Web Hosting

[MattGrass]

I am starting a small home business (daycare) in September and I am looking for a good company for hosting my website. I have already designed the website in Front Page but my internet provider does not provide hosting unless I switch to a business internet plan which is like twice the price.

I don't want any popups or any sleezy advertising anywhere near my website. I don't want the name of any company to appear on the website. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Matt's wife :)

[FastFokker]

Not sure if you can still get through as it supposedly expired on May 31, but this is a real hot deal:

http://www.netfirms.com/max

$10/yr.

[aingaran]

Deal has been extended till July 31, 2006.. This is a great deal, but the only problem is when it comes up for renewal. $120 for the year (worth it, if you're going to be using that much space & bandwidth..For a simple site, not really worth it, IMO.)

[Canucklehead]

I think that US$10.70 is worth it for the year. About a month or two prior to that, you can look for other hosting deals as you will have a pretty good idea of what you need or don't need. Just remember to back up all of your files onto your harddrive. Then you can set it up relatively easily with another host.

Do NOT get the FREE domain name through netfirms.com or anyone else offering a free domain with hosting. If you're serious about business, buy the domain name is such a way that you actually retain the rights to it - not at the mercy of others. OR...if there is a good deal like the one Yahoo Business had, you can register for 5 years -ample time to determine whether it's worth the investment to renew afterwards.

Daycare business needs a webpage? What would be cool is if you got parents to key in allergies, quirks, planned vacations etc for their child. If you're really good, you can offer a webcam for the parents to check up on their child from work but it is kinda creepy if someone else gets a hold of the password and lurks.

I personally never thought of going online to find daycare - but ya never know and for $10 - what the heck eh?

[FastFokker]

Deal has been extended till July 31, 2006.. This is a great deal, but the only problem is when it comes up for renewal. $120 for the year (worth it, if you're going to be using that much space & bandwidth..For a simple site, not really worth it, IMO.)If you don't use that much space, it will be easy to transfer the data to a new host.

If you are using that much space, then $10/mo is still a hot deal.

In either event, you can't go wrong for $10 for the full year. Deal with next year when next year comes.

[gmark2000]

For a small, low-traffic, brochureware site, check out http://e-rice.net/.

I've heard great things about them and they've been around for a long time.

[cdnNick]

If you are paying for hosting you shouldn't have any ads, popups or any type of advertisements on your site, unless of course you place them there.

If you need fast support (within a few hours) then netfirms might not be for you, they can sometimes take up to 2 days before replying to you. I dealt with them when moving a client away from there. That was my experience yours could be completely different. Try emailing sales with questions which should help you judge their response time.

I would go with godaddy or an enom reseller for my domain registration. I have used yahoo for domains before and they are toatally useless when it comes to helping you out with problems. I have domains registered at godaddy and resell for enom and both are quick to reply and the answers are usually bang on.

Good luck on your search their are many choices out there. :)

[MattGrass]

I am going to ask a couple of questions that will probably be stupid but....

1. How do I know how much space I need and what transfer amount I need?
2. What is a brochureware site?
3. Can I use a website produced in Front Page anywhere?
4. Is it difficult to change your website frequently or is it just a simple upload?

Thank you everyone for all of your help, I really appreciate it :)

[cdnNick]

Those are very common questions, not stupid at all.

If it is a basic site with a few pictures and mostly text then a few MB of space would be enough for the site. From my experience most small business/personal sites take up about 10-20MBs of space and maybe a few GB of data transfer.

I'm going to guess what brochureware means, I assume it means a website that is basically like a companies brochure that you would send in the mail. Just another way of advertising your business.

A simple html site can be moved around to any web host you want, regardless of what you use to create it. You could use notepad if you wanted to.

Updating your website is very simple. Once you have made your changes just upload the file and overwrite the old one. Thats it.

[aingaran]

I'm willing to bet that your site doesn't user more than 2 Megs of space (if that much...Assuming you have a bunch of images. If you only have 2-3 images, it'll be under 1MB for sure!) and less than 100-200 MB of bandwidth monthly (if you're lucky to get that many visitors.)

[YnD]

Hey all, does anyone have experience with 1and1.com

They are advertised all over my PC MAGAZINE and it looks like a good mass public host but I would like some opinions or experienced users from this hosting company.

Thanks.

[deep]

I use 1and1 for a bunch of small sites under 1 developer account, and I've been impressed. There are better deals available at times (like the 777 Dreamhost deal) but 1and1 has provided 100% uptime, quick service, and reasonably competent people on the phone for me for about 2 years now.

[nolookingca]

Zeeblo offers free ad-less hosting. Performance and support is pretty good. Just register for a domain and you're set.

[Canucklehead]

I have a couple of sites under 1and1.com and a couple with Netfirms. 1and1.com has far superior turnaround time to address problems or questions. Netfirms takes 24 hours to get back to you via email. If you call Netfirms customer service (416#), their support people are fantastic!

[ancientdude]

I used www.domainsatcost.ca to register my domain, great little place and cheap too!

and Site5.com to host it.

I share it with a bunch of other people (so the cost is very minimal for me...like 5 dollars a month) and I get 3000mb a month bandwidth.

[emoci]

I used www.domainsatcost.ca to register my domain, great little place and cheap too!

and Site5.com to host it.

I share it with a bunch of other people (so the cost is very minimal for me...like 5 dollars a month) and I get 3000mb a month bandwidth.

$12.95 is reasonable for .ca, but a .com can be had for as low as $2.95 at Ipower

http://webspace.mocicore.com has 1000 MB storage and 150 GB transfer for US $3.75/month, which should be more than enough for a startup website.
With a bit of research you could even get a bit cheaper

[Canucklehead]

I noticed that yahoo and others like Ipower have the $2.95 domain name but it now only for one year. To go to 2, 3 or more years, they charge the standard rate. Ah..some many marketing games these people play - do they think that everyone is stupid and can get suckered in to this? Reminds me of the $100 flights that end up being one way and do not include ALL the fees...or cell phone rates that tack on the $6.95 network access fee or other b.s.

Best bet is to calculate total long term cost and then see what the average is for each service provider.

[cdnNick]

When you do decide on a hosting provider DO NOT go with one that offers unlimited space and bandwidth. Those do not exist and never will, those companies are shady and are lying to you.

Unless anyone knows where to get one of these unlimited space hard drives? :lol:

[emoci]

I noticed that yahoo and others like Ipower have the $2.95 domain name but it now only for one year. To go to 2, 3 or more years, they charge the standard rate. Ah..some many marketing games these people play - do they think that everyone is stupid and can get suckered in to this? Reminds me of the $100 flights that end up being one way and do not include ALL the fees...or cell phone rates that tack on the $6.95 network access fee or other b.s.

Best bet is to calculate total long term cost and then see what the average is for each service provider.

well the idea is to stick with $2.95 for a year,wait for the next godaddy deal and have it transfered to them, so (3 + 7)/2= about $5 year over two years for the domain

As for hosting there are a few places that offer unlimited bandwith

[MattGrass]

Has anyone ever heard of this place...I just found it and it looks like you get the hosting for your site with the domain registration. I don't know if it is any good but it doesn't seem to expensive...I have so many to choose from I don't know what to pick...

http://www.nameroute.com/

Thanks again everyone!

[Canucklehead]

well the idea is to stick with $2.95 for a year,wait for the next godaddy deal and have it transfered to them, so (3 + 7)/2= about $5 year over two years for the domain

As for hosting there are a few places that offer unlimited bandwith

Great idea! You sure you're not locked into anything like you are with 1and1.com?

[Canucklehead]

Has anyone ever heard of this place...I just found it and it looks like you get the hosting for your site with the domain registration. I don't know if it is any good but it doesn't seem to expensive...I have so many to choose from I don't know what to pick...

http://www.nameroute.com/

Thanks again everyone!

Depends on what you want to do with your site. Nameroute offers 10MB with 1Gig transfer.

[yb2k6]

I am starting a small home business (daycare) in September and I am looking for a good company for hosting my website. I have already designed the website in Front Page but my internet provider does not provide hosting unless I switch to a business internet plan which is like twice the price.

I don't want any popups or any sleezy advertising anywhere near my website. I don't want the name of any company to appear on the website. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Matt's wife :)

Try midphase, Midphase is the no.1 hosting service according to hosting buyers guide. Check this link with additional review information: http://www.hosting-buyers-guide.com/re/2005midphase/

[Canucklehead]

1. How do I know how much space I need and what transfer amount I need?
If you design your website, you will know the size of the file that you will be uploading - this will indicate the amount of space you are using. Think about how you might expand your site and add the expected space required. If you are collecting and storing data in database, then you will need more space.

2. What is a brochureware site?
A brochureware site is just like it sounds. Basically it's your "printed" brochure posted up on the web. A lot of companies use the web to provide information and just take what they've got and upload it without any layout changes or interactivity. This site would be static (not changing), boring and does not fully utilize all that the web has to offer in terms of engaging the user.

3. Can I use a website produced in Front Page anywhere?
No, you should check if the hosting site can handle "FrontPage extensions" - this involves ensuring that the appropriate server extensions are installed. If they don't have this facility, you can still get marginal use out of FrontPage. One of the key benefits of using FrontPage is being able to build and edit your website on your PC and then publishing it directly. When you make changes, only the stuff that changed gets uploaded which is pretty efficient. Otherwise you have to use FTP.

Other FrontPage things that will not work without extensions:
- Forms processing (would have to use Perl or other CGI scripts instead)
- Search form
- Bulletin board
- Security
- hit counter
- Database features

4. Is it difficult to change your website frequently or is it just a simple upload?
See response above. Depends on how you initially design your website (using CSS, templates, etc makes it easier). Uploading is not too difficult using FTP software (open source available).

[lochlan651]

Try midphase, Midphase is the no.1 hosting service according to hosting buyers guide. Check this link with additional review information: http://www.hosting-buyers-guide.com/re/2005midphase/

Nothing against Midphase, but I prefer to read reviews on websites that dont have anything to gain (IE a $50 refferal fee for new customers) from the link to the web host.

Everyone else in this thread seems to be just honestly suggesting website hosts without trying to make any referral money off their suggestion.

Maybe its just me, but I prefer when people are just giving me good advice because they believe in the product, not because they are getting something in return.

[MattGrass]

Another question for you....

I have my web page up and running through my personal home internet account, but I don't want to use the web address because it is ridiculously long (www.members.shaw.ca/blahblahblahblahblah) and no one would remember it and I could never use it for advertising which was why I was going to get my web page hosted. Could I not just buy the domain name and then pay to link it to my personal webpage. That way people can type in the recognizable name and then my page would come up...do they do that somewhere?

[Canucklehead]

Maybe its just me, but I prefer when people are just giving me good advice because they believe in the product, not because they are getting something in return.

I totally agree!

MattGrass - I think you can do this. It is called domain name pointing and you point to the same IP address as your members.shaw.ca account. Check with your ISP if they allow this and check with the domain name registrar to see if they facilitate this.

[teknoluv]

Another question for you....

I have my web page up and running through my personal home internet account, but I don't want to use the web address because it is ridiculously long (www.members.shaw.ca/blahblahblahblahblah) and no one would remember it and I could never use it for advertising which was why I was going to get my web page hosted. Could I not just buy the domain name and then pay to link it to my personal webpage. That way people can type in the recognizable name and then my page would come up...do they do that somewhere?
Yes, you can register a domain name point it to your *ugly* URL at Shaw. You can do it the cheap way by simply forwarding it (some registrars offer the so-called "stealth" forwarding too), but remember to use a matching e-mail address, instead of @shaw.ca. For business, you need the professional LOOK.

[DebtManWalking]

MattGrass Wife,

I currently have a server in LA that is WAY under utilized and I could host you free of charge. I do it for some friends that are living in Belize as hosting is very expensive there and have been doing so and have had the server for over a year now.

I understand it's for a Daycare and if I can help you keep your hosting and e-mail costs down, I'd be more than happy to do so knowing that lot's of people helped me out when I was getting my business going.

If you want more information or are interested in this offer, please e-mail me at techwest@shaw.ca

Thanks!

DebtManWalking
FinanceForums.ca
www.financeforums.ca

[swpilgrim]

I know of a website that provides inexpensive web hosting. It's only $5.00 a month, you get 15,000/diskspace and 300gb/Bandwidth. I strongly recommend this site, they have great service and awesome features. deleted

[Rehan]

I know of a website that provides inexpensive web hosting. It's only $5.00 a month, you get 15,000/diskspace and 300gb/Bandwidth. I strongly recommend this site, they have great service and awesome features. deleted
Domain name: **********.com

Registrant Contact:
Meintec Online Services
Steve Pilgrim (swpilgrim@*******)
+1.**********
Fax: none
**** ******* ****
*******, BC *** ***
CA That wasn't a very bright thing to do, Steve! :|

[rayzer]

I've been using www.123ehost.com for about 3 years now and they have great price and service ! Their basic plan comes to $5/month and based in Quebec.

If any problems I call them and they usually there to answer right away or email takes less than 1 hr to get back to me.

hope this helps.

good luck

[aingaran]

All the plans being suggested are overkill for Matt's wife. You can simply use your shaw's webspace & point your domain as couple of others have suggested. It cost you no more than $10-15 bucks/year (depending on your registrar)

[aingaran]

with that Midphase review.. There are many web hosting companies that run their own "Review" sites ... It's pure fraud!

[Div]

Spend some time determining your hosting needs (http://www.webhost2go.com/web-hosting/needs.html) and look for feedback/reviews for potential hosts on WHT (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/).

[enlighten_me]

I got the Dreamhost deal through RFD. My $10 year is up, but I think I'll continue with it because it's been very fast and reliable. I can also host 6 websites and split it with other people.