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samedi 12 novembre 2016

Find The Right Web Host: Shared Or Reseller Hosting?

alt="Find The Right Web Host: Shared Or Reseller Hosting?" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/shared-hosting-500x216_c.jpg" />

What is the Difference between Reseller and Shared Hosting?

Nowadays, people want to have their own website for a variety of reasons.

Others want it to get the professional feel of having their own domain name while other want it simply because they want to be able to customize their website as much as they want. If you want to have your own website, you should realize that there are some things you have to consider. First, you will have to get a web host or host your own website; you will have to spend either way.

Likewise, you should href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/web-hosting-beginner-guide/">choose which type of hosting you need. Reseller and shared hosting are just two of the href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-hosting-guides/web-hosting-glossary/">web hosting options. These two actually differ greatly. You should find out which would be more beneficial for you.

Thus, you must learn about them individually for you to be really able to compare them.

About Shared Hosting

id="floatright">alt="Shared Hosting Intro" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2011/0411-1.jpg" />

Also known as derive host or virtual-hosting, shared hosting refers to the process wherein the web host accommodates the files for many different websites in one server. This system allows the websites to keep a strong and constant internet connection and is cheaper because you do not have to run your own server. The web host runs the server for you and they are in charge of all processes and maintenance such as server software installation, server management, updates for security, technical support, and others. Consequently, it is inarguably the most practical option in web hosting since the cost of service is divided and shared by many people.

Since the service is shared by different users, it is essential for it to have a system administration to keep things running smoothly. This is especially beneficial to those who do not want to go about the hassle of maintenance but may be a disadvantage to others who want to have more control of their site and server. Thus, this type of hosting is not apt for those who need massive software development that is not supported by the service provider.

Most applications found in a standard server functions well with shared hosting but it has certain limits in usage. Nonetheless, web hosts usually provide vast reliability features to support their clients.

* Dig Deeper: Deciding on which shared hosting to go with can be a tough task. Check out my personal href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-reviews/">web hosting reviews for shopping advices. Also, read reviews on these recommended web hosts – href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/ipage/">iPage, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/hostgator/">Hostgator, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/a2-hosting/">A2 Hosting, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/greengeeks-hosting/">GreenGeeks, and href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/webhostinghub/">WebHostingHub.

About Reseller Hosting

id="floatright">alt="Reseller Hosting Intro" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2011/0411-2.jpg" />

Reseller hosting involves third parties. If you are the reseller, you will own an account and be able to utilize the bandwidth and hard drive space allotted to you to host other websites. The system starts when the reseller buys the services of the host wholesale and then sells it to clients for profit. There are actually four types of reseller.

The first one is an agent. In this case the reseller advertises the services of a web hosting company and clients buy directly from the company. The reseller gets his or her share of profit if the customer mentions that he or she was referred by the reseller.

The second type of reseller is a marketer. It is the same as being an agent but in this case, the customers buy directly from the reseller and do all other businesses with the web hosting company.

The third type is the full reseller in which he or she acts as a web hosting company. In this case, the reseller handles the sales and support but the fact is he or she is just “re-branding” the service of the real service provider.

Finally, the fourth type is when the reseller is literally a reseller. He or she buys a big piece of web space and bandwidth, divides it to smaller pieces and re-sells it to different individuals. Similarly, the reseller is responsible for client support in this case but is assisted by the web host.

* Dig Deeper: Read more to learn href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-hosting-guides/a-brief-on-reseller-hosting/">how to choose a reseller hosting?

Shared Hosting vs. Reseller Hosting

Based on the information aforementioned, we can conclude that there is a great difference between reseller and shared hosting. They are not actually rivals because they are for different purposes.

Generally speaking, shared hosting is apt for people with a small or medium-sized company. If you choose it, it will give your site a sturdy internet connection for a cheap price and you will be able to make the most out of the support the service provider offers. However, you will not have administrative control to your website. This may not be an issue to most people but may be annoying for the tech-savvy individuals.

Likewise, since you are sharing the server with other websites, a problem with one website may affect yours. Thus, if you have a website teeming with activities that would consume most of the server’s resources, you should consider other choices. Moreover, if you cannot juggle the risk of being affected by other site’s problems, you should consider getting a dedicated server or a virtual private server which is, of course, more costly.

On the other hand, reseller hosting is more of a business opportunity. You should consider it if you are planning to start your web hosting company. By starting your own web hosting company, you will have a huge market, recurring revenue, and even as a small company you can compete with larger ones.

Page 27 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Save the earth, pick an environmentally friendly web host

alt="Save the earth, pick an environmentally friendly web host" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/greenhosting-500x260_c.jpg" />

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/0611-1.jpg" alt="Green Web Hosting" width="750px" />

Do you know web hosting is estimated to be as polluting as the airline industry in year 2020?

According to href="http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=103005">Amenworld’s recent study of over 3,500 web servers, a single web server needlessly consumes 1,000 kWh on average, producing more than 630kg of CO2 annually. The figures are certainly shocking – it’s hard to believe hosting websites on the Internet can cause such damage to our earth.

“Like other industries, the hosting industry has a role in the global effort to reduce levels of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere,” said Amenworld’s UK country manager Olivier Djidjelli.

Fortunately we are seeing more hosting companies taking up their responsibility in reducing the level of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by moving towards green energies. I’ve found a few web hosts (servers powered by recyclable energies) that offer green hosting services in a good price; listed below are my top three preferences.

id="right">class="alignright" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0728-2.jpg" alt="Green Geek Hosting" width="140" height="120" />

Green Hosting with Green Geeks

What makes Green Geeks environmentally friendly?

No joke, websites hosted with Green Geeks are 300% clean powered! What the hosting company does: Green Geeks purchased (and will purchase) wind energy credits (certified by href="http://b-e-f.org/">Bonneville Environmental Foundation) in order to compensate for the power pull from the grid,. To live up the name “Green Geeks”, the company actually does more than just replacing the power consumed – they replace, with wind power, 3 times the amount of energy used by their web servers (thus the number 300% clean powered). That’s the highest ‘Green’ factor I can found online.

Sounds unbelievable? You bet. I was skeptical in the beginning but after checking on a recent href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/gg-cert.jpg" target="_blank">certification (thanks to Green Geeks staff T.J. Williams), I determined that the company just purchased over 2.3 million MW of clean, renewable energy in March 2009. With that, there’s no doubt Green Geeks is the ‘green-est’ hosting in the market.

class="meteor-icon" style="font-size:130% !important;">
class="icon-link" style="color:inherit !important;">
href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/greengeeks">Click here to visit Green Geek Hosting online.

id="right">class="alignright" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/hostgator.jpg" alt="Hostgator" width="140" height="120" />

Green Hosting with Hostgator

What makes Hostgator environmentally friendly?

All Hostgator servers are fully wind powered by purchasing certified href="http://www.3degreesinc.com/products/recs/">Renewable Energy Credits (REC). More over, these wind power credits are solely generated in their home state of Texas.

Hostgator offer

Hostgator offers various level of hosting plans ranging from dedicated to shared server hosting. Their BabyGator plan is the most popular, where users get shared hosting services with unlimited storage, data transfer, and addon domain capacity at .95/mo. I’ve been using Hostgator for years and you can have my words on their server reliability. Hostgator hosting has a strong uptime record and I’m always pleased with their customer supports.

class="meteor-icon" style="font-size:130% !important;">
class="icon-link" style="color:inherit !important;">
href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/hostgator">Click here to visit Hostgator Hosting online.

id="right">class="alignright" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/hostpapa.jpg" alt="Hostpapa Hosting" width="140" height="120" />

Green Hosting with Hostpapa

What makes Hostpapa environmentally friendly?

Hostpapa went green by purchasing 100% green renewable energy to power our data center, web servers, office computers, laptops and office space. These energy sources supply HostPapa’s entire equivalent energy consumption into the power-grid with certified 100% renewable green energy sources, such as wind and solar-powered energy.

Hostpapa offer

Hostpapa offer unlimited hosting in a very affordable price. For customers who signed up Hostpapa three years upfront, they’ll get unlimited storage, data transfer, and addon domain capacity plus a free domain name for life at the price of .95/mo. While the offer sounds great, I should however point out that they limit the usage of MySQL databases where users can’t go more than 100 databases for a single account.

class="meteor-icon" style="font-size:130% !important;">
class="icon-link" style="color:inherit !important;">
href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/hostpapa">Click here to visit Hostpapa Hosting online.

id="right">

The Best Green Hosting?

The reason I picked GreenGeeks as the Best Green Hosting is simple: They are the ‘Green-nest’ and their staffs are being very responsive (I learned this via my working experience with them). What impressed me the most is that they are not only neutralizing their environmental impact (server power and cooling), they’re reversing it. At this time of writing, GreenGeeks’ server are all 300% powered (certified by Bonneville Environmental Foundation)!

Wow 300%! How is that possible?

Well, here’s how: GreenGeeks replace, with wind power, 3 times the amount of energy used by their servers. So if their servers pull 1X of power from the grid; the company purchase enough wind energy credits to put back into the grid 3X of power having been produced by wind power. For reference, figure on your right is the certificate of purchase of 2.3 million MW of clean, renewable energy of GreenGeeks.

Page 28 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

How to get your host featured at WHSR?

alt="How to get your host featured at WHSR?" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/default-image-500x308_c.jpg" />

I get requests to include a host in WHSR’s review list from time to time. But as you know, WHSR is an and I definitely can’t have y’all reviewed and listed here.

I am sorry that I cannot fulfill most of the inclusion request in my review list as WHSR is an one-man operation (hey, I need to play some href="http://sea.battle.net/sc2/en/">StarCraft 2 too!). In case you are hoping to get your hosting company listed here at WHSR, I am opening up a few extra alternatives recently and here’s how things can be done.

Web Hosting Interview

src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2011/0505-1.jpg" alt="Web Hosting Interviews" class="border" />

Most hosting providers will opt for this options as the interview posts here are often tweeted and referred by other bloggers. I believe this is the best options for new hosting company as it improve ‘brand visibility’ and you are often allow to introduce your company in details throughout the interviews.

Examples, check out my past work with href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/10-questions-with-hostgator/">Hostgator, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/interview-with-trey-gardner-greengeekstigersites/">GreenGeeks, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/interview-with-ryan-morris-marketing-director-at-coolhandle/">CoolHandle, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/interview-with-hostcolor-operations-vp-martin/">HostColor, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/interview-with-wp-engine-co-founder-jason-cohen/">WP Engine, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/interviews/interview-with-karl-robinson-of-stratogen/">StratoGen, and href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/interviews/interview-with-zak-boca-of-singlehop/">SingleHop.

Send Me A T-Shirt!

src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2011/0505-2.jpg" alt="Web Hosting T Shirts" class="border" />

Not long ago I did href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-shopping/freebies-from-atlantic-net-six-25-coupons-to-be-giveaway/">a post for Atlantic.net when they sent me a free T shirt and some free shopping coupons. I find it’s fun doing this so I would be happy to do more. To get a free writeups about your hosting company, simply send me your company T shirt and I will write a post introducing your company with a photo of myself wearing that tee and couple of free links to your company website.

Web Hosting Coupons

src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2011/0505-4.jpg" alt="Web Hosting Coupons" class="border" />

I am opening a new section to collect hosting coupons and special discount links (hey, everyone loves special discounts and exclusive deals, right?) For now, the listing is absolutely free-of-charge. Just give your best deal to my readers and I am happy to feature your company on the page.

Also, I am not having a lot to list right now – in other words, if you are in now, you’ll get a bigger part of the attention from that page.

To check out the coupon page, visit: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-coupons-promotion-links/">WHSR Web Hosting Coupons.

Cloud Host Listing

src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2011/0505-3.jpg" alt="Web Hosting Interviews" class="border" />

I am collecting a list of cloud hosting providers at this page: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-knowledge/a-brief-on-cloud-hosting/">A Brief On Cloud Hosting. It’s a piece of article written a few years back and it’s ranking very well in several generic, cloud host related search terms at Google (ie. href="http://www.google.com/search?q=cloud+hosting&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGLL_en___MY394&gl=us&pws=0" target="_blank">cloud hosting). At this time of writing, the page itself received around 2,800 unique visits monthly.

For the listing, I am now charging a one-time admin fees of 0. In return, you will get banner link (your company logo, sized at 225x55px), a text link (preferably your company name) to your company website, and a short intro sentence introducing your company. Note that the fees is for life-time listing, I will not charge you anymore after the first payment but your company will be mentioned or linked from time to time in my blogposts if relevant (no promises but I do like to give more whenever possible).

A few who have enrolled in this listing include: href="http://www.cloud.bg/en/" target="_blank">Cloud.bg, href="http://www.vps.net" target="_blank">VPS Net, href="http://www.reliacloud.com/" target="_blank">Relia Cloud, href="http://www.hpchost.com/" target="_blank">HPC Host, and href="http://www.atlantic.net/" target="_blank">Atlantic.

Sounds Good? Let’s Talk.

Well that’s all for my updates. For those who have already contacted me in the past, thank you very much for your time and supports. I hope WHSR does help improve your business a little while bringing extra information to the readers.

Others, I’d LOVE to hear from you soon. Let’s talk over at jerry [a] webhostingsecretrevealed.com.

Page 27 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

5 things to do before breaking up with your web host

alt="5 things to do before breaking up with your web host" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/default-image-500x308_c.jpg" />

src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0805-3.jpg" alt="Web Host Transfer" class='border' />

Yes I know migrating from one web host to the other sounds like a hell lot of jobs to many. But when the web host can’t keep up with your hosting needs; the best thing to do is, always, say goodbye and move on to a new hosting company.

In this article, we are going to talk about the preparation jobs before the breakup. What are the things to be done before you dumb your web host?

1. Find a good web host that suits your hosting needs

“Eww, that’s a dumb statement. Of course I know that I need to find a web host before I can switch a web host!”

Isn’t far too obvious, right? The answer is No. In fact, many users who switched their web host did so little in researching their new web host.

The key is not about finding the best web host; it’s about finding a good web host that provides the necessary hosting features and scripts support. How many MySQL databases are allowed? How many addon domains are allowed? How many FTP access points are provided? Does the new web host support auto-installation for necessary scripts?

It’s important to be aware that not all hosting deals are the same and it’s (apparently) your job to filter out the good but unsuitable ones.

2. Backup everything on your website

The next to-do is to backup everything you have on your current server to a secure location. Your PC hard drive, the new web host, external hard disk… store it anywhere you like but make sure you have at least two copies of the data (yes, this includes your email address and PHP configuration files).

3. Transferring your domain name to a third party registrant

Rule#1 on href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-shopping/15-tips-on-how-not-to-get-screwed-by-your-web-host/">how not to get screwed by your web host: You don’t register your domain together with your web host. If, unfortunately, you did register everything with your web host, transfer your domain name to a third party registrant before your web host knows that you’re dumping them. This is a crucial precaution because we do not want anything on the hands of someone that we are breaking up with!

(Sadly, some web hosts will actually impose extra cancellation fees when they are holding your domain.)

4. Let your visitors and your new web host know about your plans

First, determine when you are going to switch your web host. Preferably, pick a time when your website has the least visitors as this will minimize the negative impacts when any part of the switching process goes wrong.

Next, inform the new web host and website visitors about your plan. Why tell your new web host about the switch? To assure that immediate technical supports are available during the switch. Why tell your website visitors about the switch? To reduce negative impacts when any part of the switching process goes wrong.

5. Setup and test everything before the actual move

All the basic things such as file permissions, database connections, and application scripts should be setup and tested properly before the actual server switch. These are fundamentals and you need to get them right if you want the transferring process to be smooth.

Page 30 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Checklist: 15 Things to Go Through Before Getting A Web Host

alt="Checklist: 15 Things to Go Through Before Getting A Web Host" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/default-image-500x308_c.jpg" />

id='floatright'>src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2010/1103-1.jpg" alt="Web Host Shopping Guides" />

After sleepless nights and busy days, you have finally created your own website. You spend so much time and energy deciding on your domain name, researching for your niche and keywords, and even shell out some money to ensure that the design matches your content. And now, you are ready to go online, except you do not know which web hosting company you will choose.

Here are 15 things you have to consider when choosing a website hosting company:

1. Consider the Price

This is the first on the list, not only because it is very important but we do not want you paying more than what you are getting. But then again, you do not have to grab the cheapest one that comes along. The keyword here is compare. List at least 5 affordable web hosting services and compare their features and prices. Choose the one that offers you value for your money.

Dig deeper: Check out href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/cheap-web-hosting-a-to-z-guide/">list of web hosts that cost less than /mo.

2. Find that perfect match

Like a pair of jeans, not all size and style will fit you, choosing a web hosting requires you to find the one that matches your needs. Some company may be offering services that you do not need or others may be providing you with solutions that are absolutely not needed or applicable on your website.

3. Know the limits

Think if the web hosting company can accommodate all your needs. If you are launching a fully loaded e-commerce website with heavy content and animated graphics, then you should not get a web hosting company that will not be able provide the disk space, bandwidth, and other processing power that your website needs to operate fully.

4. Ensure Tech Support

The website hosting company should offer you free technical support of trained and friendly staff available 24/7.

5. Check the added features

Find out what other add-ons the company is giving you and if these features are necessary for your website.

6. Ask the kind of hardware

You would want to have your website be hosted on premium virtual machines. You do not to risk your website with company that uses hardware of questionable quality.

7. Check out what others are saying

You should research for customer reviews and feedbacks on web hosting companies. And do not limit your searches to the company’s website or affiliate sites. Go to discussion forums and other independent blogs (like this one, WHSR ;)) – you might find something juicy there.

Dig depper: Read my href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-review/">unbiased web hosting reviews.

8. Know email features

This is important in managing communications with your customers, tracking down transactions, as well as in preventing spam problem.

9. Demand security

You do not want your website to be hacked, vandalized, and looted by unscrupulous people. Ask what security features and options can the company give you and compare it with other company’s security features. We do not want you losing control over your data. We want them safe and secured.

10. Evaluate reliability

Find out the company’s web hosting reputation online. Go for the one that has a good track record and has created a niche in the industry. Be wary of new webhosting company as they might just disappear on you without warning.

11. Test performance

As performance is directly related to the kind of hardware use by the company, you have to double check the claims of the website hosting company on the hardware they use. Avoid a company that uses outdated machines or a slow internet connection for its information center. Choose the one that can perform and deliver the best result in fastest possible time.

12. Check user interface

The control panel should allow you to do basic website management by yourself even without calling customer service. The user interface should allow you to set up FTP accounts and install WordPress easily. It should be easily navigated and use. If you have difficulty understanding the control panel, then you will also have a hard time managing your website.

13. Look for room to grow

While your website hosting needs may seem simple and little for now, you should consider future growth. Thus, it is important to choose a website hosting company that provides you an opportunity to expand the operations and applications of your website.

14. Know the script

Make sure that the web hosting company uses language that supports the script required to operate your website.

15. Identify your options

Make sure you are given options for additional services such as upgrades for bigger bandwidth and disk space as the need arises. This is important as your business grows you will be requiring more services.

With so many web hosting companies available, it is understandable that you are having a problem choosing one. You might have ask friends and families what they recommend or you could have spend some time on forums to find out the best features and flaws of some web hosting company. Remember to choose the web hosting company that suits your budget and your website’s needs.

Page 28 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

FatCow: Host Smart Drive Smart Contest

alt="FatCow: Host Smart Drive Smart Contest" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/default-image-500x308_c.jpg" />

href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow.php">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2010/0715-2.jpg" alt="FatCow Smart ForTwo Coupe Giveaway" border="0" />

In case you are not aware, FatCow is running an awesome (they called it ‘moovelous’) sweepstake and the hosting company is giving some great, great prizes away! A few lucky winners will drive away a Smart ForTwo Coupe, a Vespa scooter, and one of four Shwinn bikes to its customers.

Free car for a .67/mo hosting?!

No joke! Buy a .67/mo hosting and you stand a chance to win a brand new Smart ForTwo.

Look at the picture below (ladies please, the car not the cute guy!). Deep breath. Close your eyes for 10 seconds. Imagine yourself sitting in the car and driving it around your neighborhood. Don’t you just feel G-R-E-A-T?

src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2010/0715-1.jpg" alt="Smart ForTwo Coupe" class="border" />

To enter FatCow Host Smart Drive Smart Giveaway

Okay I know you want this so here’s how you can get yourself in.

You will automatically receive one entry into the Sweepstakes for doing any one of these: signup for a new hosting account at FatCow now, refer a friend via its affiliate program, add a client to your FatCow reseller account, or be an active FatCow customer with a hosting account with no outstanding account (yes, this means if you are an existing customer you are in automatically).

UNFORTUNATELY, the sweepstake is only open to legal residents of the 50 United States (and D.C.) 18 years or older (rules, here). This means if you are living out of United States (like me :() then you are not included in this promotion. The sweepstake started on May 17, 2010 and ends at 11:59 pm ET on September 30, 2010.

Other things you might want to know

About the car

The Smart ForTwo is a funky urban ultra-compact car. The car is based on a platform developed jointly my Smart and Mitsubishi for space efficient cars. The small size and low weight make this trendy car also one of the most fuel efficient cars barring the hybrid duo from Honda and Toyota. It is also the least expensive one in this list. The prices of ForTwo start at ,635 and it return 36 miles to a gallon of fuel… href="http://www.smart.com/" target="_blank">More at Smart Homepage.

Further action

In case you want to know more about FatCow and its giveaway.

src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/tick.jpg" alt="FatCow Hosting Review" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow-review/">Read my FatCow Review.
src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/tick.jpg" alt="Signup to FatCow now - Win a brand new car!" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow.php">Signup FatCow now – Enter to win a brand new car.

Page 29 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Is this web host right for me? (10 must-know points)

alt="Is this web host right for me? (10 must-know points)" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/advertising-500x333_c.jpg" />

id="floatright">class="alignright" alt="Questions about web host shopping?" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/0701-2.jpg" width="300" height="244" />

*Update May 15, 2012: This post was first published in 2009 but recently verified to ensure that all info are up to date and practical.

Web host shopping can be a tedious job especially if you are doing it for the first time and don’t know what to look for.

To help you get started, here are ten things to look into when you are considering a web host.

1. Knowing your hosting needs

You can never get the right web host without knowing what you need.

What kind of website are you building? Do you need Windows application? Do you need an older (or newer) PHP version? Is RubyOnRails a must for your web apps? Do you need multiple databases for your website? Do you need cart software for your website? Are you planning to start a WordPress blog with your web host? How big (or small) can the web traffic volume go?

These are some of the basic questions to be answered. Have a plan with your website and try figure out what will happens next for the next 12 months.

Do yourself a favour – forget about top 10 hosting list and all the href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/compare-best-five-hosting/">best web hosting awards in this early stage. You need a web hosting that’s best style="text-decoration: underline;">for you;. What’s right for others might not be the best for you. Trust me; you don’t want to go with the best Linux hosting in the world when all you need is a Windows hosting that support ASP application.

The list of your hosting needs is your ultimate guide to your web host shopping (so make one now if you don’t have any).

2. User reviews

You should have a shortlist of reputable web host when you get step 1 done. Now it’s time to crunch in some user reviews. Go search for href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-reviews/">trustworthy reviews by real hosting users and read them as much as you can.

User review is important as it tells you the real picture behind the web host. There’s no need to freak out for one or two negative comments; but if you are seeing three full pages of Google results condemning a web host, then you know something is just not right.

3. Web server reliability

No one wants to host their website with a faulty web host. Go search for uptime record and experts’ comment on the shortlisted web hosts. There are various free services available online for this purpose and href="http://uptime.besthostratings.com/" target="_blank">BestHostRating.com for example, runs a huge database of web host uptime record.

4. Future growth potential with the web host

I knew it’s hard to estimate but if you are planning big for your website, you better look for a web host that allow you to grow. By saying the word growth, I meant upgrading your web host – from shared hosting to VPS to dedicated server – more processing power, memory capacity, disk storage, and better security features.

For example, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/fatcow/">FatCow and href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/ipage/">iPage are two of my top rated hosting services; but I wouldn’t recommend them to you if you are planning to launch a gigantic e-commerce website. This is because although these web hosts are great, they only provide shared hosting and you’ll need to switch host (which will cause quite some hassles, especially if you are running a huge database with heavy web traffics!) if you wish to upgrade to dedicated server in the future.

5. Technical support

I do think that the importance of the technical support department is often over-valued (as I don’t contact them that much personally). However to be safe, it’s always recommended to stick with web host providers that provide excellent technical support.

One good way to test the support is by asking style="text-decoration: underline;">technical; (but not presale) questions. Ask about inodes usage, SSH access, server technical specifications – just to test if the support staff is knowledgeable.

6. Pricing

Price is always an issue. Some want it cheap, some want it reasonable, and some don’t mind paying extra. The best thing to do is always go with a web host that is suitable for you and in the same time, style="text-decoration: underline;">affordable. Don’t go with cheap hosting just because it’s cheap. Sometimes cheap just isn’t the best (and good things don’t come cheap that often).

Web host charging more than others are sometimes doing it for a good reason – maybe it’s about their no-overselling policy, or higher server specs, or better customer services. Take href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/inmotion-hosting/">InMotion Hosting for example, the hosting provider looks relative expensive when compare to other hosting services but they are offering premium class hosting with loads of advance features that you can’t get else where.

Anyway in case you are looking for the cheapest hosting, read this href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/ultimate-cheap-web-hosting-guide/">summary about cheap unlimited hosting services.

7. Commitment period

Do not be surprise to discover some web hosts force their customers to take up long period of commitment contract. Lunarpages, for example, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/hosting-updates-news/lunarpages-pricing-changed/">changed their pricing structure recently and customers can only enjoy the low rates hosting by taking up a 5-year hosting plan.

So here’s another money issue besides pricing: Can you afford to pay long term hosting fees in advance? Would you be comfortable commit to a web host for long term? My suggestion to you is never signup web host with more than 2 years upfront unless they provide clear pro-rated refund policy after the trial period.

id="floatright">alt="Email features" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2008/0521-1.jpg" width="180" height="189" />

8. E-mail features

Most (but not all) web hosts support POP3 e-mail features along with auto responder, mail forwarding, and webmail access.

If any one of these features is important to your daily website operations, be very sure that your shortlisted hosting service has them.

9. Capacity for addon domain

Are you planning to host multiple domain names on a same hosting account? The smart way to host multiple websites is go with web host that allows unlimited addon domain – save you both money and time.

10. Backup policy

Last but not least, check with the web host’s backup policy before purchase. Not all web hosts provide daily backup services and even if they do, they might not keep the backup data for a long period. This is the time to test the technical support – ask about their backup policy (questions like how often they do backup, do they stop backup after your account goes more than certain inodes usage, what backupmethod they are using… etc).

My Personal Web Hosting Recommendation

After years of testing and writing hosting reviews, I have a few ‘standard names’ to mention whenever I’m asked for suggestion. Different website owners will have different hosting needs, but in general:

For newbies and budget finder, I recommend href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/ipage/">iPage and href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/webhostinghub/">WebHostingHub.
For those who want traditional web host with extra-reliable server and great room to expand, my #1 suggestion will be Hostgator (my Hostgator review href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/hostgator/">here, visit online: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/hostgator" target="_blank">http://www.hostgator.com).
And for tree-huggers, it has to be GreenGeeks – 300% eco friendly (my GreenGeeks review href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/greengeeks-review/">here, and to visit: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/greengeeks.php" target="_blank">http://www.greengeeks.com).
Last but not least, people always ask which hosting I am using for WHSR, well the answer is WP Engine – expensive but extremely fast and reliable (my WP Engine review href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/wp-engine/">here, visit online: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/wpengine" target="_blank">http://www.wpengine.com).

Read On

Well just in case you wish to read more similar guide like this, here are a few pointers: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-hosting-guides/top-20-questions-to-ask-a-web-host-before-you-sign-up/">20 questions to ask before you signup on a web host, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-hosting-guides/17-tips-to-be-a-smarter-web-hosting-shopper/">17 Tips To Be A Smarter Web Hosting Shoppers, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/choose-the-right-web-hosting/">What to Look for in a Good Web Host, as well as href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-hosting-guides/5-mistakes-to-avoid-when-choosing-a-website-host/">Checklist to Go Through Before Getting A Web Host.

Page 30 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Ultimate Cheap Web Hosting Guide: Get A Good Host Without Breaking Your Wallet

alt="Ultimate Cheap Web Hosting Guide: Get A Good Host Without Breaking Your Wallet" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/cheap-hosting-price-500x421_c.jpg" />

Intro/background: My experience with cheap web host

class="border" alt="Cheap Hosting Deals" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2011/0728-1.jpg" />

I have always wanted to write a practical guide for those who are searching for cheap web hosting. Reason? One, you don’t see many articles (that actually help) on this topic so it makes perfect sense for me to tackle on it; two, it’s simply because I hate seeing uninformed webmasters being overcharged year after year.

I was a real dumb when I first started my Internet business – I stuck in not one, but two, extremely overpriced hosting deals. First it was with Network Eleven, where I kept paying .99 monthly for a reseller hosting account that I don’t need – it took me a while to cancel it because they refused to accept my cancellation (can you believe that?); then comes Gate Hosting, where I was charged on a very high price tag for a hosting account that allows me to host just one domain with awfully limited features.

Those experiences suck. And I do not want it to happen on you.

Alright, enough history. This article is not about me, it’s about you. I am here to teach you style="text-decoration: underline;">how to take advantage of cheap web hosting services and how to get a good web host without breaking your wallet.

First thing first, define “Cheap Web Hosting”

How cheap a hosting plan needs to be in order to fall into the ‘cheap web hosting’ category?

Quick answer: style="text-decoration: underline;">Below /mo, with adequate features.

By adequate features, I mean web hosting plans that come with hosting features that match current market standard. In brief, these hosting plans should (at least) cover features of hosting unlimited domains, basic web statistics, unlimited email and web mail accounts, auto script installations, updated PHP and MySQL, basic after-sale technical support, 99.5% server uptime and a stable server network.

Cheap web host (under /mo) I reviewed

Here is the list of hosting services I reviewed that cost under per month. Some of them are good, some are bad; and they are all listed here because of the cheap price tag (under /mo subscription fees).

class="border" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1">class="table" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" width="160">Cheap Web Host class="table" align="center" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" width="160">Featuresclass="table" align="center" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" width="100">Price/moclass="table" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">Detailswidth="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/ipage.php">iPagehref="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/ipage.php">
alt="iPage hosting" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/ipage-a.jpg" width="150" height="34" border="0" />
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.50alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/ipage-review/">iPage Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/ipage.php">Visit Onlinecolspan="4">size="1px" />width="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow.php">FatCow href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow.php">
alt="Fatcow Hosting" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/fatcow-a.jpg" border="0" />href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow.php">
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.67alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow-review/">FatCow Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow.php">Visit Onlinecolspan="4">size="1px" />width="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/justhost.php">JustHosthref="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/justhost.php">
alt="JustHost Hosting" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/justhost-a.jpg" border="0" />
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.95alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/justhost-review/">JustHost Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/justhost.php">Visit Onlinecolspan="4">size="1px" />width="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/hostpapa.php">HostPapahref="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/hostpapa.php">
alt="Hostpapa Hosting" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/hostpapa-a.jpg" border="0" />href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/hostpapa.php">
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.95alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/hostpapa-review/">HostPapa Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/hostpapa.php">Visit Onlinecolspan="4">size="1px" />width="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/powweb.php">Pow Webhref="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/powweb.php">
alt="Pow Web" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/powweb-a.jpg" border="0" />href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/powweb.php">
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.88alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/powweb-review/">PowWeb Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/powweb.php">Visit Onlinecolspan="4">size="1px" />width="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/webhostingpad.php">Web Hosting Pad href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/webhostingpad.php">
alt="Web Hosting Pad" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/webhostingpad-a.jpg" border="0" />href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/webhostingpad.php">
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.99alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-review-web-hosting-pad/">W.H.Pad Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/webhostingpad.php">Visit Onlinecolspan="4">size="1px" />width="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/lunarpages.php">LunarPageshref="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/lunarpages.php">
alt="Lunarpages" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/lunarpages-a.jpg" border="0" />href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/lunarpages.php">
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.95alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-review-lunarpages/">Lunarpages Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/lunarpages.php">Visit Onlinecolspan="4">size="1px" />width="160">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/dot5.php">Dot 5 Hostinghref="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/dot5.php">
alt="Dot5 Hosting" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/dot5-a.jpg" border="0" />href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/dot5.php">
width="160">Bandwidth: Unlimited
Disk Space: Unlimited
Addon Domain: Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">.95alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/dot5-hosting-review/">Dot5 Review
alt="" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/bullet.gif" border="0" /> href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/dot5.php">Visit Online

Reviews and opinions are all written based on my own experience (yes, I tested most of them by myself) and personal reference. I always try to write from an unbiased angle but it should be clear to you that I receive compensation from most of these hosting companies.

Catch-22 behind the low price tags. And, how to counter these problems and take advantage of cheap hosting deals?

Before you draw your old conclusion that all cheap hosting suck, you need to understand that these hosting companies are in business for money as well. There will be drawbacks and pitfalls when you go cheap – No doubt about it.

But hey, that’s the norm in every industry around the globe! So what do you do then? Sit back, rant all day, and do nothing? No! style="text-decoration: underline;">Our task here is not to complain, but to tackle these unavoidable drawbacks and save some bucks.

Given below are some “standard catch-22” and my solutions.

Problem: Unnecessary software charges

[Solution]: Cheap hosting companies make money by recommending additional add-ons and software to their customers. Some will find these add-ons useful; while some will find them wastes of money. The solution to this is pretty simple: Be sceptical with every emails and suggestions you receive from your hosting companies. Avoid clicking blindly and do your research before signing up for any add-ons in your account. In short, be a smart Internet shopper, problem fixed. ;)

Problem: Rushed Servers, Overselling

[Solution]: Check server uptime and read href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-review/">meaningful hosting reviews before signing up a cheap web host. If a hosting company keep receiving complains on server outage and slow network speeds, chances are the web host has some rushed server blocks and it’s best to avoid them.

*A little extra on server uptime: No one wants to host their website with a faulty web host. Go search for uptime record and experts’ comment on the shortlisted web hosts. There are various free services available online for this purpose and href="http://uptime.besthostratings.com/" target="_blank">BestHostRating.com for example, runs a huge database of web host uptime record (see examples below). Personally, I also use href="http://www.pingdom.com/" target="_blank">Pingdom and href="http://www.uptimerobot.com/" target="_blank">Uptime Robot for uptime tracking – these tools are easy to use and completely free.

border="0" cellspacing="15" cellpadding="5">width="160">InMotion title="Visit InMotion Hosting online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/inmotion.php" target="_blank">alt="Visit InMotion online" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/v.png" width="13" height="13" border="0" />alt="InMotion Uptime Record" src="http://www.besthostratings.com/images/uptime/inmotion_hosting.png" width="160" height="131" />width="160">Hostgator title="Visit Hostgator online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/hostgator.php" target="_blank">alt="Visit Hostgator online" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/v.png" width="13" height="13" border="0" />alt="Hostgator Uptime Record" src="http://www.besthostratings.com/images/uptime/HostGator_com.png" width="160" height="131" />width="160">FatCow title="Visit FatCow Hosting online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/fatcow.php" target="_blank">alt="Visit FatCow hosting online" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/v.png" width="13" height="13" border="0" />alt="Fatcow Uptime Record" src="http://www.besthostratings.com/images/uptime/fatcow_web_hosting.png" width="160" height="131" />width="160">Bluehost title="Visit Bluehost online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/bluehost.php" target="_blank">alt="Visit Bluehost online" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/v.png" width="13" height="13" border="0" />alt="Bluehost Uptime Record" src="http://www.besthostratings.com/images/uptime/BlueHost.png" width="160" height="131" />width="160">WebHostingPad title="Visit WebHostingPad online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/webhostingpad.php" target="_blank">alt="Visit WebHostingPad online" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/v.png" width="13" height="13" border="0" />alt="WebHostingPad Uptime Record" src="http://www.besthostratings.com/images/uptime/webhostingpad.png" width="160" height="131" />width="160">PowWeb title="Visit PowWeb online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/powweb.php" target="_blank">alt="Visit PowWeb online" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/home/v.png" width="13" height="13" border="0" />alt="PowWeb Uptime Record" src="http://www.besthostratings.com/images/uptime/powweb.png" width="160" height="131" />

Problem: Bad neighbourhood in the shared server

[Solution]: These days hosting companies have quite strict policy against spammers and hackers; thus I don’t worry too much about bad neighbourhood. The only way to deal with a bad neighbour is to request your host to suspend his/her account.

Problem: Black-Holed IP

[Solution]: Cheap web hosts are often exploited by spammers to send out junk mails. It’s recommended to check your web host IP on href="http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/isp.lasso" target="_blank">SpamHaus Block List as soon as you got your account. If unfortunately your server IP is on the list, request a relocation. If your web host refuse to do so, the only other solution is to switch host.

id="floatright">alt="Lunarpages Price Structure" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0222-2.jpg" width="180" height="191" />

Problem: Poor technical support

[Solution]: Not much we can do to a host with poor support. For newbies, the best thing to do is to avoid those with bad after-sales support. Talk with the support department before you place your order, ask related technical questions (such as inodes limits, CPU cycles, Ruby on Rails, etc) and judge their quality based on the responses. For the experienced one, well, you can always make use of href="http://www.webmasterworld.com" target="_blank">WebmasterWorld.com and href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com" target="_blank">WebHostingTalk.com for technical issues – Why bother too much, right?

Problem: Hidden cancellation fees

[Solution]: Avoid, I repeat, avoid any cheap web host that charges unreasonable cancellation fees. Read TOS (quick tip: go to the host’s TOS page, press Ctrl + F, search for keyword like ‘cancellation’ and ‘refund’) clearly and make sure how cancellation is done. Do not go with those with fishy cancellation policy no matter how cheap they are.

Problem: Limited MySQL databases

[Solution]: Some web hosts will limit the usage of MySQL databases to cut cost on CPU power. Before you order, make sure that the web hosts support sufficient number of databases. Skip those with too little (100 is the minimum acceptable number) as there are plenty of cheap hosts come with unlimited MySQL.

Problem: Expensive renewal fees

[Solution]: Renewal price for cheap hosting plans are normally higher than signup price (for example, iPage promotion price is .95/mo during signup; and for renewal, it’s .95/mo) – that’s how hosting companies lure customers to switch host. In case the web host (that you wish to go with) support ‘Anytime Money Back Guarantee’, it’s better to sign up for a longer subscription period to enjoy the low price. For renewals, the only way to keep prices low is to do ‘web host hoping’ (meaning, keep switching host every time when the contract expires).

id="floatright">alt="Lunarpages Price Structure" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0615-1.jpg" />

Problem: Lengthy subscription period for the cheap price tag

[Solution]: Some web hosts will request their customers to subscribe for a very lengthy period in exchange of the low price tags. Lunarpages .95/mo hosting deal, for example, is only available for customers who are willing to pay 5 years up front. Unless you are allowed to cancel and ask for a refund anytime during the subscription period; else such deal is a big no-go.

Problem: Limited allowable inodes

[Solution]: Your site shouldn’t be running on too many inodes in the first place. Understand that unlimited hosting is not limited. To solve this issue, try not to keep any duplicated files in your account, delete unnecessary files, delete emails regularly (empty inbox and download emails to your local PC instead), and optimize your databases.

My site is different, I should go with something more expensive

People always have the idea of cheap web host is only for crap websites. But fact is, a lot can be done with a cheap, shared hosting plans. Question is are you brave enough to take up the challenge to pick the right apple and also, be smart enough to fully utilize the resources from a cheap web host.

It does not makes your site ‘cooler’ or better simply because you opt for a more expensive hosting service. Some webmasters and bloggers subscribed to VPS or dedicated hosting simply because of their ego (with the kind of mindset where they think they are different and better).

Question: Cheap web hosting with free domain. Should I take it?

alt="Cheap Hosting With Free Domain Name" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2010/0222-1.jpg" />

Never register your domain name with your web host, even though it’s free.

Remember my rule #1 in href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-shopping/15-tips-on-how-not-to-get-screwed-by-your-web-host/">How Not To Get Screwed By Your Web Host? Just because your web host offer a free domain doesn’t mean that you should let the hosting company controls your domain registration. Personally, I prefer keeping my domain names with a large registrar (in my case, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/godaddy.php" target="_blank">GoDaddy) and separate them from the web host. By doing so, I can change my domain DNS anytime I want and avoid myself from being locked with a particular web host.

Final piece of advice: Try not to draw wrong conclusion about cheap hosting

Many webmasters misunderstood that cheap hosting services are generally bad because: 1. Negative reviews are easier to be accepted and passed along in forums; 2. Webmasters made unrealistic expectation (believe it or not, I received complaints on Hostgator because the user wants real-time web analytics data!); 3. Like it or not, there are more haters than you think in this world and haters gonna hate (seriously!).

Fact is, you are always recommended to start small with an affordable (cheap) shared hosting plan. :)

Page 27 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed