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Web Hosting Geeks is a referral site, not a review site. If you check the links that take you to the hosts they all have a referral tag or URL. They get paid if you sign up for one of the companies that they "review", so you can imagine that there might be some bias.
As for the arbitration agreement, that's a pretty standard clause in contracts, and any reputable host will have a Terms of Service and Acceptable Usage Policy with similar wording. It's not you giving up your rights to your content, rather in reference to the service. Read the TOS / AUP from any host before signing up with them.
That being said, Host Gator is a pretty big provider and I've know both people that are happy and unhappy with them.
Lifehacker routinely has "High Five" articles where they ask their readers to provide names of companies they use, and vote on them: here's their hosting article from a few months ago:
I have used Dreamhost for several years, and have only had good experiences with them. I use them to host a few websites and several e-mail accounts. They have lots of free applications for your websites (including Wordpress.)
I have used Dreamhost for several years, and have only had good experiences with them. I use them to host a few websites and several e-mail accounts. They have lots of free applications for your websites (including Wordpress.)
DreamHost is still a possibility for me. I've heard mostly good things about them. I just wish they were two times (plus) as expensive as other web hosts. But, then again, I'm sure it's like most things in the business world -- you get what you pay for.
But, then again, I'm sure it's like most things in the business world -- you get what you pay for.
In this case the only thing I'd be concerned about is the service. If you can get a $5 a month plan from a host with good service compared to another offering $10 plan with equal service go with the $5 plan. Don't concern yourself with the numbers claiming "unlimited" this or that. The fact of the matter is they all just about offer the same thing, they use inflated offers because they all do it. It's just a marketing gimmick.
The real limits are hidden in the fine print about processing power you are consuming and 99.9% of sites on these starter plans use a fraction of what is available to them. The host realizes that hence the reason they offer "unlimited" resources for some things. They stack up hundreds or even thousands of sites on a single server because they can........ caching. Try finding a $200 dedicated server with unlimited bandwidth or disk space, it's not going to happen because it would actually get used.
In this case the only thing I'd be concerned about is the service. If you can get a $5 a month plan from a host with good service compared to another offering $10 plan with equal service go with the $5 plan. Don't concern yourself with the numbers claiming "unlimited" this or that. The fact of the matter is they all just about offer the same thing, they use inflated offers because they all do it. It's just a marketing gimmick.
The real limits are hidden in the fine print about processing power you are consuming and 99.9% of sites on these starter plans use a fraction of what is available to them. The host realizes that hence the reason they offer "unlimited" resources for some things. They stack up hundreds or even thousands of sites on a single server because they can........ caching. Try finding a $200 dedicated server with unlimited bandwidth or disk space, it's not going to happen because it would actually get used.
Agree 100% ... service is the real key, and "unlimited" is a sales gimmick so don't use it as a determining factor.
Thanks thecoalman and Skunk Workz. Being brand new to this, it's nice to know that using common sense still works. The phrase "Buyer Beware" means so much more these days. Sadly, it's the seller/company that the buyer has to beware of because of gimmicks, tricky wording and downright lies.
What I'm doing is starting my own blog. My first one. Friends, family, customers, and even strangers (after casual conversations) have all asked me if I have a blog. I've been asked this for years, even urging me to start one. (Apparently, I'm interesting. Who knew?) Well, I adamantly refuse to Facebook, Twitter, etc., so a blog is the only thing I'm comfortable doing. Even that will be under a pseudonym.
I have another question, if no one minds. The reason I wanted to buy my own domain, instead of myblog (at) wordpress (dot) com, is because I wanted to leave the option open to monetize it, should it take off. Granted, this wouldn't be for awhile and only if traffic is high enough to make it worthwhile. I also wanted to be sure that my blog name would be available under in .com, .net, and .org. Right now it is, but, if I don't buy the domain names now, they might not be available later. And, I heard that if you have to transfer your blog from the free wordpress site to your own domain, you lose all of your page and Google ranking stats and have to start all over.
Is this true? Should I stick with using the free WordPress site or take a leap of faith and buy the domains right now? I realize that's ultimately MY decision and I won't hold anyone responsible, but I would appreciate your advice. Thanks.
P.S. My blog would use all of my own pictures because I don't want to risk copyright infringement. But, I'd average one picture per blog post most of the time. Sometimes none but sometimes two or three. As far as videos go, as far as I have planned right now, very infrequently. Perhaps four a year? No music or audio files that I could think of right now...
IMO there's nothing wrong with buying your own domains. If you use freeblog.wordpress.com, and move later, then you'll lose the rankings completely since it will be a new domain.
You can however use wordpress.com, and have your own domain name (but I don't know if you can have all three pointed there), at which point you have to pay for hosting at WP.com. This would allow you to move later if you needed to, and keep your rankings, etc since you'd be moving your domain to the new host.
With your own domain and hosting, you'll have all three domains there, and the added bonus of email@yourdomain....
Worst case you can just not renew the domains next year, and you're only out $30
Thanks, Skunks. I don't think I explained my question very well. I'm aware of all the facts you just mentioned. (And, yes, you can have all three domains - com, net, org - pointed to your .com domain.
My question is asking more for your PERSONAL opinion (instead of a factual one) as to whether or not I SHOULD take the leap and buy the domain names now. From what I understand, steady traffic of a few thousand people will generally only earn enough "to pay for a dinner or two and possibly the domain fees." I heard that it takes HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of hits per month to start making any real money from blogging. Unless I can generate at least $500 or more a month from my blog, I wouldn't consider the expense of buying domains, etc., worth the time. (That's why I'm hoping for personal opinions. I know it's impossible to say unless you see/read the blog, which isn't up yet.)
My blog will be a personal one, not unlike many others out there. Instead of being focused (the theme) on a single subject (like cars or cooking), it will be about different subjects (reviews, opinion pieces, social commentary, games, contests, tips and advice, etc.). The actual theme of the blog will be based more on my voice (writing style) and who I am. As arrogant as that might sound, I'm going this route because, as I said earlier, for several years people have asked me if I blog and I've gotten a LOT of insistence and encouragement to do so BECAUSE of the way I spoke and explained things. From thousands of people? No. But it wouldn't be exaggerating to say at least 300 different people in the last few years.
One last thing. If you DO think it's worth buying the domains to keep my options to monetize the blog open, is it good business to buy the domains from one place (like GoDaddy) and do the actual hosting on another site completely (like DreamHost)? This was some advice I was given but I'm not sure WHY. To be honest, I would think that, since I'm going to be using WordPress for my blog, it would be easier to buy/register the domains from them, too. They'll do all the redirecting of traffic (from .net, .org and myblog.wordpress.com) to the .com site. One stop shopping. One bill to pay to one business each year.
I also wanted to be sure that my blog name would be available under in .com, .net, and .org.
Persosanlly I wouldn;t concern myself with the different TLD's, if anything get different variations of the name under the .com TLD like example.com &examples.com.
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And, I heard that if you have to transfer your blog from the free wordpress site to your own domain, you lose all of your page and Google ranking stats and have to start all over.
I don't know what Wordpress's policies are but if they don't give you acess to the database and files then no you wouldn't be able to do t, that's common amongst any company offering these services for free. They might also offer a one time fee to get a backup of the database for some ridiculous amount.
Unless the pages on the old site can be redirected to the one which is very unlikely you'll start from scratch when it gets moved to another domain even if you are able to move the old content to the new domain. Google might have an algo to detect something like that but your guess is as good as mine.
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Is this true? Should I stick with using the free WordPress site or take a leap of faith and buy the domains right now?
Considering you only have cost of about $120 a year......
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P.S. My blog would use all of my own pictures because I don't want to risk copyright infringement. But, I'd average one picture per blog post most of the time. Sometimes none but sometimes two or three. As far as videos go, as far as I have planned right now, very infrequently. Perhaps four a year? No music or audio files that I could think of right now...
Those types of files and others like HTML files which are just plain text are really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things because again the real limit you're going to have is processing power. When a request is made for file like that the processing is limited to sending the file. On the other hand with a blog (or forum and other similar software)the pages use server side scripting or more commonly called programming. When a request comes in they execute and perform whatever task they are intended to do such as make relevant queries to the database, do some calculations and parse a HTML template which is then sent to client. As your traffic increases this is where you'll start butting up against any limits set by the host.
I wouldn't concern myself with any limits set by the host until it becomes a problem down the road, you WANT this to happen.
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Last edited by frigrast; 07-19-2012 at 06:21 AM..
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