Hi,
I am trying to pick a hoster, but I would like some help please. The site I am making is going to be a personal site, with a photo gallery, which will start out with about 500-1000 photos and will grow anywhere from 10-a few hundred a month. I also plan on having a small blog.

The hosters I am currently looking at are:
Hostgator (http://hostgator.com), Web.com (http://web.com), 1&1 (http://1and1.com), WestHost (http://westhost.com), DreamHost (http://dreamhost.com), and Yahoo Web Hosting (http://webhosting.yahoo.com). Which provider out of these do you think would be the best? Also are there any other providers you recommend.

Thanks,

Cory

there are goo and bad posts about most of those hosts here in WHT so it might also be a good idea to talk to some smaller hosts see what they have to offer through their sites.

Just my 2 cents :)

there are goo and bad posts about most of those hosts here in WHT so it might also be a good idea to talk to some smaller hosts see what they have to offer through their sites.

Just my 2 cents :)

Ok, thanks for the tip.

I've had experience with HostGator and 1and1. From my experience, HostGator is an affordable and reliable company. 1and1, on the other hand, is a company that I will never trust again; if you choose this company, you should expect regular downtime and slow technical support.

I would recommend you to study more about "Overselling" before picking up a host.

These host that oversells their resources massively will certainly slow down your site. And your site will be easily suspended by them for overloading their servers (cpu usage and ram) as you will be using a blog and a gallery script which is resource intensive.

Always remember that you will get what you pay for. ;)

I would recommend you to study more about "Overselling" before picking up a host.

These host that oversells their resources massively will certainly slow down your site. And your site will be easily suspended by them for overloading their servers (cpu usage and ram) as you will be using a blog and a gallery script which is resource intensive.

Always remember that you will get what you pay for. ;)

A lot of hosting providers oversell. However, some overselling hosting providers actually monitor their servers closely to make sure that high load and downtime is something their customers do not experience. Take HostGator, for example; I've seen multiple accounts that had filled up 100-200GB storage, just for the heck of it - from what I hear, their websites rarely see load issues or downtime. ;)

No hostgator definetly since they oversell alot. Go for some company in the offers section that provides a decent bandwidth and space. something thats realistic.

No hostgator definetly since they oversell alot. Go for some company in the offers section that provides a decent bandwidth and space. something thats realistic.

I'm not sure what you mean by "realistic," but as I stated above, the resources HostGator allows you is usable.

A lot of hosting providers oversell. However, some overselling hosting providers actually monitor their servers closely to make sure that high load and downtime is something their customers do not experience. Take HostGator, for example; I've seen multiple accounts that had filled up 100-200GB storage, just for the heck of it - from what I hear, their websites rarely see load issues or downtime. ;)

Massive overselling is what most big host do. Overselling in a controlled manner is still acceptable.

The OP requires a blog and a gallery script which is quite resource intensive and if they really do use only half of the bandwidth offered by hostgator, it would already overload the server.

When this happens (or before this happens), the user will be suspended and that is not something we want to see.

What we would like to educate consumers here is that you will get only what you pay for. Don't take something for granted and end up losing everything.

There may be some exceptional cases where they can fully utilize what is given to them, but that is only a fraction of it.

Many will be suspended before even reaching half of what is allocated as to make sure that high load and downtime is something their customers do not experience.

Just my two cents. ;)

I dont think too many people would recommend Yahoo Hosting. Yahoo servers are running software mostly outdated or too old to be considered "secure".

Ok, thanks everyone. You all have helped a lot. QualityHost I completely agree with you on Yahoo is running outdated software, they don't even allow .htaccess.

Stay away from oversellers
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=678237

I have a client whose website is on Westhost. Very good uptime from what I can tell. It is a custom control panel, if that is an issue for you.

Massive overselling is what most big host do. Overselling in a controlled manner is still acceptable.

The OP requires a blog and a gallery script which is quite resource intensive and if they really do use only half of the bandwidth offered by hostgator, it would already overload the server.

When this happens (or before this happens), the user will be suspended and that is not something we want to see.

What we would like to educate consumers here is that you will get only what you pay for. Don't take something for granted and end up losing everything.

There may be some exceptional cases where they can fully utilize what is given to them, but that is only a fraction of it.

Many will be suspended before even reaching half of what is allocated as to make sure that high load and downtime is something their customers do not experience.

Just my two cents. ;)

Yes, you are right about that. :)

Stay away from oversellers
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=678237

Telling everyone to stay away from overselling companies is not right. Yes, this person needs a company that does not dramatically oversell, but in other cases overselling companies are absolutely fine. Not all overselling companies are bad. :)

Telling everyone to stay away from overselling companies is not right. Yes, this person needs a company that does not dramatically oversell, but in other cases overselling companies are absolutely fine. Not all overselling companies are bad. :)

Yes, I don't see anything wrong if it is in a controlled manner.
It can bring in more profit for a company if handled properly. However, it can also ruin a company's reputation if not done properly. This is just business preference, every businesses have their own strategies.

However, not all plans will suit everyone. So it goes back to the same line, "There are no best host, there are only host who are best for you." ;)

Ok Thanks Everyone for the feedback.

Agree, though Yahoo is big, their software systems are outdated.

Though oversell too much is not a good idea, but I don't think oversell itself is bad. Just think about airlines, all the airlines in the US are overbooking, that's one reason why they can keep the price cheap. So, we don't need stay away from oversellers, but should stay away from those providers who oversell too much and can't provide good service. As long as the service is good, whether they are overselling or not isn't so important.

Ok Thanks Everyone for the feedback.

The first rule of hosting (and many other things) is: If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. :)

Make sure you do plenty of research on each host to find out what is right for you. Doing things like pinging their site or a site they host to test the speed of it wouldn't hurt as well. This will only tell you the speed from your connection to their's, however. But at least you'll know things like FTP will be fast on your end. Also, try to find as many reviews as possible on any particular host to try and get multiple opinions. Also, never fall for the marketing tricks that most hosts deploy to suck you in. If your getting an outrageous amount of bandwidth or disk space at a small price, than they are overselling. This could result in bad performance of your webpage. The old saying "you get what you pay for" certainly comes true in the web hosting business