Web Hosting recommendations?

[OneGrassRoot]

I'm not going to have the technical information some of you may need to help answer this question, but I can give generalities. ;)

There are so many options out there, and in reading through reviews over the last few days, I STILL can't find any consist recommendations. I posted at the webhosting forum here at DU but there's little to no activity.

For one business acquaintance there is simply a need for a hosting service for about seven basic informational sites.

For another, there is more of a craigslist type of a need (or even a DU type of layout with multiple discussion forums, a marketplace, blogs, etc.), with the hope that a dedicated server will be needed down the road.

Can you guys recommend a company that has been around long enough that one can feel stable with them and could handle the smaller business needs up through dedicated server needs?

The biggest drawback most people I know have encountered is people doing this on the side and then going out of business.

Thanks in advance DUers!
:hi:

[OneGrassRoot]

1. Any feedback or experience with Squarespace.com? n/t

[DaveJ]

2. "people doing this on the side..."

That's exactly why I recommend large companies for web hosting, and there are lots of them. I'm using Godaddy.com but there are tons of others. Networksolutions, Earthlink, etc., and I've even consider Yahoo/Geocities paid hosting plans. Of course I'm not sure anyone would want to do business with ATT these days.

It seems everyone has a hosting plan, and I'd recommending finding one you want to support.

Much depends on the type of website, as in, what platform you want to use. For instance, if it is an ASP.NET website, Microsoft has a list of recommendations here:

http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/directory/default.aspx?PromotionID=17

Eventually a business might want to run their own web server, which is not difficult. Their ISP simply needs to assign them a static IP address and then all they need is someone who can maintain the site themselves, making sure the server is online 24/7, do regular backups, etc. That is, unless the business wants to used a 'canned' website format, which is becoming more popular these days... it's nice hacing a fancy site but most businesses just want to get the job done... in that case, again, stick with a behemoth to host the site becuase you know they will always be around and they will continue to control the internet.

[CK_John]

3. Their are really 2 areas to look at, hosting and ownership of the site.

Hosting and the tech jargon always gets in the way of site ownership. Like many great artists of the past who made millions for everybody but themselves. It's like a patent or copyright.

A low cost host hopes you become rich and famous because they register your website in their name, ie they own your virtual business name and control your files. Mid to higher costs host just rent you band width on the net, ie they charge for usage or traffic to and from your site.

The mid cost sites usually have a minimum per month or day or peak hours. This is usually more than a startup can afford so they go with the low cost host and then they have a problem going to the next step because you gave away the business name and lost control of your files.

In other words you need an agent(lawyer) who specializes in web business, just movie stars and recording artists have agents in their fields.

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Really? I had no idea. Thank you for the heads up! n/t

[DaveJ]

5. This is very interesting. I don't understand...

What exactly do these cheap registrars plan to do once a business becomes lucrative? Steal patents and charge $10k per month for the domain? I don't understand why would a lawyer be necessary. From my naive, scammer illiterate perspective, it seems to me that either a person controls their domain name or they don't. Do you have any more information about this?

[CK_John]

6. Hosting and registrars again are different services. Again confusing tech jargon with sound

business practice.

[OneGrassRoot]

8. Yes, I get that now. Registering through a registrar versus...

a web hosting company makes sense. I've only registered domains through a registration-only service.

Godaddy would be an example of a company who registers domains and offers web hosting, right?

[CK_John]

10. Yes, they register domains, but do a google on "godaddy" and you will find some very mixed reviews.

I,m just trying to point you in the right direction, you have to research your area for a specialist in the legal fine print and worry about the tech part latter.

The tech part to be sure is complex and may require a specialist also, but the tech person will only look at getting the site up and running, very few if any will worry about ownership, financial costing, residuals or growth of your business.

[CabalPowered]

7. The Planet

http://www.theplanet.com/

This is who I've used after jumping through 3 or 4. They're one of the best hosting companies out there.

[Jersey Devil]

9. ixwebhosting.com

Been using them a few years now, very reliable, no down time even on a shared server and very reasonable. I run a board similar to DU on it with no problems. First time I was down in over 2 years was today because they are moving their servers to a new location and they actually warned me in advance of the temporary blackout for maintenance, unlike the others I've used.