A big part of running a successful online business is having the right web host for your website. Yes, this may further your addiction to the Internet, but this is a necessary evil if you want to have a proper presence on the Web. You need your own domain and you need your own hosting plan.
There are many options out there for you to consider and one of these is Netfirms Canada. They’re catering mostly to Canadian users, but there’s no reason why international customers can’t take advantage of Netfirms services as well. This is sponsored review, but the opinions expressed are wholly my own.
Let’s Start with the Hosting
I have not personally used Netfirms to host any of my own websites, so I cannot speak to their quality and uptime. What I can do is describe their portfolio of offerings.
The most basic of web site hosting plans rings in at $6.45 a month, assuming that you prepay two years in advance. This gives you 10GB of disk space, 500GB of monthly bandwidth, and access to many of their key services.
Including among their major features are clustered hosting, SiteBuilder, ten e-mail accounts, free WHOIS privacy (GoDaddy charges $1.99 for this, I believe), domain forwarded, one MySQL 5+ database, and password-protected folders.
For many bloggers, the better deal is the Netfirms Advantage plan. This is on sale for 20% off, costing you $9.56 per month based on a two-year billing schedule. This bumps up your disk space to 250GB and your bandwidth to 2000GB. More importantly for WordPress bloggers, you get 30 MySQL databases and two free domains. That sounds like a decent deal to me.
Adding in the Domain Names
I do have a couple of domains registered through Netfirms and I have been pleased with the service thus far. As a Canadian company, Netfirms lets you snatch up your favorite .CA domain name for a more Canadian flair.
Domains with the .CA TLD cost $9.95 per year, which is in line with the pricing you’ll find with many other domain registars. Netfirms will also handle domains with com, net, org, info, biz, co.uk, asia, me, and tel extensions. Prices range from $9.95 to $29.95 a year. Each domain registered gives you 25MB of basic storage, one e-mail account, and full DNS management.
Get the Job Done
From what I can see, Netfirms looks like a reliable and reasonably-priced choice for entrepreneurs and other online aficionados. The Netfirms Advantage plan offers a good value with plenty of storage, lots of databases, and a couple of free domains to boot.
I think a great way for Netfirms to expand its business is by offering a lucrative affiliate or referral program. This really helps with word of mouth and you’ll essentially grow an army of commission-based sales associates. Affiliate programs are huge for web hosting!
Describing “their portfolio of offerings” is a great advertisement for Netfirms, not a review. What a web host does and what they say they do are two different things.
The only way to see what quality of service you’ll get is by trying them out.
I’m ignoring the tonnnns of bad press I’ve read about Netfirms, and trying them out (as of yesterday) for a few side projects.
I just might be back to report my findings.
Netfirms used to be a great company.. Now they are simply AWFUL.
My site crashes almost every day. I’m on their advantage place and only getting about 700 a day. They say the website will crash if you get 500 hits an hour.. mine seems to be down all the time. Their email has to be the worst in the business. Old archaic and customizable.
They’re support is awful, and slow and sometimes not even knowledgeable.
Save your money and go with someone else.