link is in my signature below.

[SLW210]

I use http://www.greengeeks.com/ great pricing. I literally checked out 50 sites and this was best bang for the buck.

[Organic]

Does anyone have any pointers of things to look out for when finding a web host

 

Whether they support PHP and any other scripting language you may use.

How many MySQL databases they provide you with.

Whether you can run cronjobs.

 

If the host does the above then they wil do pretty much everything you'd ever want.

[pqphillips]

I use HostGator. They've got a LOT of features and their tech support is both top notch and available 24/7.

 

When I say 24/7, I mean 24/7. I had an issue once that required an immediate fix... at 11:30 at night on Christmas Eve. They were there and they got me squared away in no time.

 

You can't beat that kind of service.

[SLW210]

Yes, HostGator was second on my list, I believe they were slightly higher than GreenGeeks for a level that I could run an online store, but they are definitely a good option, I pay $95 year I think and my first year was like $69 I think. I called the final three on my list and actually talked to them and placed my order on the phone as well.

 

I guess I could check and see if I saved all my notes on the different sites, but pretty sure I threw them out.

[steven-g]

I've heard of HostGator, and GoDaddy keeps popping up all over, but I have to be honest the colorful cartoony sites they use to advertise themselves don't fill me with confidence, I know you can't judge a book by it's cover which is why I am looking for anyone elses experiences, so thank you all, it's given me a couple of points to think about.

[pqphillips]

GoDaddy is a joke. The reason they chose Danica Patrick as their spokesperson is because both are known for crashing all the time.

[Cad64]

GoDaddy is a joke. The reason they chose Danica Patrick as their spokesperson is because both are known for crashing all the time.

 

I have been with them for years. My site has never crashed and I've never had any problems of any kind. I don't care for their website at all though. It's very difficult to navigate and it seems like they rearrange it every time I go there. So I use Filezilla for uploading new content to my site.

[tzframpton]

I've had my domain with GoDaddy.com since 2003 and never had any issues. Haven't ever went with hosting though, I luckily have a friend with dedicated servers and he gives me the hookup for free ninety-nine.

 

Cad64 is totally, absolutely, without a doubt 100% correct in their website. It's just saturated with add-on and french fry sales. Click one radio button warrants clicking no to 12 items below it. Sheesh. Too much sales is just ridiculous and frustrates customers. Fewer options is definitely better and is something GoDaddy should really consider.

[steven-g]

GoDaddy is a joke. The reason they chose Danica Patrick as their spokesperson is because both are known for crashing all the time.

 

I've had my domain with GoDaddy.com since 2003 and never had any issues.

Thats the beauty of asking questions, the answers make things as clear as mud Is it a lot of trouble to change hosts if you run into problems, or find that your choice isn't all you expected it to be.

[Organic]

My domains are through domainsite.com and my hosting is a local host.

[tzframpton]

Thats the beauty of asking questions, the answers make things as clear as mud Is it a lot of trouble to change hosts if you run into problems, or find that your choice isn't all you expected it to be.

Domain transfers are easy, and most if not all services offer tools and step by step instructions on how to do it. Hosting resides on a computer, and it's all about pointing your registered domain to whatever server of your choice - simple as that. I've done it many times for others. Hopefully this can ease your mind a bit when choosing hosting.

 

 

*EDIT*

As for the total opposite experiences you quoted, well... it's a Chevy/Ford thing. Some people have great experiences with one product, and others have terrible experiences. Remember, GoDaddy is not where I host my website, it's where my domain is registered, so there's a big difference in pqphillips experiences versus mine, as they are not comparable.

[steven-g]

As for the total opposite experiences you quoted, well... it's a Chevy/Ford thing. Some people have great experiences with one product, and others have terrible experiences.

Thats why I asked here, I figured there would be a better chance of getting two sides of a story. Most other places are either fore or against

[Cad64]

Thats why I asked here, I figured there would be a better chance of getting two sides of a story. Most other places are either fore or against

 

But pqphillips has not provided his side of the story. He just posted a silly reply about Godaddy and Danica Patrick crashing a lot. If he has any facts or personal experiences, he should share them, otherwise I would disregard his reply as nothing more than a joke. I'm not saying Godaddy is the best, and I've already mentioned that I can't stand their website, but I have been with them since 2007 and have never had any problems with service or with my site crashing.

 

Maybe this article will help in making a decision: http://www.pcworld.com/article/249412/which_web_host_do_you_need_six_small_business_plans_compared.html

[pqphillips]

To be fair, the comment I made was meant as a joke. However, I have registered domain names there before and generally had good experiences, but I pulled up anchor and left when they announced their support of SOPA/PIPA. It doesn't matter that they reneged on that viewpoint, as they didn't do so until after they lost a lot of business. I myself had five domain names registered through them. Now they are registered through HostGator. It keeps everything nice and tidy for me as I have webhosting through them.

[steven-g]

I have spent the last few days, looking at review and comparison sites. BlueHost, HostGator, iPage and GoDaddy all have high or should I say popular rankings, but you don't need to look very far to find some horror stories about all of them. It looks like everything is centered around price, but that isn't my main priority, and even just looking on comparison sites I realize I have an awful lot to learn yet, I'd never heard of a cron job 2 days ago, PHP !!! I'm just getting my head around HTML, CSS and java - and now it appears that the preferred operating system is Linux. But these are all relevant points and that is why I asked the question in the first place, so I figure that I will go with both BlueHost and HostGator as a learning curve and see how things progress. And possibly get myself signed up for a course on web design.

Thank you all for your comments it has been a great help, I very much appreciate it.

[2Tal]

.... just popping in here now,

 

did you get sorted with hosting?

 

FWIW I use http://www.galaxygig.com/

 

great service, price and support

[steven-g]

I didn't come across that one in my research, but there are thousands, I signed up with Host Gator because they accept PayPal Bluehost wouldn't. And it's going OK so far.

[Globus83]

I use http://www.jodohost.com for my hosting needs with no complaints. Support is knowledgeable and always online. Uptime is excellent during all 4 years I use them. Hope this helps.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Globus83