I would really appreciate any info people could give me on cheap/reliable web hosting. I've checked prices at Godaddy.com and they are too expensive for my needs.
I just came back from Africa. During my stay there I met a number of people that I would like to help and having access to cheap and reliable web hosting would be essential. These are people who have just started with little businesses such as hostels or craft shops in areas that are not far from areas that foreign travelers visit but because they have not made it into travel guides and do not have web presence, they don't receive as many visitors as they might receive otherwise. I volunteered to create simple web pages for them and I'm even willing pay for the hosting for a while in some cases. I checked web hosting services such as Godaddy.com but I find them too expensive for what I need. In some cases these are people who are barely surviving with their businesses and $4 a month is quite a lot in a place where $120 a month is considered a pretty decent salary and very few can actually get jobs that would earn it.
The web sites I want to put together with the pictures and info I collected are very simple and hence require very little space. Does anybody know of cheap (or free if possible) web hosting services that could help me with this initiative? Any advice, tips I should consider besides info on the hosting itself?
Thanks a lot in advance.
Josep M.
Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Josep M. Fontana -
Number of replies: 9
In reply to Josep M. Fontana
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Brian Mulligan -
How about Googlepages? It can also provide email using the domain name (not sure if there is a charge for that).
brian
brian
In reply to Josep M. Fontana
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Chris Lamb -
I'd avoid free hosts - any free host is going to plaster your pages with adverts for other people's businesses rather than the ones you're trying to promote.
The cheapest one I know of, which I use myself and which I know is reliable, is www.fast2host.com. They're UK-based, and their basic package is GBP25/year, plus domain names at about GBP8 each. They give you 200MB of web space on the basic package, plus ten email addresses. They also include PHP, MySQL and ODBC on the basic package as well, in case you need them.
Chris
In reply to Josep M. Fontana
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Steve Hyndman -
Josep,
If you are talking about static content on a site that you will administer (i.e. you won't give the account login to anyone else), I will give you an account with Cpanel on one of my servers if you are interested. Email me at steve [at] kentuckyclassroom.com if you are interested. I'll be offline after today for a few days.
Steve
In reply to Steve Hyndman
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Josep M. Fontana -
Thanks to everybody who responded. Here and off-line. Thanks for your generous offer, Steve. I'll contact you privately.
JM
JM
In reply to Josep M. Fontana
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Sean Rattigan -
Josep,
I realise you may already have a solution from Steve, but you may find the idea extension interesting nonetheless:
If you were to have a single domain-name and put up each of these businesses as sub-domains, or just as seperate pages, then the unit cost per business is much reduced.
Each business can indeed get Gmail accounts which is useful and negates any limitations on the number of e-mails offered by some hosting packages.
Taking the idea a step further- is there an opportunity here for a type of co-op to develop? Customers of one client may be interested in the wares of others also? i.e. hostels and crafts- if a craft biz sells something thru the web.. could they recommend the hostel? Could the hostel recommend the local goods as souvenirs or to send home to friends/relatives?
Could they get involved with the Fair Trade Movement?
Having a Googlepages site (as Brian suggested) is an excellent idea- there are in fact NO adverising banners, the interface is quite simple so the clients may take over maintenance themselves... lastly even having a second site (i.e. googlepages) with the same businesses listed and links to the main site (if seperate) will help with getting listed in Google.
Good luck.
Seán.
I realise you may already have a solution from Steve, but you may find the idea extension interesting nonetheless:
If you were to have a single domain-name and put up each of these businesses as sub-domains, or just as seperate pages, then the unit cost per business is much reduced.
Each business can indeed get Gmail accounts which is useful and negates any limitations on the number of e-mails offered by some hosting packages.
Taking the idea a step further- is there an opportunity here for a type of co-op to develop? Customers of one client may be interested in the wares of others also? i.e. hostels and crafts- if a craft biz sells something thru the web.. could they recommend the hostel? Could the hostel recommend the local goods as souvenirs or to send home to friends/relatives?
Could they get involved with the Fair Trade Movement?
Having a Googlepages site (as Brian suggested) is an excellent idea- there are in fact NO adverising banners, the interface is quite simple so the clients may take over maintenance themselves... lastly even having a second site (i.e. googlepages) with the same businesses listed and links to the main site (if seperate) will help with getting listed in Google.
Good luck.
Seán.
In reply to Sean Rattigan
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Josep M. Fontana -
Thanks a lot for all your suggestions Séan. All of them very useful. I had not considered getting a domain name because that added up to the price. But you are totally right that if you have to build more than one site, then it turns out to be cheaper.
Josep M.
Josep M.
In reply to Josep M. Fontana
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by WriteToShare .org -
Josep,
It sounds like you have stumbled onto a great opportunity to help local businesses thrive in areas of the world that are not at economically sound. It would be great to create a free online community to enable all of these local businesses the ability to create their own profiles advertising their services. As a software developer/architect, I would be more than happy to talk to you about ideas to make this work on what could be a larger scale than originally anticipated (I dream big). Let's get in touch if you're interested. Non profit ventures like this are always appealing to me. I even have a empty server that I can provide hosting on for free if we come up with a good idea.
Milan Indru Malkani
In reply to WriteToShare .org
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by Josep M. Fontana -
I agree with you that having a space devoted to these kinds of projects would be a good idea. You'll have to send me e-mail or let me know where I can contact you because I don't see any e-mail address in your profile.
JM
JM
In reply to Josep M. Fontana
Re: Info on free/cheap web hosting for a good cause? (not Moodle)
by D.I. von Briesen -
Josep
be sure to check out dreamhost. They offer unlimited addon domains, and after the first year, which is 30 bucks with a coupon, it's about 80 bucks, so less than 10 a month. This gives you just about everyrthing you could need, from mysql, to moodle hosting (for onesies and twosies), wikis, etc...
Combine this with free things from google, flickr, etc... and you can offer a lot of cool stuff to just about anyone!
d.i.
be sure to check out dreamhost. They offer unlimited addon domains, and after the first year, which is 30 bucks with a coupon, it's about 80 bucks, so less than 10 a month. This gives you just about everyrthing you could need, from mysql, to moodle hosting (for onesies and twosies), wikis, etc...
Combine this with free things from google, flickr, etc... and you can offer a lot of cool stuff to just about anyone!
d.i.