Locating a webhosting company and findmyhosting.com

[RKramkowski]

Hi all,

We're actually looking for a hosting solution that can handle several different sites with different purposes. Site5 and Hostgator seem to come to the forefront in most forums that I've visited, this one included. Interestingly enough, when I put my parameters into findmyhosting.com, neither of these appeared on the list. Granted, it only allowed me to put in parameters for one site, not multiples.

So anyway, I'm looking for a site that can support the following. Should I present these requirments to the likes of Hostgator and Site5 by calling them or does anyone have any additional recommendations as to how to proceed?

Site 1 - a business site for my consulting business. I estimate less than 25 pages, not too heavy on the graphics. I intend to have relevant articles that people can download, as well as a section that is a collection of links to articles in on-line technical journals (relevant to my clients) that they can read if there is interest. This section will probably change weekly.

Site 2 - A discussion forum for independent consultants. Interestingly enough, a web search didn't turn up much in my field so there may be an opportunity there. I intent to link between the forum and my consulting site.

Site 3 - My wife is doing an eBay store and wants to branch out into on-line storefronts in several niches. These (one to start) would offer niche products for sale, probably a newsletter, maybe a blog, and probably links to related sites. This one will also have graphics. Don't know yet whether we want a site that offers shopping carts or whether we'll go elsewhere. We've already done some research into cart abandonment and such so we think we know what attributes will work best for us. We're already set up with a Paypal business account and are in the process of establishing a non-Paypal credit card processing account.

Site 4 - I'm looking into various affiliate programs. While I'm still gelling the ideas, system requirements probably will be typical of most affiliates sites out there. I'm also exploring subdomains and minisites in this context.

Some additional background information... We're fairly technical, but not in the webhosting space. We already own the domain names for our future sites, including common name variations. We already have a rack of servers in our house where we maintain our own exchange servers, web page development server, and application servers with UPS and RAID5 array. Therefore we probably won't need email on the hosting site. We're already set up with a PIX firewall and have taken all steps we can internally to prevent such things as DNS recursion and DOS attacks. But I'd rather host our sites with a hosting service where more bandwidth would be available than we can get at our home (at least that is affordable).

We're fairly proficient at the telecommunications level and OS level (Windows server 2000 and 2003 and Linux). Problem is that we don't know enough about the world of webhosting to make an informed decision.

Any thoughts and ideas would help.

Thanks,
Bob

[Lynn Terry]

Hi Bob,

Most hosting providers can handle all of that and more. In fact, many of them these days allow you to set up all of those sites on one account without a problem (or extra fee).

I am no longer recommending HostGator. I still have one site on their server, but not for long. My only problem with them was downtime - which happened at the worst possible times, and 5 times in 4 weeks at that. It just changed my opinion of them. Though I have to say their support system is great as far as getting in touch with someone right away and such. (note: )

I am moving to Globat, myself. I already have my first site set up there and am working on setting up more. I'm impressed with them, and especially in what they offer. They give you free domain names for the life of your account (basically you own the domains, but they pay for the registration & renewal as a perk to hosting with them) and they also offers tons of space & features.

You'll notice a banner for Globat at the bottom of this page, or , if you want to check them out and/or get in touch with them about your needs.

[CorpRebel]

[Lynn Terry]

*sigh*

Thanks for the link! Off to check it out lol

[Lynn Terry]

Okay, Back

The first link you posted didnt work for me, but I'll do some more digging there when I have a minute. The second link was interesting (read that thread all the way through) but nothing really definitive about Globat in particular - except the little part about excessive use.

So far I'm happy with Globat, and I'm going to give it some time to see how things run. I havent experienced any downtime yet that I'm aware of, and it's been nothing but fast & easy at this point.

As for HostGator, I actually spoke with them on the phone today - and I've decided to keep my accounts with them for the time being. I posted the details on that here: http://www.clicknewz.com/90/web-hosting ... -resolved/

Actually, our discussions here at the forum prompted yesterday's blog post too: . I shared a bit of my frustration there