Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

I was blog hopping the other day and came across a post about a spectacular promotion for Dreamhost, one of the bigger web hosting companies. Using the promo code 220, I saved $193 off a $216 two-year web hosting package! So I got two years of web hosting for $21 or so! It was a “rush rush” kind of deal (the promo expired January 5th and I found out about it halfway through the day). But it was just too sweet a deal to pass up. I know a few people who have Dreamhost, and while it’s not the primo hosting site, it’s up there with the big dogs of shared hosting.

For me, it is wise to spread several of my sites on various web hosts. Right now I have a lot of sites on Bluehost and one on WizzerdWerks (a tiny web host in Florida). I have my qualms with Bluehost: when one site goes down (which seemed to happen a lot when I first signed up with them, but it is much better now), they ALL go down. I hate that. But Bluehost has excellent customer service and a very good cPanel.

WizzerdWerks is much more reliable than Bluehost, but there is virtually NO support. They say they are available 24/7 and have Live Chat, but I never get a tech support rep when I call– I wait about 10 minutes on hold and then have to leave a message on their answering machine, and so far no one has ever called me back. It’s deplorable, and makes me very nervous. And their Live Chat has never been live yet. If only their support was… well, ALIVE, I’d shout their good service to everyone, because the server has been very reliable. But as it is, I cannot recommend them because no one is ever there. ??

Dreamhost, so far, looks good. There have been past complaints about their CPU limits (if you get too many visitors, they take your site down– which is what Bluehost does but WizzerdWerks does not). That REALLY stinks if someone Stumbles your posts with StumbleUpon. But Dreamhost says they don’t rip people’s sites out anymore, they will contact the client and work with them. I really don’t expect a whole lot out of Dreamhost– probably about the same that I get with Bluehost. But WOW, $21 for two years was too good to pass up. Bluehost costs me about $100 a year. If Dreamhost and Bluehost have comparable hosting service, which I believe they do, then I did phenomenally well.

So always look around for promo codes before you buy anything, even a web host account. I did a quick web search and found pages of promo codes. You can save a bundle!