How To Spot a Bargain

By Jeanne Neath and Paula Mariedaughter

A prospective customer, “Sally”, recently rejected our quote for a web site to display her art quilts and advertise her workshops. Sally had talked to a trusted friend who convinced her she should not have to pay a web hosting fee for her web site. Sally believed her friend to be computer savvy and apparently felt that our quote was out of line because it would require her to pay a monthly fee (of under $20 per month) to a web hosting company we recommended.

Shortly after Sally’s decision not to work with us we were approached by “Roberta”, a quilt shop owner who was paying over $200 a month in web hosting fees for her e-commerce web site. Roberta was not unhappy about the high monthly fee, but felt that her site was not generating enough sales. She wanted to turn her web site into a real money-making venture.

Sally rejected a legitimate bargain and Roberta learned her high monthly fee was no bargain when she found out the (much lower) cost of owning her own shopping cart. How can you know whether the Web services you are paying for are a bargain or a swindle?

Many quilting and sewing professionals new to the Web have difficulty understanding the services needed to operate a web site and don’t do comparison shopping. Understanding what you are purchasing is the first step to making cost effective decisions about your web site. The web host provides you with space on a “server”, a computer with a very fast, stable, permanent connection to the Internet. Most small businesses use inexpensive “shared hosting” where many unrelated web sites are hosted on the same server. Prices for hosting vary from “free” to hundreds of dollars per month, depending on factors like the number of sites crammed together on one server, the quality of technical assistance, speed of the server, and special services such as e-commerce.

Yes, it is possible to find “free” web hosting. However, if you have a money-making business, free or very inexpensive hosting on an aging, slow server hosting huge numbers of web sites is not for you. On the other hand, unless you have a web site with a very high volume of traffic and online sales, you should not be paying $100 or more in monthly hosting fees for your own private server. Many web hosts charge high hosting fees for e-commerce sites with more than a few products, despite the fact that high volume of traffic and sales use up a server’s resources, not the quantity of products. This practice often leaves the web site owner paying high hosting fees for minimal sales.

Internet services, such as web hosting, are difficult for non-professionals to evaluate. Sally’s friend may know a lot about computers, but without an extensive knowledge of doing business on the Internet is a poor advisor. On the other hand, a Web company like Roberta’s may favor their own self interest over your best interests. As difficult as it may seem to you as a beginning web site owner, you need to become an educated consumer. Do a little research. Take notes on fees from different companies and find out exactly what will be provided for the fees paid. Talk to customers of the companies you are considering. A Web related “bargain” is a gift horse you will want to examine from head to toe!