Hosting Companies

[James & Zelma Litzmann]

Can anyone advise me of a "good" inexpensive hosting company that uses wordpress and woocommerce? (like I know what I am talking about)

[Gary Hair]

You will get many different opinions on who is best - my vote is for GoDaddy. I have about a dozen domains and websites hosted with them and I have absolutely no complaints! Any time I need help setting something up their tech support has me going in no time. Not once in 12 years have they let me down. I have been using Wordpress for my website for about 3 years now and really, really, like it. Very simple to use and to update. If you need help setting up your site I can send you the contact info for my web guy. I have no idea what he charges now, we traded services - his design for my lasering, but I can tell you that whatever he charges is worth it! I have had more business come from my website each year since he updated it three years ago than in the previous 6 combined.

[Walt Langhans]

I use godaddy, no problems, used customer support a few times, very good, they support wordpress, the are inexpensive, and also offer a lot of additional services that you might need / want (like secure ordering etc.). Wow that sentence was terrible, but I think you got the point, lol.

[James & Zelma Litzmann]

Is the speed on GoDaddy average or is it good. I was setting my site up on a mother hosting company but it is VERY SLOW, click and wait . . . and wait.

[Bill Stearns]

[QUOTE=Gary Hair;2259390]You will get many different opinions on who is best - my vote is for GoDaddy. I have about a dozen domains and websites hosted with them and I have absolutely no complaints! Any time I need help setting something up their tech support has me going in no time. Not once in 12 years have they let me down. I have been using Wordpress for my website for about 3 years now and really, really, like it. Very simple to use and to update. If you need help setting up your site I can send you the contact info for my web guy. I have no idea what he charges now, we traded services - his design for my lasering, but I can tell you that whatever he charges is worth it! I have had more business come from my website each year since he updated it three years ago than in the previous 6 combined.

GARY -
Not to drag us into a mile-long thread like we had going 'while ago 'bout websites (pros and cons, etc.) - just wondering - are you able to share your site URL with me? Would like to look at a site that I can believe (from what you're saying) is truly producing sales. Some of those "awards/engraving" sites are just awful! BTW: maybe, explain to James about the need for registering his site's name? - think you are suppose to, right? - in my case it's Domain People. Thanks - if you can.

Bill
Great Engravings - Minnesota

[Gary Hair]

[QUOTE=Gary Hair;2259390]You will get many different opinions on who is best - my vote is for GoDaddy. I have about a dozen domains and websites hosted with them and I have absolutely no complaints! Any time I need help setting something up their tech support has me going in no time. Not once in 12 years have they let me down. I have been using Wordpress for my website for about 3 years now and really, really, like it. Very simple to use and to update. If you need help setting up your site I can send you the contact info for my web guy. I have no idea what he charges now, we traded services - his design for my lasering, but I can tell you that whatever he charges is worth it! I have had more business come from my website each year since he updated it three years ago than in the previous 6 combined.

GARY -
Not to drag us into a mile-long thread like we had going 'while ago 'bout websites (pros and cons, etc.) - just wondering - are you able to share your site URL with me? Would like to look at a site that I can believe (from what you're saying) is truly producing sales. Some of those "awards/engraving" sites are just awful! BTW: maybe, explain to James about the need for registering his site's name? - think you are suppose to, right? - in my case it's Domain People. Thanks - if you can.

Bill
Great Engravings - Minnesota

Bill,
The TOS here won't allow us to post our website URL's but if you click on this link it will bring up a google search that will have my website listed first. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=laser+image+eugene Sorry I had to use the "let me google that for you" site but it works to ensure you get the exact results I get so you'll see me at the top... You can also google "laser engraving eugene oregon" and find me as the first two listings - if you just google "engraving eugene oregon" then I'm in the top 5. I attribute that to having that website for 8 years as well as decent content to get me up in the rankings.

I use GoDaddy for everything, domain registration, website hosting, email, etc. I also have hosted exchange server with Comcast that allows me to see my inbox from anywhere and I don't have to use Gmail or something like that.
My site has nothing to sell but has info on it to bring people to me and it seems to work pretty well.

Gary

[Gary Hair]

Is the speed on GoDaddy average or is it good. I was setting my site up on a mother hosting company but it is VERY SLOW, click and wait . . . and wait.

I have no complaints about GoDaddy speed - haven't heard any from my customers either. You have more factors in the equation that the host, but if the host is slow then the rest doesn't matter.

[Jason Hilton]

I always recommend Dreamhost to my clients. In my experience, GoDaddy and Hostgator overburden their shared servers, which is fine for low traffic and HTML/CSS only web sites, but when running a database heavy content management system like wordpress both services bog down. If you for sure need database services (wordpress absolutely does) and only want to pay for shared hosting I would go with Dreamhost or Bluehost, their shared servers better suited for content management systems like wordpress.

Additionally, if you're at all concerned about site speed, consider paying more for VPS hosting.

[Robert Tepper]

I would agree with DoDaddy.

Robert

[Mike Null]

I have been using Yahoo for many years. They're helpful, have real people to talk with and reasonably priced. They are a dollar or two higher than go daddy but not worth changing.

[Craig Matheny]

i use ixwebhosting for about 10 years unlimited domains hosting ecomm blah blah blah and cheap.

[Peter Odell]

I have been using rdshosting for a long time never had any trouble with them

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I always recommend Dreamhost to my clients. In my experience, GoDaddy and Hostgator overburden their shared servers, which is fine for low traffic and HTML/CSS only web sites, but when running a database heavy content management system like wordpress both services bog down. If you for sure need database services (wordpress absolutely does) and only want to pay for shared hosting I would go with Dreamhost or Bluehost, their shared servers better suited for content management systems like wordpress.

+1 and -1 what Jason said.

GoDaddy & Hostgator oversell their servers and have a lot of spam/undeliverable mail issues. I have run across a fair number of web sites who have problems with undeliverable email or server problems on Bluehost too.

The key factor is you get what you pay for. If you pay less then $10/month for your host service, don't expect to have your site & email to work 100% of the time. Find a web host where you can actually monitor uptime statistics on the server and view data that is not hard-coded in to say "99.9% reliable"

[Jason Hilton]

As a follow-on to Mike regarding e-mail, I NEVER recommend using a hosting providers e-mail services, regardless of the provider. You will regret it. Pay the yearly fee to use google apps for business ($50 a year) so you can set up your domain e-mail on gmails servers. It's trouble free, you get the simplicity of gmail web and device access @<yourdomain>, the best spam control, and a lot of supplementary tools to help manage your business.

[Gary Hair]

you get the simplicity of gmail web and device access @<yourdomain>, the best spam control, and a lot of supplementary tools to help manage your business.

and don't forget the free "NSA grammar scan"...

[Phil Thien]

As a follow-on to Mike regarding e-mail, I NEVER recommend using a hosting providers e-mail services, regardless of the provider. You will regret it. Pay the yearly fee to use google apps for business ($50 a year) so you can set up your domain e-mail on gmails servers. It's trouble free, you get the simplicity of gmail web and device access @<yourdomain>, the best spam control, and a lot of supplementary tools to help manage your business.

I've been using various hosting provider E-Mail services for twenty years now and I don't think I have any more trouble than my clients that use Google Apps. Google Apps had a substantial outage this last January, and again in September '13.

[Mike Null]

And I've been using Yahoo for my mail for at least 15 years without any glitches that I'm aware of.

i will be building an additional website with Yahoo site builder software as time permits just to test out a theory. I don't believe in diy site building but this one will be cheap and focused on one category. If it doesn't produce I'll take it down.

[Jason Hilton]

To each their own of course, but in my experience it's been significantly easier setting up my clients with gmail because they're already familiar, and there is a lot less chance things will go awry later on down the line.

[Tim Bateson]

I guess I'm the exception here. I use inmotion hosting. Never was one to be a follower. Never used gone daddy, but I can vouch for inmotion. The reality is there are hundreds of providers and most of them would do everything you need. This is like asking who makes the best laser... Epilog of-course. :-D Sorry couldn't resist.

[David Somers]

Hey Jason,

I am chuckling about Gmail. I use it personally and it is OK. Don't love it, don't hate it. But I do regionally administer it in a VERY large Enterprise environment. There I can tell you I hate it with a passion, as do most of the admins. And I am none to fond of it as a user in this environment either. I think at a personal level, and a small to mid sized business environment it is fine. But for an enterprise size operation....run away!....run away!! <grin>

Dave

[Jason Hilton]

The company I work for day to day uses google apps enterprise-wide with no complaints. As a UX designer, I have issues with the web app interface, but I use a third party client for my mail, and most end-users who use the web-app don't notice or care as long as they can read their mail simply. "gmail.com" is easy to remember, "webmail.<doman>.com/login" is a bit harder, and google is the only major service that offers easy e-mail integration with existing domains.

Again, to each their own. If it aint broke, as they say. I have found that small business owners do many things because that's how they've always done them, even if it's not the most effective. Measuring the potential benefit against the effort to change is the only way to know if a change is worth making.

[John Frazee]

I use Godaddy's website builder which is not so great. I was very close to using Headway Themes. They have drag and drop WordPress templates and also have the Woocommerce. Do a search for them and try out their free demo. I messed with the demo for several days.

[Clark Pace]

I use weebly.com It does not use wordpress. But if you don't know code it is a good way to go.

I use weebly.com , mals-e for my shopping cart. It's free and does what I need.

[John Bion]

Can anyone recommend an e-commerce provider that has the option for customers to input text to have custom engraved on products? If it makes any difference I am in the UK.
many thanks, John

[Dan Hintz]

Can anyone recommend an e-commerce provider that has the option for customers to input text to have custom engraved on products? If it makes any difference I am in the UK.
many thanks, John

Almost all e-carts will have a "notes" section... just tell the customer to put the words to engrave on a separate line in there (and you can usually preload the section with text like "Engraving text goes here").

[Tim Bateson]

Can anyone recommend an e-commerce provider that has the option for customers to input text to have custom engraved on products? If it makes any difference I am in the UK.
many thanks, John

Not a "provider", but a tool for you to use within your own web site - OpenCart is right there in the UK. Their earlier products were a waste of time. However they seem to have gotten their act together & I have switched over to it for my webstore. Over the past 7 years, this is my 4th webstore, but the 1st I felt was worthy of being open to the public. The first 3 never went live due to their lack of functionality and/or accuracy.

NOTE: ALL e-commerce software will require plug-ins/extra - separately purchased packages to get everything you want.

[Frédéric PARROT]

Hi,
Not a provider too : if you know the Php language, you can use OsCommerce (free), there are several free addons and one of them allow what you want.
I use it on my webstore :) since 2006.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Can anyone recommend an e-commerce provider that has the option for customers to input text to have custom engraved on products? If it makes any difference I am in the UK.
many thanks, John

Welcome to a world of hell. I don't mean to say this in a discouraging way but in the world of custom, you will require custom.

Most carts offer some sort of option to add a text box. The issue is when you have quantities or when the customer wants an object with 4 lines that are all the same except the last line will be a variable. It requires custom coding.

Unless you're ready to cough up some cash, it's hard to beat email + attachments.

[John Bion]

Hi all,
Thanks for your input, I have just found ekmpowershop dot net, who seem as though it may provide the solution, I am giving the 14 day trial a bash and see how it goes. Otherwise it is back to e-mail or message attached to orders.
Thanks again.
Kind Regards, John

[Jason Hilton]

Ecwid allows you to create multiple labeled options for products, including text input. So for example you could have a input labeled "engraved text", a second drop-down for font selection, etc.



Can anyone recommend an e-commerce provider that has the option for customers to input text to have custom engraved on products? If it makes any difference I am in the UK.
many thanks, John

[Greg W Watson]

Lunarpages unlimited bandwidth and storage cheap too

[Clark Pace]

Don't laugh, but I use the free site weebly.com, It's simple and easy to update anywhere.

[Sean Coyne]

It might be biased, but my brother hosts/builds/designs wordpress/HTML/CSS sites and beyond. Ill just throw his hat in the ring and say "Coyne Web Services". I would feel bad if I didnt try to send business his way :)