It seems that today everyone and everything is online, more precisely, has some kind of web presence. Whether it’s a “regular” site, blog, webshop, or something else entirely, the general opinion is that if it’s not online, it hardly even happened. The proverbial tree falling in the forest without anyone there to hear it seems to have found its contemporary counterpart.
You would think the main problem with this is an overcrowded web where everyone is tripping over each other, clawing for every visitor and click.
While this is a genuine problem when it comes to #brand building and recognition, the real issue is the questionable true accessibility of creating and #maintaining sites for a wide number of users. Share on XLet’s break this down with actual examples.
Big companies have dedicated departments and/or teams that work on site development and marketing; specialized firms offer these services (together or separately) to those willing to pay for outsourcing – an option available to some; finally, most commonly, sites are run by a few people, or even one person with limited knowledge just trying to get by day after day.
Because there’s such a high need for a web presence, small business owners, bloggers, promotors, etc., essentially, people without the needed background to make sites function find themselves in a heap of problems.
As with everything before, the market gave a solution to these problems. There’s a slew of services that provide you with automated and semi-automated methods of creating a site from scratch and keeping it up and running with the minimal technical knowledge required.
Since the first step of publishing a site is finding a hosting service, it’s only natural a greater emphasis is put on creating a service that can address the greatest number of users. Site Creator hosting is one such service, and we’ll look more into what makes it such a good option as a hosting solution.
Site Creator
All-in-one solution
Site Creator is a relatively new hosting service that offers the full package you’ll need to create a site, scaled down to be easy to use and affordable enough to fit even the tightest of budgets. You’ll be guided through the process step by step, culminating with a choice of site management and editing platforms you’ll use to customize the site to your liking.
Each of these options is widespread enough that if you’ve ever even dabbled in site management, you’ll be familiar with it. This excludes the Website Builder created by devs to work with their hosting, but since the premise (i.e., user-friendly interface and functions) is the same as the hosting overall, anybody will be able to pick it up quickly.
Advanced features become available at higher tiers, rounding up the complete set of tools you’ll get to use, but we’ll get more into that shortly.
Shared hosting
There are essentially two main types of hosting being offered on the market today – shared and managed hosting. Both have their strengths and flaws, but ultimately, it all comes down to cost.
As the name implies, “shared” hosting bunches up similar users/sites that tend to have roughly the same amount of traffic on the same server.
You’ll be provided with support in various forms (chat, mail, hotline, etc. – depending on the provider), but you’ll be the one actually maintaining the site.
On the other hand, managed hosting removes any excess work from your hands and handles it for you – things like crucial updates or security issues will come to you only as notifications they’ve been done, nothing more. Along with providing the full hands-on approach, you’ll have a dedicated server only for your site with absolutely no sharing required.
The obvious question that arises when comparing the two concerns is hardware limitations. Shared hosting shares the costs among the users, but they also share resources, primarily bandwidth and storage.
It’s therefore extremely important to read the fine print and know if there are some limitations to either or both of those because that could seriously affect the way you’d run your site both in terms of content (backend) and traffic flow (frontend). Luckily, Site Creator has no limitations whatsoever, even though they offer only shared hosting solutions. Speaking of solutions…
Different tiers – different functions
There are three tiers you can pick from when choosing the details of your hosting service, with each one unlocking more features as we move along them. As we’ve said, all of them revolve around shared hosting, and while the hardware solutions are the same for each tier, the software solutions expand.
Standard tier
The lowest tier is designed to be something of a startup package for your first site. It will have everything you need included, but once your site starts growing, you’d do well to upgrade. The price reflects what the tier is all about, costing just $2 per month.
With that $2, you’ll get a free domain for life, unlimited traffic and storage, a free email address connected to your site (it’s been shown that mails with a custom extension referring to your site have a much greater impact than those sent from Gmail or other similar providers), unlimited Site Creator domains (used for testing before transfer to the real thing) and a free SSL (crucial for keeping your data safe).
All this combined gets you from idea to realization in a flash.
Professional tier
A step up from the standard tier, the Professional tier unlocks VIP Support and Pro Marketing Tools while encompassing everything available in the previous tier. The price is doubled compared to the standard tier but sits at a still reasonable $4 per month. Extra tools that are unlocked more than makeup for the price increase.
The Pro Marketing Tools are designed to make your site more optimized for the web. In practice, this means actions that bump your SEO rating (crucial for the Google algorithm), enable the creation of marketing campaigns (through email and/or social media), suggestions regarding keywords, etc.
Your site will grow organically only up to a certain point, after which you’ll need to put in the time, effort, and a little bit of money to get over the hump, and marketing tools such as these help immensely with guiding you through that process. VIP Support functions just as you would expect it would.
You’ll be able to access the support team any time through various mediums and have priority when resolving the issues.
Ecommerce tier
This tier is specific because it might be something you won’t ever need, while at the same time, it might be something you’ll have to get right off the bat. It represents the premium plan of the bunch, and the main thing it does turns your site into a webshop.
For $6 per month, you get everything we’ve listed so far, along with adding eCommerce functionality to your site.
Naturally, this is essential for those who look to buy/sell products or services directly from the frontend, so you could very well be in a position to skip the previous tiers and head straight for this one if your main goal is establishing a webshop (a solo endeavor or attached to a retail shop). The eCommerce tools include, among other things, products interfaces, payment gateways, transport integrations, and many more.
Setting up the domain
Now that you know what to expect of each tier, it’s fair to go over the process of getting there. After you’ve chosen your desired plan, it’s time to choose your domain name. You can import one you’ve already been using, or you can use a brand new one. A domain name is very important for several reasons.
It’s something you’ll be recognized for and around which you’ll build your whole brand. Going with something unique that won’t have a hard time being distinguished in search engines, but that, at the same time, perfectly represents what you’re all about is hard to work out. Because there are so many sites around, don’t be surprised if your desired name is taken.
The first step is, therefore, to input your best try into the search engine and hope it’s available. In case that it is, you’re good to go forward with the next steps. Unfortunately, if it’s not available, you’ll have to go with an alternative – a process Site Creator helps with immensely.
The process isn’t finished, however, since there’s also the matter of extension. You’ll have several to choose from, with the obvious choices being .com or .org as the most common. Keep in mind that .com is by far the most sought after but might not be optimal for sites more locally-focused (and not that concerned about the global audience).
Because of the target audience, the whole process of registering your domain is pretty straightforward, but you’ll always have the option to contact support in order to help you out if there are any unforeseen obstacles – not surprising if you consider you’re already subscribed to the service at this point.
Another thing that’s important to note is the added security provided by the 45-day money-back guarantee. In case you’re unsatisfied in any way with the service, you won’t have a long-term financial obligation you can’t get rid of.
Site management
You’ve subscribed for the desired tier, have an active domain and a connecting email address, but they’re still the matte of building your site and managing it afterward.
Site Creator offers a couple of CMS options in this regard, giving you the chance to work with: Website Builder (in-house solution), WordPress, cPanel, and Plesk. Chances are, if you’ve ever done backend work, you’ll be familiar with at least WordPress, making it the preferred choice to keep working with.
However, if you’re absolutely new to web management, we can recommend giving Website Builder a try since it’s readily available with each subscription tier. Following in the same footsteps as pretty much any other feature within the service, the page builder was also created with newcomers in mind.
You’ll have an extensive database of page templates to choose from, which can be further customized into something unique to your site. The customization tools that add elements and change them are found on an overlay next to the preview of the actual page, so you can see everything in the same place, making changes easier to make.
The nature of the drag-and-drop editor means that you won’t need to have prior coding knowledge to get the page done. In case you’re using any of the other CMS options, don’t fret if you run into any problems because the technical team is familiar with each and provides extensive information and support.
This ranges from basic information when getting the site up and running, as well as more advanced functions further down the line.
Support
We’ve already touched on some points regarding the extensive support and customer service structure that’s in place, but just once more to summarize. There’s a 24/7 customer support service available across the board tier-wise with the ability to reach them by mail, phone, or chat/message.
On top of that, you can always open a support ticket and wait for a reply, which usually comes quickly. If you’re feeling confident, there’s also the option of going through the FAQ section and documentation that’s available on the site to resolve any issues yourself.
It’s worth noting, once again, that Business and Ecommerce tiers come with VIP support which makes all your inquiries to the staff a priority.
Summary
A good hosting service is one of the essential pillars that make for a successful site. Most worthwhile solutions offer additional features on top of just hosting, and the same is true in this instance.
Affordable shared hosting (and everything that comes with it) is enhanced with numerous CMS options and a support system you can reach out to for anything and everything you might need – all designed with a welcoming, user-friendly interface on all levels. If you’re looking for a hosting service for your first page, or something more elaborate, you won’t go wrong with Site Creator.