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Why I Love Hostmonster and You Will Too

One of the most important first steps for going on line and using the internet to grow your business profitably is to get some ‘virtual’ real-estate on the Internet. ‘Virtual’ because this isn’t really a piece of land that you own or a physical property - like a house, office, or store. However it is your on-line address and the space where you’ll create your site. It will be the place where your visitors and customers go. You will create the office, shop or store in this ‘virtual’ space and it will become as real and as important as your physical operations are now.

Therefore one of the first decisions that you’ll have to make is where to put it - that is what company will you pay to provide (HOST) this ‘virtual’ space for you. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of web host providers. Some are great and others are just good, with a few down right horrible. I know, I’ve used many of them. The company I’ve found that has the best value - features and price - is Hostmonster.com.

When you select a webhost you need to consider several things:

• Cost
• Amount of webpages and differnt sites allowed
• Functionality
• Bandwidth
• Growth and Scalability
• Customer Service
• Oh, and cost (I know I said that but it bears repeating)

Lets briefly discuss these items and then I’ll show you some extrodinary features of Hostmonster and why I use them for all of my webhosting needs.

Cost

While not the only factor, cost is important, especially when you are starting out. Many providers have low ‘come on’ prices but after you start using them additional charges get added on. These charges really add up quickly. Extra charges can be for increased traffic to your website, features you didn’t realize you’d need at first, such as a shopping cart or getting site metrics (who is doing what on your site), and for adding additional webpages or sites to your account. It’s easy to get stung here because so many of the original offers promise the world and seem cheap - at first. It is only by using them do you find out the real story about functionality and service. Cheap becomes very expensive if the site won’t grow with you, do what you need done, or costs you business because of downtime or poor customer service.

Webpages and Sites Allowed
As you grow you will add pages and may even want multiple sites. Having more than one site is like having different businesses or multiple stores. Often you want them separate and have them named differently. That way you can have different looks and styles for each. What you don’t want is to have a different host for each site you create - and the bill that goes along with each. The ideal webhost should allow you to put all of your domain names, sites, and pages under one account, and at one price.

Functionality
Functionality is where the rubber meets the road ( can’t help myself in using these clinches). You’ll see more about functionality when I put up some screenshots of Hostmonster. The worst thing that can happen is having to change webhosts because they can’t do what needs to be done. While a start-up doesn’t know what is needed at first the more functionally available the less chance there will be of having to swtich to a different provider later.

Most importantly the webhost need to use cPanel. cPanel is a website management tool that automates most of what needs to be done on a website, like installing Wordpress, or getting to your email. cPanel removes most of the complexity of working with a site. It includes email management, installation of common programs for shopping carts, blogging, content management, databases, etc. Instead of learning how to plug-in the functionality you need cPanel will do it for you. cPanel will also keep your sites organized and accessible.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth means the amount of traffic using your website and what the visitors are doing. The more downloads and the more traffic the more bandwidth - the bits and bytes of data in and out of your website - is being used. Here all webhosts over-promise and under-deliver. Most promise “unlimited bandwidth” which if everyone used would overwhelm the provider. Most webstites have very little traffic and only 4 or 5 pages. The webhosts count on that fact which is why they can make such outlandish offers. Just know that if you’re really busy and successful bandwidth issues might come up (more on this later) and you’ll have to have a strategy to deal with it.

Growth and Scalability
At first you will share your ‘virtual’ space with other websites. They will all share the same resources as you do, specifically the same Internet connection, the same computer, and the same infrastructure. When your website or someone elses gets busy it effects everyone. This called shared hosting and it is by far the least expensive way to get started. However as you grow you need to scale up and be able to have your own dedicated bandwidth and equipment. The webhost you select should have a way of you starting small and scale up. Many offer “Dedicated” services and hosting plans where your website is placed on its own computer with its own resources. Being able to convert from a shared plan to a dedicated plan saves a lot of work and time down the road.

Customer Service
Unfortunately the only way you learn if about a company’s service is to experience a problem after the sale. However there are some good indicators before buying that can clue a buyer in. Do they offer on-line chat? Do they have a phone number to call or do you have to do everything through emails? Is the webhost’s site easy to use? What is the buying process and is it easy to do? For me, having people to talk to and ask questions of is very important. Submit a question before you buy and see how long it takes to get a response, something like “how do I add a second site or what happens if my site gets really busy?” Call their phone numbers and see what happens. Remember if you have problems during the engagement the marriage will be terrible.

Oh, and cost
Don’t just factor in the up-front costs. Downtime, poor customer service, expandability and a range of other issues will cost you money down the line, if not in hard dollars but in opportunity cost of missed sales and disappointed customers. Do some homework. Search for comments and reviews on the Internet about the webhost that you’re considering and find out what others are experiencing. Past performance is the best indicator of future performance, with employees, partners, and vendors.

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WHY HOSTMONSTER?
After months of trying different options and webhosts I finally settled on Hostmonster. They had the best mix of cost and functionality that I could find, especially for starting out and starting out on a shoestring budget. They have covered all of the bases I mentioned above. You can start out with an inexpensive plan and grow the site to have a dedicated server (the computer and equipment to run a website)

They provided me with a person to chat with when I was purchasing my plan and have quickly responded, both on the phone and by email, to all of my questions and difficulties. I’ve also been surprised by the functionality that I have been able to add to my website that I didn’t even know I needed when I got started. Hostmonster will provide statics on which pages visitors read, how long they stay on my site and what they do there. Hostmonster, through cPanel, made installing Wordpress a couple of simple mouse clicks instead of the laborious and confusing process of downloading software from Wordpress itself.

Below I’ve illustrated some of the pleaseant surprises I’ve found by using Hostmonster and the reasons I stay with them.

As you can see from Hostmonster’s main screen they offer an inexpensive plan with ‘unlimited’ bandwidth, hosting space and number of sites/pages that you can have all under one hosting account. Forget the “domain included” because they own it. Get your domain registered somewhere else, like Godaddy.com and then transfer it to Hostmaster. This is more clearly explained in the BusinessWebStep course.

Right away you’ll see that Hostmonster has real people, chat and phone numbers in order to contact them. The cost is low and doesn’t require any long term comments or a large out of pocket startup expense. They have a full demo system to try out before you buy. I also found the site easy to understand and navigate around. When I had a question, like how do I put on several domain names (I have a couple, including one for my girlfriend), they answered me quickly, and as it turns out accurately.

Here are the main functions of cPanel. From here I can add programs, check email, transfer files and see all of the important activities going on for my websites. This can all be done by simply clicking on the icon. cPanel does all the work. I can manage my domains, purchase a new one, check the visitor logs, even edit files and answer emails from one ‘control’ panel. This is like a business dashboard, a cockpit from which I can operate my entire Internet presence. Huge time saver and a must have when you’re not particularly savvy when it comes to computers or techy stuff.

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If these images are hard to read click on the image or
CLICK HERE FOR HostMonster.COM and click on demo. The screen shots will be better. (Use your browser’s BACK button to return here)

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Okay, that’s the basics, what about the exicting stuff?

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There is more functionality to cPanel that the first picture could show. Many of these items are for the tech guys (and gals), such as some programming languages, php, and scripting. The big idea here is that if you end up using a web programmer or designer to spice up your site all the tools and resources they will need are already available. What this means for you, the site owner and business person, is lower costs.

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Fantastico De Luxe

When I decided to use Hostmonster and actually build a site I found this little gem: Fantastico De Luxe. This little icon will install Wordpress for you, as well as almost every other program you will need to grow a website. Fantatico makes hard jobs, like installing software, easy to do. A couple of mouse clicks and Murphy’s law is defeated.

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The functionality that you do need is at your fingertips: Wordpress, doing surveys and polls, creating a discussion board or a membership site. It is all there. However most of these you’ll never touch so there isn’t any reason to become intimidated.
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As you can see from the items on the left you can install a wide range of programs.

The main point is that if you need them later they will be there. You won’t have to buy anything or change host providers.

If these images are hard to read click on the image or
CLICK HERE FOR HostMonster.COM and click on demo. The screen shots will be better. (Use your browser’s BACK button to return here)

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I’ve Saved the Best for Last
If you can’t measure something you can’t improve it! Thats business 101 and an important part of not only knowing what is going on but to managing it. We MUST know how our website is doing, what pages are being read, how many people are visiting, how many sales we are getting. Knowing these things will tell us which pages and messages are effective and which are not. Then we can change our site and the messages were communicating to make them more effective.

A great example is when I first put my site up. When I looked at the statistics I found that most visitors stayed less than 30 seconds on the home page and then clicked to another site. This told me that my front page did not capture their attention and make them interested in reading other pages in my website. I had to change my frontpage to keep visitors instead of them clicking away. I made some changes, like putting changing post links in the sidebar and reducing some of the text on the frontpage. Now visitors spend an average of 3 minutes on the site and visit at least 3 pages.

I could never have fixed the problem if I didn’t have the metrics in the first place. Below are some important graphs and measurements that Hostmonster provides through cPanel. I’m sure you’ll discover more and the specific ones that help you manage and increases business through your web site.

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Click on an image to see it more clearly - REMEMBER to use your Browser’s BACK button to return here

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Summary
Deciding on what company you’ll trust to host your website is very important. There are so many choices and options that choosing a webhost can be confusing. I hope this article is helpful and removes the difficulty in selecting your hosting company.

Hostmonster has been my choice because all of the reasons I mention above. It combines the right amount of flexibiitly, functionality, customer service, and cost to win my business. It is also very simple to use and can grow with me as my needs increase. It is a great hosting company to use for anyone who needs to get onto the Internet on a small budget. Check it out.

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