Reading On The Toilet

I’ve been very busy recently migrating an e-commerce site to a new shopping cart and host, so I thought I’d post a few recommendations related to hosting, shopping carts, and domains.  If you want to have a website, you’ll need a domain (www.site.com), a “host” to place your site’s content on, and if you want to sell products you’ll need a shopping cart.

Getting a domain is very easy, and very cheap, although different domain “registrars” charge different amounts.  Your best bet is probably to register new domains through GoDaddy.  You can use GoDaddy to find out if the domain you want is available for sale.  If you’re unable to find an unregistered/available domain at GoDaddy, you can try to buy a domain you like from the current owner, or browse lists of domains for auction at a place like NameJet.  Once you’ve got your domain, you need a host for your content.

All hosts are NOT equal, by any stretch of the imagination.  Many of them belong in the crapper, and plenty should be flushed down the toilet for good.  I’ve used 7 different hosting companies over the last few years, and can only recommend two:  Dreamhost is great for hobby sites you’re not that concerned with…not trying to make money with.  They’re very cheap, set up is extremely easy, and there are plenty of “one click installs” for everything from Wordpress to photo galleries.  This site is hosted on Dreamhost, for example.  BUT, Dreamhost isn’t known for reliability.  Your site will go down from time to time with Dreamhost, and there is no customer service number…only email support.

If you’re looking for a solid host with99.9% uptime, able to handle bursts of traffic, sustained high levels of traffic, 24/7 customer service, etc., go with Pair.  They’re WAY more expensive than Dreamhost, and don’t have all the one click installs and such, but they’re solid.

I’ve used a few different shopping carts.  If you’re looking for something free, there are plenty of options, from OSCommerce to ZenCart.  DO NOT go with companies like Network Solutions, where one company is your host and shopping cart, and offers you little to no control over either your hosting or cart.  This may seem like the easiest option from the start, but stay away!  Network Solutions is a horrible company for all that they “provide”.  My recommendation for a really nice and completely customizable cart is Interspire.  No cart is perfect, including Interspire, but it’s the best I’ve seen…and I’ve seen a lot of them.

So if you want to throw up a quick site or blog, GoDaddy and Dreamhost are a good combination.  If you want a more reliable host for a high traffic site, you can still register a domain with GoDaddy, but choose Pair as your host.  You won’t be disappointed!