Greetings fellow shooters.
I am looking to move my website & transfer the domain name to a different host.
So many choices. Can anyone recommend a company that offers good value, customer service & simple website design options for photographers?
So far my research shows apaturehost, fatcow,photocrati,godaddy &
bluehost to come highly recomended.
Any others worth consideration?
Thanks,
Mark
Photocrati doesn't host. They just make a Wordpress theme. I use Bluehost and rarely have any problems with it. Catch them during a sale period and you can get a few years of hosting at a very good rate. I used GoDaddy for a while but I thought their web-based control panel was really cluttered and confusing.
I have had good luck with IX hosting. I run about 20 sites on it and only had a minor issue. I have tried a couple of those you list with more than minor issues that could not be fixed so for me this is a good record. Of course I keep on top of my sites. If you just upload your pages and never do anything else to it for months then you would not know if it was working smooth or not. Forget the reviews. They are 99% paid referrals. Some pay a year of fees just to get the referrals!
I've been with Dreamhost for about 5 years and I'm thoroughly pleased with them. But it's important to note a couple of caveats:
1) I use VPS, so I don't have to worry about my site getting slowed by another site's resource needs
2) I've been doing linux system administration to pay my bills for years
3) DH provides some services that are probably not important for >90% of brochure and portfolio sites (ssh, SVN, TRAC, etc) but were critical in my initial decision to go with them
Dreamhost does have a weak support chain; their business model lies in turning over a lot of the ability to do routine tasks to the end user and having a much smaller support staff. It's a tradeoff I'm quite happy with, as I'd rather do my own maintenance because it's where my expertise is. I have met people who aren't as experienced in this space who left DH because they found the experience frustrating.
www.creativemotiondesign.com is what I use. Easy setup and some great templates. I've had no issues with them at all..plus their having a 50% off sale until the end of the month.
I use Hover for all my domain & email needs, and Squarespace for my websites (including several I'm maintaining for clients). None of the silly crap you get from places like GoDaddy.
I third the opinion to stay away from godaddy......to quote mdude85 "I used GoDaddy for a while but I thought their web-based control panel was really cluttered and confusing." This is a big reason that I hate godaddy besides their automatic renewal that adds on features that I haven't signed up for.
I use GoDaddy and have not had any problems. You can actually speak to a knowleable tech if you need the support. I only get them to host and do not use any of their Web products. I am on a Mac and use RapidWeever to produce my web site then upload.
billkoe wrote:
I strongly recommend dogbark if service means anything to you. Their rates are very reasonable and service is excellent. ASMP members get a discount.
Bill,
Went with dogbark and couldn't be happier.
Www.mohauptphoto.com
Just set it up this week. If you PM me with your info I will pass it along for your discount.
I'll toss in a vote FOR godaddy. I've had nothing but good luck with them. I guess I just haven't had the trouble with them that others are mentioning. The interface can be a bit over-cooked and confusing but I do think it has gotten better over time.
