Finding a (Hosting) Home!

Since beginning this journey that will eventually lead to the fulfillment of SpeakLifeTV, I’ve been searching for the right company to host the channel.  The domain name has been purchased (held together by a simple place card with a few trailers), the layout has been designed and almost all of the departments have been put in place.  The only problem that I had was finding a host that is reasonable priced with all of the features that we need.  So, torn between Weebly, Yola and Wix, I decided to do some research.  Although all of these sites offer free plans, I’m looking for something a lot more professional for this endeavor that stays under our budget of $35 per month.  Here are a few perks, and disadvantages, to each of these sites.

Weebly offers a Business Plan that has so many features it’s almost sickening.  The Business Package, which we would definitely need, is $29 per month and it offers:

• ·      Independent video hosting on the site 
• ·      Custom footers
• ·      Fully functional shopping cart on the site
• ·      Restricted member only pages
• ·      An easy to use sitebuilder with plenty of templates
• ·      Guaranteed hosting stability.

Courtesy of Weebly's YouTube page.

Wix has a pretty good VIP Package that is billed currently at $24.90 per month.  This package includes:

• ·      Domain registration free for one year
• ·      Ad removal
• ·      Site Shopping Cart
• ·      An easy to use drag and drop sitebuilder with plenty of flash
• ·      Plenty of vouchers for Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.

Courtesy of Wix's YouTube page.

Yola’s Unlimited Package is $24.95 per month keeping it right in line with the other two sites and well under our budget.  Yola offers:

• ·      Unlimited pages
• ·      Easy to use sitebuilder
• ·      Ready to use professional photos
• ·      The ability to publish the site directly to Facebook
• ·      Full-site search
• ·      Yola branding removal and
• ·      Unlimited storage.

Courtesy of Yola's YouTube page.

While all of these sites had great reviews, easy sitebuilders and quite a few perks, I had to weigh all of my options and choose the right one for the task.  I’ve created sites with all three of these websites in the past and I’m very familiar with their inner workings.  Wix is fun and “artsy” but crashes at times due to its heavy flash content.  Yola is a wonderful site but doesn’t offer on site video hosting.  With both of these sites I would have to upload my media content to an external video hosting service, like YouTube or Vimeo, and then embed it in the site.  That takes away some of the control that we intend to have over our content.  Although Weebly costs more than the other two sites, their features are astonishing, they offer on site video hosting and the option to have some pages free while others are reserved for paid memberships.  This is an added bonus that is indeed worth the price.  By way of merchandising, having our own store, directly on the site without any redirections, is huge!  It gives off a more professional feeling to the business and puts SpeakLifeTV in the league with “real, live” cable channels.

So, my friends, it’s onward and upward from here.  It looks like SpeakLifeTV is going to have a home with Weebly!

For more comparison information, check out these articles:

Wix vs Weebly | Which Website Builder is Better? by Jeremy Wong for WebsiteBuilderExpert.com

Yola vs. Weebly on SuperWebsiteBuilders.com

Wix vs. Yola vs. Weebly        by Jason Kay for Techsling.com