So what do you expect from a web hosting company? That they provide an online space for your web pages for a decent price, that their servers never go down, that they provide great customer service, right?

Right.

And most web hosts do meet your expectations. But then that’s it.

Your website needs more than just hosting space, bandwidth and uptime. It needs traffic.

Most websites (yes, most) are like a party thrown at the north pole. No one’s there.

Without traffic, a website may as well be non-existent. If no one sees it, does it exist?

Hosting space, bandwidth, uptime, and all the addon features and scripts are a matter of course for all web hosts. But what next?

Traffic from search engines

SiteSell is a web host that helps your site succeed (link opens in a new window) by attracting free, organic search engine traffic. They go beyond just hosting your site and provide tools and guidance that ensure its success.

They do this through their flagship product, called “Site Build It!” or “SBI!” (link opens in a new window) for short.

What is SBI?

That’s a bit hard to define to someone who has not yet been introduced to SBI!. Simply because there is nothing like it, in my experience and knowledge.

In short though, SBI! is a whole set of tools and packages that help you build your website, host it, and make it a success. This success part is important; do pay attention to it. Almost anyone can build a website, or get one built by someone else. It takes more to be successful.

In addition to the tools and packages, Site Build It! is a guide. A guide that will take you by the hand and help you make your website successful. You need to follow the instructions, though. It takes hard work to be successful. No shortcuts here.

But the most amazing thing about Site Build It! is that it empowers common people, with absolutely no technical skills whatsoever, to build successful websites that beat those built by professionals. You don’t need to know the technology or tricks behind building a website, having your own Search Engine Marketing campaign, creating your own Web 2.0 engine to let your site’s visitors add content to your site, or anything else. If you know all this stuff, very good. Now try to forget all that you know, and learn to focus on success. But if you don’t, and especially if you don’t, you still have a level playing field. Why?

Because SBI! does it all for you. The technology part, I mean. Lots of things will happen without you even having to lift a finger. No, scratch that. You will have to lift your finger once in a while. To click, write your content, etc. ;-)

And because you haven’t been “corrupted” yet. So you can focus on your success right from the beginning, instead of getting lost in the myriad of technological details.

But you still need to bring your own brain and motivation to the table. You are the one who knows your business, hobby or passion. SBI! doesn’t. You deliver on that count, and SBI! will deliver too.

How will SBI! benefit me?

That’s easy to answer. It will make you successful. The best part is, you define what success is for you. The rest is just details…

Site Build It! will help you if you:

  • Want to get your website in the top positions in the Search Engine listings
  • Need more traffic to your site
  • Want to let your site’s visitors add content to your site
  • Want to build a site quickly and efficiently, focusing on building your content, forgetting the technological details
  • Need to help people or simply reach out to them
  • Need to make money
  • Extend or bring your offline business online
  • Start an online business venture from your home or small office
  • Want to quit your day job

There are many more ways SBI! can help you. The above are just a few examples. The power of Site Build It! lies in its ability to make your website successful too. Provided you follow the system, of course.

How is SBI different?

Be glad we are not in a commercial for a certain ketchup that shall go unnamed. Otherwise I would have answered that with, “It’s different!” After a few times, you would have gone nuts.

Anyway, Site Build It! is the only package that guarantees success. And not just tall claims, but solid proof. See below.

Site Build It! is the only package that includes everything you need to succeed — tools to build your website, market your website, build new as well as ongoing traffic, etc. etc. etc. And they go on adding more and more at no extra charge.

Site Build It! is the only package that removes all the technological barriers and reduces the work and time required by 90%. But mind you, you still have to work hard. This is not one of those get-rich-quick-by-magic type schemes. You are going to build a real business, and building a real business always takes work.

Bottom line? Success.

How do you know?

I know because I am a happy customer too. I have an SBI! site of my own.

I know because they give proof of success (link opens in a new window).

They deliver verifiable results (link opens in a new window). Those are a few hundreds of their clients who have websites in the top 1%. Of course, that page doesn’t include all their successful clients, only a small cross-section of them.

  • 35% of SBI! sites ranked in the top 1% of all sites on the web
  • 53% were in the top 2%
  • 62% scored in the top 3%

I know some of these people with these websites. These people are real, like you and me. I get a chance to interact with some of these people.

If you want to know more, maybe you would like to go to the Site Build It! summary site (link opens in a new window). Or you can even ask a real SBI! owner (link opens in a new window) yourself.

Summary

Bluehost is one of our recommended web hosts. They have been around since 1996, and currently host over 750,000 web sites. They provide professional web hosting plans that include all the features one can possibly want, and at the best possible price. From top-notch support (I personally have seen answers to my support requests within minutes) to great service and features, there is everything to like about Bluehost, and nothing to dislike, from my personal experience.

Why I’m so impressed with them: Among other things (read below for more), I once sent an email to their CEO Matt Heaten, just to see what happens. I got back a personal reply from him! Now look. It’s not like Bluehost is a company running out of someone’s basement or anything. They host 750,000+ websites with them! So the CEO replying back to an unknown person is a BIG DEAL, as far as I am concerned. It shows how much he cares about his customers. This is reflected in everything that the company does. They keep improving their technology, their packages, their support system, and everything else.

Website: Click here to go to the official Bluehost website

Quick Facts

  • Number of domains hosted: Over 750,000
  • Services: Shared hosting (at $6.95/month) with free set-up, no hidden fees, domain included, unlimited disk space, unlimited domains and sub-domains, unlimited data transfer, and support for almost every script you can imagine
  • Location: Provo, UT (USA)
  • Guarantees: 30-day money back guarantee, highest uptime, no hidden fees, free domain for life
  • Contact information: Call (888) 401-HOST, (888) 401-4678, or visit their contact page.

Click here to go to the official Bluehost website

Products & Services

Shared Linux hosting (at $6.95/month) with free set-up, no hidden fees, domain included, unlimited disk space, unlimited domains and sub-domains, unlimited data transfer, and support for almost every script you can imagine.

Hostorian’s Review

Performance

While Bluehost does tend to oversell like every other web hosting company out there, they have tried really hard to not let that affect the overall performance of the servers. Judging from the feedback by other people who host their sites with Bluehost, and other reviews (and my own personal experience), they’ve just got to be one of the better performing hosts in the shared web hosting space.

With the rapid growth that Bluehost has been experiencing in the recent past, they have constantly been upgrading their bandwidth as well as servers and data centers to keep up with the increasing demand.

Overall, they seem very reliable for hosting serious websites.

Features

The number of features offered by Bluehost just boggles the mind – unlimited storage, unlimited domains and sub-domains, unlimited data transfer, drag and drop site-builder, support for 100 databases, e-commerce support, several plug-in scripts and shopping carts, blogs, forums, wiki, multi-media support, and so many other things, it just boggles the mind.

They offer almost everything you would want from a Linux web hosting service – cPanel (the best hosting control panel), fantastico support, .htaccess customization, custom php.ini files, and more. They even allow shell access (SSH), and have DDOS protection and power backup and complimentary site backup services.

Support and Customer Care

Here again I can speak from personal experience. Their support is unlike ANYTHING I have ever seen. They are the best!

I have received answers to my questions within minutes of sending emails to their support no matter what the time was. And the biggest surprise (!) was that the support person used to actually read my email and give me exactly the answer I needed!

They even helped me with a problem I had with a PHP script I had installed on one of my websites.

Not surprisingly, they have won several awards for customer support. And why not, when they take such good care of their customers.

Click here to go to the official Bluehost website

Actual Customer Feedback

Used bluehost for 2 years now. Always up, good customer service, and good value. - g torregrassa

They are definitely WELL worth the $6.95 per month and even more! I’ve been very impressed with their service, speed and features. The uptime could be a bit better, but I’m guessing it’s about 98%. Just a few unannounced outages over the year. Overall, I couldn’t be more stoked about a Web host. I run 30k unique users and about 20gb of monthly bandwidth no problems! - Jason Mitchell

I’ve been with Blue Host for one year now. They are the BEST! Best overall and best value. Outstanding customer service. The company is always making improvements AND they are HONEST. A novice might find it a little challenging to figure everything at first, but once you do the number of features is unbeatable. - Brad

Bluehost is amazing. Their service is really amazingly outstanding. They go well beyond what is required and are always eager to help. - Amit

I have been with Bluehost for over 5 years and as a web designer, appreciate a good host. I recommend Bluehost to all my website clients. I have worked with many different hosts and have not found one yet that I liked more than Bluehost. - Chantal

I have been with bluehost for over a year, and have not had a single hick up, i am running 3 domains. Whenever i have needed help their support has been able to promptly help me. - Isaac Witton, Australia

Click here to go to the official Bluehost website

Verdict Of This Review

Bluehost beats almost every other web host in the Linux shared hosting space. Unbeatable pricing, unmatched features, what more could one want?

Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Click here to go to the official Bluehost website

Summary

Apollo Hosting hosts over 165,000 domains since 1999. They provide reliable and affordable website hosting services for business, ecommerce, reseller and personal use with all the tools you need for a successful website.

Website: Click here to go to the official Apollo Hosting website

Quick Facts

  • Number of domains hosted: 165,000
  • Services: Business hosting (starting at $6.96/month), Personal hosting (starting at $6.96/month), Windows hosting (starting at $13.96/month), and Dedicated hosting (starting at $99.95/month)
  • Location: Austin, Texas (USA)
  • Guarantees: 30-day money back guarantee, 99.9% uptime guarantee, price freeze guarantee (for dedicated server hosting)
  • Contact information: Call 1-877-525-HOST (4678), or visit their contact page.

Click here to go to the official Apollo Hosting website

Products & Services

Business Hosting: Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting, Shared web hosting – Linux, Shared web hosting – Windows, Dedicated hosting – Linux, Dedicated hosting – Windows, Reseller hosting

Click here to go to the official Apollo Hosting website

Hostorian’s Review

Performance

Several customers of Apollo Hosting have posted their reviews of their service. Most of them have reported negatively about their performance, uptime, etc. People report that their servers are frequently down, and at least one person has reported their site being down for a whole day. Another person reported their site being down at least once every week.

I wonder how many people take advantage of their 99.99% uptime guarantee, and if they don’t, why not.

Site speeds are also reported to be on the slow side. All in all Apollo Hosting does not score high on performance.

Features

Apollo Hosting offers a wide variety of features to cater to every need, budget and technical requirement. If you want any additional features not included in one of their core packages, you can always pay a bit extra to get them. This lets you totally customize the feature set if you want.

However, other web hosting companies offer more disk storage, more bandwidth/data transfer, and more domains on a single account.

Support and Customer Care

Their technical support is based out of their headquarters in Austin, Texas, and is completely in-house. This means no more struggling with foreign accents or trying to get your point across to someone with English as a second language.

In addition to this, Apollo Hosting provides a lot of options to help you with your support issues. There is a pre-sales FAQ, a collection of quick start guides, knowledgebase articles, video tutorials, online manuals, forums, help desk, live chat, and phone support to assist you in every way they can.

Their contact number and a live chat button are available from every page on their site, making it easy to get in touch with them, should you have any issues.

All that said, it is really difficult to get a meaningful response from them, especially if you run into a challenging technical problem. The live chat support personnel will usually ask you to get a support ticket, which makes you wonder why they are there in the first place.

The fact that their telephone support is not outsourced is both an advantage and disadvantage in that though you are spared the trauma of struggling through foreign accents of non-native speakers, they can only afford to employ a limited number of support people, causing long wait periods for telephone support.

On the bright side, their manuals, tutorials, and articles are really good, and if you are not afraid of getting your hands dirty managing your sites yourself, Apollo Hosting can be a very good choice for you.

Cons

  1. A lot of features are offered at an extra price, and are not included in the package price. These prices are all clearly mentioned though, both on the package details page and the plan comparisons pages, so you will have a clear idea of what you would be paying before you purchase their services. Also, extra cost usually means they will spend additional resources to make sure everything runs smoothly, which is ultimately more important for a business than a few dollars per month. In addition, this pricing scheme means that those who don’t need the extra feature can pay less.
  2. Their prices are slightly higher than other hosting companies. But this also means better hardware, better network and server performance, and better support, so it’s all worth it, if you think about it.
  3. Customer support is not as good as some of the other hosting firms.

Click here to go to the official Apollo Hosting website

Actual Customer Feedback

The Live Chat Tech Support is awesome and the low cost and great service is why I have been their customer for over 2 years. Apollo’s web hosting needs little web knowledge for upkeep. If I can maintain a website, anyone can! Thanks Apollo!Dawna Avery, visualtestaments.com

I eventually tried 3 other providers before stumbling on Apollo. Email is extremely important in my business as our employees are all over the world and being up and running all the time is critical. I can not say enough good things about Apollo. They are always on call and always ready to help. Their network is one of the best. What they are doing is right on track. With a very in depth understanding of the industry and what is critical, I can truthfully say, they are doing a fantastic job. Customer service is one of the most critical areas for a company, and they know what they are doing. My business’ success depends on the website and email, and I feel that I am in good hands with Apollo.Chris Atkins, linguasmex.com

I had previously been jumping from one hosting company to another, in search of the perfect host. I have now had my two websites with Apollohosting for about 2 years, and I am perfectly happy with their services – the main reason for choosing Apollohosting was that they have [a premium email filter] which blocks 99.9% of all spam and virus suspect emails on their server, and I don’t have to deal with them. Considering that I get around 700 spam messages per email address a day, this is a big load off my back, and my computer! But I also must say that the fact that I have not noticed any downtime of my websites at all, and they run smoothly, is also very valuable. When initially setting up my accounts, the help staff were always very helpful and kind, and since then I have not had to contact them once. I am here to stay!Mimi Sidwell, jxranch.com

I am a long time Apollo Customer, Apollo Reseller, web developer and entrepreneur.

Apollo Hosting is there when you need them, late night, early morning, holidays, whenever. Apollo is there and that is nice and that’s why I’m still using them after 6 years.Jeff Miller, closingvideos.com

Click here to go to the official Apollo Hosting website

Verdict of This Review

Apollo Hosting does seem to be offering a wide array of services to cater to every need and budget, but it would have been better if they could focus on improving their pricing model, customer support, and performance of their servers in terms of speed and reliability.

Not recommended, unless maybe you are in Austin, Texas, and are looking for a local hosting provider.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Click here to go to the official Apollo Hosting website

Summary

1&1 claim to be the world’s number 1 web host and the fastest growing web hosting company. According to their “About 1&1″ page, 1&1′s global community is 7.46 million people strong with 2,500 new customers signing up every day.

Website: Click here to go to the official 1&1 Internet UK website

Quick Facts

  • Number of domains: 9.82 million registered domains, and over 2.7 million websites
  • Services: Domain registration, Email hosting, Linux hosting, Microsoft hosting, VPS hosting, Managed Server hosting, Root Server hosting, Windows Server hosting, “eShop hosting,” Microsoft Sharepoint hosting
  • Location: 1&1 Internet Limited, Aquasulis House, 10-14 Bath Road, Slough, SL1 3SA, UK
  • Guarantees: 60-day money back guarantee, 99.99% uptime, no hidden charges
  • Contact information: Call 0871 641 21 21. Or visit the contact page on their website.

Click here to go to the official 1&1 Internet UK website

Products & Services

Domain registration, Email hosting, Linux hosting, Microsoft hosting, VPS hosting, Managed Server hosting, Root Server hosting, Windows Server hosting, “eShop hosting,” Microsoft Sharepoint hosting

Click here to go to the official 1&1 Internet UK website

Hostorian’s Review

Performance

Several customers of 1&1 Internet Ltd. UK have posted their reviews of their performance. Most, if not all, have a negative review of their performance.

From horror stories of how their servers seem to be down intermittently to how everything is slower than a drugged tortoise on occasions, the impression we get is not good.

Of course, some people report good things too, but it does shake your confidence in them overall.

Features

This is probably the only good thing about 1&1 Internet Ltd. UK and their web hosting packages. They are loaded with features.

But then so is every other hosting provider. :-| In fact, most hosting providers let you host more domains in a single account.

They offer about £400 worth of software for free with their web hosting packages, and you can also get RatePoint for free with select business packages. You get 100 business cards for free when you sign up for their 1&1 Home package.

Support and Customer Care

Support and customer care seems to be a joke, in the words of many of their customers (who are now ex-customers and very happy about it). Some people switched hosting providers solely because of 1&1 Internet UK’s poor customer support.

In fact, they put you on hold for such long periods that it might be worth getting a speaker-phone just so you can continue doing other work while you are waiting for someone to answer the phone.

Not just that, it’s a battle to get them to understand the problem, and an even bigger battle to get them to solve it in a timely manner.

Cons

  1. Canceling your account with them is very difficult, and requires you to fax a signed copy of your application to them.
  2. Support is outsourced to a non-English speaking country, and not only is the accent difficult to understand, the support staff doesn’t seem to be competent either.
  3. Because of their low prices, they are forced to share the same server among a lot of sites, and as a result the site performance is not up to the mark. Speeds are slow, and uptime is not good either.

Click here to go to the official 1&1 Internet UK website

Actual Customer Feedback

Awful, awful, awful service. Avoid these people like the plaque. I have customers who have registered domain names with one and one and releasing them to (better) other suppliers is a nightmare with .coms. The helpline is some far off country and the operators are difficult to understand especially when you require technical assistance.

Consequently my customers 1and1 domain and email account has NOT been running for 2 weeks.Paul

Have now 6 domains with 1and1 uk and am very happy with the customer service and uptime, cant fault them yetJames Brabyn

I have bought an eshop from them and all I have to say is their online based program is so slow and you can not use any other things, they say you have 500mb but they don’t let you upload any thing to your space by any ftp or program other than their eshop which means you can only upload certain image files and that it.

Their customer service were alright in the begining but now no answer what so ever for a month or non at all for some of my posts.

I have to mention if you really want to go into truble then they are good at it.Parkook

Click here to go to the official 1&1 Internet UK website

Verdict of This Review

Everything about 1&1 Internet Ltd. UK hosting is bad. May be a bit useful for registering cheap domains, but not good for hosting sites. Not recommended at all. Avoid at all costs.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Click here to go to the official 1&1 Internet UK website

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