7. Domain Name Sanity Hosting Review
Posted on February 26, 2008
Filed Under business web hosting, free webhost, free webhosting, e-commerce web host, Domain Name Sanity Web Hosting, free web hosting, webhosting reviews, web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting deals, web hosting review, web host |
Click the following to go directly to the Domain Name Sanity Hosting web site.
Domain Name Sanity uses a common ploy in web hosting, offering “free” hosting in exchange for paying a premium price for your domain name. This is the opposite of most premium hosting companies, which often offer a free domain name when you host your website with them. I’ve included them to illustrate how this works, plus they also have an upper level hosting plan that really isn’t a bad deal. One disadvantage of doing it this way is that if you request a refund from any web host, you can’t get your domain name fee back. That domain name is registered to you, and you can take it and host it someplace else. Most premium hosts charge about $10-$12 for your domain name, if you cancel your hosting. A cancellation here would mean that your domain name could cost you twice as much.
Basically, if you pay Domain Name Sanity $19.95 for your domain name, they’ll give you a small amount of bandwidth (10MB) and web space (250 MB) to host your domain. They also limit you to no more than 5 pages on this Introductory site. Plus, you site will include banner and pop-up ads, run by them. At the moment, they’re also offering a $20 coupon that you can use to upgrade your hosting package, or purchase any of their services, when you register a domain name.
This coupon basically “reverses” their offer. You’ll get your domain name free with the $20 coupon, if you pay for one of their upper level hosting plans. However, there is nothing to indicate how long this special will be running, and no indication that your domain will continue to be free in future years. They do offer some good extras, including an online site builder, even with this small plan. They have three other plan options, but the next two up the ladder have limits on number of pages you can have, and really don’t offer the kind of space and data transfer that a business site will hopefully need. Their top level plan is the only one to offer unlimited web pages and website statistics, and its the only one I’d consider, so we’ll take a look at this “Monster Hosting Plan”.
The Monster Hosting Plan offers a decent amount of space and bandwidth, but “unlimited” bandwidth isn’t really unlimited, according to Note #2 on the page. A drawback, or a plus, depending on how you look at it, is that you pay extra for support. It costs $9.99 per year extra for this, and they only offer email support. Although I prefer to at least have a live chat option for support, billing it as a separate annual charge should at least mean that they put a good percentage of their revenue into adequate tech support. They also offer quarterly and annual billing, and you save 20% by taking the annual option. The other disadvantages I see to their hosting plan are that they only allow one website per hosting account, they don’t include free email with your hosting, their script library is very limited, and no MySQL databases are included. Also, they only offer a 14 day money back guarantee. After that, they do offer a pro-rated refund, if you decide to cancel. Here are the basics of Domain Name Sanity’s Monster Hosting Package;
- One domain name per account
- “Free” domain name, using their $20 coupon and hosting here
- Email support for $9.99 a year extra - no chat or phone support
- Online user guide and quick-start guide
- Unknown server structure, but most likely uses Linux
- No uptime guarantee listed, but 99.9% uptime is stated
- 14 day money back guarantee
- 30 day Low Price guarantee (find the same hosting service for less, they’ll give you the difference)
- Register the wrong domain name, let them know within 24 hours, and they’ll exchange it. (Not a big feature, just make sure you spell it right!)
- 1000 MB web space
- 10 GB data transfer (says unlimited, but see Note 2 on page)
- Up to 100 email addresses can be forwarded to your existing email. Actual onsite emails can be provided, for a large additional charge!
- Online site builder, image optimizer, form emailer, guestbook.
- No MySQL databases or Cron jobs included, limited script library - BIG MINUS
- Cost - $99.99 per year (or $31.25 per quarter) plus $9.99 a year for tech support.
If you’re a complete internet newbie, and don’t plan on building a complicated site (or even having a blog on your web site), and the thought of building your own website really scares you, than this web hosting plan might be a consideration for you. Domain Name Sanity does go out of their way to try and make everything as simple as possible, but they don’t offer a lot of features, such as blog platforms or online shopping carts. Although these features can be a little complicated to integrate into your web site, most e-business sites will eventually want or need them. Rather than not offering these more complicated features, many other premium hosts offer them ready to be installed with a few clicks, which eliminates about 90% of the difficulty in using them.
Another way Domain Name Sanity could make this process easier, in my opinion, would be to at least offer live chat online support. All in all, this isn’t a bad plan for someone who wants to build a “brochure site”, or who only needs limited sales capability. You can check it out further by going to Domain Name Sanity Hosting. But, if you’re looking to build a real money making e-commerce with full capabilities and features, plus a blog to help with your online rankings and SEO, than you really need to look elsewhere.
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This is a different kind of Web Host Review web site. I will only be giving you reviews of premium hosting companies, plus tips and suggestions on the general things you should look for in your web hosting. I'll try to make this as simple as possible for you, and you can check out the articles for the tips, and the reviews to help pick your web host.
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Have you heard of Zyon web hosting? www.zyon.com
They look really great on the page, but I can’t find a single review of their services. Google shows only sites with their promotional video. Can you tell me your evaluation of them?
I need a dependable web host with excellent telephone support, low cost, unlimited sites on one account, large bandwith and storage, cpanel and fantastico, cgi bin, reasonable charges for domains. Plus, their website builder has got to be easy! Your recommendations will be really appreciated as I’m just getting started in internet marketing. Thanks very much.
Well, Zyon Web Hosting didn’t make the cut for my review (like a few hundred other sites), simply because of their $1 to start and monthly billing option. Basically, this throws them into the category of “very cheap web hosts”, and due to the reasons I discussed here, http://cheapprowebsite.com/WebHostingReview/2008/02/06/are-really-cheap-web-hosts-a-bargain/
I don’t consider them a really good option for a business website.
As far as a recommendation, if you’re flexible on the Fantastico part (this host offers php Elefante Scripts, so it basically depends on which script or scripts you’re looking for), my number one rated host, HostJacker.com, has their Enterprise Plan, which offers everything you’re looking for and more, all for less than $200 a year. Your first domain name purchase or transfer is free with hosting, and additional domain names are less than $10 a year each. Some hosts will charge you less for the first year, but then raise the price drastically for additional years. You can always use one of them (like N*tF*rms) to register some cheap domain names for a year, and then transfer them to HostJacker, if you need to save a few bucks.
I’ve found their online site builder to be very easy and intuitive to use, and scripts you might want to run don’t even need a separate cgi bin file, although you can easily create one, if you want.
They offer excellent support, which is my main criteria for a great web host. In fact, their ticket support system is so rapid and responsive, you may never need to use the chat or phone support, but if you do, it’s available. The only single drawback I’ve found in using them is that they have servers on both sides of the Atlantic, in the US and UK, and their support is based in England. Because of this, if you do find it necessary to use phone support, you’ll probably get someone with a Indian/British accent.
For me, this wasn’t an issue. I’ve only had to use phone support once, and the accent wasn’t a problem. Their response through the ticketing system is usually under an hour, and they’ve simply fixed most of the minor issues I’ve had for me, and used the ticketing systenm just to let me know it was done.
In checking out your website, I noticed it was parked by the G*D*ddy hosting company, (another cheap host that didn’t make the cut) so I can see why you’re looking for a new host, and I think you’ll find HostJacker to be a much better alternative.
I hope this helps you in choosing your web hosting company, and good luck in your online marketing endeavors.
Thanks very much for your helpful response, Michael, most especially for steering me away from a month to month service. I read your article about ‘very cheap hosts’ and now I understand the importance of seeking services that charge annually.
I had originally ruled out HostJacker because it didn’t have cPanel and Fantastico. I’m not averse to spending more for my hosting if I can get everything I want.
Have you heard anything about Ultimate Marketing Center?
Thanks again for taking the time to advise me.
Well, there are two reasons that the Ultimate Marketing Center (UMC)isn’t listed in the reviews here. To begin with, its not really a web hosting company per se, and you have to register your domain name elsewhere in order to sign up for hosting from them. Now, many web hosts are simply domain name resellers, but at least they give you the option to purchase domain names through them.
UMC basically offers you a suite of tools, including hosting,(which is actually done through another company). I actually found UMC some time ago, and they do offer a large group of tools at a reasonable price.
However, further investigation of UMC turned up some interesting facts. The “Whois” listing shows they are based in the Republic of Mauritius, an island nation off the coast of Africa. That was one red flag (I was thinking Nigerian scam), but the deal killer for me was that the address given in the “Whois” belongs to a military college located in Mauritius.
While its true you may feel you’re only risking $19.95 to give them a try, the thought of my credit card info possibly getting into the hands of a college kid in Africa (or a college kid anywhere, for that matter), made me skip even giving them a try. I have no probem with anyone trying to make a living online, and I understand most people start out with a small budget, but sometimes when a deal sounds “too good to be true”, it really is.
By the way, you and a few other people, had some questions about basic web host functions like control panels and script installation (Fantastico & Elefante), so I’ve written a short explanation about site builders, control panels and script installers. You can access it here;
http://cheapprowebsite.com/WebHostingReview/2008/03/01/control-panels-site-builders-and-scriptswhich-ones-are-best/
The web host I suggested to you uses a custom control panel which is very similar in look and function to cPanel, but performs the functions of both cPanel and WHM. They use Elefante instead of Fantastico, but I’ve found the difference between the two of them to be minor, unless one or the other of them has a particular script that you need.
Thanks for your comments and questions, and I hope I’ve been of help.