HostMonster Changes Their Hosting Plan

Posted on October 24, 2008
Filed Under HostMonster Hosting, Best Web Hosting Company, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited web space, business web hosting, webhosting reviews, web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting review, web host | Leave a Comment

Just so you know, this web hosting review site isn’t a static web site.  The two main reasons I designed this site using a blog, were so that I could continue to monitor the available hosting plans out there and comment on them, and so I could answer your comments and questions regarding hosting, hosting companies and web site building.  I really do appreciate all of the comments and emails I receive, and I’ll try to respond to all of them.

Recently, HostMonster Hosting changed their hosting plan (they only offer one option), and I don’t think it was a change for the better.  Overall, their prices have gone up, although a “Special Promo” price for a three year contract has been introduced.  My main problem with them is that they have changed their plan to promoting “unlimited” space and bandwidth, but admitting in some hidden fine print that they really can’t live up to that offer.  My main concern with them initially was their somewhat tricky and deceptive pricing and marketing, and this change makes me even more concerned.

HostMonster is a premium host.  They used to have a good hosting plan for a decent price, and made my list as first runner-up for the Best Web Hosting Company.  Near the top of this list, my concerns with each company were decreasing, and HostMonster really only had a few things that separated it from the top host. However, these recent changes at their site means I have to drop them down in my rankings. See the bold comment below for more on this problem.

Basically, this company still meets almost all of my minimum requirements for a great host. They offer 24/7 support, with a choice of email ticket, live chat or phone support, and a 30 day money back guarantee. They give you all of the basic tools and scripts you’ll need, a free domain name with hosting, and the ability to host an unlimited number of domains.

HostMonster does offer quarterly and semi-annual payment options, but these aren’t very attractive to the spammers or phishers that simply want to set up an account that they know will be canceled (or to anyone else, for that matter). Both of these options require a $30 non-refundable set-up fee, plus $10 for domain name registration, and cost $9.95 a month. When there are really cheap web hosts offering these low-lifes a throw away account for $1-$4, they aren’t going to want to spend almost $70 to get one here. You can click the following link to go directly to the HostMonster Web Site..

My main concerns about HostMonster are;

  1. The fact that they only offer one hosting plan
  2. Their pricing, and the advertising they use to promote it
  3. Although their support is relatively quick and has been reliable, they don’t offer any kind of support response time guarantee.
  4. They are now saying they offer “unlimited” space and bandwidth, but on a shared server, such claims are never without limits, and now you just don’t know what they are.

Their main page lists all of the features for their one hosting offer, and shows the price as $6.95 a month. (On “Special Promo” right now for $4.95, as of 10/23/08) This price applies only if you sign up for 3 years, paid in advance. The price for a standard one year contract is actually $8.95 a month. This is a decent price, and I’d feel a little better about them if they advertised it right up front, and then offered the discount for the 2 or 3 year term. Signing up for a year or more also eliminates the $30 set-up fee, which is another of my requirements, and gets you you one free domain name registration. Additional domain names are a good deal, at only $10 each.

Recently, (10/15/08) they changed their only offer for hosting from 1,500 GB of space and 15,000 GB of bandwidth, to one offering unlimited space and bandwidth. However, hidden in their Help section, under Overwhelming Traffic, is this comment.

“Our servers include several hundred websites, and so many users share the same resources, including disk space, processor (CPU), and bandwidth limits (the speed and capacity of the Internet connection). If one website becomes extraordinarily popular it can threaten access to the web servers resources, which it shares with other sites, and so may be temporarily taken offline.”

Basically, HostMonster is just stating what I’ve already told you before about “unlimited” space and bandwidth hosting plans.  Neither really exists.  If it did, huge popular web sites like YouTube and MySpace would all be hosting their web sites for $4.95 a month, instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars a month to maintain their own servers and internet connections.  If you do succeed, and your web site becomes too popular, you will have to move your web site somewhere besides HostMonster for hosting, or be faced with it being shut down at its busiest times.  The difference now is, you just don’t know how much bandwidth you can use before that happens!

Here’s a link to my initial review of HostMonster hosting, and here are the basics of the new HostMonster hosting package;

HostMonster was a really good choice for hosting your web site. I’d prefer some kind of support guarantee, and I’ve always wished they were more “up-front” about their true cost. But, since they recently changed to offering “unlimited” space and bandwidth, I have a real problem with their marketing message versus what they can really deliver. I’ll be investigating this issue further, but it may result in HostMonster dropping significantly in these rankings. After further evaluation, I’ll give you some idea where they wind up, or if I’m dropping them from the list. You can use this link to go directly to HostMonster Hosting.

The good news is, my number one pick for the Best Web Host hasn’t changed.  HostJacker still offers the best premium hosting plans at the best price, with excellent service and tech support.  Their extra free bonuses and discounts on other software and marketing tools are just icing on the cake.

I’m also in the process of checking out three other hosting companies that I was asked about in recent emails.  As soon as that research is finished and I’ve made my decision about HostMonster, I’ll publish a new post with the revised rankings and links to all of my Top Web Hosts.

WordPress Installation - Part 3

Posted on October 22, 2008
Filed Under database, Best Web Hosting Company, install wordpress, plug-ins, htaccess, HostJacker Web Hosting, Control Panel, web hosting company, wordpress, Resources, Scripts, web host | Leave a Comment

This is the last step to installing WordPress on your website, and the easiest to do.  The video will take you through it, step by step.  I’ll point out one important step you need to take, and a tweak you need to do to make sure your blog goes live without a hitch.  Here is some info, in written form, from the video, to help you with the install.

  1. If WordPress is the only thing on your website, (you renamed the folder in the last video to be public_html) your address to install is http://www.yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin/install.php 
  2. If WordPress is part of a larger web site (you renamed your folder to something else in the last video, let’s say “blog”) your address to install is http://www.yourwebsitename.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php
  3. Theline of text you need to add at the bottom of your blog’s htaccess file is this:     DirectoryIndex index.php

Watch the video to see what these three things refer to.  In my next video, I’ll answer some questions I’ve recieved about installing additional themes and plug-ins (like the free plug-in pack in the last post).  You can download it now, and I’ll explain how to install them next time.

Excellent WordPress Plugin Pack

Posted on October 18, 2008
Filed Under SEO, search engine optimization, free, Youtube, plug-ins, wordpress, Resources, Scripts, web site | Leave a Comment

I just downloaded and installed a bunch of excellent plug-ins on this blog.  One actually fixed all of the problems I’ve been having with videos resolving correctly in Firefox.  The others are mainly designed to help you with getting some good, automatic SEO for your blog, to help it get indexed and listed in the search engines.  The whole process takes about 10 minutes and is really worth it.  I’ve packaged the whole deal into a zipped download below.  Just right click and choose “Save As” to download it.  Once you unzip the file, upload each plug-in separately to your plug-in folder (under wp-content).  Then go to your blog’s administration panel and activate each plug-in.  A few of them need additional set up under the “Options” tab, once they’re activated.  Also, check out the “Read Me” file for the Youtube plug-in to see how to easily use it.

Best Plugins Pack

By the way, for those of you who emailed me asking, the final video in the series on installing WordPress will be up in a day or two.  But, essentially, this is the easiest part of the process.  Just navigate in any web browser (IE or Firfox or Mozilla, whatever) to your blog’s location.  This will be www.yourwebsitename.com/yourblogname, if you have your blog as part of your web site, or www.yourwebsitename.com, if your blog is the only thing in your website.  Then just follow the prompts on the screen.  Make sure you write down the PASSWORD it creates for you!   And use a real email address, it’s the only way to reset your password, if you forget it.

If everything works, you’re all set to begin posting.  I’ll post some notes to help with issues with the next video.  Most of these problems only occur when you’re adding a blog to an existing web site, and I’ll give you the solutions next time.

Uploading WordPress to Your Web Site

Posted on October 17, 2008
Filed Under web hosting | Leave a Comment

This is Part 2 of Installing a WordPress blog on your web site. This video will show you how to download the latest version of WordPress, configure it, and upload it to your web site using the free FTP software Filezilla. Below are the links to use to get Wordpress and Filezilla.

WordPress Download

Filezilla Download

In Part 3, I’ll show you how to do the actual install for WordPress, which is the easiest part of the process.

Installing a Database for WordPress

Posted on September 27, 2008
Filed Under HostJacker Web Hosting, database, software, install wordpress, Scripts, Resources, web hosting company, web site, wordpress, web host | Leave a Comment

In response to several e-mails I received, I’m going to do a series of posts on installing a database and a WordPress blog on your website.  The easy install for WordPress at Hostjacker, and every other host, still requires that you install a database for your WordPress blog to use.  I’m assuming that you’re going to install WordPress at your hostJacker hosting account the other way, (which I suggest, to be sure that you’re getting the latest version) by downloading the software from http://www.wordpress.org.

This first video will show you how to install the database in just about one minute, start to finish.  You can also download a clearer version of the video by right clicking the link below and choosing Save Link As or Save Target As: Install a Database .  Watch the video, and let me know what you think.

1. HostJacker Premium Hosting Review

Posted on May 1, 2008
Filed Under e-commerce web host, cheap web host, Control Panel, Site Builder, Best Web Hosting Company, HostJacker Web Hosting, business web hosting, cheap web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting, web hosting deals, web hosting review, webhosting reviews, web host | Leave a Comment

Click the following to go directly to the HostJacker website.

HostJacker is my top pick for web hosting, after researching literally hundreds of different hosts and hosting plans. My top three reasons for choosing them are support, space, bandwidth and bonuses, and their incredibly fair price. Since they are my top pick, I obviously haven’t found any real concerns with HostJacker, and it was diificult to even come up with anything minor to complain about. After giving it a lot of thought, I did manage to come up with two small things that might be of concern to a complete newcomer to building a website.

First, Hostjacker has an international presence, with servers located in both the USA and UK. Their support is based in the UK, so if you use the phone support, you may get someone with a British accent. I’ve only had to use phone support once (and it was for a pretty advanced issue that most people will probably never run into), and the accent wasn’t a problem for me. Then again, two of my grandparents were British and had strong accents, so it was actually a bit nostalgic for me. The point is, HostJacker’s ticket support is so prompt, helpful and efficient, you’ll probably never find it necessary to use phone support.

Second, the free Sitebuilder they offer probably wouldn’t be my first choice among online site builders. Its not a bad piece of software, especially if you’re new to building a web site, but I have seen and used a better one. Still, HostJacker does provide it for free, it is easy to learn and use, and its perfectly good for building a small personal or brochure site.  For a large, multi page web site or an e-commerce sales site, your best bet is to use an off-line WYSIWYG editor.  The Resources page has a couple of good ones listed.

As you know, my most important criteria for any web host is their tech support. Especially if you’re a beginner, you need a variety of options and prompt service. HostJacker offers a searchable database and FAQ and online video tutorials for many functions you’ll need to accomplish. They also have email ticket, live chat and phone support available. They have support 24/7, and even have a one hour support response guarantee! This is something that no other host I could find offered. From personal experience, their average for support response is even less than the 20 minutes quoted on the web site. They actually have simply fixed an issue for me, behind the scenes, and then notified me by email of what they had done, and how I could do it myself in the future, all in less than 15 minutes.

HostJacker offers 3 different plans, and any of them give you ample space and bandwidth for your website or sites. Their smallest plan has the ability to host 3 separate web sites, and their largest gives you the ability to host an unlimited number of sites, up to your available space and bandwidth. I’ll talk about the smallest plan here, and you can visit the HostJacker website to find out more about the other two. All three plans are very reasonably priced for what they offer, and extra domain names are less than $10 each. They only accept payment for a yearly term, so spammers and phishers aren’t likely to favor this web host, which is another big plus in my book. Not only do they offer the full suite of bonuses found at many webhosts, they also have an “Extra Bonuses” area that gives you an assortment of SEO tools, PPC credits and other useful bonuses that you simply won’t find anywhere else. A few of these are large discounts on a product or service, but 90% of them are free. I especially like that they spell out in plain English what you get, and whether or not it will cost you anything. Here are the basics of the HostJacker “Business Hosting Plan”;

If, like me, having prompt, knowledgable and helpful tech support available to assist you 24/7 is a major priority in choosing a reliable web host, then the only choice is HostJacker. To find out more or sign up for your account, just click this link to go to HostJacker Hosting.

2. HostMonster Hosting Review

Posted on April 21, 2008
Filed Under cheap web hosting, business web hosting, e-commerce web host, HostMonster Hosting, webhosting reviews, web hosting review, web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting deals, web host | Leave a Comment

Click the following to go directly to the HostMonster Web Site.

HostMonster is a premium host with a good hosting plan for a decent price, and makes my list as first runner-up for the Best Web Hosting Company. As we approach the top of this list, my concerns with each company decrease, and HostMonster really only has a few things that separate it from the top host. Basically, this company meets all of my minimum requirements for a great host. They offer 24/7 support, with a choice of email ticket, live chat or phone support, and a 30 day money back guarantee. They give you a good sized account, with all of the basic tools and scripts you’ll need, a free domain name with hosting, and the ability to host an unlimited number of domains.

HostMonster does offer quarterly and semi-annual payment options, but these aren’t very attractive to the spammers or phishers that simply want to set up an account that they know will be canceled (or to anyone else, for that matter). Both of these options require a $30 non-refundable set-up fee, and cost $8.95 a month. When there are really cheap web hosts offering these low-lifes a throw away account for $1-$4, they aren’t going to want to spend almost $70 to get one here.

My main concerns about HostMonster are;

  1. The fact that they only offer one hosting plan
  2. Their pricing, and the advertising they use to promote it
  3. Although their support is relatively quick and has been reliable, they don’t offer any kind of support response time guarantee.

Their main page lists all of the features for their one hosting offer, and shows the price as $6.95 a month. This price applies only if you sign up for 2 years, paid in advance. The price for a standard one year contract is actually $7.95 a month. This is a decent price, and I’d feel better about them if they advertised it right up front, and then offered the discount for the 2 year term. Signing up for a year or more also eliminates the $30 set-up fee, which is another of my requirements. Additional domain names are a good deal, at only $10 each. Here are the basics of the HostMonster hosting package;

HostMonster is a really good choice for your web hosting. I’d prefer some kind of support guarantee, and I wish they were more “up-front” about their true cost. But, overall, they are an excellent choice for hosting your web site. You can keep reading to find out about my Top Hosting pick, or click this link to find out more about HostMonster Hosting.

3. Nexx Web Hosting Review

Posted on April 14, 2008
Filed Under cheap web hosting, business web hosting, e-commerce web host, Nexx Web Hosting, webhosting reviews, web hosting review, web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting deals, web host | Leave a Comment

Click the following to go to the Nexx Web Hosting web site.

Nexx Web hosting is offers a decent sized plan with unlimited domains, 24/7 support via email ticket and phone, all for a reasonable price. Nexx is a fairly well known company, and makes the top ten of at least one other review site. I found them to be a really good host, but the space and bandwidth they offer for the cost isn’t quite as good as my Top Two hosts. Still, I only have a few problems with Nexx Hosting, and they basically all relate to value for your money. Here they are;

  1. They only offer one plan, and you only get 300 GB of space and 3,000 GB of bandwidth for $7.95 a month
  2. They advertise their price as a “special 20% off” deal, compared to what they say is their regular price of $9.95 a month
  3. You get only a basic scripts package (although it should be sufficient for most people), and they don’t offer an online Site Builder
  4. Although their support isn’t a real issue (most support emails are responded to within 4 hours, 90% within 8 hours), there is no support response time guarantee
  5. No uptime guarantee is listed on the web site

Nexx Hosting’s main claim to fame is that they offer both Linux and Windows hosting available on the same account. To me, this isn’t a big deal, since I feel that the Linux platform is more stable, and definitely the best choice for most users. Still, if you require Windows hosting for some of your applications, or for an already built web site, Nexx offers Windows hosting for an unbeatable price. Most web hosts only offer your choice of one or the other, and Windows hosting is usually a more expensive option. Since Nexx 24/7 support, offers a free domain name and unlimited domain hosting, and has a 30 day money back guarantee, they would be my first pick if I needed or really wanted Windows hosting. Here are the basics of the Nexx hosting plan;

Basically, Nexx hosting is a good plan for a decent price, but it doesn’t include some of the extras, like an online Site Builder, a wide assortment of one click scripts, and advertising bonuses, that I’ve found to be extremely useful in setting up and promoting a web site. If you need Windows hosting, however, they would be my first choice. Otherwise, especially if you’re a real newbie at building a web site, one of my Top Two Hosts would be a better choice. They both offer Linux hosting, and give you more space and bonuses for the same (or less) money. Click this link to find out more about Nexx Web Hosting.

4. ImHosted Hosting Review

Posted on April 4, 2008
Filed Under cheap web host, e-commerce web host, Site Builder, ImHosted Hosting, cheap web hosting, webhosting reviews, web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting deals, web hosting review, web host | Leave a Comment

Click the following to go directly to the ImHosted Web Site.

ImHosted has a really good hosting plan at a reasonable price of $6.95 a month. This is not a hosting company that I have used myself, but it has numerous awards from a collection of different review sites, a 30 day money back guarantee, and offers live chat, email ticket and phone support. Basically, I only have three factors that led me to not use ImHosted, and one additional minor problem that could be a major factor.

  1. You get one free domain name with your hosting plan, but additional domain names are rather high priced, at $15.00 each
  2. There is no direct link to pricing for their different payment options without signing up for hosting. I’d like to be able to compare actual prices for the different terms before signing up.
  3. The big issue is that they offer a monthly billing option. I’ve gone over my problem with hosting companies that have month to month billing, and I think it is something you should definitely avoid, unless you simply cannot afford to pay for a year of hosting all at once. The problem isn’t paying by the month, its the spammers, phishers and hackers that will take advantage of that option.
  4. The minor point is that although their promo for their $6.95 a month plan says they offer unlimited domains with that plan, the features page says that they don’t. The $30 a month plan definitely says that it does have unlimited domains, but the featured plan only says unlimited sub-domains, which isn’t the same thing.

The minor point is probably just a typo on their features page, although that error is bad enough. But, if it really means that you don’t get unlimited domains, when you think you will, it could be a major problem. The price of $6.95 a month isn’t such a good deal if you can only host one domain. ImHosted also offers limited time specials that expire daily, which seemed designed to hook you into buying without searching for other options. They also have a confusing array of “coupon” specials that make it difficult to actually figure out what you’ll finally be paying for your hosting. Personally, I’d rather they just spell out their pricing, space, bandwidth and bonuses in simple straight forward terms, and not try to “market” six or seven different specials to me in such an aggressive fashion. Here are the basics for ImHosted’s Starter Hosting program;

Really, except for the fact that they make pricing their plans very difficult, especially when comparing them to competitors, ImHosted’s biggest drawback is the monthly payment option. If your website isn’t going to be actually selling anything (just redirecting to affiliate websites, for example) and you don’t plan on ever using email marketing, then this may never be a problem. Still, sharing a server with one of the lowlifes of the internet world might result in your site being shut down for no good reason. You’ll have to decide if that’s a risk you’re willing to take. To find out more about what they offer and the current specials, click this link to go to ImHosted Web Hosting.

5. Omnis Network Hosting Review

Posted on March 20, 2008
Filed Under business web hosting, cheap web host, Omnis Network Web Hosting, cheap web hosting, webhosting reviews, web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting review, web host | Leave a Comment

You will notice that as these reviews approach the top of the list, the issues I have with the different hosts begin to become more minor in nature. That’s to be expected. I had hundreds of sites that were checked out and evaluated that didn’t make this Top Ten List, so its only reasonable to assume that the differences in the top 5 would be small.

Click the following to go directly to the Omnis Network Hosting web site.

Omnis Network only offers two hosting packages, but they do offer a good package at a really decent price. They give you 1,700 GB of space and 17,000 GB of data transfer for only $5.95 a month. For $7.95 a month you can get Windows hosting, which gives you the option of using ASP programming. Unless you’re already tied into doing your site with ASP or .NET programming, as I’ve said before, I would stick with Unix hosting, and I’ll review their Unix hosting package here. They do give you a free domain name with your hosting the first year, but charge $7.95 for it every year after that. The cost for an additional domain name is promoted on their web site as $6.95, but thats only if you buy over 200 domains at a time.

Thats my main problem with Omnis. Everything on their website seems designed to promote their pricing, while all of the “details” are hidden in small print at the bottom of the page. The hosting page alone has five (5) separate asterisked disclaimers at the bottom! For instance, the $5.95 per month rate only applies if you sign up for 2 years of web hosting (it’s $6.95 a month for a standard one year contract and $8.95 for Windows hosting), and their “free” site builder only allows you to build three pages before you have to pay for an upgrade. The fact that they put these and other facts in a small note at the end of the page in a very small typeface makes me feel like they are hiding more than they’re telling me. Additional domain names are very reasonably priced at $7.95 a year, for up to 50 additional names.

Omnis does have a great 99.9% uptime guarantee, and a good 30 day money back guarantee. They have all of the basic scripts you’ll need accessible for one click install through your control panel. They also offer a good assortment of PPC bonuses for newbies through Google, Yahoo! and MSN. They allow you to host unlimited domains and sub-domains on one account, and have a custom control panel that allows you to administer your multiple domains from one interface, which is a big plus in my book.

Their support, however, leaves something to be desired. Ticket support is only available between 6 AM - 6 PM M-F, and 6 AM-2:30 PM on Saturday. Live phone support is available 6 AM - 6 PM M-F (all Pacific time). There is no mention of any live chat support. To make the very top of this list, some kind of support has to be available 24/7, and an alternate means of support should be available most of the business day. Their online help and FAQ section is more a collection of articles than an organized help section, and there were no video tutorials to assist with common tasks, although the database of articles is searchable. Here are the basics for Omnis Network’s only Unix hosting program;

Omnis Network is a good solid hosting package at a decent price. My main problem with them is the lack of 24/7 support of any kind. If you’d like to explore what they have to offer, you can click on this link and go to Omnis Network Hosting. The best is yet to come, so keep reading to find out what my top picks for web hosts are.

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