Can anyone recommend a good hosting company that incorporates an ecommerce solution and autoresponders? I've been using thirdspherehosting, but my prospects are complaining they're not receiving my autoresponder messages. Second time in two weeks. This is the pits.

Thanks.

Roger

Hey Roger--here's one I've used in the past...

http://www.ultimatemarketingcenter.com/

It's an all-in-one hosting service with autoresponders, ad trackers, and affiliate system and lots more. They even have ready-made products to start promoting.

You also get CPanel with Fantastico, which is loaded with tons of scripts to plug in. Plus the owner, Kavi, is a great guy who answers any questions or problems in a very timely manner. He'll even install some scripts for you.

Worth checking out...

My IT buddy recommended HostGator to me a few months back:

http://www.hostgator.com/shared.shtml

For $9.95 or $14.95 a month (depending whether you need to use private SSLs) you can host an unlimited number of domains. (I saw where your hosting company charges you $10 for each one that needs to be setup.) All my postcard mailings point to unique (disposable) domain names (which are never indexed by Google) so it's easy to track internet response.

The HostGator features list is pretty long for inexpensive hosting. My friend is on their reseller hosting package (24.95/mo) because he does a lot of web design work for his clients. He makes some decent coin hosting their sites and he has immediate access to their sites for any changes they want to make.

Hey Roger,

So just what kind of ecommerce and autoresponder needs do you have? Are you selling digital or hard goods? Do you need to send HTML or plain text autoresponders? Do you want to install it once and forget about it or can you handle a monthly fee?

I've worked with www.1shoppingcart.com a bit and they've got a great shopping cart/autoresponder system - but they don't do traditional web hosting so you'll need your own host for your web pages.

If you need a decent webhost I've heard some good things about hostgator like jaykay mentioned and I've had good experiences with www.hostway.com and www.insiderhosting.com. If you've got some spare time I'd head over to http://www.webhostingtalk.com and do a search to see what opinions you can dig up on hosts you're considering.

Cheers!

If your serious about hosting use this: http://servint.com/vps/

Okay, the die is cast, it's carved in stone ... I went with 1shoppingcart.com for my autoresponders and gateway. Thank you to all who submitted an entry.

Spent all of yesterday moving my database over to the new servers and learning a whole new set of dos and don'ts. Royal pain in the butt. The autoresponders do work though and these guys have a few more bells and whistles ... all useable.

I was impressed enough with 1shoppingcart.com to go with its sister company, 1ShopWebSites.com as my host. Gobs of server space and bandwidth for real cheap dollars. That's the good part. The bad part? Every freakin' change you make takes 15-30 minutes to implement. I've never experienced this before with a web host. You push a button, it happens in the blink of an eye. That's what I'm used to.

1ShopWebSites.com is different. I swear there's a guy sitting in this squeaky chair in a windowless room in some back office in the warehouse district, reading my commands off a teletype machine. He scribbles some notes on a piece of scrap paper while munching on a Big Mac.

He contemplates what his next move should be, then decides to finish his fries before they get cold. He burps, rubs his tummy, then contemplates a little more. Finally he roles back in his chair (squeak – squeak) and moves to this monstrous machine with all kinds of levers and greased-up gears sticking out.

He studies his scribbled note for a while, then gabs hold a this huge lever with both hands and with all his might, pulls it forward. A sweat breaks out on his forehead. Outside the train tracks slowly switch from the main line to a rail siding that runs adjacent to the warehouse. Ooops! wrong lever.

Meanwhile I'm trying to FTP my files to the new server. I type in my password. A message says my password is invalid. No it's not. I know my freakin' password. I call customer support and the very nice man who answers gently hints that I made a mistake. No, I didn't, but I play along. Just go to this page and type in a new password. Fine. I do it. The message says wait 30 minutes for your password to become effective. Back to the guy in the squeaky chair. I wait 35 minutes. I'm patient.

Now the new password is invalid. I'm pissed. I just typed in the old password because that's the one I really wanted in the first place. I'll wait another 30 minutes. Bet it won't work.

time to use the good-old "30 day money back guarantee" haha

Hey Roger,

Well, you made a good choice with using 1shoppingcart for your shopping cart and list hosting - but as far as the hosting goes, welcome to the world of GoDaddy.

I can't say this with 100% certainty, but if you take a look at www.godaddy.com you'll find the site and it's offerings to be almost identical to 1shopwebsites - so it looks to me like 1shop is just a big affilate selling GoDaddys hosting and other services. I only have experience with one client who used them and he's ready to move after just a few months - so just remember that as with most things in life - you do get what you pay for.

Happy host hunting!

I hate those all in one solutions, they are so much more expensive in the long run.

It would be much better to take this route:

1. Buy Autoresponder (www.aweber.com)
2. Buy Shopping Cart (www.ecommercetemplates.com) 1-Time Fee
3. Get Merchant Account
4. Get Gateway (www.authorize.net)
5. Get Hosting

Under this plan, you will save $40 - $50 per month and you can pick and choose from the best of the best. I highly recommend NOT going with these all in one solutions.

Know of any affilate software too?