Advice from web design Santa Rosa geek: Don’t fall for the monthly hosting trap!
My brother called the other day to ask a question about his hosting. He is a successful attorney who maintains two websites as part of his online visibility strategy in the Baltimore area.
Seems the service he’s been getting has steadily deteriorated over the past few months. His hosting provider is supposed to maintain his site and also make minor changes to keep the content fresh—maybe an hour’s work per month.
For that, they are charging $1,000 ($500 per site). Wow! Any clients of mine who want a deal like that, please call me immediately!
Being a successful lawyer who earns big fees, paying $12,000 per year wasn’t the issue. He was tweaked about the service. They weren’t staying in touch or doing the other things they promised. Rather, they were sitting back and collecting the money. And hoping he didn’t notice. Eventually he did, and he’s now shopping around for a new provider.
My brother is not the only one who fell into the monthly hosting trap. Owners of a local dog grooming business in Santa Rosa approached me with a similar problem. They were also paying $500 per month, which was supposed to cover hosting and search engine optimization services.
How to Avoid the Monthly Hosting Trap
OK, so maybe you found a deal of just $40-$50 per month for hosting. Still, that’s $600 per year for what shouldn’t cost you more than $6-$8 per month.
Unless you’re a specialist receiving a LOT of value from a provider, separate your hosting service from any other services. Pay for hosting by itself. Otherwise you’ll end up paying a LOT more than you need to for a basic service that you can get for peanuts from other providers.
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