who do you host with?

hey yall,

I have been screwing around with a website off and on for some time...basiclly I am in over my head, but that is what makes it fun. My question is that since I have yet to get the site to be functional, and I keep shelling out money without it makeing any in return...where do you host your sites at?

I am currently using starlogic.

I have one at godaddy.com
one at secureserver.net
and one at Bluehost.com

bluehost is probably my favorite for WordPress

I use 1&1 never had a problem with them over last 6 years and very good CS, a friend of mine started using them for his larger business as well. They give you alot of software, web site tools, etc. I have my e-mail domian and all domains with them, they gave me like 1000 e-mail boxes, I use MS Office with e-mail server, etc. They have tons of options to choose from and also referrals programs. (PM me before/if you decide to try them out)

http://www.surpasshosting.com/ - haven't had any real problems at all.

I currently have 8 domains hosted with bluehost.com and haven't had any major problems, and you can't beat $10 - $19 / year. Monthly fees can add up quick.

I am trying to build a website that would allow real estate listings posted by people rather than agencies. and although starlogic provides lots of tools to build sites, I cant seem to build the database, or incorporate the front page advertising...their sites seem to be geared more towards information providing sites. plus if people can host for $20 a year, and I am paying over $150 maybe I am not at the best host yet.

I tried the same thing.
A site that you could search for available properties.

It was free to place your home on there for all the world to see.

Never really got it to take off.

Scrapped the real estate thing now trying with a new angle.

EDIT
I pay about 45 bucks per year (no monthly fees). ( I like the sound of 20 bucks)

Edited by Martel, 29 December 2010 - 11:35 PM.

i guess a follow up question would be how to determine a fair price for someone else to design my site for me. I am pretty close to admitting that I really know nothing about site design, and am almost willing to pay someone to do it. do you guys all design and publish you own sites? or have you paid a service to do it for you?

If you are interested in learning to do it yourself

I would suggest WordPress they have about 1,200 pre-made pages called themes

There is still a learning curve but there is a support forum for every question.

bluehost.com by far is my favorite.

bluehost.com by far is my favorite.

It is also good for WordPress

Bluehost will let you pretty much everything and it keeps them updated. It doesn't charge you for multiple domains. The best I have use out there.

I am pretty close to admitting that I really know nothing about site design, and am almost willing to pay someone to do it.

Do it. A good web designer is going to know things you will never be able to teach yourself. It is not just a matter of slapping some code together. A good website is designed utilizing concepts like User Experience, Usability, Color Balance, use of both positive and negative space, etc. Then someone writes the code to actually implement that design. One reason that many websites fail is because there is no unified plan. The business owner thinks they know what they want and just starts writing code, only to have to compromise their plans when they can't figure out how to do it.

If you know what you want, use MS Paint or Gimp or something to cobble together pieces of websites that you like so that you can show a developer. They should be easily able to transform it into a working web page.

You can expect to pay anywhere from $250 - $2000 per page, depending on what you want. The costs can go way higher if you think you want custom flash movies, for example. You will also be able to find people that claim they can do it for $50 a page or less. Don't do it. At a minimum it takes roughly 4-6 hours to put together a single page, including the time to agree on a design and discuss your needs, and taking the time to test the code on multiple browsers so that the page looks the same. $50 for 4-6 hours work, and have confidence that you are going to get a solid product? Won't happen.

Seems like the consensus is to go with Bluehost.
Disclosure: Affiliate link incoming!
If you do sign up with them, I would love it if you used my affiliate link [Affiliate Linking Is Not Allowed - Andrew] - that would make my day

Edited by Andrew, 25 January 2011 - 06:51 AM.
Mod Edit: Removed Affiliate Link - AA

BlueHost and HostMonster terms are complete BS. If you have a business site that contains about 5 pages with only things such as contact, about, and services then they may be fine. However, the way they run the servers is unreasonable. I even had a chat log of them saying if anything on your site links to another site that has adult content, or if you include (even if you have a forum and another user posts a link) any links to sites such as megaupload or rapidshare your account will be terminated without warning.

I'm not against having policies about illegal content, but it's the idea of if you're suspected for something they basically go "Account terminated, bye". Awhile back when I was reading their forums it was people that had been terminated for things such as links to file sharing sites.

Bottom Line: Check their terms and decide for yourself. If you don't mind knowing that one day you could wake up to a "Thanks for the 11 months left on your contract, we found a file sharing link - bye" then go for it. (Yes that's a bit extreme, just saying)