RE: "I know there have to be opinions out there on
this ... :)" -- I don't know what could give you that
idea :)
When getting a hosting account, you should probably be
clear on what is most important: getting the cheapest
account possible, or having a person you can talk to
when you need support.
If you have a person on staff who is very competent
with web details, then you can probably look for
cheaper hosting. If, however, you want offsite hosting
as something that reduces your workload, you should
probably look at a more expensive hosting situation,
as, with the right package, the added expense comes
with additional support.
With that said, there are some flags I see with your
current plan:
PHP4 support -- a decent web host should be supporting
PHP5
The features description -- while most hosting sites
do this, the features they list are really standard
functionality of both Plesk and cPanel, two major
control panel apps used by hosting companies
The language about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) --
SEO is something that was bigger a while back, and
there are still companies that "specialize" in this,
but it usually resembles setting up link farms
(collections of links commonly used by spammers) than
anything of real value. This and the PHP version
combine to create the impression that they haven't
upgraded their business outlook or server
infrastructure to reflect the current conditions of
the internet.
Finally, the price of the service doesn't correspond
with what is offered -- you can find comparable
service for under 10/mo. If the 19.95/mo comes with
24/7 telephone support then that is another story,
but, in my experience, you don't really start to get
reliable phone support (ie, a person who knows what
they are talking about) under the 50/mo price point.
And yes, I would *love* to hear differently!
My final thoughts: when you are paying for hosting,
you are paying for peace of mind (ie, knowing your
site won't go down, knowing that if there is an issue
you have a responsible/knowledgeable contact). IMO,
the added cost of better server space more than pays
for itself.
Cheers,
Bill
--- Norman Maynard <nmaynard@thorntonfriends.org>
wrote:
> I know there have to be opinions out there on this .
> . .
>
> : )
>
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