my take on web hosting, is to take yr time.
i spent abt a month shortlisting various hosts before settling down on one.
i was checking out dreamhost after hearing abt it from sub-zero, though my findings showed something different.
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here's my number one tip for web hosting.
1) go to google
2) in the search bar, go with "host name problems" or "host name complaints"
you can find quite a lot of info there.
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i went with bluehost.com and what impressed me was the CEO's blog, mattheaton.com.
i like the package of 8 domains, a number of parked domains, mySQL databases, fantastico and cpanel which help me admin and do installs easily.
it comes with Wordpress, phpBB, Joomla CMS and a bunch of other stuff.
if you're paying more than $8 for hosting, you're probably paying too much.
for that price you can expect to host abt 8 domains, abt 10-20 mySQL databases, get fantastico/cpanel, ideally have a good forum (at least phpBB), a quality blogging s/w like wordpress. a forum and a blog will take up one mySQL dbase each. and you can expect something like 50gb to 400gb of bandwidth, abt 1-5gb of disk space, at least 100 email accounts.
i'd also like to see a 7day or 30day money back guarantee.
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some other comments:
hosts like kiosk.ws work on a MLM model. when you recruit, you can recurring income from your downlines, they give a whole bunch of stuff like autoresponders, scripts, sales letters to aid your efforts. downside: the premium package costs US$24.95/month, though you can host a bunch of domains.
i decided to i'd rather go with a less expensive account and build from there.
i also checked out lunarpages.com and midphase.com on a friends recommendation. but i found some bottlenecks in their features. they either offer unlimited domans, but only 1 mySQL database, or one domain and unlimited mySQL databases. both dont make sense to me. though unlimited domains could be good if you're just parking...
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i'd stay away from godaddy hosting though. i paid abt $300 to host 6 domains.
the same thing at bluehost costs me abt $80/year.
godaddy also doesnt let you access their servers to install software. if you want blogs and forums, you have to pay extra and it could be a proprietory software.
i also have a reseller zoom account, and i get a whole bunch of space and bandwidth which i can resell, or use to create my own accounts. i can probably host abt 100 domains if the traffic is not too heavy. it comes with mySQL and other stuff.
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if you'd like to check out the links (and sign up under my affiliate link
they are:
Reseller Zoom: "http://www.hostingzoom.com/ref/a.php?id=429_7"
Dreamhost: "http://www.bluehost.com/track/weeliang/text1"
I use both these services and only promote products/services i personally use.
if you do decide to sign up with them, i'll help out with any installation issues (though it's quite user friendly.)
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