Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: web hosting services - HostGator

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On May 9, 2019, at 10:14 AM, Susan HEDGPETH <hedgpeth [at] berkeley.edu> 
> wrote:
> 
> We're looking for a new web host for our website.  We're considering
> HostGator which has good reviews and reasonable cost.  Anyone have
> experience with them, good or bad?   Thanks.

I’ve never used Hostgator but there are many reviews of “best web hosts” out 
there. What is best for you depends on what skills you have in the community 
and what you use your site for. If you have a few stable pages and it serves 
more as a way to find you, then pretty much any host is fine. Lowest cost.

If you have a more complex site that changes often and used by members for 
cohousing events, etc, then look for speed, which may mean the second level up 
of hosting.

If you don’t have any  geeks, you need good support. Quick and willing to stick 
it out until they have fixed the problem.

We have used Bluehost for years but recently downgraded to their beginning 
level  — speed is the wrong word, quicksand is more like it. So second level up 
is much better.

I use Siteground. Their help pages are good, support is wonderful — I love 
chats. They include many  services as part of the package and install their 
software for caching and optimizing. you can turn it off but it is probably 
better than anything else you would use. I use Wordpress and they have special 
support and attention to wordpress. They also do things like warn people about 
problems, or possible problems. No one has ever done that.

Look at the second year of charges — the intro rate is only one year. The 
difference of $2-5 a month is not worth it for a slow site and poor support.

Be sure to put your address on the website (search the archives on that 
subject.)

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org