I want to host my web site… who to go with?

Question:  I’m a contractor / remodeler looking to provide a website for my clients to get some background info… and most importantly, to view pictures of all the different remodels I have done. I’ve looked at hostmonster and hostgator. I already have a domain which I got through yahoo some time ago… but they want too much to keep the domain going through them. I see that hostmonster will transfer my domain (free of charge?). I plan to use their tools to build my website using their templates, etc… My main concern is reliability that the website will not have issues. I have lots of photos and testimonials and just want an inexpensive way to provide this info to my customers. What has been your experience with them and which one is more user friendly. I’m pretty capable and know my way around a computer… but wanted to get some feedback from others who have gone down this road.

I’m not set on gator or monster as of yet. I’m open to whichever site will provide me with a large variety of tools to customize my website and put my own twists on it.  What about justhost.com?

Answer:  HostMonster, JustHost and HostGator and all host your website.  Out of those 3, I would pick HostGator.  JustHost has gone down hill over the last year with regards to uptime and server reliability.  Just the other day I experienced an IP block and their support ticket system was not logging my tickets.  It was creating them, but I couldn’t see them in my control panel so I was having a one-way conversation with them.  Had to finally call them to get the problem resolved.

Reliable Web Hosting

If you want reliability, there are 3 hosts that have outstanding A+ Better Business Bureau ratings as of this writing.  HostGator, WebHostingHub, and BlueHost.  All are U.S. companies.  Believe me, a company doesn’t retain an A+ rating when there are customer complaints and service issues.

Professional Web Design

You’re going to need a professional looking site and not some homemade ISP homepage looking thing.  While all those hosts do have website builders in their control panels, I’ve been in them and looked at the templates and they are pretty cheesy.  Nothing in there that I would use for a professional site.  However, each of those hosts do offer professional web design services. 

For starters, you’ll need the following pages for your site:

• Home page
• Contact Us page
• Testimonial page
• About Us page
• Portfolio pages for your various projects

You can easily do all that with a WordPress blog with a professional looking theme.  The WordPress software is already on each of those hosts, but there is a learning curve to it.  That would be my first choice, but I’m experienced.

For a newbie who wants a really sweet looking site without spending a lot of money, I would suggest a program called Web Easy 8 by Advanquest for under $50.  You can get it at Staples, Office Depot, Frys, Office Max and Amazon.  It’s got 500 templates.  It will allow you to build and then publish your site to your hosting account.

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