Are You a Hosting Hostage?© 2004, John Calder http://www.TheEzine.net
In recent years, the hosting business has become extremely competitive. Not so long ago, the monthly price for an average hosting account for one domain was in the $35 and up range, at a minimum. Now, you can get a hosting account where you can host unlimited domains (up to the disk space and network usage limits of your account), for $25 and under. To try to win more customers in this crowded field, most hosting companies offer bundles of features, included at no extra charge in your hosting plan.
On the surface, all of those features look great, and they are. From single autoresponders to shopping carts, from private name servers to the amazing Fantastico package that lets you install any of numerous software packages, like blogs, content management systems, forums, help desks, and so on, with near one-click ease. But there's a hidden, more self-serving reason the hosting companies offer this convenience to their customers. They hope you'll become dependent enough on the software features they offer that it will discourage you from changing hosting companies.
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Get Yourself a Website - Without the Drama
So, you're done with the free web hosts. Gone through Geocities, Angelfire, Fortune City. You're exhausted with the pop-ups and banners. You want a real site. But where to go? You look around the net, and the possibilities seem endless. 20 MB of space for only $20 a month! Wow! That's fantastic!
Or is it? Way back when I bought my domain and signed up with a web host, I was the typical "the internet is so wonderful" optimist. I was thrilled to find something that sounded just about what I kind of wanted - and bam, just like that, $300 poorer and with a useless chunk of web space that wouldn't even work properly. My domain addresses wouldn't connect, my content was being warped - things weren't looking too good for me.
A year later and much the wiser, I know better. My site is working, I have a lovely, helpful support team, and I now know what I want. But, that's all well and good for me - I have had the added advantage of working for a web hosting company. But what about the rest of you out there who don't have my experience, who see a world of opportunity and are about to jump into the cesspit of money loss and disappointment.
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