It’s no secret that if you’ve read any of my previous posts, that I use HostGator Web Hosting as my hosting solution for the majority of my online ventures. Simply telling everyone that I use a particular web host is all well and good, but since this is a company I believe in and their web hosting is a product that I use and have used for several years, I thought I should do a formal review to point out the HostGator.com web hosting features that I find most useful, as well as areas in which I think
Hostgator could improve. No company is perfect, but in an effort of full disclosure, I feel that any honest review should include both pros and cons of whatever the product under review happens to be. Okay, off to the review…
HostGator offers Shared Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. Because each type of hosting is suited to a different purpose, one of the first things to understand are the differences between the three types of hosting offered by HostGator. This is necessary so that anyone considering buying web hosting from HostGator chooses the type of hosting most suited to their needs, without spending more for hosting than they need to.
Shared Web Hosting refers to a web hosting service where multiple websites reside on a single server (computer connected to the internet). The advantages of shared web hosting are that costs are kept low because multiple websites are hosted on the same server. Since there is no requirement for a separate server for each domain/website, the hosting company can offer shared web hosting at a much cheaper price than dedicated web hosting, for example. For most new and existing affiliates, some type of shared web hosting plan is all that is needed. Many affiliates have content or review type sites that don’t typcially require a lot of extras, making shared web hosting from HostGator an affordale hosting solution for all but the biggest sites.
Reseller Web Hosting allows anyone to essentially become their own web hosting company by providing the tools and access required to ‘host’ websites themselves. This type of web hosting is especially well-suited to anyone who wants to get involved in the business of webhosting without incurring the high costs that are one of the barriers to entry in this lucrative field. HostGator’s reseller hosting package allows the aspiring webmaster to use their servers and support, while making it appear to the individual purchasing hosting from the reseller that there is no middle man. The advantages of reseller hosting are that the reseller can host as many domains as they wish for one low price and is also able to collect income from all of the websites they, in turn, host from their reseller account. In a nutshell, a reseller has actually purchased hosting from the hosting company and ‘re-sold’ it to someone else in order to collect the hosting fee themselves. One of the best features of HostGator.com’s reseller hosting package is that the reseller gets to keep 100% of the money they collect for the hosting plans they sell. If hosting websites is part of your business plan for making money on the internet, check out Reseller Web Hosting from HostGator.
Dedicated Web Hosting refers to hosting in which a dedicated server is provided by HostGator for the hosting of a single website/domain. Think of dedicated web hosting as the opposite of shared web hosting. While shared web hosting allows for the hosting of multiple websites on a single server and is the least expensive type of hosting package available, dedicated web hosting from Hostgator.com is where a dedicated (single) server is provided for the hosting of one website. The dedicated server is not shared with other websites and, as a result, this is the most expensive type of hosting. According to the HostGator.com website, anyone who purchases dedicated web hosting from HostGator is also provided professional website management to help grow their online business and take it to the next level. This web hosting solution is generally only suited for the largest of websites with the biggest of budgets.
While there are a number of wide ranging web hosting solutions offered by HostGator, my experience as an affiliate marketer is primarily with their Shared Hosting package and this is the type of hosting that is probably most relevant for 99% of the people reading this website so that is what I will focus on for the remainder of this review.
HostGator.com’s shared web hosting solution is available in three different plans (or levels as I like to say), cutely titled Hatchling ($4.95/month), Baby ($7.95/month), or (not so cutely titled) Business ($12.95/month). Each plan offers incrementally more features with the Hatchling Plan offering the fewest shared hosting features, while the Business plan offers the greatest number of features. You can read more about the differences between the three shared hosting plans offered by HostGator here, but I’ll just highlight the main differences between the three plans. First off, all plans offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth, so you don’t have to worry about your site outgrowing your hosting plan. The first difference between the Hatchling plan and the other two is that the Hatchling plan only allows for the hosting of one domain. This is significant because if you are planning on creating a network of sites, it might be more economical to select one of the other shared hosting plans, such as Baby or Business.
Other differences between the three shared hosting plans are that the Business plan also comes with a free toll-free number, free dedicated IP, free anonymous FTP, and free private SSL for secure encrypted transactions. Other than these differences, there is not much difference between the three shared hosting plans offered by HostGator. The biggest difference for me is the fact that I can host unlimited domains by purchasing the Baby plan, while I can only host one domain with the Hatchling plan. Since my affiliate marketing plan involves the development of multiple, niche websites, the Baby plan is definitely more economical for me and is the plan that I currently use for the hosting of the majority of my websites.
HostGator web hosting also comes with cPanel, which is a web-based control panel that allows anyone to manage the hosting of their domain, including installing features and programs on the hosted site, relatively easily. HostGator’s cpanel comes with a nifty little application called Fantastico Deluxe that makes upgrading WordPress blogs like this one extremely fast and easy.
Things I like About HostGator:
- The uptime (time my sites are actually accessible via the world wide web) of their servers is excellent. Their servers are rarely down and since my websites provide a part of my income, this is very important to me.
- Their LiveChat feature. This allows me to get customer support from a live individual immediately, without waiting for an email request or ticket to get answered. It also allows me to obtain customer support privately versus using the phone, which is something I would rather not do while at work. Each time I’ve had a question or a request, their customer support via LiveChat has been invaluable.
- When I have requested to remove or cancel domains from my hosting account, these requests were handled immediately and professionally. I was not given a hard sell nor did HostGator ever make it difficult for me to remove or cancel hosting for any of my domains. The main reason I ever cancelled a website’s hosting here was because I sold the site to another individual and no longer required web hosting. I have heard that some other hosting companies can make it difficult to cancel hosting, although I do not have any experience with this at other companies.
Areas in which HostGator could Improve:
- I find it somewhat difficult to tell exactly what my monthly cost will be for any of their shared hosting plans. While their website clearly shows that the Hatchling Plan is $4.95/month, the Baby shared hosting plan is $7.95/month, and the Business plan is $12.95/month, I believe that the length of time you purchase any one of these plans can affect the monthly cost. Typically, the longer the length of time for which a plan is purchased, the lower the monthly cost will be, but this is not apparent to me from the website.
- They do not offer Windows web hosting as one of their shared web hosting options. While the Linux (Unix) web hosting they provide is the industry standard and suitable, probably, for 99% of all online marketers, it is possible that someone will have requirements for their site(s) to be hosted on a Windows platform. Luckily, the HostGator.com website says that they are currently seeking a Windows Administrator and will be offering Windows hosting in the near future.
One of the last things I would like to leave you with is that I imagine that many of the better web hosting companies probably offer many of the same features as HostGator. Namely, these companies probably provide different hosting packages many of which are very economical, allow the hosting of multiple domains, provide reseller accounts, and have excellent uptime. The difference for me when selecting a hosting solution for my websites is the types of cutomer service options available and the responsiveness and professionalism of the customer service staff. In these two areas in particular, I believe HostGator really excels and that is why I continue to use and recommend HostGator to my friends and website visitors. Are you ready to try HostGator? If so, click here to save money on any one of HostGator’s web hosting solutions for your business.
I hoped you have enjoyed this review of Hostgator and the web hosting plans available through HostGator.com.
