# what is the best hosting site??



## anthony17 (Jul 5, 2006)

Can someone tell me which of the following 3 hosting sites is the best for a begginer just creating his first website with no development experience: 

www.godaddy.com
www.yahoo.com
www.lunarpages.com

I am open to suggested sites other than these. 

Some important things to me are the shopping cart, paypal capabilities and the best templates for beginners.

Thanks in advance!!

Anthony


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

if I were to pick one of the 3 ..... I would say Yahoo.

the main reason being you would end up in the Yahoo Search index pretty quick. This alone could save you a buddle $$$$$.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I don't think being hosted by yahoo will help you be in the yahoo search index any quicker than any other host.

Out of the 3, I would probably pick lunarpages. I've heard only good things about them (and not so good things about yahoo hosting).

I also like to recommend pair.com


----------



## anthony17 (Jul 5, 2006)

Why pair? Thanks much


----------



## anthony17 (Jul 5, 2006)

Rodney I read your other answer as to why pair. Thanks


----------



## anthony17 (Jul 5, 2006)

Have you heard anything about ipowerweb.com


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

Rodney said:


> I don't think being hosted by yahoo will help you be in the yahoo search index any quicker than any other host.
> 
> Out of the 3, I would probably pick lunarpages. I've heard only good things about them (and not so good things about yahoo hosting).


Rodney, you know i respect your opion, but seriously, were talking about Yahoo.

no small potatoes.  

I would think that their permalinks within their network would carry some weight.


----------



## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

anthony17 said:


> Why pair? Thanks much


I also recommend Pair, but they're not for beginners (sort of speak). I have 3 sites with them, one has been there for almost 2 years with about 2 million hits a month. They have been very reliable, fast, and quick with support. You have to know what you're doing though. They're reliable and support people reply quickly during business hours, and available off hours for emergencies. In addition, they give you Shell access and database is on a separate server (even with shared hosting). The company has been around for over 10 years and manage their own data center. But, they use a proprietary control pannel and a bit more expensive than other places.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I would think that their permalinks within their network would carry some weight.


There is no permalink to your site when you use yahoo hosting. You just get hosting, no link, no inclusing in their directory. They are just like any other host.


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

sorry Rodney, i though the poster was wanting hosting with a cart/store etc...

anywho.

if you go to the link below you will see Yahoo links to their Yahoo-Stores, thats what i ment by Yahoo Network permalinks.  . I agree a yahoo-store may never come up on searches or may never get into their main index....but ....ok i'll stop.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/stores/sd.html

no, i dont work for yahoo.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> if you go to the link below you will see Yahoo links to their Yahoo-Stores, thats what i ment by Yahoo Network permalinks.


Yeah, a Yahoo!Store Merchant hosting account would be different than the regular hosting offered by Yahoo. 

The Yahoo!Store is much higher priced (starts at $39.95 per month plus 1.5% per transaction), also includes a merchant account solution, shopping cart, etc. They would include you in their long list of "all merchants" that you linked to, but not in their main hand edited directory.

The regular Yahoo hosting (most similar to the other hosting companies listed) starts at just $11.95 per month and won't include your link in the "all merchants" link. 

I don't think a link in the "all merchants" area would be worth the $39.95 per month, but I've heard some decent things about the Yahoo!Store Merchant solution. A couple of members here use it.

I was talking about the regular Yahoo hosting (which I haven't heard good things about).


----------



## anthony17 (Jul 5, 2006)

I decided to got with the basic plan with lunarpages. Can anyone take a look at that plan and tell me if that's the way to go. It says shopping cart is included with that plan. Thanks much. You guys are terrific!


----------



## queerrep (Jul 18, 2006)

anthony17 said:


> Have you heard anything about ipowerweb.com


It may be too late if you've already signed up with lunarpages, but I use ipowerweb and I think they are great. They've got a PayPal cart plug-in that's easy to use along with other plug-ins and applications such as ecommerce, polls, chat and bulletin boards.


----------



## Buechee (Dec 22, 2005)

So, if I may ask, who uses pair.com?


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I decided to got with the basic plan with lunarpages. Can anyone take a look at that plan and tell me if that's the way to go


I know several people that use that plan and are very happy with it.



> So, if I may ask, who uses pair.com?


I've used pair for hosting one of my sites since about 1999. It has had huge traffic spikes and never once waivered.

I also have my own dedicated servers for hosting my own sites, but I still keep that site on pair for their stability and support (if that tells you anything )


----------



## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

I'm using Pair also.  They have been very reliable compare to 3 other hosts that I used before.


----------



## Buechee (Dec 22, 2005)

Rodney said:


> I also have my own dedicated servers for hosting my own sites,


who is your dedicated server with?


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> who is your dedicated server with?


I have a few servers with different companies. ev1servers.net is a good one to look at though.


----------



## Buechee (Dec 22, 2005)

Rodney said:


> I have a few servers with different companies. ev1servers.net is a good one to look at though.


They are on my list. I used them before and liked them at that time.


----------



## kentphoto (Jan 16, 2006)

I'm using Bluehost. So far so good. They even phoned me up to see if I was happy with everything. WOW !


----------



## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

Might as well suggest Dreamhost to add to the list! I'm pretty happy with them, and I know several other people that like them as well.

They let you have a ton of features even on their cheapest plans, whereas many hosts limit said features except on their most expensive plans.

Reliability is good, but not perfect. One thing I liked was that they actualy admitted it was their fault when things screwed up and the servers were down for a little while.

Dreamhost does have some handy "one-click installs" for things like Zencart, Mediawiki, and more so installing them is very easy (configuring a shopping cart is still gonna take some knowledge and effort though, no matter where you are hosted).

I imagine Pair would give you more relability, but Dreamhost is one of the best all-around hosts for the price (of their cheapest plan) IMO.


----------



## Buechee (Dec 22, 2005)

Rodney when I was with ev1, you had to do almost everything yourself. Are they still like that? And if so, is it hard to put the cart and other things that are needed on the server?


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Rodney when I was with ev1, you had to do almost everything yourself. Are they still like that?


Yes, they are a self-managed type dedicated server center. There are other dedicated server providers that offer "managed" servers (a lot of them can be found at www.webhostingtalk.com )

Quick general thread note: a dedicated server is overkill and not needed for most t-shirt stores. It is more if you want to run a hosting company or host several websites and be in control over a whole server.



> And if so, is it hard to put the cart and other things that are needed on the server?


Most of the servers can come preinstalled with "cpanel" and "fantastico" which offer the one click installations of some open source shopping cart software (and other open source programs like forums/blogs/etc)


----------



## Buechee (Dec 22, 2005)

Not sure if I want a dedicated server. I like the control I had with one. And I might do video as well for another none tee site.


----------



## thesystemsucks (Aug 30, 2006)

I just signed up for hosting with yahoo and It has free inclusion in yahoo directory AND google.... cool huh? 

erik


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I just signed up for hosting with yahoo and It has free inclusion in yahoo directory AND google.... cool huh?


It's already free to be included in Google and Yahoo search results. 

I would double check that they meant the regular search results that show up when you search Yahoo, or the Yahoo business submit hand edited directory that they charge $299 per year for now.


----------

