Never Fear, Hosting Hero is Here!

Posted by Jim
February 12, 2008

Super Hero greets common blogger.I’ve always sort of fancied myself as a super hero, kinda like Batman or WonderFish. But until recently, I’ve been missing a very important component of my super hero identity….I had no arch nemesis. Well, I have one now!

It seems that GoDaddy has stepped forward to play this very important role in my super hero identity. Yes, GoDaddy…the mega domain wholesaler and, uh um, web hosting provider. So, now it is time for me to put on the leotard suit and puff my chest out while I do battle with GoDaddy.com. Okay, here’s my story and a message. (Prepare yourself, even the abridged version of the story is long.)

My Story:

A little over a month ago I decided to move one of my blogs off of my GoDaddy shared hosting account due to problems with installing WordPress on GoDaddy servers (there are a multitude of websites that have the detailed instructions) and some data problems that I could not trace the cause of. I backed up my WordPress data and attempted to install with the new host.

Unfortunately, the data backup was incomplete for some reason. When I went back to my database on the GoDaddy server, the database had been renamed. GoDaddy tech support admitted to having problems with WordPress hosting during the past 48 hours, but claimed that the database name change was not possibly created by anyone but me. BTW, the name was changed to something like “AAsad4q24Asdf0-45″. Not a name I would have readily thought of. To read more about this adventure, visit “6 Unheralded Benefits of Blogging” at UTurnAhead.com.

Well, I finally settled in with my new hosting provider, BlueHost.com and even started a couple more blogs. I let my GoDaddy hosting account just sit until last week. Then I decided to give GoDaddy a second chance. I set up a WordPress website for our local disc golf club and for my employer. All was fine for a few days.

But today I was adding a post on the disc golf site and had a problem with uploading a photo. I figured it has to be a WordPress problem (although it worked yesterday), so I reinstalled WordPress. Still didn’t work. On a whim, I decided to see if I could upload photos in my other GoDaddy hosted site…still didn’t work. Finally, I tested the photo uploads on all my BlueHost sites and had no problem at all.

So, is it a GoDaddy problem or something else? To be fair, I really don’t know. The evidence is that the problem occurs on both GoDaddy sites but not on the three BlueHost sites. I began searching for a solution to my problem and started finding a plethora (you like that word?) of blog posts and articles of GoDaddy problems. Here is a sampling…

WordPress and GoDaddy:

General GoDaddy Concerns:

And what’s with GoDaddy tech support always needing to put me on hold for another three or four minutes while the rep “Checks on something?” Does he have a burrito in the microwave or just wanting me to rack up more minutes on my phone bill. That’s right, there is no toll-free tech support at GoDaddy.

The Message:

So, is GoDaddy really an evil hosting and domain provider? Nah, probably not on the level of Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil. But I’m writing this post for a different reason. As an advisor to new bloggers, I owe it to you to share this information. The fact is, when you are choosing a host for your blog you need to ask: Do I want to risk the problems that are broadly reported at GoDaddy? Or will I simply take the low cost deal and hope I’m one of the thousands of satisfied GoDaddy customers? (Oh yeah, some of my best friends are GoDaddy fans.)

The bottom line is, shop around and know the potential problems. A great place to start is the BlogFlux Hosting Directory. They have customer reviews and comparisons for a multitude of hosting providers.

[PhotoCredit:FuzzCat]

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Comments

I get all of my domains from GoDaddy, they’re cheap (with discount codes) and it’s easy for me to register a new one as they already have all of my details (I’m lazy, can’t be bothered signing up for a new account elsewhere)… :)

Comment by KieranG on February 14, 2008 @ 4:44 am

Kieran - As I said, there are thousands of satisfied customers using GoDaddy. If it works for you, great. For those who don’t yet have a hosting provider, then these are things they will want to consider.

Comment by Jim on February 14, 2008 @ 10:28 am

Interesting article. You can also see a top 10 hosting reviews at http://www.nr1top.com/tops if you are interested in getting hosting. I hope you will like the reviews and that they will help somebody in choosing there hosting.

Comment by Alex Top 10 Web Hosting Reviews on February 23, 2008 @ 10:26 pm

I am only here to say I signed up to be an affiliate for bluehost and before spending any time creating any promotions on them I signed up for their hosting just to see what my future leads were going to get.
Well… bluehost KILLED my hosting account within 24 hours accusing me to giving them inaccurate contact info.
They won’t reply to any emails now. (???)
Their affiliate manager sound like those fascists that john belushi almost ran over in “Blues Brothers”.
I don’t understand what’s happening with bluehost nor why they treated me like this, nor do I care. I am just here to warn anyone who might be thinking of joining them. These are proper cowboys, they’ll shoot first then they’ll ask “who is there”. I still don’t have a clue what their problem with me was and life’s too short to even bother. I just hope my paypal dispute will help get my $95 back. Oh and while I was in there, it isn’t true that you get adwords and yahoo credits! You only get them if you JOIN adwords and yahoo via bluehost’s AFFILIATE’s link!

Comment by mark on April 8, 2008 @ 2:34 pm

Hey Mark,

Sorry to hear about your experience with BlueHost. BlueHost constantly ranks in the top of nearly all user surveys. And I can say that my experience has been nothing but excellent. But thanks for sharing your own experience.

Regarding the Adwords and Yahoo! credits, yes, you do have to join through the BlueHost link, but that is how they know you have earned the credit. If you try to use the credit on an existing Adwords or Yahoo! Ads account, it will not work. This is true of all the hosting providers that offer credits to new accounts. I signed up with Adwords and had no trouble using my $50 credit.

Comment by Jim on April 9, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
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