Thread

I’m building an EE site for a business client and need to make hosting recommendations.

They currently have a static site at Yahoo, but understand the need to change hosting for clean URL purposes.

My hesitation at recommending EngineHosting is based on cost for the number of email accounts they require.

They currently has 55 employee email accounts assigned, but as the company is only 3 years old, they expect to double that within the next 12 months, with further growth beyond.

As they work with government contractors, uptime and email reliability are a major consideration. Overall traffic should be relatively stable, with little risk of a Digg effect traffic spike.

I’m leaning towards Pair Networks, but would like to include several options in a comparison grid for their approval.

If they’re willing to separate their systems: EngineHosting definitely for their web stuff. Mailtrust.com has been good for email.

I thought about separating out the mail, but I fear they’re become accustomed to the bargain basement pricing of Yahoo small business.

They don’t use Exchange, and are currently POP3 only, so I have flexibility, but am finding some resistance to the $$ hosting they really should have, given that I bid the job at at least double the other potential developers (who I suspect were just going to regloss their current static site, and not build a system with future growth in mind).

One advantage of separating out email from web is that their email won’t be interrupted if they want (or have) to switch hosts down the road. They can use Google Apps for Your Domain (free). I would strongly recommend not bundling email and hosting. It just causes headaches, IMO.

My first thought was Google Apps (I use them for other sites).

I thought you couldn’t use the free version if you needed over 25 users. Did I miss something?

Hmm, looking again, it looks like I just have to request/justify them over your limit.

Originally, they forced you to go Premier if you needed more than 25.

Fantastic!