hosting
Quick Note
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 | Skip to Comments
It’s been a week now since I posted WP-SNAP! to this site and I’ve been having a lot of fun watching traffic roll in. I especially want to say “hello” to all of the people who have been visiting from China — I’m very curious what use you all have found for my plugin. I must say that I’m a bit baffled.
More importantly though, I want to apologize for there not being much else to see here. I’m currently working very hard to build my site, but the scope of the project is quite large and I’ve hit quite a few snags along the way. I’m very excited about its progress however, so I hope you’ll stop back by in a few weeks and check it out. (Until my new site is ready, I’m getting by with the Hemingway theme for WordPress.)
There is one other thing. I’ve been looking for a new web host. I currently use Total Choice Hosting and have loved their service, but I would like the ability to host more than one domain without jumping to a reseller account. On the basis of several recommendations, I signed up for DreamHost last night but I’ve already cancelled my account. Talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth — I signed up using a $50 promo code I found on the web, only to find that there are $97 dollar promo codes to be had. Basically, their referral program is a big pyramid scheme (read more about it here) which, honestly, I don’t have any problem with. Where I think they shoot themselves in the foot is by allowing referrers to decide how much of the discount they keep. By doing so, they create a situation where new customers potentially feel ripped off. I mean, if it had been a difference of $5, oh well — but $47?! Sure, if I had spent more time research DreamHost I probably would have stumbled onto one of the $97 codes on my own — but should I be penalized for being eager to sign up for their services? So, long story short, I wrote DreamHost about my situation and the bad feelings I was having to see if I could switch out my promo code or something. They don’t lose any money by doing so, they’re handing out a total of $97 on the sign-up either way. When they wrote back today, they said there was nothing they could do.
To be honest, I was really underwhelmed by DreamHost’s administrative interface in any case. Their MySQL databases seemed to be slow and finicky and page reloads crawled at times. So, our parting, it seems, was for the best.
I’ve been pounding the pavement looking for my new host and I think I’ve narrowed it to two contenders: BlueHost and Site5. BlueHost is slightly cheaper and has basically the same features and I’ve heard nothing but good things about their reliability, but I’m really crushing on Site5 right now. I’ve never seen a web host with a blog, let alone a separate blog for the engineering team and one each for the company founders. Plus, they really seem to get where the web is going — they built their entire admin interface from the ground up using Ruby On Rails and are big proponents of the language.
Sorry, this isn’t an endorsement of Site5. I’ve never used them and cannot actually comment on their services. However, web hosting companies of the world? You want to attract customers to your service? Follow Site5’s example. So many hosting companies seem to want to present a “corporate” image, using graphics of girls wearing headsets and showing images of server farms, not realizing that the facade they are creating actually works against developing any feelings of trust between them and potential new customers. I know you don’t actually have a phone center; I know that you’re not some giant corporation with global world headquarters; I know that you’re most likely a-half-a-dozen guys in your 20s or early 30s trying to start your own business — stop pretending that you’re something that you’re not. You can be professional without being dishonest. A greater degree of transparency in your business — such as creating a blog that gives behind-the-scenes insight into the day-to-day challenges facing your little company — would probably create a much stronger bond between you and new and existing customers. If you provide good service, answer support tickets promptly, give honest answers when there is a failure (even if that means admitting that you fucked up) and let people associate your face with your business, you’ll probably find that you suddenly have a thousand cheerleaders looking to help your business succeed. Just look at Site5.
UPDATE: I eventually went with A Small Orange for hosting. For $50 a year, they provide a reasonable amount of bandwidth and storage space and the ability to host as many domains as you wish. I actually find it rather comforting that they limit the daily number of new sign-ups to 25. So far, so good.
