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I'm a beginner! Please recommend me a web host!

V

vicki2314

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2006
82
0
Texas
Hi all,

An actor asked me to design him a site to promote himself and of course he doesn't want to pay very much for it. The site is going to have lots of images and possibly some short videos.

I have never bought a domain or looked into web hosting before so I am completely new and I went to GoDaddy first and they were going to charge me $3.79 a month and $9.99 for a domain.

I also went to DirectNic who would charge $15 a year for web hosting for 20mb of banner-less hosting space. Is 20mb too small?

I'm guessing I wouldn't have to buy a domain from the same place I buy web hosting from. Does it matter where I buy a domain?

What web host would you recommend for a low-budget personal site?

Thanks so much!
 
Web host with the most

Go to MacHighway.com and choose your package. I have used this service for years and can attest to the fact that these guys know what they are doing.
 
Domain registrars and web hosts are about like insurance companies. I first used GTGHosting, which kept acting like they weren't getting their payment even though my bank was showing them charging my account. So I switched to GoDaddy and went to another bank. Long story short, my bank lost a deposit causing GoDaddy to not get their payment and they turned me over to a collection agency. The collection agency in turn had an employee sell my information to an outside marketing company so I not only had to get my bank to pay the collection agency their fee but I also had to change my bank account number as well. Choose wisely.
 
Register your domain separately - never link it to your hosting company. Avoid GoDaddy - you don't actually own the domain registered through them - and all their systems are proprietary.

I use BudgetNames.ca for domain registrations; and in 10+ years of hosting; the best host I have found is HostGator.com

Great pricing and fantastic support!!

Good luck!
 
I've always stuck with hostmysite.com. Live 24x7 support, very helpful with any problems (however rare they may be). Give 'em a call right now and ask them some questions if you want to see how helpful they are!
 
I vote for Hostgator too. Very helpful people. Any time I've had a problem they have responded very quickly and made lots of effort to solve any issues or give advice.
 
ASmallOrange, excellent customer service, not always the cheapest but they are really good, I believe they offer 24x7 support and usually respond to requests within the hour. Me and edesignUK among others use them.

They start hosting packages at $25 a year for 75MB space and 3GB downloads a month. That is enough to host a reasonable sized site with room for lots of downloads. I have the $10/month package and use most of the space, but basically only because it is available, I could easy manage with 75MB if needed, but I need the 10GB bandwidth a month ;).

They also give everybody full scripting access so the only thing you get with a larger package is more disk space and bandwidth.
 
I'll throw in a second vote for asmallorange.com. I've been using them for about half a year and I'm really impressed with their service. And I know a good host when I see one, seeing as I've been through about 7 in the past 5 years.
 
byethost.com

Their free hosting beats most paid hosting, and their premium hosting is far above that.
 
Just say no to GoDaddy.

KnownHost and MediaTemple, have always given me very reliable hosting and exceptional customer support.

IMHO, the value of a host isn't in the specs, it's in the support. Tons of crap can go wrong, either due to you or your hosting provider, it's how they handle it that matters.
 
I've heard that Brius is a really good webhost. I use 110mb because it's free w/no ads, but they also have some paid packages.
 
kingjr3 said:
My domain registrar: MyDomain - because of the powerful DNS management and they register in YOUR NAME.

My webhosts : Surpass Hosting (shared)
Click to expand...

What is DNS management and what do you mean they register in your name? Not everyone does that??

Surpasshosting has a one dollar for one year promo right now which sounds really cool and I like the cPanel. How did they work out for you and why don't you use them anymore?

Thanks for your help!
 
I have been with 1and1.com for years, never had a problem and they have great prices.
Click to expand...

I have some sites with 1and1, but I am gradually moving them over to Hostgator. 1and1 are expensive for what they give. You have to have a business account to get SQL databases with only 100mb capacity. heir bandwidth restrictions are also very low compared with much cheaper competitors such as Hostgator (who also offer unlimited SQL databases per account with unlimited capacity).

1and1 are solid, but they don't offer value for money any more.
 
vicki2314 said:
What is DNS management and what do you mean they register in your name? Not everyone does that??
Click to expand...

DNS is how your domain name resolves to the IP address of the web hosting server that hosts your site. MyDomain gives you control all of the settings including DNS (not uncommon), URL forwarding, Subdomains, Stealth URL forwarding, and other things.

vicki2314 said:
Surpasshosting has a one dollar for one year promo right now which sounds really cool and I like the cPanel. How did they work out for you and why don't you use them anymore?
Click to expand...
They worked out very well. My needs changed from just a shared host - where a bunch of sites sit on one server with limited control - to what is known as a Virtual Private Server or VPS. I use VPS mainly because I can install my own software such as CVS or Subversion which most shared hosting companies don't allow.
 
thanks everone for all of your helpful replies!!

after reading lots of threads and recommendations i finally decided on going with a small orange and namecheap

i'm excited! thanks!
 
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