I am not going to lie. A part of me smiled while reading the news about GoDaddy’s hosting services going down today. Do I feel bad for the customers effected? Of course. Do I feel that GoDaddy had this coming to them as payback for being scum of the internet? Hell yeah.
“So if you are still hosting/dealing with GoDaddy after SOPA, you pretty much got another reason to leave today.”
Like anyone who has a digital life, I have done business with GoDaddy. I like to tell myself it was back when I was young and did not know any better. Thankfully I can refer to that experience in the past tense. Are you fed up with the poor customer service, threat of SOPA or the last straw… today’s hack by Anonymous? Ready to take the Red Pill and break free of GoDaddy? Take a look at the comments below for real customer testimonials.
The dynamic duo that I rely on for web services is A Small Orange (hosting) and NameCheap (domains).
A Small Orange started in Atlanta but now call Durham, NC home. They offer big league support with a startup feel. Outstanding customer service with quick turn around. Their hosting servers are just about as open as they come. Ready to run any platform of your choosing with full admin access for customers – shared and dedicated servers. I have been a customer for about four years with multiple WordPress sites running on ASO servers. Inc Magazine loves them too.
My time with NameCheap as only been a few months, but I could not ask for simpler domain management. Most important for me was that they are upfront about their pricing. Also when I first tried to transfer my domains from GoDaddy over to NameCheap it was NameCheap would helped me understand a loophole GoDaddy was using to keep me locked in as a customer. They offered to refund my pre-payment on the transfer and hoped that I would remember them when I was free to transfer – three months later. I sure did! All my domains are now with NameCheap. Another bonus, they will honor the expiration date you have with your current domain registrar and extend it for another year.
So those are my two recommendations. Feel free to ask any particular questions you might have about A Small Orange or NameCheap. Happy customers can be great salesmen 
Today consumers have a multitude of companies they can turn to the help with their web needs. Have a favorite? Plug away in the comments!
I highly recommend Webfaction. http://www.webfaction.com. They offer one click installs and you can host thousands of sites on your one slice of a server. They have quick customer service and dedicated servers if you need them. I’ve been with them for a while and I’ve never had a problem. Also, if you’re hosting your company’s email on Godaddy, now would be a great time to switch to Google Apps.
My fav hosting would be Squarespace by far. For domain registers, Hover is the best. I use and support both.
I’ve used Dreamhost for ages (for hosting and registration), and have never had any serious issues. They also have one-click installs (which I’ve never used), and super-easy setup of Google Apps for your domain while you’re setting up hosting (which I use frequently).
I should point out that if a person is still adamant about using GoDaddy for domain registration, there isn’t nothing wrong with this (other than opinions regarding support of SOPA). Also – the attack here really wasn’t GoDaddy’s fault.
I would still, however, get my nameserver/DNS hosting and hosting off of GoDaddy. If for no other reason that they are a huge target, and script kiddies will continue to target them.
My pick for hosting is Linode (http://linode.com). They aren’t for the faint of heart, and require you to install and setup your own webserver. However, if you take the time to learn to do it you will be rewarded with a great deal of control. Webfaction is also my pick for easy to set up web hosting
I’m taking my hosting to ASO because one, they’re recommended by several people and two they have a nice website which says something about what their hosting UI will be like.
But, if I was in the business of hosting client websites then i’d be going with MediaTemple.
Another one for domain registration I want to suggest is internet.bs. It’s a simple registrar, no upsells, free privacy, and they are usually cheaper than other registrars (especially GoDouche).
Great post, Will.
I’ve been a long-time MediaTemple customer. I first heard about them at An Event Apart in 2006 and signed up soon after. I’ve been super happy with them since. I use them for domain registration and hosting. Their Grid Service control panel is exceptionally easy to use.
http://mediatemple.net