Web Hosting Firm Comparisons (part 1)

So, you want to make your own website eh? Maybe you want to make a website that talks about an orgainization you are in, maybe you plan to use a website for business purposes, such as advertising your products or services, or maybe you even want to use a website for affiliate marketing (or promoting products on behalf of others), or whatever. Of course, if you want to get a website, you will need to get a web hosting serivce, and as a fellow user with 3 websites on the internet: http://www.ryansjones.com/, http://www.snohomishaffiliatemarketing.com/, and http://www.snohomishpromotionnichemarketing.com/, there are 3 different web hosting firms I am with, though I am also an affiliate of several other ones (including http://www.web.com/, http://www.yahoo.com/, and search daddy). In this web blog, I will share with you the three hosting firms what I am with, talk about my affiliated ones (it would not be fair for them if I don't share their services with you). Note that to avoid making the posts longer than they should, I will have to post the comparisons into seperate posts.

Common Characteristics of web hosting services:
- you get your own website
- you get a domain name
- some hosting firms allow you to make a website from scratch, while others have tools you use to create a site, as well as a few that are actually templated (or you get a pre-built website from them).
- If you like the web hosting firm you are with, most of them do have affiliate programs you can join and you can actually earn extra money by referring others to the web hosting firm you are with. Some firms require you to apply to join their affiliate program, while with others, you are autuomatically enrolled in their affiliate propgrams upon joining.

Web hosting firm 1: http://www.yourbizwebsites.com/



When I first got into the affiliate marketing business, I actually got my first website through them. You get one free website that has prebuilt content in it, though you can also get up to 10 more for an annual fee. The web pages you get are pre-made, which means that there is usually content already on it, though you can actually add to them, modify them, add your own pages, etc if you want to add to them. The service comes with a web editor, but you can add extra files, use html format, etc and the web editors you get actually has tools you can use to create your own description, title, keywords, etc metatag.

What you get with yourbizwebsites:

• 1 free web page (though you canget over 10 more for a yearly fee)
• prebuilt web pages with links to a variety of ebooks covering 1 to 10 niches (depending on whether you settle with the 1 page or the 10 page package).
• you automatically enroll in the company's affiliate program, where you will get $50 for every person you refer to yourbizwebsites (even if they only get the 1 free web page)
• You will get your own control panel and ftp server, as well as one email box, where you can upload files, make your own html files, and store up to 100 mb of information.
• you will be required to enroll on the clickbank affiliate network to monetize your website (since most of the pre-built content comes from clickbank associated merchants (i.e. Average Joe Marketer's The Money is in the Niche, Duvet Dollars, No nonsense body building, etc).
• if you do the fast track package, you may get an opportunity to get a squeeze page for an addional cost (mine is at www.ryansjones.com/Videos), which is basically a sales pitch page that aims to entice your visitors to get their own website through yourbizwebsites, and also acts as an email address capture page, where you can get peoples' email addresses that you can email newsletters, and information on how to get their own web page through yourbizwebsites.
• Although the services aren't cheap, there are representatives from yourbizwebsites that will call you, offering 1 on 1 coaching services if you need help with your site. The only downside to that is that most of the coaches charge a hefty investment to take advantage of their services (around $2000).

Pros about yourbizwebsites

• the prebuilt content can be extra handy if you have thought about the affiliate marketing business and do not know what kind of website to make or what items to promote.
• if you have the extra money, you might find the coaching services useful, otherwise if you are tight on money, one of the affiliate links you get is one for Average Joe Marketer's The Money is in the Niche, which is a nice ebook packages that pretty much asts as a tutorial guide for newbie internet marketers that I would recommend to just about any new internet marketer (it only costs $40 to get the ebook, by the way). You can get a copy at my website at www.ryansjones.com/business.html.
• you can either promote the sites as they are or add your own content to them.
• some of the niches you are given can be right up your alley. For example, are you an expert on dating and relationships? 3 of the sites you get via the fast track packages are all about dating and relationships. Or maybe you specialize in dogs/cats, 2 of the sites you can get viat the fast track package are on dog and cat training, where you can add your own content for selling dog and cat training supplies, books, and equipment.
• there are free training guides that come with the package that you might find useful, including ideas on how you can promote your site, additional sources of income you can look into, ideas on how you can optimize your website for search engines, as well as idea on how you can get the most out of paid advertising sources like Google Adwords.

Cons about yourbizwebsites: (most web hosting firms are going to have their pros and cons by the way)

• the niches you are given tend to be quite competitive and I would not recommend using yourbizwebsites if you are new, unless if you are familiar with what you are given to promote. For example, if you just go with the free package (where you only get one page), you will likely get one on internet marketing, which is perhaps one of the most competitive niches (a niche is the subject your website covers, by the way) out there in the online world, and unless if you are an expert at internet marketing, you may want to be careful about getting a page with them. Obviously, there are unexplored subniches in internet marketing, such as posting ebooks that have little or not publicity (typically ebooks at clickbank that have higher gravity tend to be more competitive to sell than te ebooks with lower gravity, where gravety refers to the number of affiliates that are promoting that particular ebook). I actually did the fast track package, and here are the niches I was given: internet marketing, building muscle, cat training, dog training, dating tips, get your ex back (or a page that aims to help broken up couples to reunite with each other), Save Marriage (aimed at married couples, whose marriage is in danger of failing), learning spanish, a site for realtors looking to profit from foreclosed homes, a page on weight loss, as well as a site on skin care. As you can imagine, lots of those subjects tend to be on the more competitive side. If you are an expert in these fields, then yourbizwebsites may be for you, otherwise, you will probably want to add your own niches to be successful with yourbizwebsites (which means that the fast track package will be a must for you since you will have access to all of the web hosting features available).
• I have noticed that many websites through yourbizwebsites are almost identical to each other, and so if you want your site to get noticed, you will probably want to add extra content tot them to get them noticed and stand out from there rest of the crowd.
• While on the sites you are given praise the products you are given to promote, some of them have mixed reviews and are viewed as scammy by some. For example, one product I was given to promote was for Google Snatch (comes with the internet marketing page), which is an ebook package that aims to make it possible it possible to use the google adwords paid advertising service for for "free". Unfortunately, I seriously doubt that you can really use adwords for free (and if you do, you will likely take a chance of getting banned by google sooner or later). Also, if you do a google search on google snatch, you will find that while there are some people that like the product, there are many others that hate it and say it is scammy. I doubt that all of the products are scammy, but there are two good ways around this: offer more variety of ebooks to promote (btw, I actually added several more ebooks to the dog training page, including 2 ebooks on golden retrievers, 1 ebook on bichon-frises, 1 ebook that talks about dog foood, and one one on the basics of dog training). Another advice for you is that you may want to put up disclaimers about products that either seem to be too good to be true or those that have mixed reviews. This way, if a person you refer to that site hates the product he/she is given, having a good disclaimer should reduce the chances of getting sued since with the disclaimer, you can warn your visitors about possible pitfalls of the product you promote and can say ("don't say I did not warn you about this") if they do. Also, if you add extra content from clickbank merchants, you will probably want to do some research on the products you are planning to promote because while you can host just about any merchant on clickbank (which is a nice thing about clickbank in comparison to say Linkshare and CJ, being able to become an affiliate of ANY ebook, company, etc as opposed to having to apply for the companies and product you want to promote via Linkshare or CJ), while most of the merchants have good intentions and sell marketable products, there are going to be some bad apples in the bunch, and so you will want to be careful about that.

Cost of the web hosting service: free if you just get the one web page, $150 per year (charged annually) if you get the "fast track" package.