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Ask HN: Best cheap hosting for a low traffic local business?

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Re: Ask HN: Best cheap hosting for a low traffic local business?

#4
I tend to point any clients that want low cost hosting towards GeekStorage.com - they have a $35/yr plan. Another is A Small Orange, but I have had much more problems with ASO than I have with GeekStorage.

If you're looking for something 'beefier' - I'm currently with WebFaction.com - awesome guys, great if you need some cheap hosting for your Django/Rails apps (and don't want to pay for a VPS)

Re: Ask HN: Best cheap hosting for a low traffic local business?

#5
post #3
post #2

Why not Weebly?

Forgot about weebly, I've been on the site before but didn't think about it because I associated it amateur sites. Can you paste your own html?

Weebly is a great concept, but right now they only have a small selection of relatively bland templates... Until they open it up to outside custom templates (or find a way to convert wordpress templates!) it's a hard sell.

Re: Ask HN: Best cheap hosting for a low traffic local business?

#8
Don't let clients anywhere near their own domains and hosting.

Before you know it, you're drenched in trouble, trying to get some hack-cheap-registrar to unlock domains or whatever, while the client is desperate because his e-mail doesn't work, or figuring out why the website broke, only to find out the boss's nephew tried to install a BT tracker on the site, and by the way, no, he doesn't have a backup, didn't you take care of that?

Get a small VPS at SliceHost and host the sites yourself. Forward their e-mail to GMail accounts, or setup apps for your domain. Charge $20 a month, paid a year in advance. One billing round a year, if it takes you more than half a morning, you're doing it wrong.

The only point of contact the client has is you, the only bill he gets is from you, and you're pretty soon pocketing a few $100 a month simply by not screwing up the server.

Re: Ask HN: Best cheap hosting for a low traffic local business?

#9
post #8

Don't let clients anywhere near their own domains and hosting. Before you know it, you're drenched in trouble, trying to get some hack-cheap-registrar to unlock domains or whatever, while the client is desperate because his e-mail doesn't work, or figuring out why the website broke, only to find out the boss's nephew tried to install a BT tracker on the site, and by the way, no, he doesn't have a backup, didn't you t…

I've been down this road before and I agree with everything said here. Just to clarify something, I think mseebach meant that you should charge $20/month for yourself - and have the company pay for the Slicehost account. The smallest slice on SH is $20/mo so if you don't do that you won't be getting any compensation.

Re: Ask HN: Best cheap hosting for a low traffic local business?

#10
post #9
post #8

Don't let clients anywhere near their own domains and hosting. Before you know it, you're drenched in trouble, trying to get some hack-cheap-registrar to unlock domains or whatever, while the client is desperate because his e-mail doesn't work, or figuring out why the website broke, only to find out the boss's nephew tried to install a BT tracker on the site, and by the way, no, he doesn't have a backup, didn't you t…

I've been down this road before and I agree with everything said here. Just to clarify something, I think mseebach meant that you should charge $20/month for yourself - and have the company pay for the Slicehost account. The smallest slice on SH is $20/mo so if you don't do that you won't be getting any compensation.

No, I meant charge $20 for everything from the client, and host them all on the same slice. A 256 vps easily hosts 10s of low traffic sites. Local business usually means mostly static, and on the scale of dozens of visits a week.
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