Web Hosting Directories- Are they helpful?

[priyanka]

Hi guys,
I was wondering, how effective do you find web hosting directories? Do the new users really trust the rating of WHD for web hosting companies?.

[1PlanHost]

Web hosting directories are very helpful for those searching for comparisons on hosting companies and also a good opportunity to research the reliabilty and credibility of the company. However with some directories the user needs to be made aware that the feedback or reviews can be manipulated by the host themselves. Of course this is an unethical practice but some do this frequently so the buyer should do extensive research for unbiased reviews such as searching Google and webhostingtalk.com webhosting.info among others.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[cl2]

sure
not only using it myself, i also recommend friends to always read the reviews before selecting a web host.

[1PlanHost]

http://webhosting.info/webhosts is also a very useful tool to determine if a web host is legitimate, just how many domains per server they are really putting on their servers (use the reverse IP tool and you may be surprised), if the company is growing or declining, how many total domains do they host and where new transfers and losses are coming from. Very helpful information for those seeking a new host.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[dacsoft]

Web Hosting Directories are becoming more and more important because of how many people are actually running a hosting company. They are good for the new customer who is just getting into the internet and don't know where to look - or even what to look for. The WHD provide a good place to compare companies and plans.

[Khun]

I'm agree with dacsoft, But...there are many web hosting directory on the net. You have to do more research before you join them.

[dacsoft]

If you are just starting your business, join as many as possible. If your time is limited, like most of us, then you probably want to research first and use your time where it will have the most benefit.

[1PlanHost]

Anywhere that offers a web host the ability to get their message out is a good thing as long as it does not harm your public image. A word of advice when submitting your site to WHD's, make an excell spreadsheet of where your listings are and the user/pass of each. We didn't do that in the past and now years have past and we are having to do a lot of backlink research to go back and update hundreds of listings with our newer plans. That can be very time consuming indeed.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[dacsoft]

Originally posted by 1PlanHost
Anywhere that offers a web host the ability to get their message out is a good thing as long as it does not harm your public image. A word of advise when submitting your site to WHD's, make an excell spreadsheet of where your listings are and the user/pass of each. We didn;t do that in the past and now years have past and we are having to do a lot of backlink research to go back and update hundreds of listings with our newer plans. That can be very time consuming indeed.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success! This is a very important tip. I really had to laugh at this post. I thought that I was the only person who made that mistake. I am sure there are still sites that I need to update - just don't know where they are. Now I keep a list of each and every WHD and forum that I join.

[1PlanHost]

Yeah, the worst part is that I am having to pay one of employees to do it! I suspect it will take him a week at least. We started keeping track last December but have hundreds of listings over the past 8 years that were not tracked. Lesson learned the hard way.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[spiv]

How many WHD are phony?

I'm seeing more and more sites that are relatively unknown and carry affiliate links instead of real information.

They seem to exist to make commission selling hosting for the same few companies or as landing pages or SEO spam pages to try and score higher on search terms.

[1PlanHost]

Hey, it is no problem with me at all if a WHD wants to sign up for our affiliate program and promote our services. The more links and affililiate promotion and sales the better!

I believe that the reason why we are seeing an increase in WHD affiliate sites is because it is very tough to break into the already overcrowded field. Major WHD's make major money from the advertising they sell to the web hosting companies that list with them. Most hosting companies do not receive a fair and decent ROI on these ads although they believe they have no other choice. Banner ads and such graphical ads in my opinion are way over priced and the effectiveness of these are so bad that they are only a nusance now. Oh yes, some advertising guru is going to come on here and make some big speach about "BRANDING" Well all I have to say about branding is "Show me the money!"

Concerning WHD's set up for the purpose of SEO, that is an inovative idea that assists to increase search engine positioning and ultimately in sales. In fact, if anyone has any hosting or webmaster forums or directories for sale at a reasonable price I would be highly interested! I purchased a WHD for that very purpose this past summer and am looking for more.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[earthstar]

Well, quite a few are phony, if phony means they accept fees for placement.

[spiv]

Wow!

The CEO of a company that likes phony sites with fake recommendations because they "push" certain sites for affiliate payouts?

And then you "like" Fake SEO sites that spam the search engines?

Hmmmm..[
QUOTE]Originally posted by 1PlanHost
Hey, it is no problem with me at all if a WHD wants to sign up for our affiliate program and promote our services. The more links and affililiate promotion and sales the better!

I believe that the reason why we are seeing an increase in WHD affiliate sites is because it is very tough to break into the already overcrowded field. Major WHD's make major money from the advertising they sell to the web hosting companies that list with them. Most hosting companies do not receive a fair and decent ROI on these ads although they believe they have no other choice. Banner ads and such graphical ads in my opinion are way over priced and the effectiveness of these are so bad that they are only a nusance now. Oh yes, some advertising guru is going to come on here and make some big speach about "BRANDING" Well all I have to say about branding is "Show me the money!"

Concerning WHD's set up for the purpose of SEO, that is an inovative idea that assists to increase search engine positioning and ultimately in sales. In fact, if anyone has any hosting or webmaster forums or directories for sale at a reasonable price I would be highly interested! I purchased a WHD for that very purpose this past summer and am looking for more.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success! [/QUOTE]

[spiv]

Advertising is fine, I'm talking about sites that say "the 10 best hosts" and do not state anywhere that they get paid to recommend xyz as the #1 host.

Or sites that claim to "Review" hosting companies and again funny thing is their "top sites" are always ipowerweb or a few others that pay $65 per sign-up.


Originally posted by earthstar
Well, quite a few are phony, if phony means they accept fees for placement.

[1PlanHost]

Thanks Spiv for the clarification. Don't misunderstand me here. I am also frustrated with those "Top 10 or Top 100" affiliate sites that rake the money in from their advertisers and then turn around and purchase Google Adwords so they can do it some more. Most of those also charge the host considerably for the "priviledge" of being there and that is why only the bigger companies profit from it. I was not commenting on those types.

Yet a WHD that lists our affiliate program and promotes it (without cost to us as the advertiser other than the affiliate payout) is in my opinion a great deal for any host in that they get the additional marketing exposure and sales resulting from it. Yes, those with agressive marketing budgets win the most but the smaller host can win as well.

As for "fake SEO sites" I am not convinced that they are "fake" at all. Most are set up as legitimate web sites that contain relevant content and that is what pushes them up to the top of the search engines. People want relevant content and for their searches to return relevant results. There is nothing in my opinion wrong with that at all! The days of spamming the search engines with numerous doorway pages are thankfully over. Search Engine Optimized web sites with relevant content and legitimately earned backlinks (from people who link to those sites because they are good) are FAR from being "fake" and they certainly are not considered as doorway pages.

TRUTH TEST: How many of you would turn down the opportunity to own this forum, HostSearch.com or WebHostingTalk.com or any other major hosting forum or directory if the price was affordable? Didn't think so, That is my point :)

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[earthstar]

If you see iPowerweb in the top 3, the WHD is being paid by them. Actually the WHD is probably being paid for at least their "top 5 listings" . Period.

[2mhost.com]

Hi,

side note about webhosting.info, i do not know how exactly they get information, but if you went their and selected Egypt, you will find many servers of 2mhost.com listed their, like 2msrv2.com in top, alexsrv15.com #3, ....

but the truth that none of number of domains listed is correct, but far from truth.

the strange thing is 2mhost servers are located in USA so why i'm Listed in Egypt?


so finally .. do not trust what you read in WHD "alone" .. you may pick a host for further research.

[1PlanHost]

I did a simple whois on 2msrv2.com and it clearly says the company owner is located in Egypt and that is where they are pulling that part of the information from. The name server IP address 66.78.36.223 is located in Clifton, New Jersey, United States but hey, your #1 in Egypt which is great!

domain: 2msrv2.com
status: production
owner: Mohammed Noman
email: admin@alexcity.net
address: 19 Azziz Kohil st., San Stefano
city: Alexandria
state: Alex
postal-code: 00000
country: EG
admin-c: admin@alexcity.net
#0tech-c: admin@alexcity.net
#0billing-c: admin@alexcity.net
#0nserver: ns1.2msrv2.com 66.78.56.236nserver: ns2.2msrv2.com 66.78.61.44registrar: JORE-1created: 2002-08-20 00:56:38 UTC JORE-1modified: 2004-08-25 18:30:20 UTC JORE-1expires: 2005-08-19 18:56:17 UTC source: joker.comdb-updated: 2004-09-23 16:37:17 UTC

I have found http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts to be useful and accurate. While it may not be 100% accurate there is only a small margin of error in thier reports as far as I can tell from my own research on it. If you read their documentation you will see how they determine locations and resolve hosts.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[2mhost.com]

Hi,

yes its great to appear #1 in Egypt, but point is that server they list not host 1800 domains .. i can not call that un-accurate .. because server host less than %20 of 1800 domains .. so i'm not #1 (depend on what they say) and webhosting.info give WRONG information about that.

any way, i do not consider whebhosting.info a web hosting directory .. its portal for hosts (read by hosts) not by end users

[1PlanHost]

Agreed that they are not a WHD and are instead a resource for finding out information concerning web hosting companies and their claims.

The 1800+ domains they are listing are from ALL servers that are using the same name servers, not one individual server unless the company only has one server.

The way to tell how many domains are on a single server is to use their reverse IP lookup tool. Go to http://www.webhosting.info and enter a server IP address in the search box and select IP address button and you will see what I mean.

Or you can use the new advanced whois tool. For example
http://whois.webhosting.info/216.74.74.91 shows 13 domains hosted at the same IP address as 2MSRV2.COM is using.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success

[hostingconcept]

Hi,

I think web directory is very important and specially web hosting ratings.

[priyanka]

hmm, I feel that WHD is good for newbies if they want to compare the price and plans of different web hosts but when it comes to selection of web host then WHD is not reliable.

[highpr]

I agree that the unscrupulous directories will simply list the hosts offering the highest affiliate bounties first.

However, this doesn't represent the business practices of all hosting directories. Quite a few actually provide good information useful in choosing a web hosting company.