Netfirms Free Host Review
Yesterday I got a phone call from a little old lady that had a website for her clogging group in the midwest. She had designed the one page website using iDesign on her iMac computer. The website looked professional and was very well thought out. She wanted me to recommend a different hosting company because she was ready to graduate from free web hosting with Netfirms. Her main concern was that she was building several other simple websites but wanted to be able to host multiple domains on one account. I was able to point her in the right direction and gave her several good hosting options.
While I was looking at her other websites I was impressed by the un-intrusive Google Adsense ads placed tastefully at the top of her Netfirms hosted pages. Click here to see what I mean. As far as free web hosting goes, Netfirms has the least offensive forced advertising of any I have found. Most free hosts primary source of revenue are these forced ads, usually sold to the highest bidder. This usually means pop-ups, pop-unders, bottom, top and side banners along with anything else the can ram down your throat.
Kudos to Netfirms for not getting greedy with the advertising. I can imagine that they convert more customers to their paid hosting services because of their good business practices. For only $10/year you can get a top-level domain added to your Netfirms free hosted website.
Wordpress - King of Blogs
The face of web hosting has changed over the past decade. Blogs are the new vehicle for people to share their thoughts and pictures on the web. When I ask people I meet if they have a website, most reply “Nope, but I have a blog”. Many people don’t realize that a blog is a website. Not only is a blog a website, but blogs are quickly becoming the most popular form of website. Among the many blog hosting sites out there Wordpress.com has emerged as a fast favorite.
Why Wordpress? First, Wordpress is very simple to use and it is extremely easy to get your first blog started. One of the reasons I have chosen Wordpress for several blogs is the thousands of free wordpress themes available. Wordpress themes are templates or web page layouts that you can download and install to make your blog unique. Many Wordpress themes allow you to change basic things like text color and header images with ease. Another reason I like the Wordpress blog software is the search engine friendliness. At a recent webmaster conference an industry expert proclaimed Wordpress to be the “King of Blogs” when it comes to being Google friendly.
Why would you want your blog to be Google friendly? Because almost every web surfing session starts with a Google search. And if your blog is not search engine friendly, nobody will find it on the web. Although, some people choose to share their blog with only family and close friends. Most people blog because they have something to say and want to be heard. Here is my wordpress blog about fishing and my other various hobbies.
Softlayer Dedicated Servers
Today I finished transferring the last of my websites to my new dedicated server on Softlayer. Many of my friends tried to convince me to choose other dedicated server hosts like RackSpace, FastServers and The Planet. I had heard of the new company Softlayer from a friend who had just signed up at Rackspace. I knew that Rackspace was rock-solid when it came to customer support, but I also knew they were a bit pricey. When I signed up at Softlayer, they were running some pretty agressive promotions on their specials page. I ended up getting a free upgrade on RAM to 4 gigs, and an extra 250 GB hard drive by shopping off of the specials.
Since I am not the most web savvy person I ordered the PLESK control panel with my new dedicated server (cPanel and Webmin are also available). There was a bit of a learning curve in provisioning new domains on the server, but after a few false starts I had it all figured out. The hardest part of running a dedicated server is learning all of the different features, the possibilities are truly endless. You can truly customize nearly any aspect of the server remotely. One thing that bugged me was that by default most ports are left wide open. You have to lock the server down manually using firewall settings and other security features.
So far I am pleased with the dedicated server and the value I got for the money. For $279 per month I have an Intel Xeon-Clovertown 5335 QuadCore processor, 4 Gigs of RAM, Dual 250 Gig hard drives, 2000 GB of bandwidth and 64 dedicated IP addresses with a PLESK 100 user license. There many other details but these are the basics of my server. Only time will tell the tale of the reliability of softlayer servers, but so far so good.
iPowerweb’s Long Hold Times
This past week a friend of mine called me for some help with transferring a domain from one host to another. He had signed up the previous year with the hosting company ipowerweb and was displeased with their support. He wanted to get the auth code that was needed for a domain transfer and could not figure out how to get the information through his vDeck control panel. He stated that he had tried calling the toll free tech support line several times, always giving up after 30-40 minutes on hold. He also claimed that his emails (trouble tickets) were going unanswered.
Since I was familiar with iPowerweb and their hosting platform having used them a few times in the past I decided to see if the claims were true. So I picked up the phone on a Monday afternoon (1:00 pm MST) and proceeded to dial the 24/7 helpline at ipowerweb. I had learned from previous experience that the call center was staffed the highest during the early afternoon. In the past I had not experienced any hold time longer than 27 minutes. My phone has a call timer and as time ticked on I began to understand my friend’s frustration. After one hour and seventeen minutes on hold I finally gave up and tried a different route. After pulling a few strings I was able to get the auth code and help my friend transfer his domain eliteaudio1.com away from iPower.
Now, to be fair to iPowerweb - I later found out that they were in the middle of migrating all of their servers from their existing L.A. datacenter to their new Burlington, MA data center. The massive migration was due to the merger of iPower with Endurance. Not that a giant merger is a valid excuse for insanely long hold times. But, with any cross-country server migration many things can and will go terribly wrong. I would think that as the migration comes to a close, hold times will improve and support will return back to normal/tolerable. I’ve heard that the migration is nearly completed as they plan to close the doors at the L.A. facility in early March, 2008.
iPower is still a solid option in the sea of shared hosting providers, but beginners may be better served by choosing a smaller locally based hosting company. Many ISP’s offer basic hosting packages at a competitive price, and they are usually easier to contact for simple support questions. At my old ISP I could walk in and actually talk to a tech support guy and get help face-to-face. For the price-shoppers that don’t need tech support - check out our cheap hosting top ten list in the right column.
Cheap Domain Name Registration
Buying a domain name is the first and most basic step in building a website or getting your own .com email address. While most hosting companies include a free domain name with the purchase of a web hosting account, there are times when one is not enough. A classic example is purchasing the .net and .org domains to accompany your .com domain if for no other reason than to keep others from registering them. Often times a competitor will register your exact domain name but in a less popular TLD like .us or .info. Many people just like to register new domain names and hold on to them for future use. A popular example is buying your first and last name.com or your company name.com before you are ready to build a website.
For those of us that need more than one domain name, where should we go to purchase and register additional domains? One of the most popular domain name registrars is GoDaddy.com where domain names are always cheap. One word of caution when purchasing anything from Go Daddy. Beware the upsell! The last time I registered a domain name with Go Daddy I counted 9 different upsell pages where I had to scroll to the bottom of the page and click “no thanks” just to complete my simple domain name purchase. While extremely annoying, some feel it is a small price to pay for the cheapest domain names available.
VDS - Virtual Dedicated Server Hosting
For most people, the Mercedes Benz of web hosting accounts is the dedicated server hosting account. Dedicated servers give you complete control over your web server providing everything from DNS management to remote SSH access. If you want to upgrade to the latest version of PHP, no problem. If you want to install web applications directly to the server, you got it. Dedicated servers put you in the drivers seat and you alone. Another major plus with dedicated servers is that you don’t have to share the server or any of its resources with other users - unlike shared web hosting. So, why don’t more people own dedicated servers?
The two major hangups people have with dedicated server hosting plans are high prices and technical knowledge. First, with all the added features and stability comes a much steeper price sometimes as much as ten times what a shared hosting account would cost. For many small businesses and new webmasters the price alone places dedicated servers completely out of reach. Second, is the additional technical knowledge required to setup and manage a dedicated server hosting account. Most basic web users wouldn’t even be able to figure out how to setup an email account or FTP server on a dedicated box. Needless to say, it takes a lot more experience and brains to manage a dedicated server.
Virtual Dedicated Servers were created to give users the security and stability of a dedicated server without the high prices and the need to hire geeksquad to turn it on. Jumpline.com latched on to the VDS idea several years ago and have slowly been perfecting virtual dedicated server hosting. A few months ago we began having problems with one of our shared hosting accounts that hosts a very popular hunting dog breeder directory. After crashing the shared hosting server for the 7th time we began looking for a better hosting option. That’s when we decided to give Jumplines VDS hosting plan a try. The account creation was a breeze and the best part is that our site hasn’t gone down since switching hosting plans almost months ago. We couldn’t be happier.
Jumpline.com is currently running an agressive promotion to get new users to give virtual dedicated server hosting a try. They are giving away FREE 3 month test-drives on their very popular J2-VDS account. You get 2 Gigs of storage space, a dedicated ip address, daily backups and the ability to host up to 25 websites on one VDS hosting account. Click here to learn more about this FREE offer.
HostMonster Web Hosting Test
The other day a friend of mind asked me to recommend a good hosting company. This happens to me all the time since most of my friends know I make a living by recommending good hosting companies. This particular friend wanted to create a blog site on the subject of food storage and emergency preparedness. Since I manage quite a few blogs myself I am a big fan of the wordpress blogging software. Wordpress is very easy to install and the basic setup and cofiguration is a breeze. Plus, there are literally thousands of wordpress themes available for free. This eliminates one of the major roadblocks to building a website - the actual web design phase. Most people don’t have the skills or knowledge to design a website so free wordpress themes are a great way to go.
Many hosting companies are offering wordpress as part of their free software packages. HostMonster is one of these hosting companies that I like to use for wordpress blog sites. They include the suite called Fantastico that includes an arsenal of webmaster tools and free software. With hostmonster the setup was a snap and I had the blog setup in less than 5 minutes. Hostmonster also offers a free domain name to customers so my friend was able to register a domain and get his food storage website live all in a matter of minutes.
Here are some other important factors that influenced me to recommend HostMonster to my friend. First, they are located in Utah which is where myself and my friend lives. I always try to support local businesses and shops to help the economy in my home State. Second, I have personally met the owners of hostmonster and even have their cell phone numbers should anything go wrong. The last thing I want is to have my friends call tech support and be placed on hold for 30 minutes while their site is down. Finally, Hostmonster offers a great web hosting package at a killer price. You can get 300 Gigs of storage space, and host multiple domains on one robust account for only $5.95 per month.
Click on over to HostMonster and see if they are the kind of hosting company you would like to do business with. If by chance you don’t like their offerings, there are literally hundreds of other web hosting companies to choose from.
HostPapa Web Host Review
Once again our friends North of the border have created a formidable web hosting company. This time it’s in the form of a newly launched service called HostPapa Web Hosting. They are one of the first web hosting companies I have found that appear to be concerned about the environment. Their home page claims they are powered by 100% green energy. Web hosting datacenters are notorious for consuming a lot of electricity to keep thousands of servers and cooling fans running.
HostPapa offers the standard fare with their basic web hosting plan. Things that we have all come to expect in the ultra-competitive industry like hosting up to 11 domains on one account, a free domain name and more storage space & bandwidth than anyone but a porn site would ever need. HostPapa does maintain an actual data center in the USA with a Niagra Falls address.
Click on over to HostPapa Web Hosting and see if they are the right host for you. For only $5.95 per month their web hosting package is right in the thick of the battle.
Free Web Hosting
How much money are you willing to pay for a good web hosting service? If you are one of the millions who doesn’t want to pay anything for a website you may be interested in a freehost. Free web hosting providers have their disadvantages, but there are a few important benefits that you should consider.
Hey, It’s Free!
Free web hosts are popular because they are well, FREE! Most people can’t pass up anything that’s free. Everyone wants to save money when they can. Free hosts can free up cash you might spend on web hosting so you can use it on things that are more important to you.
Good for First Timers
Free web hosts are great for the penny pinching website owner or those who are new to or just learning about building a web site. Some free hosts cater specifically to new users, or “newbies” as they like to call very inexperienced webmasters, with easy to use features and design tools. Free web hosts for newbies make knowing programming languages, like HTML, unnecessary with WYSIWYG easy to use site builders.
FREE is Fast!
Many free web hosts supply online site builders or website design templates so users don’t even need to use design software like Dreamweaver, GoLive, or Microsoft FrontPage to build and design a website. Web based file managers and FTP upload tools help you make your website live in a matter of minutes.
Just Enough Space to Get By
Free web hosts provide just enough web storage space, bandwidth transfer, and features for the common user to get started. After a while though, website owners will want a little more out of their provider. But, free hosting is a decent place to start. Here are a couple you can try, DreamStation.com, 20m Free Web Space, and StormLoader.com.
