Hi everyone,

I was wondering if someone could look at an article that I wrote and give their critique of it. It's about choosing a great web host....

Now before anyone starts going down the path of thinking that I am trying to promote something you should know that my site is NOT set up to accept subscribers to my online course AND the host I recommend in the pages of my article is not even set up to give me any credit for any traffic coming to them from this article.

In other words .... and please here this .... I stand to gain nothing financially from anyone on this forum reading my article. Zilch, nada, nothing.

I am genuinely and truly and absolutely JUST interested in getting feedback on what I say in the article about the hosting industry and the steps I recommend to choosing a great hoster. Nothing more and nothing less.

(Sorry for the depth of my belabored point :) but the last time I tried to get sincere input it was mistaken for self-promotion)

Anyway any input would be greatly appreciated. I want to steer my readers right and I figured there was no better place to get constructive criticism than on this wonderful forum.

Are the colors pleasant? Is the article boring? Is it too long? What about what I say about the hosting industry? Is it accurate? What do you think of the steps I recommend to finding a great host? Would you add any or take away any?

The article is at:
www.internetsuccess.ca/a/steps_to_finding_best_web_hosting_service.html

I am mainly interested in commentary on the above page alone - the backend pages accessible through the article links are still being worked on. Though if someone wants to give me input on what I have so far feel free.

I will probably leave the article up for a day or two and then it may be gone since I may want to change the URL of the article (lest anyone think this is just a way to get people to read it - it is not - I say this in case someone tries to see it a week from now and can't).

Thanks.

Carlos

ADDENDUM TO ORIGINAL POST: I changed the article based on posted suggestions to remove what was perceived as too much bias in favor of my present host. You can access the new version through the old URL above. If anyone has any further suggestions I am all ears! Thanks again.

Good job...but it ruins the credibility of the article to have plugs for fluidhost throughout the article and especially the part at the end "Special Note...you can avoid the above steps by just going to fluidhost"

My recommendation would be to put the URL in your resource box. If an article is not impartial then people will dismiss it.

The 1st part of the article is a hard read because it is just one long paragraph after paragraph - perhaps some headings and bullet points would make it easier to read.

One advice you give in the article I totlally disagree with - where you say that it is impossible to get a good hosting deal under $10 a month - this is completely untrue & I feel very bad advice.

Good luck with the article

Thanks Andrew. Just the kind of input I was looking for.

I will have to do something about those long paragraphs in the middle. I kinda wondered if that might be a quick sand type of place in the article for people to read through.

I like your suggestion about putting the SPECIAL NOTE into a resource box type of thing. I think I will do that. I for sure don't want the article to be just a front for getting people to go to my present hoster. I want it to have valuable content all on it's own.

As for the $10.00 a month well...it's really tough for me to believe that ANY hosting company could give me the kind of service I want on a measly $10.00 a month. You might want to read about my personal hosting experiences in the article (first link - which I just corrected) if you want to know more. I could be mistaken but it's just hard to believe. Maybe I will tone the wording about this in the article down some leaving open the POSSIBILITY that it could be done.

Come to think about it I guess in my case it IS being done. Fluid had a special going where they gave away months. Buy one get one free type of thing. Considering that I paid $14.95 for my first month and nothing for my second I guess it's BEING DONE for about $7.50 a month so far. Hadn't thought of that! I was just thinking of the $14.95 :).

Thanks again Andrew. VERY helpful.

Carlos

Carlos123, the text is too huge.
I had to keep scrolling and scrolling, and finally gave up.

Thanks ShagHost. Should I break it up into several pages or perhaps put a table of contents somewhere so that users can skip around to what interests them?

This is a very big message. I do not want to read. Please summarise it.

Personally, I lost interest in the article as soon as I seen the ad for the hosting company. If you don't want it to seem like an advertisement, then remove the advertisements.

Just my opinion. :o

Originally posted by Carlos123
Thanks ShagHost. Should I break it up into several pages or perhaps put a table of contents somewhere so that users can skip around to what interests them?

Carlos123, just my opinion, but I think the table of contents would pull it off better. With smaller text. I think this thread belongs in website reviews.

You should break it up or have your 8 points at the beginning and then your opinions at the end. And advertising for your current host makes you biased for them.

Originally posted by Carlos123
Thanks ShagHost. Should I break it up into several pages or perhaps put a table of contents somewhere so that users can skip around to what interests them?

You obviously didn't understand what he said - put it in a smaller font.

Anyhow - what a load of complete BS.


Now before anyone starts going down the path of thinking that I am trying to promote something you should know that my site is NOT set up to accept subscribers to my online course AND the host I recommend in the pages of my article is not even set up to give me any credit for any traffic coming to them from this article.

In other words .... and please here this .... I stand to gain nothing financially from anyone on this forum reading my article. Zilch, nada, nothing.

I am genuinely and truly and absolutely JUST interested in getting feedback on what I say in the article about the hosting industry and the steps I recommend to choosing a great hoster. Nothing more and nothing less.
[/B]

Yeh right - If you really have nothing to gain then don't advertise a webhost on what you are saying is an impartial point of view. I have seen magazines talking about similar things in the past but never have i seen one that has the audacity to have a big advert for ONE webhost. LOL - you are pretty much insulting the intelligence of people on here.

After my last (critising) post i felt duty bound to at least read the rest of your article (yep i only read some of it due to the horrible large font before posting), and i can honestly say i stand by my last post. It is such a shame that you are advertising a single host there - your artice might be quite a good one otherwise - but sorry - but you are blatantly having a laugh with trying to persuade your readers that you know soooo much about web hosting (which you may well do - you do sound rather knowledgable) - but then you pretty consistantly imply 'fluidhosting are THE BEST - don't go with anyone else'. hopefully most people will see your post for what it is. Do the industry (and yourself) a favour and write impartial hosting guides impartially.
Cheers.

I find it strange that it was posted in the web hosting forum too. This is a review at most.

Thanks everyone for your input.

A couple of comments if I might. Sorry if I put this in the wrong forum but I read in the description that this forum was "including past experiences (both negative and positive), choosing a host,..." and I figured it was the right one.

I did not intend for my article to be a review since I did not in my mind see it as such. Though now that I have gotten input I will definitely tone down the mention of my present hoster within it.

There are lots of great hosters out there (although few compared to the whole number of them I think). I may have tried too hard to have search engiines pick it up better by using "THE best hoster" phrase in connection with my present host. They are to be sure just one of many great hosting companies. I will have to de-emphasize Fluid as THE best as though it was the only one.

Still it is ironic that whenever someone like me writes anything up about how great their hosting company is, what they write is seen to be something other than what it really is. An opinion. I wonder if this board is a bit too full of suspicions and doubts about the intentions of one's like me that post.

My goal with the article was and is to use it to bring my site additional trafic and to have some of that traffic visit my present hoster. Though I don't expect such traffic to come for quite a few months. Until the search engines pick it up. Whether my hoster has an affiliate program or not by then is another story. If they do (and I certainly hope they do so that I can make something) great for us both. If not it won't change my recommendation of them as a great host for my readers.

So my article is not some cloaked attempt to just promote my present hoster. I wrote it primarily to get traffic to MY site. Not my hoster's.

It's disappointing to me that anyone would think otherwise. I mean why would I want to cloak my true intentions? Why bother spelling them out like I did? What would I gain? Absolutely nothing!

I may have definitely been too strong in extolling the virtues of my present host. Just take that as my enthusiasm for them and for how I envisioned this article being used getting the best of me in the way I expressed myself. Not as some twisted attempt to hide the promotion of a hosting company by trying to pawn it off as some impartial thing.

The idea for the article and large portions of it were written before I ever even knew about my present hoster. I added them as an afterthought to the idea for the article.

Oh well I should know by now that no matter what one says over the Internet, no matter how clear or open one is, there will always be someone who will doubt and question and think the worst. As I do sometimes :).

Thanks again.

Carlos

Originally posted by Carlos123
Thanks everyone for your input.

A couple of comments if I might. Sorry if I put this in the wrong forum but I read in the description that this forum was "including past experiences (both negative and positive), choosing a host,..." and I figured it was the right one.

I did not intend for my article to be a review since I did not in my mind see it as such. Though now that I have gotten input I will definitely tone down the mention of my present hoster within it.

There are lots of great hosters out there (although few compared to the whole number of them I think). I may have tried too hard to have search engiines pick it up better by using "THE best hoster" phrase in connection with my present host. They are to be sure just one of many great hosting companies. I will have to de-emphasize Fluid as THE best as though it was the only one.

Still it is ironic that whenever someone like me writes anything up about how great their hosting company is, what they write is seen to be something other than what it really is. An opinion. I wonder if this board is a bit too full of suspicions and doubts about the intentions of one's like me that post.

My goal with the article was and is to use it to bring my site additional trafic and to have some of that traffic visit my present hoster. Though I don't expect such traffic to come for quite a few months. Until the search engines pick it up. Whether my hoster has an affiliate program or not by then is another story. If they do (and I certainly hope they do so that I can make something) great for us both. If not it won't change my recommendation of them as a great host for my readers.

So my article is not some cloaked attempt to just promote my present hoster. I wrote it primarily to get traffic to MY site. Not my hoster's.

It's disappointing to me that anyone would think otherwise. I mean why would I want to cloak my true intentions? Why bother spelling them out like I did? What would I gain? Absolutely nothing!

I may have definitely been too strong in extolling the virtues of my present host. Just take that as my enthusiasm for them and for how I envisioned this article being used getting the best of me in the way I expressed myself. Not as some twisted attempt to hide the promotion of a hosting company by trying to pawn it off as some impartial thing.

The idea for the article and large portions of it were written before I ever even knew about my present hoster. I added them as an afterthought to the idea for the article.

Oh well I should know by now that no matter what one says over the Internet, no matter how clear or open one is, there will always be someone who will doubt and question and think the worst. As I do sometimes :).

Thanks again.

Carlos


Carlos123, you sure can write a book about what sums up to one word. Spam. And that's what you are doing. Self promotion.

Originally posted by Carlos123
Thanks everyone for your input.

Not a problem.


A couple of comments if I might. Sorry if I put this in the wrong forum

i really don't care where you put it.

but I read in the description that this forum was "including past experiences (both negative and positive), choosing a host,..." and I figured it was the right one.

I did not intend for my article to be a review since I did not in my mind see it as such. Though now that I have gotten input I will definitely tone down the mention of my present hoster within it.


And what were your reasons for your decision? Did, for example - you agree with me?


There are lots of great hosters out there (although few compared to the whole number of them I think).


Absolutely correct - IMHO.

I may have tried too hard to have search engiines pick it up better by using "THE best hoster" phrase in connection with my present host. They are to be sure just one of many great hosting companies. I will have to de-emphasize Fluid as THE best as though it was the only one.


Trying too hard with a few plugs is rather different to blatently plugging one host with big boxes within an "impartial hosting guide".


Still it is ironic that whenever someone like me writes anything up about how great their hosting company is, what they write is seen to be something other than what it really is. An opinion. I wonder if this board is a bit too full of suspicions and doubts about the intentions of one's like me that post.


Sorry mate - wrong - I've been in the hosting industry since around 95 / 96 but i've got very few posts on this board compared to most - so i hardly count as "this board is too full of suspicions and doubts" - my beef with you is based upon the fact that you are blatently advertising a host and trying to thinly veil what you are doing, whilst you are clearly aiming your article at the unsuspecting as "good advice". I said your article would be good if it had not tried to advertise purely a single host and i stand by that.


My goal with the article was and is to use it to bring my site additional trafic and to have some of that traffic visit my present hoster. Though I don't expect such traffic to come for quite a few months. Until the search engines pick it up. Whether my hoster has an affiliate program or not by then is another story. If they do (and I certainly hope they do so that I can make something) great for us both. If not it won't change my recommendation of them as a great host for my readers.


I suspect that regardless of any feedback you get here you will probably peddle your "advertising" anyway. Possibly not here any more one suspects.


So my article is not some cloaked attempt to just promote my present hoster. I wrote it primarily to get traffic to MY site. Not my hoster's.


Then do the honerable thing and take the references to your "favourite" host out - and as i said - make it impartial.


It's disappointing to me that anyone would think otherwise. I mean why would I want to cloak my true intentions? Why bother spelling them out like I did? What would I gain? Absolutely nothing!


Oh come on - born yesterday i wasn't. Like i said - you obviously like insulting the intelligence of people here. ....and I am mighty pi**ed to disappoint you ;-)


I may have definitely been too strong in extolling the virtues of my present host. Just take that as my enthusiasm for them and for how I envisioned this article being used getting the best of me in the way I expressed myself. Not as some twisted attempt to hide the promotion of a hosting company by trying to pawn it off as some impartial thing.


Sorry - i won't take it as enthusiasm - i've been around to many people that want me to believe words over actions.


The idea for the article and large portions of it were written before I ever even knew about my present hoster. I added them as an afterthought to the idea for the article.


LOL.


Oh well I should know by now that no matter what one says over the Internet, no matter how clear or open one is, there will always be someone who will doubt and question and think the worst. As I do sometimes :).


Refer to my answer above. It is not often that i see a real character like you that comes along and believes he can do what (i believe) you are trying to do. I have a business to run and i don't spend too much time either in defence of people that have been ripped off or people that are going to be ripped off, but to me your post was way too much. I wish you all the best - as i do everyone i meet regardless, but please if you are going to write articles like you have then at least try to be objective.


Thanks again.

Carlos

Cheers

Thanks for your thoughts again Mark. I will definitely be toning down the mention of my hoster in the article. I believe you were right about the impression I was leaving - though it was unintentional.

Even THEY thought it was bit biased after reading it :)

In that regard you have given me some very good insight into how my article came accross and I appreciate that.

As for the rest of your comments I will take them with a grain of salt though they do make me wonder if mentioning this forum as a great resource in my article was a bit biased too....:)

Best regards.

Carlos

Originally posted by Carlos123
A couple of comments if I might. Sorry if I put this in the wrong forum but I read in the description that this forum was "including past experiences (both negative and positive), choosing a host,..." and I figured it was the right one. Carlos, I think if you read the forum rules (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/misc.php?action=forum-rules) you'll find a few of the reasons why people feel your post is inappropriate.

very nice article, a little bit too long though.

Hi JayC,

Thanks for posting a link to the forum rules. After re-reading them (I had read them once before but had not done so recently) I think I will post on other hosting forums when I want genuine input and advice.

I definitely want to respect the forum rules and not bend them.

I guess it is disappointing that this forum (which is all about hosting) does not seem to be a place where I can get sincere input about how an article comes accross. That I am writing about web hosting.

Although I did get some great input I also got some rather rude comments thrown at me (I believe the forum rules also talk about this too :)).

All I was doing was requesting input...

NOT for financial gain - I can't even get people to sign up for my site yet...I presently don't make a penny from people visiting my site...even if they wanted to give me money!

NOT to get traffic - I could care less whether I get traffic from this forum or any forum at this point - since I can't even sign up anybody for my site yet...my site is under development. I ask the questions I do because I sincerely want to know about what I am asking.

NOT to get anything from my web hoster - even if I were to refer 1000 people to their site tommorrow I wouldn't make a penny since they are not set up to even be able to tell whether any of their visitors are coming to them through my article.

NOT for any other reason nor to get anything from anybody, anywhere other than constructive input and criticism of my article.

It's disappointing that anyone would have thought I was doing otherwise and that the forum rules would seem to preclude my getting advice about articles I write - which need a lot of revision. If I can't ever ask for genuine advice without being thought of as trying to get something else under the guise of advice on this forum then I guess I will need to go elsewhere where there is a bit more understanding.

Trust about one's motives being genuinely expressed sure seems to be in short supply over the Internet at times like this.

Thanks for pointing me to the forum rules JayC.

Carlos

You're killing me. You contradict yourself in every post. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Carlos123

NOT for financial gain - I can't even get people to sign up for my site yet...I presently don't make a penny from people visiting my site...even if they wanted to give me money!




"Whether my hoster has an affiliate program or not by then is another story. If they do (and I certainly hope they do so that I can make something) great for us both."




NOT to get traffic - I could care less whether I get traffic from this forum or any forum at this point - since I can't even sign up anybody for my site yet...my site is under development. I ask the questions I do because I sincerely want to know about what I am asking.

"Whether my hoster has an affiliate program or not by then is another story. If they do (and I certainly hope they do so that I can make something) great for us both."

"So my article is not some cloaked attempt to just promote my present hoster. I wrote it primarily to get traffic to MY site. "

"My goal with the article was and is to use it to bring my site additional trafic and to have some of that traffic visit my present hoster."


NOT to get anything from my web hoster - even if I were to refer 1000 people to their site tommorrow I wouldn't make a penny since they are not set up to even be able to tell whether any of their visitors are coming to them through my article.

"Whether my hoster has an affiliate program or not by then is another story. If they do (and I certainly hope they do so that I can make something) great for us both."


NOT for any other reason nor to get anything from anybody, anywhere other than constructive input and criticism of my article.

See above

Originally posted by Carlos123
Thanks for posting a link to the forum rules. After re-reading them (I had read them once before but had not done so recently) I think I will post on other hosting forums when I want genuine input and advice. Best of luck then. I'd only suggest that you also read the rules -- and remember them after doing so -- at the other forums you visit as well.

I didnt read it, but i searched for the word "unlimited" and it wasn't in there. I think you should write in tehre what "unlimited" means ;)

I just thought of something....

If I were to post an article requesting input where

* the article had the word HOSTER in place of an actual name

AND

* where no links worked (so I couldn't be accused of
using it to increase affiliate this or that)

AND

* where it was hosted at my ISP's 5MB of free web
space (so that no one would be able to backtrack out
to my domain)

AND

* where I used a fake name as the author of the
article (maybe that's going to far)

would it still be considered a violation of the forum rules for me to ask for input and suggestions as to how to improve the article?

I am perfectly willing to do that just to get the input in the future. If that that is what it will take to convince anyone looking at my article that I just want advice about how to write it better.

I would even be willing to change the copyright on the article so that people couldn't get to my site or that of the hoster I recommend through even it.

Does anyone have any constructive input :) on whether appraching this forum with such a stripped down article would violate the rules? After all there are a lot of people that don't take my request for input the wrong way and I would hate to miss out on their valuable suggestions.

Carlos

Jeez Carlos - why are you wasting people's time with these long explanations? Give it up

You wrote an okay article, that in it's current form has no chance of being published anywhere except your own site. You have had honest & helpful feedback from the people here.

Spend your energy using the advice & then repost it in the reviews forum if the article is that crucial to you.

If I am wasting people's time with my "long" replies what about my time reading some of the responses which have been more filled with hot air than constructive criticism?

Let's be fair here.

How am I wasting people's time? Are you forced to read my "long" posts somehow? Do you feel a need to answer such that I am forcing you to waste your time?

I am truly curious as to whether such a stripped down article would violate the rules of this forum. It's a genuine question. Would you care to answer?

You mention putting such an article in the review forum. How can it be a review when I am talking about getting input on an article that will not even have a hosters name in it?

Unreal.....

Please ignore this additional "long" post if you think I am continuing to waste your time.

Carlos

incredible :eek:

That's a fitting word to end this discussion.

Carlos

If folks want to read a "how to go host shopping" article by someone who's been burned multiple times and learned her lessons (over and over and over again) the hard way and really isn't trying to sell anything, neither hosting nor online courses, I'll plug my own article (http://www.forumhosts.com/hosts.htm) here. It's a bit out of date in terms of some link rot and no coverage of a few recent well-known hosting disasters (cyberwings, aletia), but I hope people will still find it worth reading.

Damn. Talk about story time.

Originally posted by Carlos123
If I am wasting people's time with my "long" replies what about my time reading some of the responses which have been more filled with hot air than constructive criticism?

Let's be fair here.

How am I wasting people's time? Are you forced to read my "long" posts somehow? Do you feel a need to answer such that I am forcing you to waste your time?

Strewth - you are quite obviously (to me) one of these people who ask for advice and then argue why you should not take the advice. I can't be doing with that.

Hot Air - Right Oh. :confused: :confused: :confused:


I am truly curious as to whether such a stripped down article would violate the rules of this forum. It's a genuine question. Would you care to answer?

You mention putting such an article in the review forum. How can it be a review when I am talking about getting input on an article that will not even have a hosters name in it?

Unreal.....

Please ignore this additional "long" post if you think I am continuing to waste your time.

Carlos

You miss the point - I don't think people want to help with the article itself - even without the hosters name in - as it is quite obvious that you will put it back in straight away when you publish and publicise it. It is not that i don't want to help people make money - i just don't want to assist someone that (in my opinion) is misleading the public. I re-itterate - it is actually a good article if it wasn't for the completely biased angle.

Hi Mark,

I thought the conversation was over. Oh well. You brought up some points that I will have to consider the next time I ask for advice.

On the good side of things....I received very valuable input that the article was too long, too biased, that I should put in better headings to make it more readable, and also some encouragement in that most everyone thought the article (apart from mentioning my present hosting company too much) was good.

I will most definitely be revising the entire article (more than I already have) and will be re-writing major sections of it in the next few days (I hope) in line with the advice I received in this post. It will remain up in case anyone wants to see it's progress as I change it to reflect the constructive criticism I have received.

If anyone would prefer instead that I take it down, no problem, just post your say so here and I will edit my original post to remove the link to it.

Thanks again Mark and to everyone else who gave any kind of input. Please note that my hoster had absolutely nothing to do with the decision to mention their name as often as I did. That was entirely my decision and mine alone. As I previously mentioned they themselves thought that I mentioned them too much.

Carlos

No worries - good luck for the future with it.

All the best - Cheers

Hello Carols,

Just in one work can say: Well done ! During past 2-3 month haven't had read a nice, clear and simple article as yours. Very useful for everyone.

Have a great day and hope in future we will have more of these articles from you and other people.

Indeed! A very informative article and one that may be worthy of citation if you keep it updated and current.

You might consider using a style guide, though. I'm not sure who your audience is, but your domain name suggests you should use the Canadian Press Style Guide. However, your spelling of "belabored" in your initial post suggests otherwise :D

One more thing about long articles... If it becomes worthy of citation one day (and I'm betting it will), you might consider numbering your paragraphs (or at least using # anchors). That way, authors can attribute a pinpoint citation to the exact section of your article.

All the best.

Hi artsreview person :),

Not sure what you mean by some of the terms you use - I'll for sure look them up :) - but thanks for the positive and constructive critique.

I am still revising it - having uploaded some major changes to it just today. Including the addition of major sectional breakdowns. Which I will have to look at making citable through named anchors. Unfortunately I have not had time to work on the back end pages much.

Even though I was initially a bit taken aback from some of the negative criticism I received on this thread about my bias in favoring my current host I now consider all the input that I have received to have been well worth it. It has helped me to realize a lot of things about my article that I did not and to improve it greatly.

I will see if I can make it better still.

Thanks again.

Carlos

Your new version is a big improvement - it flows a lot better now.

Thanks Andrew. Coming from one of the article's strongest critics on this thread that's quite a compliment. I appreciate your having looked at it again.

Carlos