SocialMediaBust

In 2010, I wanted to do and try some things that I couldn't do on my other hosts. I'd maxed out the number of domains I could host on Futurequest and Hostnexus (another of our hosts), and I wanted to capture some additional domain names for future use.

I wanted a hosts that offered a number of services, but at a low cost, since my plans were/are experimental, and not likely to generate revenue for some time. There are occasions when that fits. I ended up setting up an account at GoDaddy, which is both the bigh daddy of hosting and the swiss army knife of hosting. They offer a dizzying array of services and have the clout and size to deliver on their promises.

Just as examples, they operate a service to sell domains in an auction or fixed prices format, and we have two domains I'm interested in disposing of. They offer the cheapest domain registrations I've found anywhere at about $7.50. They offer regular hosting, of course, and the now common ability to install pre-set up applications like Joomla or message boards, something that's important if you aren't tech savvy. There's also email packages.

We haven't had any problems with the technical side of using Godaddy. However, I find their system of navigation plus the odd array of addons to be very confusing. It took me a while to actually figure out what I'd purchased, and whether it included emails and how that all worked. There are a few reasons for the difficulties. Different from most webhosts, you pay for each service you might want to use. Want an extra email account? You might have to add it on separately for a fee depending on what hosting plan you purchased. This piecemeal approach makes it a bit complex to understand their interface. The other reason I had trouble was that I'm used to a particular set of processes to set up and use accounts, and GoDaddy's is quite different. It's not a technical issue per se, and perhaps if I wasn't used to other ways, I'd not have gotten so confused. Still, I asked for and got clarification quickly.

I'm not sure I would use GoDaddy for web site hosting per se. I'm not saying I wouldn't but only that I haven't tried quite yet. I would definitely use them for email, domain registration and domain selling. I'm comfortable saying that because I've already done that.

I also think Godaddy might be a good starter host for those with minimal experience, and I suspect their interface will drive experienced webmasters crazy. But maybe not.

One thing is for sure. Their prices are good, and their package options are good.

If you are interested in checking them out, click on the graphic below:

if you want a cheap webhost, Futurequest is not for you. If you want to host many domains, there are better choices. However if you want an incredibly reliable webhost that protects its customers from all manner of bad things on the net, and is simply awesomely reliable, and don't mind paying a little more than you would elsewhere, this is THE place. It's where we are for our business critical functions, and we've been a FutureQuest customer for something like ten years.

Unique Hosting Platform:

Futurequest is different from almost any other host in that it developed and uses its own internally developed system for hosting websites. Most other hosts use an out of the box solution. This is important because the company knows its software better than anyone could know an out of the box software. The result is reliability beyond compare. While I've experienced outages, some as long as several days on other hosts, in all the time I have been with FutureQuest, I can't recall a single incident of downtime.

Diligence:

You'd think any webhost would be diligent regarding technical issues and downtime but it's not true. One reason is that the cheaper alternatives to Futurequest (we use several cheaper hosts, too) understaff, and so when there's a problem, they don't have the person power to see it and fix it as fast. In fact, that's one reason FutureQuest isn't a bargain host. It's for people who simply can't afford to be unavailable.

Also, when you share hosting, as is the case for relatively low traffic sites, you are prone to be affected by things other customers do on the same service, be it sending spam, or creating heavy loads that slow down YOUR site. FutureQuest is amazingly good at catching problems so you aren't affected by server hogs, or even sites that have been hacked.

Of course their diligence applies to you too. I can recall an instance where one of my installations on FutureQuest was hacked. I hadn't been aware of it, but they contacted me via email, disabled the site and helped me get rid of the invasion. Many hosts wouldn't have done that.

Features:

These days most webhosts offer similar feature sets. The cheaper ones promise you unlimited everything for a few dollars a month. Then, when you take advantage of unlimited everything, they dump you without notice because you cost more than you are payiing. FutureQuest is upfront with its bandwidth limits. You know where you are at. The real benefit, though, is that you are protected, once again, from others on your server that hog the services. The result is simply reliable hosting.

As with other hosts you can host your blogs, discussion boards and websites here. If and when you increase your resource usage, they'll help you determine your best options.

Conclusion:

Or first site, work911.com and its spinoff articles911.com are on Futurequest. Even though we have other hosts for our other domains we keep our relationship with Futurequest because its reliable. In the event we have a serious problem with another host, we can simply move our our site from there onto Futurequest.

Cost will vary. I believe we pay by the year, and the total fee is about $400 per annum. It's a premium service, and for any business the reliability and skill they bring to the table is easily worth the money.

For more information click the graphic below.