Seeking Different Vendor for Internet Web Site Development

I'm confused.  What does the host company have to say about the content of your web site??? They HOST the web site, they don't own it.  Or, do they???

The copyright notice is in their name.  Perhaps they own the site and you're renting it.  But you are listed as the registrar, technical and billing contact for the domain with GoDaddy as the Registrar. 

This is strange.  What gives them the right to dictate or limit content as long as you aren't spamming??

I use JaguarPC.com.  They are an excellent company with reliable service, I have never been posed with restrictions to site changes and they have the best prices for hosting packages I've encountered.  I do not use their site builder, however.  I have found that most free development software is the limiting factor, not the hosting site itself (you get what you pay for).  I recommend Dreamweaver as your development tool and Jaguar for hosting.  If you truly want to have control over your content and when its posted, being your own webmaster is crucial.  Dreamweaver has a very easy to use graphic interface that makes changes quick and simple once you've been through it and they offer free training on their web site for beginner to advanced users.

If you are still in need of help or have any other questions, please drop me an email.  I also offer freelance site development focused on search engine optimization and marketing consultation.

Teresa Hall 

 www.TheCleaningService.net

I own a technology company and would be happy to help you! 

 here is my other active rain profile with sample sites  http://activerain.com/invision 

I'm very happy with Point2Agent and you can have completely costume sites if you want.

Samantha - You have many options. First, you must be clear about what your requirements are. From what can be gathered from above it sounds like you need:

1. A hosting company or colocation facilities.

2. You want to have complete control over your web site from a development aspect.

3. You need all the infrastructure (i.e., Apache Web Server, Application Server, Database, etc) in place to accomodate your web site, applets, widgets, etc. etc.

Hosting companies tend to be generic and offer a minimal specification of software, disk space, bandwidth, and services. This why it is important to know what you want up front. I mostly recommend facilities in a tier-1 data center setting. Rackspace comes to mind as 1 example.  While they are not the cheapest they have reliable service and uptime. Hosting though usually does not buy you alot of the handy Systems Administration skills that you may often require. And many companies do not seem to think those customer service efforts are profitable so they tend not to be very helpful which is what you may be experiencing now.

Next, if you migrate from your current provider, know what it is exactly you are allowed to transfer. If it is a company offering templated pages they usually own the code. The only thing you might own is your graphics. So back those up for future use. If you do own your own code by all means back it up. If you do not own your own code for the current site then you must anticipate either paying for development either by your own labor, your staff or via a third party. And once again, you will need to spec out your requirement ahead of time so that you can estimate your costs and also so that the people doing the development will know exactly what you want and how the site is suppose to work. A detailed programming functional specification always works best for me whether it is a web site or another software application.

You also have another option and that is start a new site using Open Source Software. The licensing is GPL and it is free for your use. You get all the source code and thus you are only left with the customization you require. It is relatively easy to put in your graphics and have a very useful piece of software with all the functions you would expect from a vendor. Or, it may be a good starting point for your development vendor. If you need a link to a sample site I can send it to you off-line.

I would also recommend that since you have the domain, you should also have your email hosted from the same server. When you start to put all this together in your mind, think INTEGRATION. I typically will have a 1/2 or Full Rack in a tier-1 data center because they rarely go down, the air is conditioned and the bandwidth needs to be available. None of this 256K 1Meg burstable stuff. But that is just me. If you find someone with a rack, they can either put you on one of their servers or for more money you can sometimes put your own equipment in the rack. 

INTEGRATION: The program load as we call it for a good web server will have all the goodies. I am highly partial to Linux as the Operating System, Apache Server for the Web Server, Tomcat for the Application Server if needed, MySQL for the Database Server, PHP as 1 possible scripting facility, SSL of course, encryption in case you need it, ImageMagik, and perhaps a dozen other handy things you may require for robust development. The hosting company should be able to give you root access, ftp, sftp, webmin, and even a stats package. If you have a special request and there is no technical reason why another software component cannot be integrated, the hosting provider should by all means accommodate your request or allow you to install it.

Having said all that, if you put in your own server hardware, this program load will not cost you much except some Sys Admin skills if you need it to configure the software. And, if you ever decide to change hosting companies it is much easier to migrate. You have to decide on the balance between being a real estate business verses a web developer and I guess that is why many go the plug and play templated route and simply hope for the best. Most of the small business web sites that reside on a shared hosted server, that is a server where it is hosting more than just your web site, they generally cannot allow anyone to have root access for fear of disrupting someone else's site. As a minimum you get a user account and no ability to really go in and tweak your configuration files on your server program load such as Apache Server.  There is however an alternative, I use a Virtual Server which is not shared hosting. This is a very sophisticated setup whereby Linux can partition itself to host domains and it allows you root access and access to everything in your instance. It appears like you have your own private Linux Server, IP Address for the domain etc. With shared hosting, the Web Server is configured to accommodate multiple hosted web sites.

So in conclusion, when you go shopping for a provider, know ahead of time your requirements in order to ask the right questions and be able to differentiate pricing, services or lack thereof.  Once you think about your requirement and put it down on paper, hopefully the idea of INTEGRATION starts to become more clear with regard to what must be on your hosted Web server. Best of luck to you.

John Wubbel 

Hey John,

Thanks for the reply.  Our biggest problem with this vendor was that I didn't do enough research about the company before we dove into it.  I am used to php and apache, and open source.  I loved working on php-nuke sites, drupal, mambo and more.  But I just didn't have time and they seemed like a good provider.  In fact, I believe they are, but I think they just got to big too fast.  I have had an excellent phone converstaion with them and I think we have agreed to work out some of the issues I have with thier system.  I don't mind paying for a system that does what theirs does.  It has some limitations but the potential is already becoming clear to us through the leads we have generated and put into the system.

I thank you for your time and considerable effort!

Chris <da hubby>

Just thought I would post an update on this situation. 

I had a very nice converstation with the leading developer and some other support members.  I'm not sure what caused the change of heart but they were actually quite accomodating.  I was floored by their willingness to listen and the action the took to actually help me instead of hindering me.  So, I think we are going to stick it out with them.  I don't think the money they charge for their services are unreasonable, in fact one solid lead and sale pays for the service for the entire year.  They have a lot to offer and a huge potential for growth. 

Thanks for all the suport and information!

Chris