Web Design and Hosting

IX Web Hosting is a medium sized web host that was founded in 1999. They currently host over 150, 000 domains from their base in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. IX Web offer budget shared hosting solutions for the mass market. They tend to aim their products at the sought of customers who believe more is ….. well….. more! If this sounds like you then read on. If however, you are type of person who feels that quality is the top priority; and vast amounts of bandwidth and features are less important, then you should read our reviews of Hostgator, Lunarpages, and Bluehost instead.

Features

IX offer 5 different hosting packages, the “Expert Plan” (EP), “Business Plus” (BP), “Unlimited Pro” (UP), and two Windows plans. They all come with a vast array of features, you can find a full feature list and product comparison on the IX website here. Below is rundown of the main components of the Linux plans.

Disk Space -100GB with the EP, 300GB from the BP, and unlimited if you sign up to the UP plan. These are all completely crazy numbers for a budget shared hosting plan!

Bandwidth – 1000GB, 1500GB, and 2000GB respectively. Again ludicrously excessive numbers. Just imagine what would happen if all IX’s customers actually tried use all that bandwidth! Luckily 99.999% of people never will. Just to put it in to context, those are sought of bandwidth allocations you get when using your own dedicated server (which usually costs at least $200/month), so when the price for the EP starts at just $3.95/month we know that something doesn’t add up!

Number of domains – 2, 8 and 16. So even the cheapest plan allows us to host two websites, where as the BP and UP plans give us the best chance to try and use all those bandwidth and storage resources; allowing us to host up to 8, and 16 websites on the one account.

Site Studio – This website building software comes with all hosting plans, its basic and easy to use, and will be very useful to those who are new to web design.

Free domain name registration – This means that IX will register your domain name for you, free, for as long as you host with them. EP comes with 1 free domain name, BP with 3, and UP with 5. This is probably our favorite feature of IX’s hosting plans, especially on the BP and UP packages. If you plan to host multiple domains then this offer could save you a significant amount on domain registrations.

Search engine submission service – Free with all plans.

99.9% Uptime guarantee – Server uptime is guaranteed to be above 99.9% n any 12 month period.

30 Day money back guarantee.

Customer service and technical support

IX give us phone support (toll free if you live in the U.S), live chat, and e-mail ticket services, all are available 24/7, 365 days/year. These services tick all the right boxes, but in terms of the quality they are way behind the likes of Lunarpages, Bluehost, and Hostgator. We advise that you test them out yourself first, to see if their service level is acceptable to you.

Performance

This area is always likely to be where IX is going to have problems; when you oversell resources like IX do with their disk space and bandwidth allowances, server performance inevitably suffers. This means that you are going to get a more sluggish and probably less reliable service when compared to other web hosting providers. These other providers tend to charge more money, offer less features, but crucially, they often deliver more quality when it comes to server performance.

With regards to the control panel supplied with IX’s plans we were very disappointed. Unfortunately they use the dreaded H-Sphere control panel, its performance is swift, but its layout and design are poor and make it look cheap. It’s no match for the likes of cPanel or Vdeck. There is a full working demo on the IX website; we strongly advise you try it out first before signing up with IX. If you think that you can live with it then fair enough, IX might still be for you. We should probably mention that some people are fans of H-Sphere, and still swear it’s the best control panel out there, though they are definitely in the minority!

Our Verdict

Well, if price is your first consideration you definitely should look to IX, there “Expert Plan” is pretty much the cheapest “proper” web hosting package currently available. However, if you can stretch to an extra dollar/month we believe that a better choice would be the “ProLogic” plan from StartLogic, review here. The other IX plans offer even more, but their price tags bring them into competition with the real heavy hitters of the shared hosting industry. In our opinion it’s difficult to see why you would choose the IX “Business Plus” plan over Bluehost. Or the “Unlimited Pro” over Hostgator or midPhase. The only reason you may want to choose the “Business Plus” or “Unlimited Pro” packages, ahead of the aforementioned alternatives, is due to the multiple free domain registration features of both, which would certainly make them more appealing from a value for money standpoint.

1. For choosing the one which is right for your business you need to understand the difference between shared, co-located, unmanaged dedicated servers and managed dedicated hostings.

Because of the variety of services and hosting categories developed in the market, it is become extremely important to know the difference between the types of hosting and hosting services offered.

When you are sharing one server with a number of other clients of that company it is called as Shared hosting also known as virtual hosting. The management of the server is completely done by the host even though you maintain your site and your account. And thus the cost of these hostings are less as many clients are paying for use of the server. However, their are some side effect of using such servers such as other companies using the shared servers get the resources of that server which can hammer the performance of our websites if one of the other clients has heavy traffic on the server. Other disadvantage of shared hosting is that you will not be able to install special software programs other than supported by the servers on these types of machines, as the host needs to maintain a stable environment for all of his clients using the same server.

Dell and HP are example of Co-located hosting. When you buy a server from a hardware vendor, as mentioned above, and then supply this server to the host, it is called as Co-located hosting. The host plugs your server into its network and its repitative power systems. The host is only manages and keeps an eye on its network is available, and you (who buys the server) are responsible for all support and maintenance of your server. A good hosting company offers management contracts to their co-location clients to help their clients to outsource much of the support to them and turn the arrangement similar to managed dedicated hosting. The only disadvantage of these hosting is that most co-location hosts do not offer this service.

Unmanage dedicated hosting and co-location hostings are almost similar. The only difference is that in unmanage dedicated hosting you hire a server from a host and not purchase it. However before choosing such web hosting plans you must be sure of the services they provide as if they will provide security patches to your server or not. Unmanage dedicated hosting is good for gaming servers (like Doom or Counterstrike servers) or hobbyist servers, but not so promising for businesses as it may not provide responsive, expert-level service.

When you hire a server from a host providing a robust level of support and maintainance on the server which is quality guaranteed, it surely is said to be Managed dedicated hosting. When you select managed dedicated hosting for your business you get services like server up-time monitoring, a hardware warranty, security patch updates and more. However you must mention specifically about these services offered by the hosting company you hire so that you may not be led in disguise selecting managed dedicated hosting services.

2. You must confirm with your Host’s Network if the hosting service offered has blackholed IPs.
It has been seen very often that hosts dont care much about who is actually hosting on their networks, as long as the clients pay their bill.As a result of which many hosters unknowingly allow **** sites, spammers and servers that create security issues on their network. For sake of gaining large amount of income the hosting companies allow such websites on their server which gives a negative impact on your customers in general when they go through such sites through your website or when your network gets blackholed for spamming. And if your network gets blackholed other networks will refuse e-mail originated from your IP as its blacklisted.

So its mandatory to check with any hosts you are considering to see if their networks are blackholed or not.

3. Lets not compare size with stability (its not necessary, a bigger company means more stable)
Its not necessary that if the web hosting company you selected is a big company it will be more stable and secure. There can be consequences like bankruptcy, company sold out or anything else. Hence before selecting a proper web hosting company you must get answers to the below key questions:

Is the hosing company old enough in this business?

Whether the ownership of this company had been the same in the past?

Whether they are profitable and cash flow positive hosting companies from operation-generated revenuepoint of view?

4. Price should not be your only priority while selecting a web hosting company.
As we say that YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Same is applied for web hosting services. You take a risk of unknowingly selecting a hosting company which would only provide you with a little connection to the Internet in terms of support when you priortize only price while selecting a web hosting service.

5. A Good Web hosting company provides you with redundant data centres.
You must make sure that the web hosting company selected has its own data centers which is quite responsive and very repititive in its work. When dealing with smaller vendors you must confirm that the data center services offered by them are fully redundant in terms of power and connectivity and get proper answers to the questions stated below:

The hosting companies have how many lines coming into the facility?

Do the connections come up with the average utilisation? Maximum capacity running servers usually are slow.

Is the power supply redundant to the servers?

If electricity is cut down do they control their servers with generators or UPS on-site?

Are the network area of the servers fully secured? What type of security measures do they provide?

6. The Host providing web hosting service should be flexible.
It is extremely necessary that the hoster understands that providing quality servers to their clients’ businesses are very important. You must deal with a hoster who has a enough experience to support a wide variety of applications, and one who can solve your problems and provide effective solutions throug his expertise. On the head the host and his staff with whom you shall deal in future has enough technical knowlegde relating to support administrator so that you may not be left frustrated talking to them while solving your server related issues.

7. The Testimonials are the best way toknow about the kind of service you will get.
Ask from your prospective host to provide you with success stories of clients who have taken similar services as yours. As testimonials and references will help you a lot to know about the working experience with the web hosting company you selected.

Creative Web Solutions is web hosting company that specializes in shared web hosting and managed dedicated hosting for businesses nationwide in the online retailing, web development, e-learning, financial services and online marketing industries, as well as for governments, non-profits and civic institutions. Contact us For an enquiry.

www.creativewebsols.com

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Join us as we take a closer look at BlueHost.

General Information: BlueHost has been providing hosting solutions to thousands of business and personal web sites since 1996. And their internet hosting package helps businesses and individuals get high-powered service at a fraction of the cost.

Reliability: Massive bandwidth and storage features are of no use if it will effect the server reliability on a larger scale. This is a problem which is affecting many web hosts, but it’s not a problem for BlueHost. After monitoring BlueHost for 30 days we find out that their uptime is 99.789%.

Price Value: BlueHost is one of the more expensive shared hosting companies and offers hosting for $6.95 a month. But this does not have to be a bad thing. Included in their web hosting plan is unlimited space and bandwidth, the possibility to host unlimited domains, domain for life, site builder, blog, forum and $75 advertising credits.

Support: BlueHost strives to provide the highest level of customer support. Their staff are friendly and they offer both live chat and toll free phone support. BlueHost also have a support ticket system if you have any technical difficulties.

Conclusion: Overall our experience with BlueHost is most pleasant. They have shown us that their server is very reliable, even thought the price is a bit above what other companies offer, it’s still great price value. Their support and technical team is also good. So if you are looking for a new web host, BlueHost should be a serious consideration.

Reliability – 9/10
Price Value – 7/10
Knowledge – 7/10
Support – 8/10
Features – 8/10
Overall – 7.8/10

To read more hosting reviews reviews click here.

There are numerous kinds of hosting services out there nowadays and everyone declares that they provide the top-quality hosting experience for every demand. In the web hosting market today, we can retrieve dedicated, shared, free (with restrictions) and reseller web hosting. Here, we will study each expression of a reseller web hosting service. This type of hosting is the most streamlined for someone that starts a web corporation. The technical term “Reselling” misses technical meaning or specific set up that would identify it as a hosting type.

First of all, a reseller web hosting is essentially a service supplied by a net user who already bought a web hosting service. It is then leased out to other clients at a higher price. This is a reselling procedure. In another words, the bigger company has purchased the hosting service at a wholesale point and is reselling it to a small company in separated segments. Consequently, it is similar leasing out their disk space and bandwidth. All the Reseller neophyte requires is the ambition and skills to advertise itself on the web.

Virtually every reseller web hosting provider is smaller company proprietors who are just taking off their business in hosting industry. A reseller ordinarily aims a medium market where the require for a web host is not that important. It ordinarily offers bundles that does not aim to address advanced requirements. Larger web hosting companies do not allow solutions like this and this is where reseller hosting is priceless. So, the web hosting vendors for this type of service can get some net income simply by marketing successfully. Numerous suppliers offer behind the scenes support services where they act on your company’s behalf to your customers, at addable costs.

Therefore, if you are designing to adventure into the web hosting industry as a reseller hosting, you have to scout around to find out the best business deals. Then, you have to advertise it effectively and creatively to determine your niche market. The service that you supply is essential to be of good quality. In order to get more customers, you will require to allocate your bandwidth and disk space effectively too. To ensure cheerfulness for your clients, whatever trouble that they describe must advance to the prime supplier. This not solely relieves the process of the reseller web hosting but also provides solutions for both the main provider and your clients. If you have never used reseller hosting control panels, your firm will assist with ordering your prime package and there is a wealth of info and how tos ready for you to get up to speed on the basics. Your reseller website hosting account will have a specified quota for web space and bandwidth offered to you in volume, which you can separate into little hosting plans with sets more fitted for ecommerce and vps hosting as well as to offer extra business enterprise merchandises and services (like shopping carts, ssl certificates, free SEO consultation and so on).

Reselling web hosting services is by far the best option for those who are seeking to start an Internet commercial enterprise for the first time. It is ideal for those who are starting up a house based establishment with a restricted economic surface. Few can lease a dedicated server and that is why it is the optimal way out. It allows plenty disk space and bandwidth sufficient for you to create a web site that you can use for any intention.

To summarize, reseller hosting is definitely a desired net service due to its great characteristics that provides one to do many things with limited resources. It is very worthy for certain types of web users and especially for the businesspersons who are making their way into the Internet hosting industry.

Email Hosting is a very popular method for businesses with websites to set up a personal email. They allow personal features and benefits that other larger wide spread email sites miss. They allow for a more professional look for anyone looking to promote their website or business, no matter what it listed on it. There are many reasons why so many people choose to go with email hosting rather than the other larger email companies. It not only provides you with your needs, but allows you to choose what you want rather than handed down what comes with the larger email sites you sign up for.

Email hosting makes it easier for visitors or customers depending on the website you own to contact you about any questions they may have. Having an email feature allows for quick responses than having someone copy and paste your email address in a send tab. They can just click the link and get in touch with you much easier. This makes a good impression on anyone who visits your site and allows you to keep your personal email and business email separate. It makes life much simple and more organized when you choose to with email hosting.

Email hosting has many benefits apart from the obvious professionalism and organization it brings. You can customize it to suit your needs. When purchasing email hosting it allows you to personalize it so that it fits your website and also doesn’t have anything on it that you don’t need. There are many companies on the web that will take you step by step through the process of customizing your emailing hosting to make it entirely your own. There are even tutorials available if you need something high tech and ways that you can add features to it so that it has everything you want.

Email hosting also allows a variety of people to use it at the same time. This is a great way for larger companies to create their own email system so that their employees can keep in contact with one another and the clients. It allows for a much better means of communication. You can also filter email settings so that you and your employees do not receive spam or junk email. This can also filter the content that is viewed when opening emails as well to protect business computers from computer viruses that may be hidden in the messages.

Email hosting is a very popular method to invest in for all levels of website holders and businesses alike. This grants professionalism and easy access to visitors who want to contact you. This promotes your business positively and effectively. You can also customize email hosting so that it fits all your needs. It is especially beneficial to larger companies who wish to have an email site available to them that is specifically designed for their company. You can find plenty of information on the web on how to purchase email hosting as well as ways to personalize it for your website or business.