Blog Network Hosting, How Do You Deal With The Budget Shared Hosting Companies?

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I'm use to dealing with SEO hosting companies to keep it simple, costs down, and due to my past experiences with budget hosting companies.

Over the past year, I've moved from C Class hosting to A Class hosting to increase IP diversity. After hearing all of the praise on here about multiple shared hosting accounts and considering that my costs would be cut in half, I decided to give it a try (regardless of my past experiences with budget hosting companies).

So I searched WebHostingTalk.com and fired up Microsoft Excel, then the fun began. My plan was to only transfer 20 sites to the budget shared hosts to try it out.

Unfortunately, my past experiences with budget hosting companies resurfaced. Between the immediate downtime with some of the hosts, horrible support, ridiculous FTP issues for a simple site, support tickets flying around, and recurring billing issues, it turned out to be a major headache.

Without these issues, budget shared hosting would be a great alternative. Maybe I'm just trying to cut the costs down too much and not taking the time to read multiple reviews (even then reviews have failed me in the past). :confused:

For those who have a blog network using multiple shared hosts, how do you deal with these issues?

Thank you ahead of time for your help.
#blog #budget #companies #deal #hosting #network #shared
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    Originally Posted by Craig B View Post

    After hearing all of the praise on here about multiple shared hosting accounts and considering that my costs would be cut in half, I decided to give it a try (regardless of my past experiences with budget hosting companies)..
    Who told you your costs would be cut in half? and what exactly are you trying to achieve with these hosts why you need alot of support? Any host that has immediate downtime you mark off your list and move on. Incidentally I NEVER pay annually for a new host.

    I found all my hosts on WHT and have not had any of the problems you are encountering (but I do go by reviews)
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    Originally Posted by Craig B View Post


    Without these issues, budget shared hosting would be a great alternative. Maybe I'm just trying to cut the costs down too much and not taking the time to read multiple reviews (even then reviews have failed me in the past). :confused:
    .

    Aaaaaaaaah yes thats the issue. If you are going by low prices and not reading reviews then of course you are going to end up with bad hosts
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    • Profile picture of the author Craig B
      Thanks for responding Mike.

      Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

      Who told you your costs would be cut in half?
      No one ever told me the exact numbers beforehand, but after searching around at WHT (especially with discounts and coupons included), it was easy to see that costs could be cut in half (and in some cases up to 1/4 with decent A Class hosting running $4/IP).

      Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

      and what exactly are you trying to achieve with these hosts why you need alot of support?
      As I mentioned, I've dealt with budget hosting before. There's only so much you can do when billing issues come into play and it takes multiple support tickets for basic troubleshooting (such as FTP issues that are beyond your control).

      Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

      Any host that has immediate downtime you mark off your list and move on.
      I agree, but I was surprised at the rate of hosts in which this occurred (around 20% so far). Maybe it's bad luck, but even at 5% I was wanting to know how others deal with this with a mid to large size network.

      Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

      Incidentally I NEVER pay annually for a new host.
      One of the hosts in particular had several positive reviews and was only $10/year (had also been around for a while). I just couldn't pass it up

      Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

      I found all my hosts on WHT and have not had any of the problems you are encountering (but I do go by reviews)
      Out of my first 10, I had a problem with 4 of them. Even if I had extremely bad luck, I'm surprised you've never had one problem (considering that you've used multiple budget hosts). Granted that my sample size so far is small, but I was expecting much better.

      Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

      Aaaaaaaaah yes thats the issue. If you are going by low prices and not reading reviews then of course you are going to end up with bad hosts
      I've went by prices and reviews based soley on WHT. I was expecting to run into a few problems with budget hosting, but not to this extent. At this rate, it seems to be very time consuming.

      Do you outsource any of this process?
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by Craig B View Post

        it was easy to see that costs could be cut in half (and in some cases up to 1/4 with decent A Class hosting running $4/IP).
        Nah man. Thats not budget hosting thats dollar hosting. Cheapest host I have is $2.95/month. Money is not the main reason to use separate hosts. Its the FACT that when you go with SEO hosting almost everybody on the box with you is running networks. Class C IPs is NOT the only way that Google can detect that all of the network is on the same box. For that reason I know of people who have got sites deindexed for no other reason that they were on a box where other networks were discovered and deindexed. Most DOllar hosts are not going to stick around - alot of them just have reseller accounts and are trying to make a little money. Combine that with no reviews on WHT and well you really are going to get the worse.


        As I mentioned, I've dealt with budget hosting before. There's only so much you can do when billing issues come into play and it takes multiple support tickets for basic troubleshooting (such as FTP issues that are beyond your control).
        Theres budget hosting and then theres dollar hosting. To me under $9 is budget hosting and you can find ton loads of good hosts even under $5. YOU can find SEO hosts at those levels so money is again not the primary issue. Its that nowadays you would be kidding yourself that you are really protected because of the extra IPs. Google is one of the top corporations in the world and they already have a process of going after networks which can be identified without reference to IP

        I agree, but I was surprised at the rate of hosts in which this occurred (around 20% so far). Maybe it's bad luck,
        Got to read some reviews from regular members who have been around then pass if there are none. WHT is pretty good with reviews as long as its not from new members or people with a few posts. Its not like WSOs. However in case you didn't know anyone can put up a sales thread at WHT (last time I checked it was free but restricted to like once a week). You will get people with reselller accounts in there. Kids off for the summer looking to make some dollars. Shop off price alone in there and you are going to get burnt.


        One of the hosts in particular had several positive reviews and was only $10/year (had also been around for a while). I just couldn't pass it up
        I don't know of any respected host at WHT that has that pricing. At that pricing most regulars at WHT would accuse the hosts of overselling. Thing with WHT like anywhere else you need to look at who is making the review.

        Out of my first 10, I had a problem with 4 of them. Even if I had extremely bad luck, I'm surprised you've never had one problem (considering that you've used multiple budget hosts).
        Sorry my man but you are not listening. Like I said in my first response its not about saving money. Theres no surprise. You are looking for the cheapest of the cheapest so you get the worse. Seriously if a business isn't going to make money then how is it going to be reliable? You pick a host for a dollar a month or $10 a year Plus very few people use them - what volume of sales are they getting ? not much. So they are only making a dollar off a few people. Can anyone run a business on that? no. So of course they are not going to be reliable. I've never had much problems ( I did have one host that got sold to another) because I am not looking for the cheapest of the cheap.

        I can't tell you enough. Saving money is NOT the main reason to use multiple hosts.
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        • Profile picture of the author Craig B
          Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

          Its not like WSOs.
          lol...you're right Mike. I just need to spend a little more time reading reviews and not going for the cheapest hosting.

          As usual, you get what you pay for. I was bound to get burned paying for hosting at those prices.

          From now on I'm calling out those on here who recommend "dollar hosting"...
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  • Profile picture of the author nik0
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Craig B View Post

    Unfortunately, my past experiences with budget hosting companies resurfaced. Between the immediate downtime with some of the hosts, horrible support, ridiculous FTP issues for a simple site, support tickets flying around, and recurring billing issues, it turned out to be a major headache.
    It is a major headache yes. Personally I got some reseller hostings lately, although they only go down when I load like 20 sites at the same time, they are still pretty damn slow, even the one from Hostgator.

    Then you have some of the smaller hosts who don't care and just pull the plug without any type of announcement, like Miscis did last month.

    In general it is what you pay for but I see the same issue's with the normal (expensive) shared hostings from Bluehost, Justhost, Hostgator, GoDaddy and so on...
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    • Profile picture of the author Craig B
      Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

      It is a major headache yes. Personally I got some reseller hostings lately, although they only go down when I load like 20 sites at the same time, they are still pretty damn slow, even the one from Hostgator.

      Then you have some of the smaller hosts who don't care and just pull the plug without any type of announcement, like Miscis did last month.
      I was hoping for more IP diversity but it may come down to that to deal with less issues among multiple hosts. Much easier to deal with a fewer number of resellers versus many budget shared hosts.

      Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

      In general it is what you pay for but I see the same issue's with the normal (expensive) shared hostings from Bluehost, Justhost, Hostgator, GoDaddy and so on...
      I agree for the most part, but it just seems so hit or miss with budget shared hosting providers.
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  • Profile picture of the author M0n3yMan
    tbh i wrote a really long rant reply on the whole private network and before posting it i thought whats the point and deleted it, fact is its the latest IM guru trend that everyone in the world is going to be doing for the time being till google decide it a big enough problem to directly implement "google $animalname[x]" and ur all back to square one i realised even if i posted solid decent advice 99% of people would ignore it and keep doing the whole drop pr domains private network crap.

    note im not saying it doesnt work im just saying 99.95% of you will implement this wrong and will be easy to detect in the future when google deems it a big enough problem.

    also if anything going down the shared hosting route for private networks should increase the cost more, (obviously worth it though) like $10 month per network site(in hosting) should easily be worth it if it isnt then your not doing this right. also in reality it will be less since most $10 month hosts are normally unlimted domains etc, so you can have multiple niche networks.

    also for each niche network you can target multiple sub niches obviously say you have general health niche network you can use that network to dominate several smaller sub niches X that by multiple top level niche networks == ridic amounts of leverage.

    inb4 google just starts resetting every dropped domains linkjuice as standard as an easy 2 second adjustment to this latest hype etc etc ...
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by M0n3yMan View Post


      note im not saying it doesnt work im just saying 99.95% of you will implement this wrong and will be easy to detect in the future
      That goes for anything. You can take anything and implement it wrong. What everyone should work toward is to make all their network sites real sites (ton load of work depending on the size). Just because most people will not implement it properly doesn't mean its crap.

      inb4 google just starts resetting every dropped domains linkjuice as standard as an easy 2 second adjustment to this latest hype etc etc ...
      I've said it before actually. Its just a matter of time before Google does something in regard to links and domains that have either fallen out of the index while they are they are going through the drop process or show expiration notices too long.

      The opportunity will pass fairly soon but its open now and won't be retroactive in any penalty so its not just hype - its a decent strategy to implement now even for the future when people will no longer be able to do it.
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      • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        The opportunity will pass fairly soon but its open now and won't be retroactive in any penalty so its not just hype - its a decent strategy to implement now even for the future when people will no longer be able to do it.
        The loopholes are closing quick
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  • Profile picture of the author M0n3yMan
    Yeh but the dropped domains is like the quick easy fix and just the start. i think where the biggest mistakes will be made even by experienced private network holders will be the outbound link profiles of each site in the blog network. wouldnt take google 2 seconds to analyse all the outbound links of a site and see that 80-90% of the sites they point to contain and adsense unit and or affiliate link of somekind and that is totalyy un-natural. and then compare all the OBL found to find other netwokr sites linking to both domains and then in seconds 80% of a link network is found... (even though blog network had "no footprints and didnt interlink")

    smart private blog networks will create real niche sites that point to far more authority sites compared to your own money site links and will also only use say 20% of there total network to point at a money site at any time so if they do get revrse engineered your whole network doesnt go.
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
      Banned
      Originally Posted by M0n3yMan View Post

      Yeh but the dropped domains is like the quick easy fix and just the start. i think where the biggest mistakes will be made even by experienced private network holders will be the outbound link profiles of each site in the blog network. wouldnt take google 2 seconds to analyse all the outbound links of a site and see that 80-90% of the sites they point to contain and adsense unit and or affiliate link of somekind and that is totalyy un-natural. and then compare all the OBL found to find other netwokr sites linking to both domains and then in seconds 80% of a link network is found... (even though blog network had "no footprints and didnt interlink")

      smart private blog networks will create real niche sites that point to far more authority sites compared to your own money site links and will also only use say 20% of there total network to point at a money site at any time so if they do get revrse engineered your whole network doesnt go.
      I'm happy that most of my clients are not affiliate/adsense type of sites anymore as how it used to be a long time ago when I used public blog networks.

      I always try to stick to the rule of clients on not more then 40% of my sites in the network. Soon I try to reduce that to 25-30%.

      I'm also in the process of restyling tons of sites, so more different type of local listing sites, review sites, ecommerce sites, image sharing sites, wiki's and other type of things that I can think of. Then invest a little in proper looking sidebars with (fake) ads, banners, a decent about / contact page and just copy idea's from real local listing sites.

      It requires a lot of time, and money, but I bet there will come a day some time that they adapt # of obl's and such in each post to determine if a site is legit or not so right now I already started to combine certain clients in the same broad niches in the same posts so that one post has 1 obl and another 3 or 4 and mix it up.

      New sites that I will buy will be themed niche relevant and make them actually ranking and monetize them so that they are in fact real sites. I hope that one day, probably in 1 or 2 years from now that my network is about 5 times as large as it is now and all relevant to a broad niche, first I thought there are tons of niches but in fact it's able to relate almost everything to about 8 broad niches like:

      - health/medical
      - business
      - living
      - lifestyle
      - internet (marketing/webdesign what not)
      - finance/insurance/legal
      - shopping
      - holiday/travel

      So they would automatically become some sort of authority sites as they would cover each topic in their niche.

      The benefit of all that is that it would take less links to rank a site and thus after huge initial investments it would probably be more profitable as well.

      You know when they detect a network but it's setup in such way that it looks like real sites that rank and get tons of traffic then Google will leave it untouched.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Vick
    As Mike Anthony mentioned, when looking at reviews on WHT, consider the join date and number of posts the reviewer has. People that joined recently or have only a few posts are invisible to me.


    When considering a host, consider the following:
    • How long has the host been in business.
    • Does the host's web site have a phone number, a contact page, knowledgebase, support forum (including pre-sale), etc
    • Does the host clearly specify the hardware they use
    • Does the host clearly specify the resources I'm guaranteed
    • Has the host appeared in the WHT Outage forum. If so, when did it occur, was it addressed, etc.
    • Not a good test, but I do peak at the host's website page rank
    • I google the hosts name for complaints
    • Does the host have reviews on WHT
    • Does the host offer any discounts in the WHT offers forum. Are the discounts permanent or only last for a specific time frame (1 month, 1 year, etc.)
    • What's the cancelation policy and costs (my money site host requires 30 days notice, and thus, one additional payment after I cancel)
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  • Profile picture of the author Pawprints34
    Interesting about google dropping the link juice from expired domains. I have wondered whether they will actually do this from the point of view that big online businesses like Godaddy will definitely be hurt big time and im sure there are partnerships at play here. Surely godaddy are not sily enough to think that people will keep buying expired domains just for the names themselves!

    Not saying it wont happen for this reason but we know that googles choices are about money/business and not search. If the people they aregoig to sting by a new policy are too big they may not be willing to go there and hurt their big business buddies?
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    • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
      Originally Posted by Pawprints34 View Post

      Interesting about google dropping the link juice from expired domains. I have wondered whether they will actually do this from the point of view that big online businesses like Godaddy will definitely be hurt big time and im sure there are partnerships at play here. Surely godaddy are not sily enough to think that people will keep buying expired domains just for the names themselves!

      Not saying it wont happen for this reason but we know that googles choices are about money/business and not search. If the people they aregoig to sting by a new policy are too big they may not be willing to go there and hurt their big business buddies?
      Google could care less about 'GoDaddy' and the expired domain market. It's an 'SEO only' concern. This is exactly the type of tactic they've targeted in the last few years.
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  • Profile picture of the author M0n3yMan
    Yeh i kind of come across as a bit of a hater or something haha, thats not the case at all I just find that the internet marketing niche in general is frustrating.

    Like you can have these dropped domains and smack a crapy article and link to your money sites, it works period... but will it continue to wokr is the thing and its fairly unlikely.

    if your money sites are decent sites and you want them to get stable long term rankings without worrying about future updates as much as possible you need your backlink strategy to be as close to a natural one as possible and if that involves private networks then you want the backlink profile both inbound and outbound to be as natural as possible if you want your network to last and be futureproof.

    if your happy to invest the least amount of time and money possible to just get results and rankings with what works today and are happy to have to keep changing tactics and adjusting things in the future or have the possibility of losing rankings at any update then fair play.

    just dont do the cheapest quickest things now and then 6 months later start crying about lost rankings.

    in this game you get what you put in, if it was easy everyone would do it and be millionaires...
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