Really good webhost (& cheap)

Any of you guys looking for a good webhost place, I found a good one through my partner (who does all this web stuff). I've had two sites online with them, one for my acting (hannahjanes.com) and another for my naturopathy and healing stuff that I did before my acting. They cost US$6.95/month for a two year signup, or US$7.95 for one, they give you heaps of space, your site works fast and their help is really good (like they actually help you, for those other non-technically minded thespians out there!). If you want to find out more my partner put up this page: http://reallygoodwebhost.com - Hannah

Does this count as spam? It's not exactly theatre related. And personally, I don't recommend signing up with a US based company - go with someone in Australia. (There are plenty of Aussie ones who offer cheaper prices. Mine is cheaper than the one above; accounting for exchange rates) Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.freewebs.com/puppetsinmelbourne

It's not especially good, Hannah: my website costs $AUD50 a year on Australian servers (or $US42 a year), that is $US3.50 a month or half what you have advertised.... Agree: stick to theatre-related issues. Jim

Thanks for your replies, but I have to say I disagree with the two points raised. 1) I think the subject of setting up a website to promote oneself and communicate with others, is an extremely relevant topic to many people in the film & theatre industry. Further, given that for most people its a confusing topic, and as such is easy to get ripped off - I think more discussion can only be good! :) 2) With all due respect, I think its a bit misleading to suggest you've made a comparison between two different webhosts when all you've done is look at a monthly price, and not at what each host actually provides for what they charge. In my opinion, its a bit like saying that because a McDonald's Happy Meal costs $5 and a meal of award-winning Thai costs $14, everyone should eat at McDonalds. - Hannah.

Actually, I did check them out. They provide exactly the same things as my current webhost, just for more. I also have very experienced internet geeks in my family and in my work, so I understand the necessity to have a webhost in the same country that you live in. I was with a webhost that had their servers in the US and were continually crashing; only to be told that their workers would not be fixing it til US Eastern Standard Time. Many of the US companies also only provide online customer service during their timezone hours - and with phone costs too expensive, that can cause problems. Yes, setting up a website is an important topic for those of us wishing to promote yourselves; I think our issue was that your post was a bit too much like spam, and not helpful to those people who don't know about setting up their own sites. For instance; you could have provided some info on what the host offers, and what those services could be used for. How easy was it to set up your website with them, what kind of customer service do they offer, do you have to know anything about html to set up the site or did it come with an easybuilder? How about explaining what info artists should put on their site, what stuff they shouldn't - there are *heaps* of do's and don'ts (those who think putting a flashy animated banner should rethink, as should those who have a zillion pop-ups, use frames, or have purely unfathomable navigation) on the design of a site. As for the 'easy to get ripped off thing'... My first host was a rip off. They crashed every 6 weeks. What I didn't know was that it is more important to read about other people's experiences of a host than to hunt for the cheapest host. But many people don't know that, just like I didn't. My new host costs about $2 a month more, but the customer service is 100% better, the servers haven't crashed once (and they're in Australia), and I've been very happy with them since the change. Besides, there are plenty of 'Web 2.0' sites that now offer their services free of charge, that are also for people who don't know how to set up a site. These are invariably easier to use than many of the 'proper' web hosts out there. (Freewebs for example). One other thing that you forget is that more and more people are turning to blogs (like Blogger, Wordpress, and other similar blog sites) or sites with a blog option, in order to promote themselves. Blogs are infinitely easier to use, you can update it very easily with your thoughts, and anyone with a bit of quick learning can make it look personalised. Blogs offer another asset; it is infinitely easier to get your blog listed/promoted on searches and other indexing sites, than it is to learn about metatags and improving your chances of getting a high ranking in Google. I agree - let's start a discussion. Anyone out there want to know how to start your own website, and what you should/need to know? Let's start a FAQ on the topic. Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip

Point taken about websites for personal promotion. I shamelessly promote myself on my website. And, I run a blog (read by a handful of people). And a family forum. And the webhost provides a very full range of features, including a range of programs through Fantastico. Up until last year I was running a discipline-based website for industrial relations, updated daily. Jim

Fantastico is the best way to go I think, if you're looking for a webhost. I have installed Joomla and B2evolution blogs on my domain, and I knew nothing about web design/creation when I started. What I love about all those programs is that they really are designed for people who know nothing about websites, and all the people on the program forums are helpful in explaining the finer details of how to make something personalised. I know quite a number of professional theatre companies who use Joomla to create their own sites; one of my favs is Puppet Building.com (it's just launched on Joomla, it used to be a blog). Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip

And it needn't cost you: I use the free web-site program NVU. It's a Linux program and I'm using Novell SuSe Linux 10.0 (free again) as my Operating system. It has a few bugs, but there are workarounds I've found for most of them. I'll have a look at Fantastico again, though after that contribution! I've only got 1 Gig upload/download through my ISP, so I have to be careful each month. I can probably do better than I am at $40 a month broadband (1500), but I've had my email address for years and I have few problems with the ISP. Cheers, Jim

I just found this great link for tips on using your blog for your CV. It might help those artists out there... http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/05/09/blogging-yourself-into-a-job-is-your-blog-your-resume/ Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip

Hey, Ive been browsing the internet for several internet hosts, and looking at different hosts, all depends on what you want. for instance, I wish to host a gaming site (i know not relevent to theatre, but just an example. Because of this i will need to use php enabled server, SQL, cron etc. But not just this. Bandwidth also has much to do with it. For a starting website, I would say dont go under 10GB monthly bandwidth, at least 200mb GB space (depends on how colorful u want your website to be and what you wish on it). etc. Just a few min requirements people need to look at. As for australian webhosts, ive been looking at two and they both seem quite good. http://www.mdwebhosting.com.au/webhosting/ http://webcity.com.au/web-hosting/hosting-pro1.php These should suit my needs, and these plans are for me, but these guys do have cheaper deals. check em out

I was going to delete this as potential spam, but actually people should know about these things. DON'T GO TO MD WEBHOSTING. I was signed up with them and had problems from the start. Their servers are based in the US and were constantly down (their longest time was for 10 days; even their own website was down, and their email was down. The only contact for them was a hidden phone number which is like $14 per minute or something ridiculous). Their customer service was atrocious, and for only $2 more a month I am now with a web host who is ten times better. I found the forums at Whirlpool (forums.whirlpool.net.au) invaluable for finding out who recommends what, and I can say that MD Webs has received an inordinate amount of bad reviews there. Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip