The other night, I saw an interesting commercial on TV. You’ve probably seen it too. Various people are totally jazzed about getting a website created—only to be let down by the “hassles” they encounter. For example, one guy says he hired someone to build a site and was told it would be ready…but that was months ago (or something like that). Then there’s the husband and wife proudly proclaiming they’re going to build their web site themselves—as we see them sift through a plethora of books amid their confusion.
The point of this commercial by Intuit was that you shouldn’t try to build your own site but rather purchase their web packages to easily get a website with great features and no hassle for only $4.99 a month. On the surface this might seem like a pretty good deal. However, in doing some research, our conclusion is you can do much better elsewhere. Even if you have no experience in creating a web site, there are better deals with more features at better prices. And you shouldn’t worry about website creation being too hard or difficult to do yourself. Building a web site has never been easier and these days you can choose from many web hosting providers who offer plans that include easy to use site creation tools. 24/7 customer support is also available should you need immediate help with a problem.
Still not convinced? Let’s take an in depth look at this $4.99 per month deal versus some other web hosting options. First of all, the $4.99 site from Intuit is limited to just 5 pages! While you may think you don’t need more than 5 to start out with, you’ll be surprised how soon you’ll want to add more content. Five pages won’t even be enough to cover your site information (about, contact info, policies, etc.). Intuit also touts that you can have a blog and a shopping cart with their services. Well, yes you can—but these cost extra! They are not included in this $4.99 plan. And there is more. Anyone wanting a professional looking website needs their own domain name and email accounts. Surprise! These are not included in the $4.99 per month package either. If you want to add these “upgrades” you’ll have to pay $19.95 per month. Intuit also offers a “professional” web hosting packages which includes a traffic component. It appears the “traffic” is really just a submission to search engines and web listing directories. These are helpful, but can be obtained at a much lower cost and you can even do some of it on your own for free. The cost of Intuit’s Professional web hosting–$49.99 a month! Most disappointing of all is that all of their web hosting plans are limited in the amount of storage and bandwidth you get (as well as the number of email addresses and supported domains).
We also found it interesting that we had to do quite of bit of digging to find the above information. Intuit has it buried several levels down on their site with a small link located on the bottom of that page.
While it may be possible to have a successful website using Intuit, our recommendation would be to look elsewhere at some of the better rated web hosting providers. Not only will you be paying less, but you’ll also get better features and the ability to expand your site as your business or personal interests grow. Check this list to see our top 10 web hosting providers. When it comes to building your first website, don’t be intimidated by outside influences (or commercials). Creating a website has never been easier and using one of the best rated web hosting providers will help you achieve your goal of joining the online business and personal website world.
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