Bobcat Open Systems, Inc. HATES HEARING ABOUT PEOPLE BEING RIPPED OFF!  Even if you decide to go elsewhere for your web hosting, please read the following.  It could save you a lot of time, money, and headache medication.

Why Not Use A "Free" or "Cheapie" Web Host?

• Free/cheapie web hosts impose THEIR advertising on YOUR website.  Visitors to your site are subjected to jarring banners, static ads, and even universally hated pop-up windows.  Advertising frames may cause search engines to rate your site lower or not at all.  You're stuck with the advertising unless you want to pay more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie hosts allow very few MB of web space.  This imposes limits on the number of images, sound files, video clips, etc. that can be used on your site. Image intensive sites need many more MB of space than mostly text sites. Free/cheapie sites can offer as little as 50MB space per month. More MB of space costs more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie hosts usually do not allow FTP access.  This means web site design can only be done through their online web builder.  This means a professional web design firm will not be willing to design your site. FTP access is an option for which these hosts charge more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie hosts limit the maximum size on each file you upload or restrict the types of files.  This means your web site is limited in content and file type. Greater file size capability will cost you more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie hosts can be unreliable.  This means your site will miss or lose many visitors when the host site isn't functioning properly.  It also means you may not be able to reliably build your website in your time frame. Reliability will cost you more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie host tech support can be unreliable.  This means you can't contact someone to ask questions, remedy problems, and fix errors or that contact responses are confusing or non existent.  Often the only way to contact the firm is through email which means problems can be extremely slow to resolve, especially if the resolution is not something the host firm wants to remedy.  If there is phone access to tech support you may find yourself trying to communicate with someone who had difficulty speaking and understanding English. There is no monetary fix for a company's bad tech support.
  
  
• Free/cheapie host sites limit bandwidth.  This means there is a limit to the amount of traffic your website can use per day, per week, per month.  Once the limit has been reached your site will be disabled (meaning no visitors can access it), or you will be billed for extra use.  Generally speaking, 100MB per month is not suitable for anything other than a small personal or family page.  A new tiny and simple business site can require as little as 1-3 GB per month.  Larger and more popular sites require much more bandwidth and cost more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie host sites don't offer secure servers.  This means you can't do online sales.  SSL, MySQL, etc. cost you more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie sites don't usually offer email addresses at your own domain (example:you@yourdomain.com)  nor do they offer autoresponders.  These features, which give your site a more professional image, cost more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie sites don't provide daily monitoring and periodic optimizing.  This means your site can be down for days or weeks until you discover the problem.   These features cost a lot more money!
  
• Free/cheapie sites don't provide anti virus and anti spam mail screening.  These features cost more money.
  
  
• Free/cheapie sites don't offer daily website statistics reports.  Reports allow you to see who's visiting your site, what search terms are being used to find your site, what times of the day your site is getting the most hits, how many hits you are getting, which pages are most popular, and much more information.  To obtain these reports you usually have to subscribe to a website statistics company.  

Bobcat Open Systems, Inc. is not the cheapest web host you can find.  However, we include features missing from the freebie and cheapie sites in all our hosting packages.  We also offer prompt response times and real human who answers the phone and helps solve your problems.

Bobcat also offers minor website page text changes, website image changes, quarterly (or more often as warranted) search engine submission, and more for a small additional monthly fee.

To find out what a Bobcat Hosting Package includes click on the Web Hosting button.

Contact us for pricing and to switch your web hosting to Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.