So I've got a IRL client in a sort of freelancing website making thingy.

She doesn't have a domain name yet or a web server. I have recommended GoDaddy for the domain name and we're sorting out the details now.

However since my own website's hosting has gone from GeoCities to Tripod to Friend-Of-Online-Friend to Online-Friend (CoolMatty), I don't really know about "real" web server companies.

I also feel ethically compelled not to recommend "this guy I know online" as the webhost, even if it is at $5/mo. It just doesn't seem right... I dunno.

She runs a charity thing, and only needs a simple website. Probably just HTML/CSS but I like keeping my options open (IE PHP/MySQL is a bonus). I suppose I could always tell her I could code something up if she had ideas for more dynamic content. Other than that it's a charity org. and the site will be simple so I'd look at the "lower-end" hosting packages.

Soo... any ideas? Specifically names and/or urls to something... I dunno, that seems professional. I guess I'm sorta looking for some guarantee of permanence (cause CoolMatty can't really offer a guarantee on that like a real company could, I guess) but I guess my real problem is I've never had to go shopping for a web host before.

I just had an idea to go up the ladder one rung and see who hosts CoolMatty, buuuut:



Yeah. No thanks.

So... any suggestions, or should I just suggest CM?

MediaTemple are good at what they do. They're also expensive.


But on the plus side, they throw trendy parties for the people they host

Perfect for a small site: https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/

Thanks guys.

Not that it matters, but:

A. [url]www.geodns.net[/url] is not my host, that's the nameserver. It doesn't have a website because nameservers aren't supposed to have websites. My host is [url]www.serverbeach.com[/url]

B. I actually host a few business sites already, and while I can't guarantee "permanence" (really no company except the most massive can), I can promise I won't disappear in one day, and they will have plenty of time to move before that happens.

C. My webhost is a full-on dedicated server company however, which is massive overkill.

A. I figured as much but I was just trying to be FUNNAY.

B. kthx

C. Hmmm yeah.

I've run off of Dreamhost for years and I love them. Great control panel, lots of packages to work with, much bandwidth and space. Prompt support.

I have heard good and band things about Dreamhost. The bad things mostly being that they didn't or don't live up to their bandwidth and storage space promises.

Or that their billing department is a joke, or that their services are often down completely...

The entire SA forum hates them, to be honest, and they are most DEFINITELY not good for a business site. Totally unreliable.

Any unbiased assertions of their quality? I mean really, once you get the ball rolling on SA...

You mean like the time where they charged most of their customers an entire year in advance on accident, made a "humorous" blog post on their status page about it, then took months to finally refund everyone's money + bank fees from being overdrawn?

Or do you mean the time when they accidentally messed up their firewall configuration and black holed their entire datacenter for hours?

Dreamhost is good for when you just need some space to play around with and do simple sites. Suitable for small business sites where 100% uptime isn't especially essential (ie a few hours downtime a month isn't going to hurt them).

If you do go with Dreamhost, don't use them for email, I've switched my MX records to use Google and have had no problems with reliability with them.

You can't ever get guaranteed 100% uptime but you're likely to get very good reliability with a VPN or dedicated server. VPNs are also very affordable these days which makes them an appealing option.

I've been using BlueHost for a few years & haven't had the slightest issue.

After jumping hosts several times, I have finally landed upon HostGator which I have had the most positive experience with so far. Obviously you won't need super support, but they do give it. In the most complicated tickets I've sent in, they have responded within an hour. They might have a 20% off coupon floating around too, so yeah, pretty good deal.

retailmenot.com

I dont have any to suggest, unless you are looking for a dedicated server.. but I will tell you to stay away from dotster.

I've manage over 5 different accounts at dotster for over the past 5 years and they have just gone down hill since then. My main argument with them is their support is terrible.