"Hi,

I currently own a domain name (www.instamom.com) and am looking for a
Web host provider, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by much of the techno
mumbo
jumbo and bazillions of competing firms.

Here are my criteria:
- Should be under ($10) per month, with only a small setup fee.
- Should not have pervasive or otherwise worrisome negative feedback
posted about it
- Offers templates so I can instantly get started; I'm really a newbie
on the Internet and while I will eventually learn HTML, right now, I
want to get my rudimentary site up and running ASAP!
- I won't need a ton of space or bandwidth at this time... it will be
a
simple site with just a handful of pages to start
- CGI-BIN access would be nice, but not absolutely necessary right now
for me I've been told
- NO ADS!  I just won't deal with banner ads or pop-ups or anything
like
that!

I'd be especially pleased if you had a personal recommendation for
me...
a Web host you're currently using and are having good experience with.
Otherwise, I would very much appreciate:
1) Any recommendations you can come up with regards to specific
hosting
companies that fit my criteria above
2) In addition to #1, any particularly useful guidelines I should know
for comparing companies

Thanks so much for your help!  Please know that in addition to my bid
here, I am also happy to offer you my thanks publicly in my friendly
and popular InstaMom newsletter (currently at www.instamom.com).

I am so lucky (grateful too!). A subscriber to my newsletter actually
wrote this letter for me. That should tell you how clueless I really am.
I use a Mac and AOL and I might be able to get someone to use
DreamWeaver to design a website for me.  I already have a mail account
associated with my domain so mail capability is not a necessity.

Regards,
afunkymom

Hi there,

I personally run a few web sites, and have good experience in the
budget hosting category.

All but one of your criteria can be easily met by many companies.
Finding a cheap host that offers decent templates is the tricky part.
As you intend to learn HTML, I suggest that you acquire a web
authoring program and templates, and use these in combination with a
good budget hosting service. This will give you better value and
flexibility than an "all-in-one" service.

In terms of templates and easy-of-use, I recommend Microsoft
FrontPage. It allows you to use themes or complete templates. There
are numerous sites that offer free or reasonably priced themes and
templates for FrontPage, such as:
http://www.frontpageworld.com/frontpagetools/webtemplates.htm
http://www.frontpageworld.com/themes.htm
http://www.thememart.com/themes.asp
http://www.frontpagecommerce.com/shop/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1&cat=Best+Selling+Web+Templates
http://www.aplustemplates.com/
http://www.frontpageguru.com/frontpagethemes.html
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Graphics/Web/Templates/?tc=1/

Alternatives to Microsoft FrontPage:

Dreamweaver isn't as easy to use, but is a better program for when you
know HTML well:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
WebExpress:
http://www.mvd.com/webexpress/features.htm
SiteDesignMachine:
http://www.sitedesignmachine.com/fivepagetemplates.html
Web Easy:
http://www.v-com.com/product/wep_ind.html

More HTML editors:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Internet/Authoring/HTML/WYSIWYG_Editors/

There are certainly dozens of hosts that will do everything you need
for under $10 per month. I currently use and can recommend the
following. They aren't glitzy or money-hungry, just good decent
services. My sites get a lot of traffic, and they have been close to
perfect (for me):

PHP Web Hosting, perfect so far, $10 per month:
http://www.phpwebhosting.com

Bitshack, one outage in two years, $35 per year:
http:www.bitshack.com

DSD, perfect so far, $2.95 month:
http://www.dsdhosting.com

Use a Host Directory to find others:
http://www.webhostingratings.com/advanced.html
http://www.webhostdir.com/hostsearch/search.asp?SearchType=Advanced
http://www.hostsearch.com/

I tend to go for services that offer a free trial or money-back
guarantee. Avoid "set-up fees" - in my experience it is charged by
hosts that expect you to cancel when you realise how poor the service
is. Avoid hosts that try too hard to sell you domain names.

If they don't offer cgi-bin access for free, don't use them, for it is
a standard feature.

Don't pay for a year upfront (unless they are mega-cheap), keep it
month by month. Many businesses in this industry go broke overnight.

To find out if anything negative has been said about the host, I
usually just search Google using the hosts name, and words like
review, poor, useless, didn't or couldn't. I also ask the Google Group
alt.www.webmaster for feedback:
http://groups.google.com/groups?num=30&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&newwindow=1&q=alt.www.webmaster

When comparing hosts in the future, keep in mind that for them,
storage is cheap and bandwidth is expensive. Look for the fine print
regarding any "unlimited bandwidth". Email an enquiry to prospective
hosts and don't use them if they take more than 24 hours to respond.

I trust that this answers your query. Feel free to request
clarifications on any aspect of my response.

Thanks for using Google Answers, and best wishes,
from robertskelton-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by robertskelton-ga on 29 May 2002 18:09 PDT

There has already been a similar question posted on Google Answers,
for which missy-ga's answer received 5-stars - it is worth reading:
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=13751

It seems like you have been give plenty of great recommendations.  I
will add two more ideas for you to consider.

1)  Free Web Host - No Ads.  Given your minimal requirements at the
present time, you may want to consider http://www.doteasy.com
They are free with no banner ads.  Unfortunately, no templates, but if
you use a web development tool that comes with templates, this is not
an issue for you.  They do ask you to give them an email address that
they can send an ad to each day.

2)  I currently use Infinology through a low-priced source by
accessing them at:
http://smartconsumers.infinology.com/cnet-hostingnt.html
The Smart Consumer package is $7.95/mo, gives loads of space and
features... AND they have templates.  They use Web Studio where you
build your site through your web browser.  If you like their
templates, it makes things very easy.  Right now, no setup fee, no
zone transfer fee, free domain (I suspect you have to pay for a year's
worth of service for the fees to be waived...).  I've been using them
for a long time with good performance and no issues... and they are
CNET's #1 rated host.  Just another one to check out.

Hope that helps.

Re: http://www.doteasy.com

Just be aware that to transfer your domain to their "free" service
costs $35, plus $25 to renew it for following years. There is no such
thing as a free lunch.

Hi,

If you haven't already decided on a solution, check out the site that
I use:

http://www.element25.com

With no knowledge of how to build a website, you can be up and running
in 30 minutes - just point your domain name at the site you've built
using the simple template based process - there's no extra hosting
costs as well and you can edit you content as often as you want!!! +
no ads

tigertech.net

Hi Just visit www.vsplash.com site. You can build a site in Flash
using the templates there. If you need to buy, write to
anand@knowlage.com for a bargain price.