Hosting has become a very competitive business, so the lengths that hosting companies will go to in order to gain new customers or get noticed and have a shot at your business is becoming more and more desperate.

The consumer who is looking for hosting will generally go to Google and type in “best web hosting” or “cheapest web hosting” etc. Up comes all these hosting review sites which claim to list the best hosting companies around, and all have great reviews that seem to be legitimate and lend credibility to the hosting companies.

Ever wonder why some hosting companies are listed at the top of the reviews all the time? Reason would tell you that they must be really good and are constantly voted to the top spots, right?  Would it surprise you if I told you that they are there because they paid to be there? They either paid a high monthly fee to get to the top of the search list or they pay a large affiliate fee for every new sign up that comes from that hosting review site. The higher the fee they pay, the higher they rank in the hosting review sites.  Would it further surprise you if I told you that the hosting company itself may own several hosting review sites and list their hosting companies at the top?

Yep, you read that right. Many of the top hosting companies spend big bucks to develop and run some of the top hosting review sites.  “Why then, would they advertise other hosting companies, too” you ask? Well remember the affiliate payouts I talked about? They make money from the affiliate links. Plus, if they list their own company in the top spots and then those of other like minded hosts that are willing to pay for new sign ups (and who may also run their own review sites which will link exchange and reciprocate top end listings) in the other top spots, then they all benefit from high search rankings, even if they’d never hosted a single site before. It all becomes one big LIE they all share in.

Next time you go to a hosting review site, do some checking of your own. Who owns the domain name and who owns the review site? Do they clearly say what is an advertisement or what is a listing? When you click through the link to the hosting site does it add an affiliate tag onto the URL? Have they set a cookie to ID that you came from their site?  Check your cookies and you might be surprised.

Now, I am not saying that all hosts that do this are bad hosts. On the contrary, some of them are very good hosting companies and run a good business. But at least know up front that the reviews may not all be………..shall we say “unbiased”.

So, how does one find a good host? I will cover that in my next topic……….

Have you ever tried to explain what is web hosting to a non tech person? Do you try and explain that web sites need a place to reside on the internet and gotten that blank 100 mile stare?

I used to hate it when people would ask “So, Monte……what do you do for a living?” I struggled with the technical aspects of explaining it and it would invariably turn into a rambling discussion with me having to explain what servers and data centers are, and the way the internet works – and most still did not get it.  Then I tried to dumb it down and just say “Well, let’s say you have a web site. You have to put it some place for people to be able to visit it…….and I have that place.” Some would just shake their heads, nod and change the subject, others would blurt out “Oh, okay, so you write web sites?” I would shake my head and inevitably change the subject rather than try and explain it all over again.

Then one day it dawned on me; I am a really just a landlord in the virtual world. I own land, apartments, and houses on the internet and I rent them out for web sites to live in.  That is now how I now explain it.  For some people that is all they need and they understand. Others still don’t get it, so I go into a little more detail. I ask them “If you met someone and wanted them to come visit you, what would you do?” They, of course, answer “I’d give them my address.” I then explain that a domain name is their address.

They get that. Then I explain that it does no good to have an address if there is nothing there at the address, so they need to either rent an apartment or a house at that address. I explain “I am the landlord; I own land and I have an apartment, so you can rent that apartment and your web site can live in that apartment. It is your apartment and you can decorate it any way you want. You can put any furniture in it, paint the walls any color you want and you can do all that yourself. Or you can hire a web designer and he can paint it and furnish it for you.  I just supply you with the bare apartment.   If you need more room I can supply you with a house of your own, (VPS)  or if you want to become a landlord yourself, I can supply you with your own apartment building. You can then rent rooms out yourself (:IE reseller hosting or a dedicated server).

“I can also act as your building’s super, I will maintain the building and keep the security gates in working order and make sure the plumbing is all working so that everything runs smoothly (managed services).

Now people seem to understand what is I do. So, really the simple answer is a web host is a landlord in the virtual world.

Try it next time someone asks you what is web hosting. You would be surprised how many get it.