Web hosting

I been using these guys since 1999
Used to be $9.95 a month, now recently went to $14.95 a month.
I don't sell anything on my site though, so not sure what a business account would cost.

http://www.web.com/

I guess the question becomes "what is inexpensive"?

Wordpress and shopping scripts are memory and process hogs, meaning they use a lot of power to keep them going. If the site is very slow, your shoppers are liable to leave. Also, if the site goes down, you will lose cred and revenue.

Much depends on whether you need support...and how quickly....when you are setting things up and/or having problems.

If this is a situation where few sales are expected at first, that stuff may not be as important. But it quickly gets that way! I had my drone site at a host that ended up being down for many hours each week!

Also, your server should be located in the basic region where you think most of your visitors are going to come from. This will result in quicker response times.

Basically, you have these options...

1. Shared hosting - this puts you on a server (computer) with hundreds of other accounts. Sometimes it can be fast if the other couple hundred sites are not busy...BUT, then again it can be very slow. These packages tend to run from $5 to $25 per month.

2. VPS - Virtual Private Server - in the case, you probably share a server computer with 10 to 20 other accounts BUT a certain portion of the computer is sliced up so you have the full power of it all the time. As an example, if the server has 4 3GHZ processors, you may be buying access to 1GHZ (1/3 of one of the CPU's) plus some of the RAM and Hard Drive spaces. These packages are usually $40 to $100+.

I have a small VPS (about $40) for my drone site but will not recommend it as the company is small and does not offer hand holding for those not familiar with the tech parts of things. I've heard decent things about this company - and it also gives you an idea of what you get for the $$
http://www.hostforweb.com/vps/

My wife is starting her business and is using godaddy as well, so far so good.

I've been on 1&1 for about 10 years now. Been pretty happy.

Given that I'm a Linux amin and do web/cloud ops for a living, I'm kicking around the idea of moving all my stuff to a dedicated VM on Digital Ocean.

Maybe take a look at squarespace.com. I've heard great things about then from about half a dozen different friends.

-SF

Just be dang sure to read ALL THE FINE PRINT. As with anything devil in the details. And just like every other service no one seems accountable for anything should problems arise. ( and they do and will)

SlyFerret said:

I've been on 1&1 for about 10 years now. Been pretty happy.

Given that I'm a Linux amin and do web/cloud ops for a living, I'm kicking around the idea of moving all my stuff to a dedicated VM on Digital Ocean.

Maybe take a look at squarespace.com. I've heard great things about then from about half a dozen different friends.

-SF

Click to expand...

I use 1&1 also. Couldn't be happier.

GoDaddy hosting is known for its reliability, though personally I dislike their interface. I do web design and hosting on the side and have sites with three different companies at the moment: Liquid Web for the VPS, and GreenGeeks and NameCheap for the shared hosting. Paid clients are on the VPS, less important stuff on the shared hosting accounts. Both Green Geeks and Name Cheap have been excellent and Liquid Web has been superb (and they have US-based techs on the 24-hour live support phone lines - I've even called them at 3AM and gotten a live tech on the line!). For a commercial site, I would go with a VPS account to eliminate the worry of having poor neighbors on shared hosting.