Jeremy Kaplan
If you run a business and are thinking of setting up a shop online, then one of the first things you need to do is to buy good hosting. In fact, a good web host can make all the difference between success and failure. With so many hosting companies out there, the task of selecting the right one can seem overwhelming. A bad hosting package can result in your website going offline, leading to loss of revenue for yourself and your company, not to mention the impact it will have on your SEO rankings. This only underscores the importance of doing some research before signing on the dotted line. But from a closer look at some of the top hosting companies, FatCow is competitive, with premium hosting plans at a fraction of the price of what others charge.
Since first being established in 1998, FatCow Hosting has been offering web hosting packages to both individuals and companies. It is owned and managed by the Endurance group who also own other hosting companies such as Hostgator, Arvixe, and BlueHost among others. As one of the oldest web hosting companies, FatCow has a lot to offer to both individuals and businesses alike. Here’s some of their top features and offers.
The Original Moo: FatCow’s full hosting plan starts at $3.99 per month and that’s the introductory offer, valid for the first month only, after which you will be required to pay around $8.99 per month. While the difference between the first month and second month can seem steep, the full hosting plan comes with a lot of goodies. For example, with the full hosting plan, you will also get $100 worth of Google Adwords credits which you can use for marketing your company and products. Apart from the free credit, you get free cloud storage for 1GB, unlimited email address, unlimited bandwidth etc.
WordPress Blog: Along with hosting packages, FatCow also provides WordPress Blog hosting with basic starter packages priced at $3.75 per month and Essential WP packages at $6.95 per month. The WP hosting package includes customized themes, built-in plugins, and a customized control panel.
VPS hosting: FatCow offers multiple VPS hosting packages you can opt for; the basic one will get you 1GB RAM, 40 GB of storage and 1TB of bandwidth. The company also has VPS hosting packages for businesses, with 4GB RAM, 500 GB of storage and 5TB of bandwidth. The rate for these VPS hosting packages starts from $19.99 per month.
Dedicated servers: Along with hosting packages, FatCow also has dedicated servers. While you may not necessarily need a dedicated server as an individual, you may need one for your business. They have been priced attractively with the starter packages at $199.99 per month.
Minimoo: And for those of you who are still not sure what web hosting is all about, you may want to opt for the Minimoo. This package is perfect for newbies as it allows you to learn what web hosting is all about and what sort of hosting package you would need, going forward. The Minimoo should help you get started and it comes at a whopping $5 per year with zero set up fees.
Pros and cons:
FatCow hosting packages are priced at the low end of the spectrum with some of the other web hosting companies charging four times more. Apart from the cost, which is one of the lowest in the industry, FatCow also offers to back up your data on a daily basis. Fatcow is one of the few hosting companies with an extremely strong uptime record with little or no downtime.
On the other hand, as a recent FatCow review said, customer service is slow to respond to emails or calls, and it tries to upsell you onto other hosting packages the moment you sign up. However, if you can put up with the hassle of being asked every now and then to upgrade, you will find that FatCow is indeed worth every penny you pay for their services.
The verdict:
FatCow offers much more than other hosting companies do and at very little cost to you. In fact, they offer one of the lowest priced hosting packages, along with other goodies. While it is easy to assume that low cost equals bad product, FatCow has bucked this trend and is about as good as it gets when it comes to web hosting.
