Web Design and Development

HostGator Alternatives, Part 2: Who to Use and Why

Hostgator eaten by the competitionOnce upon a time, there was a miserly hosting company that was jealous of all the other hosting companies.

He saw that others were better than he was, and would rank higher on “top 10″ lists. He didn’t like that one bit! (Nevermind that the “top 10″ list was fake; that didn’t matter to him!)

Improving his services would have meant spending money, and he wouldn’t stand for that. So one day he came up with a sly plan. If he wouldn’t improve, maybe he could make the others worse!?

So he borrowed some money from friends — he wouldn’t spend his own of course! — and proceeded to buy them all out. One by one they fell, until the majority of the “top 10″ were his. To keep the commoners from knowing what he had done, he kept the old brand names to hide his identity. So when a commoner left a host, odds are that they would “switch hosts” to another of his brands on the top 10 list.

The profit rolled in, and he and his friends were happy as can be, having rigged the system in their favor. And they lived happily ever after — even though nobody else did.

That’s essentially the origin story of Endurance International Group (EIG). [Read more]


Web Design and Development

HostGator Alternatives, Part 3: The Future of EIG?

Hostgator eaten up by competitionThere’s a lot of things in this world that I don’t know — how to change oil, how to solder electronics, what women are thinking.

But there’s certain topics where I’m quite knowledgeable. One of the main reasons I like hosting is because it’s the perfect trifecta of business, technology, and PR/marketing. And that’s one of my specialties. (The other being video, photo and design … obviously!) You can’t have a successful non-amateur hosting business without grasping all of these areas.

While nobody knows what the future holds, there are clues. We can guess, and with some degree of accuracy.

There’s a number of hosting businesses that I would not consider safe, in terms of an EIG takeover/buyout. I’ve been screwed over by EIG five times to date — starting back in 2003 — when Endurance International Group bought out my host, and then botched the migration. It happened twice more, exactly the same. I never, ever want to experience that again, and therefore keep watch of their movements.

The following 4 hosts are potential targets, so when seeking a Hostgator, definitely avoid these! [Read more]


Web Design and Development

The Myth of VPS Hosting: Reasons to Avoid It! Part 1

“Use a VPS!” says somebody on a forum or blog you were reading. That person claims it’s almost as cheap/inexpensive as your current webhost — only $10 per month — but runs better and faster!

“Wow,” you think. “What a deal! I should have been using a VPS long ago.”

In theory, it sounds like a magic cure-all for your shared web hosting problems. But it’s not. Sadly, that advice was terrible.

Not only was it factually flawed — what little it addressed — but it overlooked a huge swath of what’s involved. For you see, running a VPS is basically running your own server. Do you know what all is involved with that? Probably not.

It’s like saying all you need to drive a car is a driver’s license. But what about buying the car? Annual registration fees? Changing the car’s oil? What if the engine light comes on? What if your license is suspended?! Not so easy, eh?

So before you jump headfirst into a bad situation, let’s see if VPS hosting is right for you…

[Read more]