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Web Hosting / Site Builder Combo - How do you find the one for you?
By Ken Burton
Type in the term 'web hosting' in the search engines these days and you'll come up with literally tens of thousands of web hosting companies all vying for your business. Trying to choose from such a large number of options can be dizzying at best. How can you narrow down your selections to something that makes a little more sense? Before you go out and commit yourself to one solution, consider the following...
Not all site builders are created equal. Some website builders are easier to work with than others. I'm not talking about the company here, I'm talking about the user interface you are going to use every day to build and then to tweak your website. Some site builders will make you tear out your hair in frustration. Others come with a steep learning curve before you can have a website ready to go. Figuring out if a site builder will meet your needs will greatly reduce your frustration and disappointment later.
Look for a company that offers you a free trial. You don't need that much time on the free trial. Ten days is probably plenty. In fact, an hour or two will no doubt tell you alot about the usability of the editor and the range of features available to you. Just because a company offers you a really long free trial doesn't mean they would otherwise make the grade for you. I would even go with a company who had no free trial at all other than a money back guarantee rather than be stuck putting in all kinds of work into a trial website to see the work lost in the end.
Try to find out if your trial website can be converted into a full website without having to redo the work. It is much more productive to be investing the time towards learning the interface into productively creating your website than it is to lose that work when you convert from being a free customer into a paying customer.
Make sure you are going to get good support. Support isn't only about being able to get someone on the phone, though that can't hurt, but it is also about what kind of manuals, videos and web pages they have to help you when you can't figure out how to do something. Nothing is more upsetting than being stuck in a jam and being unable to get help to get out of it.
The best advice I can give you is to do your due diligence up front rather than after the fact. Take the time to try out at least two or three web hosting companies before you settle on the one site builder that you like. It will end up being more hassle than it's worth if you have to do it later.
About the Author:
Ken Burton is a freelance writer for Yowling.com. Yowling offers a feature rich, easy to use site builder for only $19.99 per month. Try out their trial today!
Posted on 2006-12-28
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