Webhosting: I need a little advice

Hi Friends,

I posted this on FB yesterday but got little response. I am hoping for more help by posting it here. Please respond in the comments section below.

Facebook Post: 5/16/2014 11:00 am PST by Mark Adam Thomas.

I’d love some advice regarding web hosting. My renewal fees are due in a week, and I still really cannot afford to renew it with my current host, Siteground. The renewal is $9.95 a month, paying for one year in advance, plus $25 to renew my domain name. I have been with Siteground for 3 years without incident, downtime or other nightmares I read about.

As I have been looking at alternatives, many hosting companies will sell me 2 or even 3 years at around $4 a month, and they pay for the domain fees for the first year. One even pays for the domain fee every year that you host with them.

I have spent about 12 hours looking at reviews – of Siteground and the other prospective hosts. Each of them have horror stories and complaints and “buyer beware” and “stay away”. All of them. Even Siteground. So I am not sure how reliable said ‘customer reviews’ are, or how useful.

My first question is this: Should I stay with Siteground because I know they are stable but slightly out of my budget (I can accept a 3 month contract for the same price, $30 for 3 months), or should I risk going with a different web host that is less expensive?

Next: Do any of you have experience with a reliable web hosting service? I am thinking about switching to one of the following: Arvixe, FatCow, GoDaddy, HostExcellence. These all seem comparable, but Arviixe has the free domain for life offer. Let me know who you are with and how you like the service.

Do any of you benefit from an Affiliate Program with your current host? I would consider helping out a friend if they can vouch for their host.

Thanks for your advice, in advance.

All images and content copyright © 2011-2014 ~ Mark Adam Thomas

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