Hosting Intro
Where to host your site can be a difficult question. You should be aware that many of the low-priced options can cause you all kinds of trouble. For most of my clients I recommend one of the two shared hosting companies below. Shared hosting means that other sites are hosted on the same server as your site. Managed hosting provides a higher level of hosting and security. Only your site is on the server. A dedicated server is another option you'll see but those typically do not come with any support. That is, you're providing the technical expertise yourself. Managed hosting gives you the dedicated server but with professional management of all technical aspects of hosting and email.
Shared Hosting
Bluehost.com is where many of our sites are hosted. (Disclosure: we do receive a one-time fee from Bluehost.com for referrals.) They offer excellent service and an incredible price. They cost about $130/year with a dedicated IP. They offer many features such as Postini, Wordpress, great stats, unlimited space, multiple sites hosted on one account, etc.
Eboundhost.com is a local (near Chicago, IL) hosting company. Because they're smaller than most hosts, they can offer very personalized service. They have packages under $100/year.
Managed Hosting
Rackspace.com or datapipe.com. Both are high-end reputable hosting providers. Rackspace claims 100% up time. They have specials that run as low as $299/month or $3,500/year. Datapipe starts at $420/month or $5,040/year. They both also offer colocation which means your site is hosted on more than one computer. If one system goes down, another kicks in. So, you're always in business. But they charge even more for that. They give you tons of space, bandwidth, and features.
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