I’m not a big salesperson, so I don’t want to belabor this, but my web host is having a 1/2 off sale today only, and it makes for a pretty great deal. (Around $2.50 a month for the basic plan.) It also happens to be one of the only places I have an affiliate account with, so I get a little kickback if you order via my link. (It doesn’t make a difference in the price you pay.)
Here’s some background on hosting: I’ve used about 6 or 7 different major web hosts, for myself and through web site clients of mine. To name some: Network Solutions, GoDaddy, Dreamhost, my current host (Hostgator), and a few others that slip my mind right now. I’ve also used a number of small local hosts, which I won’t name, because local hosts, as a rule, are a bad choice, no matter who they are. Hosting is not something that you should go “small” with, and without exception, I have run into numerous problems with local hosts relating to their smallness. Unavailability, inconsistency, and especially, not keeping up with the latest trends and standards. (Namely, in my line of work, WordPress-friendly hosting, which has always been a hassle with small-time hosts.
As far as the big hosts go, those first three I named suck. Dreamhost may suck the least of the three, because it is at least a place that is primarily focused on hosting. The other two do hosting as a sideline, and that puts them only just barely above local hosts in terms of lameness. Also, all three of those hosts use their own customized “control panels” where you administer your hosting/server, whereas decent hosts all use cPanel, which is a widespread and easy to use control panel. They also have their control panels hosted centrally on their main site (rather than on your rented server location), which means if their main site where everybody is croded in has problems, you can’t get at your hosting tools. I have had that happen at all three of those hosts, and it sucks, big time.
There are many large national hosts that use cPanel, and they are all probably about the same in many ways. Hostgator is definitely a leader of the pack, both in terms of success/size/client base, and in terms of ratings and reviews. They’re not perfect, but in my experience, web hosting is kind of like cell phone providers–they all kind of suck, and the best you can do is find one that sucks less than the others. Hostgator does not suck very much. I’m not crazy about their support, just because you end up having your ticket handled rather anonymously, and each response tends to come from a different person so the chain of communication can be frustrating, but I think you’ll get that with almost all large hosts. (And with small hosts, you’ll usually get one or two overworked people, who often aren’t available after business hours or on weekends, which is just plain unacceptable.)
I’ve been using Hostgator for around 8 years, which I think kind of says it all. Most of their plans support unlimited domains names, email addresses, databases, and plenty of disk space and bandwidth. (Way more than some of the joker hosts like Network Solutions, or Charter Communications, who I just found out only supports one domain name even on their top-end plan, and NO mySQL databases–required by WordPress and other blog/CMS software–on their two low-end plans. <– Ridiculous!)
Anyway, today, until 10 PM PST, Hostgator is offering 1/2 off on all their hosting plans. The 1/2 off is on the first payment only, so it’s best to pay for a year or more up front to get real savings. But, for example, you save over $60 on a year of their Business Plan (which is good if you need to have an SSL/secure server for a shopping cart). Of if you go with the cheapy plan, it’s $2.48 a month if you pay for 3 years, or $3.47/mo if you do a year up front. ($4.47 if you do 6 months up front.)
Those are very good prices. If you have or know of a host that is cheaper than that, they probably aren’t a great host.
So there you have it. If you click here and go buy a plan from Hostgator, I get a little check in 3 months, and you get a sweet deal. If you feel like I’m being lame by trying to get the kickback, you can use this non-affiliate link, and let Hostgator keep that kickback money to themselves. The price for you will be the same. And I recommend Hostgator enough that I still think you should host with them even if you don’t use my affiliate link.
If you do the affiliate link, I’ll also help you out by answering any questions you have in getting things set up there. Just contact me here or on Twitter.
So go ahead! Time’s running out. Thanks for reading.
Oh, by the way, I recommend using 1and1 for registering your actual domain names. They are cheap and easy to deal with. (I have no affiliate deal going with them.)