We have roughly another two months to go for FatCow Host Smart Drive Smart Giveaway. In case you are considering FatCow hosting, here are some recent user feedback for references. Some of these reviews are quoted else where from the Internet; some were e-mailed to my directly.

FatCow Hosting User Feedback

“Great Service!!” I’m using fatcow for more than 6 months, and did not had any problems so far. They servers are reliable and didn’t noticed any downtime for my websites. Some times the live chat support is slow, but the email and phone support is professional. Fatcow is my first hosting provider, and they has helped me a lot to put my business online. Great service! I would recommend to any business owner! – Reviewed by Jorg @ July 8, 2010.

“Jaw-droppingly easy to use!” Fat Cow’s automated installations are jaw- droppingly easy to use. I create and sell CMS/Joomla! websites using Fat Cow’s unlimited hosting plan and it has been a very profitable experience with Fat Cow. I do have to note that the overall speed of Fat Cow’s hosting plan leaves something to be desired when it comes to load time for scripts – mainly in Joomla! / MySQL installations. Otherwise – Fat Cow is the only hosting choice that makes sense to my business. – Reviewed by Matherarts.com @ July 01, 2010

“Average” I’ve hosted many different websites using a variety of web hosts over the years. The only time I’ve ever been “hacked” into was with FatCow – not once, but twice in less than a six-month period. My account was suspended with virtually no notice, and it’s a hassle to get it reinstated. While they gave me general guidance on removing bad files and preventing it from happening again, it was beyond difficult to get anything that specifically addressed my situation such as the type of files that are vulnerable, etc. When I asked customer support for details, I was told that someone will send an e-mail to me “very soon” but the email is never in my mailbox until today (it’s been months!). I’ve been a FatCow customer for less than a year, so I’m not sure how much of a “fluke” this is. Having said that, online support has been fairly prompt and responsive when I’ve had other sorts of issues and questions. Aside from the “phishing” concerns, I’ve been content. – Reviewed by Anonymous @ June 8, 2010.

“FatCow – Not Impressed! “ I have been trying to get a FatCow reseller account now for about 3 weeks.. my paypal payment had an error, so i tried it again.. then realized in my paypal account the first one had gone through.. although was sat “unclaimed” so now I had two “unclaimed” payments in my paypal account. I have been talking to support staff throughout the last two weeks trying to resolve the issue and NOTHING has been done.. they have “escalated” the issue to a senior specialist or something of the sort. I mean a two year old could accept a paypal payment in a few minutes!!!! After reading some of these reviews I am having second thoughts about using them.. they obviously have the look and the pricing but apart from that they seem to be pretty rubbish. – Reviewed by Luke @ June 26, 2010.

“Nothing but pleasures!” Hi Jerry I just wanna drop by and say thanks for sharing your comments about fatcow. I signed up with them in late march and I am 100% satisfy with the kind of service I am getting. fatcow servers are fast (as you said) and I never experience any site down time so far…. The overall setup process was amazingly fast and easy so I’d recommend FatCow to any newbies out there who wish to get things started immediately. In short, fatcow is nothing but pleasures!! – Reviewed by Teressa @ May 17, 2010.

“Debra Lamb Psychic Loves FatCow!” I found FatCow on the Consumer Report site as one of the top recommended web hosting sites for price and customer service. Their web building tools made building my website fairly easy, considering I had absolutely no experience, and every time I called tech support (which was a lot) I was helped by a friendly and knowledgeable associate. I also received encouragement along the way! – Reviewed by DebraLambPsychic @ April 5, 2010.

If these are not enough, check out my personal reviews on FatCow hosting here.

Are web hosting user reviews reliable? Here’s what I think.

As a smart shopper, you should understand that a user/customer review is always written based on one’s preference. How well a web host scores in one’s record is always biased towards his/her expectation.

I once received an email complaining about Hostgator. The reason why this guy is unhappy with Hostgator is because (ready for this?) the company does not provide real time web stats reporting tool for his shared hosting account. That’s right, he is looking for a real time web analytic tool – can you believe that? Seriously, if you are expecting such a tool from a $10/mo hosting service, there is no way in this world you can be pleased.

Another example: Look at this recently published JustHost user reviews, check out the review in that post and the comment that follows, I can’t help but wonder why we can have such different feedback on the same web host (Katja was unhappy with JustHost while reader Voyager was shock to see a negative JustHost user review and think it’s a fake review).

So hey, just because you found a negative review on a web host means that it’s a bad choice; vise versa, a web host with some positive reviews might not work rightly for you. Web hosting user reviews (this one included) are solely for your references. Sure some basic research and reviews will help filter out some bad apples but to be safe you should always protect yourself from being screwed by a lousy web host.

I came across A2Hosting recently during my casual Internet surfing. I have never use A2’s hosting service before but I’m very impressed with what I am seeing from the outside and I thought you guys’d like to know. Note that this post is NOT a paid post or advertisement in any sort – the web host is seriously something (you’ll see why).

Why I like A2Hosting Hosting Services?

Super-Reliable Server + Transparent Operations

Throughout my years working on Internet, A2Hosting is the only web host I knew that is willing to track and reveal their server uptime publicly. The website uptime is tracked by a third party system named WebsitePulse from four different locations, Washington and Los Angeles (US), Brisbane (Australia), as well as Desseldorf (Germany),  every 5 minutes; and the results are opened for anyone on the Internet.

A2Hosting Uptime Record: Screen Cap from WebsitePulse

Take time to check out the uptime report. Note that the web host is tracked since June 2006 and the overall uptime in the four year time span is 99.97%; with the longest 100% uptime of 212 days and 8 hours! Trust me, I have been tracking web host uptimes for some years now and these numbers mean a lot. What A2Hosting achieved here is simply outstanding.

The Best Incentive Gifts

Beside server reliability, I am also equally impressed with the free gifts A2Hosting is giving away. For a hosting plan that cost less than $80 per year, A2Hosting customers are getting back practical, free marketing credits that worth more than $250.
For reference, I have listed down some of the key incentives you are getting upon subscription.

July Football Discount – 40% price cut

Perhaps the best reason why you should try A2Hosting at this time of writing is the company’s special promotion. A2Hosting is giving a special one-time discount for all July orders. Enter ‘GOAL40’ upon signup and you will receive a one-time 40% price discount.

Listed below are the A2Hosting’s price differences before and after discount.

No one would deny that A2Hosting’s price tag is a little expensive previously but thing looks much better after the 40% discount – the $4.77/mo price tag is, without doubt, a stunner. However, be aware that this promotion ends on July 31 (sorry, I should have write this post earlier) so remember to order A2 before it’s too late.

Wrapping Things Up: I need your A2Hosting Review!

I don’t normally write such a ‘biased’ post on a web host that I have never tried before. In fact the title of this article is only decided after I reread my writing and noticed how biased I sounded.

As you can read from above, the facts I found about A2Hosting are just too good to be ignored. In case are looking for some hosts out of my list, A2Hosting is for sure a must-see alternative. Every signs and customer feedbacks I got online indicate that A2Hosting cares a lot about its customers and is ready to serve long term.

To see for more yourself, visit A2hoting online at http://www.a2hosting.com

On the other hand, since I am not an A2Hosting user, I’d appreciate existing A2Hosting users chip in and tell us more about the web host.

Many bloggers wish to host their blog but do not know how to pick the right blog hosting. While things might look a little complicated from outside at first, choosing a suitable web hosting for your blog is pretty easy when you are informed.

In case this is the first time you are starting a blog, high chances (99.9%!) that a shared hosting is what you need. Don’t bother looking into VPS or dedicated hosting as in most cases your blog will not need that much of resources for (at least) the next 6 to 12 months.

(I recently met a guy who wants a cloud hosting account for his not-eh-hem-so-popular blog and no matter how hard I explained, he still think going cloud is the right thing to do. Hopefully he could read this post and save the money for better purpose.)

How to judge a web host is right for my blog?

Anyway, back to our topic. Here are some of the common features to look into for a blog host.

Disk storage

Most shared hosting deals nowadays come with unlimited disk space but honestly, you don’t need that much. Unless you are storing piles of hi-res images, else 100MB of disk space should be good enough (with images hosted on Flickr, PhotoBucket); 500MB should be able to keep you going for at least two years.

Monthly data transfer (or, bandwidth)

With the help of social bookmark sites like Digg and StumbleUpon, it is very possible for a brand new blog to hit 10,000 – 15,000 unique visits in a day, which in other words, huge demand for bandwidth.

However, bandwidth shouldn’t be your main concern as (again) most shared hosting providers offer unlimited bandwidth these days. Moreover if you are getting that volume of traffics, the CPU load is more likely to be the bottleneck that will cause a temporary suspension on your account, not bandwidth. So in short, bandwidth is something you need to consider when choosing a blog host but it’s unnecessary to stress too much on bandwidth.

If you wish to learn more, check out my previous input: How much bandwidth do you need?

Server uptime

All servers will suffer some downtime. Hardware failure, programming bugs, human’s errors, server maintenance… there are unlimited ways to turn a web server down. Hence, it is impossible to get a web host with 100% uptime. In my opinion, any three to six months uptime record with more than 97.5% is a go; and, anything more than 99% with less than $5 hosting cost per month is a steal.

CPU Usage

The limitation on your account’s CPU usage is what makes unlimited hosting limited. Most web host will not give understandable value. Some will tell you can goes up to 5 – 10% CPU power but they never tell you what kind of CPU is in use. 5% of what, Pentium III 733 MHz? You’ll never know. The CPU usage is a grey area where most web host will not talk about it officially in the TOS.

From what I knew, some hosts will allow maximum CPU usage up to 5-10% (which is already very good). However, I believe 1-3% sounds more logical thus if it happens that you get a chance to ask about it before picking up a web host, you know what to expect. (my guesstimation: assuming 200 sites sharing the same server hence each get 1/200 CPU power; half of the registered sites will be in dormant mode so the max should be somewhere around 1/100 CPU power).

There’s another thing you need to keep in mind – blog or CMS software are often ‘heavy’ database users thus it is in fact part of your responsibility to keep the CPU usage low. If you are running a popular WordPress blog, installing WP Super Cache is highly recommended.

Pricing

Dedicated and VPS hosting prices vary a lot but for shared hosting, standard monthly cost range from $3.50/mo to $10/mo. Unless there is a special reason behind, else anything above $12/mo is a no go. Remember, you shouldn’t be spending too much on the hosting at start, especially if you are a part time blogger.

Bottom line: You just can’t judge a host from outside

Reality: It is impossible to know how good or how bad is a web host from outside. Reading TOS and checking on the hosting features will only help filter a few obvious bad apples. To further investigate on a web host, (honest) hosting reviews and users feedbacks are what you need.

And since judging from outside will never work well, why not test the web host yourself from the inside? After all, this is why we have free trial period. Just keep track on the service quality for the first 30 days and do not hesitate to ask for a refund if you find anything fishy (that’s how you leverage the trial period ! ).

In case you are one of them who needs clarification, this article explains (and compares) the distinctions between Hostgator shared hosting plans.  

Hostgator Hatching, Baby, and Business Hosting Plan: What’s different? And which should you choose?

Hostgator Hatchling, Baby, and Business Plan in a quick view

Here’s a quick view on Hostgator Hatchling, Baby, and Business Plan. Figure below is the print screen from Hostgator website. Not much different, eh?

Compare Hostgator Hatchling, Baby, and Business Plan

Well on a closer look (referring table below), you can see that the three plans are quite different and this means a detail inspection before making any purchase decision is in fact necessary. So let’s check in details on each options.

Ref: Hostgator Shared Hosting Plans

When you should go with Hostgator Hatchling Plan?

Hatchling Plan is relative cheaper and it is the better option for those with only one website.

However, in long term the Hatchling Plan is not very practical and I do not recommend any webmasters who are serious with their website to stay long with it. Think about it – domain name is so cheap nowadays that its cost is nearly neglectable when compare with other website operation cost.  Do you think you will own only one domain for the rest of your time on Internet? Absolutely not! A new business idea, a forum for your hobby, a website for your family members, a charity website for the community, a personal blog – there are unlimited reasons for your second domains/websites.

In fact, why limit yourself in one or two domains? Most webmasters, myself included, own (and operate) dozens of domains/websites and we are still buying domain names regularly! So, take the Hatchling Plan as the starting point in your Internet venture but never stick too long with it.

When you should go with Hostgator Baby Plan?

Answer: 99% of the time. The differences between Baby and Hatchling Plan is that Baby Plan is slightly more expensive and it allows unlimited addon domains; the main differences between Baby and Business Plan is that it doesn’t provide Toll Free Number, Anonymous FTP, and Chilisoft ASP*.

So unless these extra features are absolutely needed, there is no reason why you should pay $60 extra every year for the Business Hosting Plan.

*Note: You can add private SSL and dedicated IP features to your Hostgator Baby Plan with a little extra cost.

When you should go with Hostgator Business Plan?

Hostgator Business Plan is at its best value when you need all the addon e-commerce features (toll free number, dedicated IP, ChiliSoft ASP, and private SSL). It is most suitable for (well?) medium-large business websites owners that process their own money transactions.

Do note that while I agreed Hostgator offers the Best Business Hosting, the Business Planis only recommended when you are going to use all those addon e-commerce. It’s not worth it to pay extra $60 per year if you only need an extra dedicated IP address or the private SSL. These features can be bought (at $2/dedicated IP address/year) or substituted with other web services (go with PayPal to bypass the need of a private SSL).

Hostgator Shared Hosting Plan Upgrades

Another question I got frequently from the readers: Can I upgrade/downgrade my Hostgator plan from time to time?

The answer is absolutely yes. All upgrades with Hostgator (eg. Baby-to-Business, Shared-to-VPS, VPS-to-dedicated) are free of charge. All you need to pay is the prorated price after upgrades and you are done. On the other hand, downgrading to a lower level plan requires a $10 processing fees (which I think is reasonable).

A little more about Hostgator Hosting Services

In case you have never heard about Hostgator, the hosting company is one of the top players and currently hosting more than 2.5 million domains. The company was founded in 2002 when Brent Oxley (HostGator’s founder and current CEO) started the company in his dorm room with about $1,000. At the time, Brent was a student at Florida Atlantic University and a webmaster and had a few extra servers, so he decided to make use of the servers and start a web hosting company. His side venture took off and Brent later dropped out of college to run it full time.

Now, almost eight years later, the company that Brent founded in his dorm room occupies a four story office building in Houston and has more than 300 employees. Hostgator was voted as the fastest growing company in Texas (and ranked #21 in America) by Inc. Magazine’s Inc.5000 Awards in year 2008.

If you haven’t read my Hostgator review, make sure you do so because it is one of the very few updated write-ups that reveal the reality; alternatively, you can always visiting Hostgator online at http://www.hostgator.com.

iPage Related Search Trends

Good things about iPage (based on my review so far)

I’ve yet to complete my evaluation on iPage hosting but so far things are looking amazingly good. (You can read my detail iPage review here.) In case you’re one of the curious shoppers looking around for more info, here are a quick list of ten good reasons why iPage is a must-try.

1. Experienced web hosting company

iPage started business back in March 1995 and the company had been hosting (as well as managing) websites worldwide since 1998. Although it was bought over by a larger company (Endurance) a few years back but still, the web company is managed by bunch of industry veterans. Summing up these facts with my recent experience with the company, I’m absolutely confidence with their ability.

2. Great hosting deals with anytime money-back guarantee

First of all, iPage offers unlimited hosting at a very cheap price. You’ll get unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk storage, unlimited addon domain, so on and forth with all the standard ‘unlimited’ stuffs. Okay, okay, I admit that’s nothing extremely outstanding about that… But wait, iPage customers are also protected by an ‘Anytime Money-Back Guarantee’ customer satisfaction policy. Now this sounds really interesting. Gone are those days with limited 30 days or 60 days trial period. If you’re not satisfied with iPage, they’ll give you your money back. No questions asked, no time limits. Cancel at any time, and the web host promisses to issue a refund for the remainder of your current payment term.

It’s like a never-ending warranty and you bet that’s simply awesome!

3. iPage – hosting for charity

For this special Breast Cancer Awareness Month, iPage is donating $1 for every hosting sign up. So when you’re signing up a new host for your website, you’re also doing goods for the charity.

4. Go green, go iPage

iPage is offsetting its electricity consumption with wind-generated Renewable Energy Certificates. Their data centers and offices are fully powered by green energy thus you can rest assured that your ipage-hosted websites leave no carbon footprint.

5. Exclusive offer from Carbonite and RatePoint

Another good thing about iPage is that the company forms partnerships with leaders in web services. Besides the Google and Yahoo! marketing credits mentioned earlier, iPage customers also get numerous exclusive deals with big names like RatePoint, Carbonite, VeriSign, and so on. By signing up with iPage, you’ll get 2GB Carbonite backup solution for free (great value!) and a 60 days free trial on RatePoint Newsletter Manager.

6. More than just a web host

iPage, by the way, is not just about web host. As mentioned earlier, the company offers everything a website needs – from web hosting to website mangement, email hosting, domain registration, e-commerce services, website scripting, as well as web marketing. These features are extremely convenient for business owners who wish to expand their business online (but do not have sufficient time or knowledge).

7. Free marketing credits worth $200

At this time of writing, users get free $50 Google Adwords credit, $25 Yahoo! Marketing credit, $25 Search Engine Services and free couple of other marketing services.

This ‘Marketing Suite’ alone cost $200 in money value and you can get it all free when sign up with iPage.

8. Free security features worth $100

As iPage customers, you’ll get various enhanced website security features including business verification, daily malware scan, daily spam scan, constant network scanning, and the infamous SiteLock system. These features not only safeguard your website against identity thefts and hackers; they are also a good indication to your users that it’s safe to shop at your website (yeah I know, it’s more like a marketing tool sometimes).

9. New hosting technology

From what I heard, the recent relaunch isn’t just about re-branding. It’s a total revamp and you can expect more than a website change at iPage.com. If you check out their technology base, you’ll notice that they are now implementing high performance load balanced servers, multile gigabit fiberoptic connections of diverse backbones, Cisco routers with BGP4 protocol, as well as NetApp Snapshot data backups. These new hosting techs simply provide better and safer hosting environment you can’t get elsewhere.

10. Special Promotion

Lastly, and most importantly, the best reason that you should try them out is that iPage just got cheaper with my special deal with the hosting company (thanks to Paul, the key person working at iPage). Now when you signup with this special promo link, iPage will just cost $3.50/mo for the entire subscription period and that’s more than 36% discount from the original $5.5/mo price.

Isn’t a good to know you can save more?

Special promotion link, iPage hosting – only $3.50/mo!

Well, that’s all about iPage for the moment!

Alright, I have threw my 10 reasons why you should test out the new iPage hosting services. Now it’s your turn. Anyone tried them out already? Remember to leave your comments on how they are doing and help out others who’re still unsure about iPage.

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 best hosting awards in this early stage. You need a web hosting that’s best 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 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 BestHostRating.com for example, runs a huge database of web host uptime record.

A quick view on some of the web host I’m currently tracking.

InMotion	Hostgator	FatCow
Bluehost	WebHostingPad	PowWeb

Click to visit web host’s official website (links open in a new window).

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, FatCow and Bluehost 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 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, 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 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 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, 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.

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).

It’s not easy to distinguish a good web hosting provider from a substandard scammer nowadays. Fake testimonials, biased reviews, and paid blog posts are everywhere. The search for a high-quality web host becomes even more difficult when more and more hosting companies are now offering unlimited hosting plans.

What’s an unlimited hosting plan?

Generally, unlimited hosting plans are referred to hosting offers that provide unlimited disk storage, data transfer, as well as addon domain name capacity. In other words, unlimited hosting providers offer the freedom to host as many websites as you can, at a very affordable price (normally below $10/mo)!

“WOW!” Okay, I know this might sounds exciting to some. But before you scratch out that expensive dedicated hosting plan from your list, there are a lot you should know about unlimited hosting.

The truth about unlimited web hosting

As a smart consumer, you should realize that web hosting is a world with its own terminology. I knew ‘unlimited’ sounds like having no ends or limits in English; but that’s not the case when it comes to unlimited hosting plan.

In reality, unlimited hosting is, always, limited.

Think about the limitation in our physical world – it is simply impossible to have unlimited semiconductor to build unlimited RAM and CPU; it is impossible to offer unlimited bandwidth when we have limited cables transmitting data around the globe.

And hey, web hosting providers are in the business to make money. Do you really think they will provide you unlimited computer resources (if that’s possible) with just a price of $6.95/mo? Certainly NO!

It’s like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet; you can eat “all-you-can-eat” as long as you are not eating too much (so the restaurant owner can make a profit). The same applies to unlimited hosting plan – you are welcomed to host unlimited websites and take up unlimited hosting resources as long as you are not ‘overusing’ it. Unlimited hosting users are often restricted by different limitations and rules – such as limited usages on CPU queries, RAM, nodes, number of MySQL databases and FTP uploads; scam protection rules that limit the number of email accounts you can create in one hosting account.

The bright side of unlimited web hosting

Then again, before you claiming these unlimited web hosts scammers, allow me to explain the logic behind such hosting offers.

The reason why hosting providers are able to offer unlimited hosting plans is simple –

Large hosting companies normally own (almost) incomprehensible hosting capacity (bandwidth pipes, computer servers, manpower… etc) that would never be reached by a single website; in the same time, most websites need only very little server resources to run its daily operation. Seeing that most resources in their servers remain unused, the hosting companies (that offer unlimited hosting) therefore have the ability to just sell those unused hosting capacities (such practice is known as overselling).

Although selling plans that pretend to be unlimited can seem dishonest, but it does not mean that the hosting company will not provide good service. Take Hostgator for example, the company spent more than a year to prepare (including hiring new employee and investing in supporting hardware) for the launching of unlimited hosting. Although they are now offering unlimited hosting service, their servers remained reliable and efficient; and the customer supports is never lack of quality.

Here’s a little more details on how Hostgator’s preparation works. Check out what Brent (Hostgator’s founder and CEO) has to say about unlimited hosting:

“I wanted to call the plans unlimited last time around. However, due to staffing constraints, we wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the expected growth. A year later, we are finally OVERSTAFFED and ready to change the plan. Up until now, I’ve been slowing sales down on purpose in order for our support to catch up. If history repeats itself, renaming the plan from essentially unlimited to actually “unlimited” will increase our sales by at least 30%.”

“In the last year, we have been spending more money on recruiting employees than we have on advertising! It has taken us years of hiring and training to get us to the point where we are now. We’ve gone from begging employees to work overtime to asking who wants to go home. HostGator will always have the occasional scheduling gap, but for now, we’re sending over a dozen employees home a day. “

So, is unlimited hosting a good deal?

Is unlimited hosting a good deal? I would say yes – provided that it’s offered by a web host with sound management.

It’s obvious that a good hosting deal is decided by the quality of the management but not the hosting plans. Thinking logically – unlimited hosting when managed correctly is nothing evil. In fact, budget seekers should thank such overselling practice as it made website hosting possible at a much cheaper price.

To readers that still think unlimited hosting is evil and are standing strong against such practice, here’s my final advice. Apparently, unlimited hosting will continue or eventually be replaced by offerings promising even more irresistible capabilities.  It’s impossible to change how hosting market runs. The best you can do is to prevent yourself screwed by picking up a good web host with sound management.

Good luck picking up the right web host!

(In case you need help, I have written a comprehensive shopping guide for cheap unlimited hosting which I believe it’s very helpful for first timer. Alternatively, you can always check out my web hosting reviews here.)

“Cheap web hosting, $1.99/mo for unlimited hosting!”

“$3.95/mo – Get unlimited hosting plus free domain for life!”

But hey, don’t get hooked instantly! Even if these cheap hosts guarantee 99.99% uptime, there’s still one thing that you need to look at before purchasing – the commitment period.

Believe me, when you look in-depth, most cheap hosting deals are not as good as they look like on the first sight. Example: Lunarpages hosting plan cost $4.95/mo but patrons need to pay 60 months in advance; JustHost, on the other hand, charge $5.95/mo (which is a little higher) but you can subscribe on year-on-year basis.

Assuming both hosting plans has the same features and performances, which hosting plan should you go with? The answer is the latter.

When cheap isn’t the best

“But why? Lunarpages is cheaper – isn’t the cheaper the better? ” I heard some mumbling.

Even if you are extremely happy with the hosting company, placing your money 5 years upfront in such a fast moving business sounds pretty foolish to me. What if their hosting services turn bad in year 3? What if the company run out of money and went bankruptcy in year 3? There is no way you can turn back time and get your hard-earned money back with a 60-month commitment period.

Moreover, you are actually paying $297 (cash!) in bulk for the “cheap deal”. Financially speaking, this isn’t very wise – you would have make good use of that cash and spend it on better place (for example, in your web marketing plan).

Moral of the story, remember to check on the subscription period when you wish to get some really cheap hosting deals. Cheap hosting offers with extremely long subscription period are not good bargains.

Compare web hosting price and commitment period

For easy reference, compare sharedhosting prices and subscription periods in table below.

*Note: Click in each link to visit web host’s official website (links open in a new window).

It’s no secret that not all web hosting companies run their business with honesty and dignity. Shoppers should be aware that some research works are necessary before buying a web host. Forums and blogs can be good places to ask for advices but nothing’s better than understanding the hosting industry yourself and making own purchase decision. By revealing the nine most common pitfalls in web hosting industry, I hope it clears your doubts and helps you to make better decision.

1. Web host with short or no trial period at all

Do not be surprise to see hosting companies that offer no trial period at all. Be sure to check on a web host’s return policy for its trial period. Any hosting companies with less than 30 days trial period are simply unacceptable. I suggest you to avoid them at all cost.

2. Outdated software and web application

No kidding – there are still hosting companies that limits their users using PHP 4, WordPress 2.2 (Fantastico installation), and Joomla 1.2(Fantastico installation). Outdated software are weak against hacking. So in case you are stuck with a web host that’s reluctant to upgrade their software (or in Fantastico), simply snub them.

3. Hidden charges or enormous cancellation fees

The most common catch-22 behind cheap hosting deals is hidden charges (extra cost for scripts usage and stats reporting) and enormous cancellation fees. Unfortunately, it’s impossible for you to determine such pitfall yourself. All you can do to avoid this is to read around the Internet and look for recent testimonials for a certain web host.

(This is why independent hosting reviews are important.)

4. Terrible customer supports

Ask presell questions, check with related forums, ask around on your social network friends – these are some of the methods to determine whether the hosting companies are responsive in term of customer supports.

As experienced webmaster, you might not need much supports from the hosting providers; but how well the company performs in customer supports reveals their service quality.

5. 100% uptime guarantees

No web host can sustains its server uptime perfectly in long run. There are too many factors (power, networks, human errors, software errors, equipment failure) that decide a server’s stability and it’s just impossible for any hosting company to assure they will have 100% uptime in long term (yes, not even Google!).

Thus, hosting companies that promised 100% uptime are actually lying – avoid them at all cost.

6. Unlimited hosting

It’s common nowadays to see an unlimited hosting offers. You should understand that such unlimited hosting is only ‘unlimited’ because the hosting providers are managing their servers usage closely and avoid any significant shortage of hosting capacity. These unlimited offers, after all, are offered based on combination of limited resources.

As most hosting companies (good and bad) are using unlimited hosting as their marketing gimmicks, I can’t tell you to pass on all of them. However, as a smart consumer, you should take time to learn about the issue and avoid over-trusting your web host.

More readings: Is unlimited disk storage and bandwidth for real?

7. Use of green hosting as marketing gimmicks

Nowadays ‘Go Green’ is a heated phrase in marketing. Beware of irresponsible web hosts that use ‘Green Hosting’ as marketing gimmicks and make sure the web host is certified by related authorities.

8. Overpriced hosting plans

How cheap is cheap? Apollo Hosting is telling everyone that they are offering cheap hosting but their hosting plan is extremely high when compare to others.

Please guys, don’t get fooled by the marketing words and always look with your own eyes.

Check the hosting price with other companies and review their hosting plans thoroughly. How much disk storage are you getting; how many MySQL databases are allowed; how many FTP accounts are allowed; how many addon domains are allowed; what is the inodes limitation – these are the questions to be asked before handing out your credit card information.

9. Unmanaged overselling

I’m fine with overselling web host; but not with unmanaged overselling.

The differences? A well managed overselling web host allows you to enjoy low cost and reliable hosting service; on the other hand, an unmanaged (or terribly managed) overselling web host is a nightmare – you’ll get hosted on a server that’s unreliable and slow.

To learn if it’s well managed, pay attention to its server load, memory usage, and disk storage capacity. Such figures reveal how well is the hosting company managing their servers when you first subscribe to a new hosting service. Stay away from web hosts with irrational figures and ask for a refund if you already subscribed to their service (this is why a long trial period is important in the first place).

More readings: Understanding the numbers in server status report.

Wrapping things up…

Well, that’s 9 items to be added in your shopping check list. Do keep in mind that hosting companies are in the business of making money. As a smart consumer, reading reviews and comparison guides are a must. Considering that I have been hosting websites for more than 5 years and testing web host services for more than a year – I believe reading my hosting review is a good place to start. These reviews are written based on my true hosting experience and I offer nothing but the truth.

Read my unbiased hosting reviews.

A few words on choosing a cheap web host

It isn’t easy to pick up a reliable cheap web host – especially cheap web host that offers unlimited hosting.

In most of the time, cheap is related to ‘bad’ or ‘not-so-good’. A bad host will causes problems from all angles – slow website response rate, unstable server, bad neighbourhood, blacklisted IP… which I’m sure you don’t want to be any part of this.

Also, you should understand that unlimited web hosting is impossible in a real world with limited resources.

"Unlimited" is only possible because the web host are monitoring their web servers efficiently and avoid any significant shortage in hosting capacity.

It’s okay to go with a cheap web host, it’s okay to go with a web host that provides unlimited hosting; BUT you must make sure that you are dealing with a responsible host providers who care about their customer and you learn how to protect yourself from a bad host that tends to screw things up.

Checklist guides for cheap hosting shopping

A few questions to ask when you’re sorting out your options in cheap hosting:

• Does the hosting deal comes with reasonable refund policy and trial period? (You’ll need at least 30 days.)
• Do you like how the support department handles your questions? (Contact them before you purchase.)
• How is the web host server uptime record? (Anything below 99% is unacceptable.)
• How many MySQL databases does the web host offer? (Unlimited storage/bandwidth with 5 MySQL database limit is pointless.)
• Is there a cheaper host that’s as good as the one you are checking on? (In case you want to minimize your spendings.)
• Does the web host have strict policy against spams? (To avoid sharing the same host with bad neighbours.)

Cheap Host Recommendation

Personally, I like WebHostingPad (http://www.webhostingpad.com) and FatCow (http://www.fatcow.com) the best.

WebHostingPad is extermely cheap, their server uptime record is respectable, and the response rate in their customer support is acceptable. As for FatCow – it shouldn’t be in the cheap host category in normal situation (as they are charging $7.83/mo); however, I’m getting a special offer from the merchant (where my readers get 35-45% discount, thus cost $4.83/mo) – so yeah, FatCow is cheap and they are very much recommended!

Is paying nothing for your web host the best option for you? Before you make your decision, make sure you do not falls for these common misunderstandings on free web hosting services.

Myth: Bandwidth and disk space with free web hosts are very limited

Fact: Free web hosts provide large disk space and bandwidth in general. You can get 250 MB storage capacity and 5 GB bandwidth with most free hosting providers.

Trust me; such volume of hosting capacity is good enough for most startups and I don’t think you should have any complaints. If you are looking for larger hosting power, it’s really time for you to start looking for a paid-host.

Myth: Free web hosts don’t support anything besides HTML

Fact: Free web host nowadays do not limit their service for static HTML websites. There are, in fact, many free hosting that support PHP, MySQL, CGI-BIN, SSI and ASP features. More over, some big free hosting companies also offer unlimited POP3 email account and forwarders.

Myth: Websites hosted free are normally messed with unwanted advertisements

Fact: Yes in fact many free web hosts will clutter your websites with ads. This enables the free web host to profit from your website and obtain a large number of contents based pages on their domain (remember website hosted on free hosting are normally using subdomains – like yourdomain.freewebhost.com).

However, not all of them are doing such practice. Beacon Hosting for example, offer free website hosting services without the banner ads. The smart way to host your website for free is to search for this type of free hosting and avoid unwanted ads on your website.

Myth: Free web host services are not reliable and do not provide good customer support

Fact: As many big hosting companies are actually using ‘Free Hosting’ to attract new customers thus the service quality are usually very good (after all, free hosting users are their valuable prospects). Most free web hosts I’ve tested runs on a respectable uptime. Also, they do not simply delete your hosting account even if you are not paying for it. As for the customer supports, it is true that most free hosting users will not get 24-7 live chat or phone call supports. However there are always forums and emails support available – which I think it’s acceptable for a free account.

So, is free hosting recommended over paid web host?

Yes, I do recommend free hosting over paid web host for certain cases. Free hosting is the perfect solution for short term websites or non-profit organization, or student projects. Readers who wish to learn about their options please read 5 must see free hosting websites and 23 must see free blogging platforms.

However, it should be clear that both services (free and paid web host) serve different kind of web hosting needs. While free hosting services might look good from certain angle, the service poses several disadvantages in term of web statistic reporting, web marketing, and monetization. I would not recommend free hosting to those who wish to build a good website in long term.

To get you started, here are 15 ways to protect yourself from a bad web hosting deal.

1. Register domain separately from 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 registrant (in my case, 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.

2. Test customer service before you sign up with a web host

A web host customer support department can be your savior or, nightmare. As most hosting companies provide 24/7 online chat support I suggest you to talk with their staffs at least once before you purchase. Ask questions to test the quality of their services and only go with those that provide satisfying answers.

3. If possible, pay with a debit card or PayPal

Lousy web hosts do not play gentlemanly when you are leaving them. I once had my website hosted with Network Eleven (which is a terrible hosting company) and they refused to stop charging my credit card when I unsubscribed my service. Eventually, I have to cancel my credit card in order to stop them bullying me. Moral of the story, always go safe when it comes to money. If possible, always pay your web host with a debit card or PayPal account. Just in case your web host turn bad, you can stop your subscription easily.

4. Learn the basics in web hosting

One good way to avoid from being fooled by the web host personnel is by educating yourself. Even if you are a non techie, make time to learn the basics in web hosting. You should at least understand the differences between various types of web hosting, pros and cons for different web host operating system, as well as some fundamental knowledge about hosting bandwidth.

5. Avoid web host with black-holed IP

Does your favorite web host allow spam activities? Is your website sharing the same server with a porn sites? All in all, is your hosting provider listed on Spamhaus Block List? Many hosting companies care little about what their clients are doing with the hosting as long as they get paid. Sharing same IP with such spammers will bring you nothing but troubles (imagine if your emails can only be found in your recipients spam box – terrible!).

So before you make any purchase decision, make sure you run a quick check with SpamHaus Block List.

6. Check your web host spam policy

I can’t stress how important it is to avoid hosting your website at a spammy web host. In fact, checking on SpamHaus Block List is not enough. A web host that isn’t black listed now doesn’t mean that they will not be blocked in future. To be safe, check out your web host’s spam policy in the FAQ section. A responsible web host will normally have clearly written guidelines in fighting spams. For example, as in my recent post about Lunarpages, there’s a policy where unsolicited bulk emails are forbidden with all Lunarpages accounts.

7. Understand the meaning of overselling

Overselling might not be a bad thing as it cuts down web hosting cost. However you have to be clear about the meaning of overselling. A manged-overselling is acceptable; but overselling without proper planning is simply rubbish and you should runaway from such hosting services as far as possible. To learn if your web host is well prepared for overselling, check your server load regularly. Do not hesitate to complain or even switch host if things look fishy to you.

8. Make sure your web host offer long enough trial period

Following up on the overselling issue, it’s important to work only with web host that offers long enough trial period. This is to ensure you have sufficient time to test out the servers without any risk of losing money.

9. Understand that unlimited hosting is NOT unlimited

Accept it, unlimited hosting is only unlimited when you are not using too much of the hosting capacity. All hosting services are offered based on series of limited resources – how are you suppose to get unlimited hosting capacity with just $3.95 per month? So be wise, if you foresee your website will attracts crazy volume of traffics, a dedicated hosting is the way to go.

Learn when you should pick up a dedicated server.

10. Ensure that your web host provide clear refund policy

Does your web host provide full money return if you choose to refund your service within trial period? How about the refund policy after the trial session? It’s important to know your web host refund policy in-and-out so that you won’t panic when things go wrong. A point worth noting is that some good host (Bluehost, for example) provide pro-rated refund even if your trial period is past. Needless to say, web host offering such benefits is always recommended.

11. Find out what others have to say about the web host

When it comes to web host shopping, it’s important to get opinion from your experienced friends. These friends can be your neighbors, Poker buddies, favorite bloggers or even Internet friends you met on FaceBook. User reviews are always helpful when it comes to picking up the right host!

(In case you need my opinion, here’s where I place my honest hosting review based on my real usage experience.)

12. Read and participate in related forum discussions

As said, nothing’s more important than getting yourself educated. If you are into website hosting, make sure you visit frequent enough on related forums. Web Hosting Talk and Webmaster World are the two best places to visit. I suggest all of you mark them down on your favorite list and visit them from time to time.

13. Make sure your web host runs on with a redundancy protection plan

When dealing with smaller hosting merchants, make sure they have their own data centers and more over, have the data centers fully protected with redundant power supplies and connectivity. “How many lines do they have coming into the facility? Do they have redundant power to the servers? Do they have an on-site power generator? What sort of security measures do they have for the network?” – these are the basic questions to be asked.

So go back to tips #2 and test their support!

14. Do your own backups regularly

Even if your web host provides sufficient redundancy protection, do not trust them 100%. Your website should be backed up always. Utilize cPanel’s cron job and backup features to ensure backup works are done regularly without fail.

15. Always keep your option open

Last but not least, always have an open mind in term of your web hosting choice. It is, after all, simple to switch your website from one host to another. So why stuck with the same old lousy host? If they don’t appreciate your business, someone else will.

More guides in web host switching, read: Moving to a new hosting: Checklist guide.

Listed below are the web host that I’m currently testing, check out who’s supporting (and who’s not supporting) osCommerce, Agora, CubeCart, and ZenCart application.

Compare eCommerce features by different hosting companies

Remarks
*: FatCow provides PowerPay and ShopSite instead.
^: StartLogic and PowWeb also provides ShopSite.

In case you are looking for the right eCommerce hosting…

Check out who’s my Best Business Hosting.

Surprisingly, not all hosting companies realized the situation and some refused to accept PayPal payment in their system. I ran a quick check on my top 10 hosting companies and noticed that they are 2 of them are not accepting PayPal payment.

I bet the FatCow and AN Hosting are losing some business due to lack of PayPal payment.

Why pay attention to hosting company physical addresses?

This article serves several purposes. A silly reason of checking these hosting companies address is simply because that I’m curious. Knowing the physical location of a hosting company makes me feels safer – hosting companies with valid address on Google Map show they are serious with the business.

Also, offline address and physical location of a web host reveals a lot of useful information. It sometimes reveals certain secrets that hosting companies do not want you to know. Example, some hosting companies, though different names, are managed by the same organization. New companies are setup repetitively for re-branding purpose.

I believe this helps readers to make wiser shopping choices.

Hostgator Inc.

Hostgator’s located at Houston, Texas. I actually messed up with their location. Brent (Hostgator’s CEO) actually dropped by and correct me (the comment was deleted accidentally though).

Anyhow, here’s the company location once again.

Detail review on Hostgator Hosting

Lunar Pages

Lunarpages address: 1360 N Hancock St Anaheim, CA 92807.

Detail review on Lunarpages Hosting

AN Hosting and midPhase Hosting

midPhase and AN Hosting address: 271 North Haverhill Road Kensington, NH 03833

AN Hosting was acquired by midPhase in year 2005. Physical address is not provided at AN Hosting website but I assume the company HQ is the same with midPhase. Here’s the location map:

Detail review on An Hosting

WebHostingPad.com Inc

WebHostingPad address: 5005 Newport Dr Rolling Meadows, IL 60008

Detail review on WebHostingPad hosting

FatCow and PowWeb Inc.

PowWeb & FatCow address: 70 Blanchard Rd. Burlington, MA 01803

No, you read the image correctly and I didn’t mix up my image arrangement. FatCow and PowWeb hosting are registered on the same physical address! It seems like both hosting companies are actually managed by the same management.

I actually contacted FatCow’s support for the verification and here’s the dialogue record. A point worth noting is that the response time for the question is almost immediately! Nina (the staffs I’m dealing with) is very friendly and efficient when it comes to answering my questions. As I mentioned, dealing with people at FatCow is always a pleasure.

Detail review on FatCow hosting

Hostpapa (Web Ads Corporation)

The official address of Hostpapa hosting: 115 George St. Suite 511 Oakville is the same with another Canadian Company named ‘Web Ads Corporation’. Seeing the connection, I presumed that Hostpapa is part of a bigger company.

Detail review on HostPapa hosting

Startlogic Inc. and iPowerWeb Inc.

Startlogic HQ is located at Phoenix. I’m not sure why their physical address is not showed in their official website but a quick search on Google reveals their address: 919 E. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034. Also, the company is registered under the same address with iPowerWeb Inc. The two hosting companies are probably managed by the same organization.

Detail review on Startlogic hosting

Bluehost Inc.

Bluehost location is a tricky one. When searched Google Map, Bluehost location turned out to be at 1215 N and 1548N Research Way at Orem (which is the same with Bluehost). But if you checked at Bluehost official website, their physical address is 1958 South 950 East Provo, UT 84606.

I dug deeper and contacted Bluehost staffs for the verification. Referring to my dialogue record, it seems that Bluehost (so does Hostmonster, see below) is operating from multiple offices and the HQ is now located at Provo.

Search Bluehost from Google Map

Bluehost location (HQ) according to the official address

Detail review on Bluehost hosting

Hostmonster Inc.

The situation with Hostmonster is more or less the same with Bluehost. It’s no surprise as both hosting services are managed by the same organization.

Hostmonster Inc. at Google Map

Hostmonster HQ according to the company

Detail review on Hostmonster hosting

Dot5 Hosting

Dot5 Hosting address: 2800 28th St Santa Monica, CA 90405

Detail review on Dot5 hosting