Shared Plan pricing, after recent changes

[RainbowViper]

While I applaud Hostgator for removing the space and bandwidth restrictions on their three Shared plans, I think the pricing should be given a closer look.

I have a Baby plan, and with those changes I'm now paying $36 more per year simply to have the capability of more than one Domain. I have no need for a dedicated IP, and even if I did that would cost me an extra $24 on top of the $36 just for the Dedi IP. About the only reason to get one is to be able to use an SSL, and then you add the cost of the SSL and HG's installation on top of that, and...... you see what I mean?

The *total* price for my plan is still reasonable but it does seem that the extra money I'm paying, just to have more than one Domain, is too high.

Does anyone else agree? Or am I being a skinflint?

[gwyneth]

Mark, perhaps you could briefly compare old and new prices?

[RainbowViper]

I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't clear about that.

The Shared plan prices didn't change.

But with all 3 plans now having unlimited space and bandwidth, the *remaining* features offered by each higher tier, don't justify the price increases *per* tier, in my opinion.

Hope that makes my example above more clear now.

[gwyneth]

My opinion is based on a combination of the highly specific (to me) and general observation of the hosting industry since 1994.

While I'll spend an hour looking for coupon codes to save five or ten bucks at GoDaddy, that's giving up a little current time in return for contributing less to GoDaddy's revenue stream. It's different from the research I normally do before most purchases, which is purely to keep as many dollars as possible, and which has a rational time/cost equation (that is, I wouldn't spend an hour to save that little).

When buying some things, the value of avoiding future potential inconvenience is huge. That's the argument for getting refill blades for the Obscuro Single-Purpose specialized tool at the same time as purchase.

That's also why I wouldn't mind paying the $3 per month for the ability to have more than one domain. To me, it would be like insurance that I wouldn't have to change accounts if I wanted to add another domain. (Note this might be considered hypothetical in my case, because I haven't purchased single-domain hosting in more than 10 years.) While it might not be that much of a future inconvenience to change accounts, it easily could be. $36 is easily worth an hour of "account administration time."

Paying the $3 a month also avoids future deliberation, if I did want another domain, of deciding whether to add another single-domain account or a multiple, etc. Of course, not everybody is as capable of mental torture as I am, but I could easily spend two hours on that decision, so $36 is easily worth two future hours of "stupid fretting" time.

Note that what I just wrote is also tempered by my strong feeling that even if someone administers just one site as a hobby, it's a good idea to have a "practice domain", where experiments, tests and learning projects cannot interfere with the main site. It's also influenced by years of being involved with organizations, movements, etc., in which the need or opportunity might suddenly arise to put up a site.

Add to that last paragraph the potential desirability of email addresses at different domains and $36 bucks a year becomes a no-brainer to me.

Now for general hosting industry trends. Some time in the last five years, comparing the price of shared accounts in terms of bandwidth and storage became meaningless, as your question tacitly recognizes. I imagine it's difficult for hosting firms to work with the residue of plans originally conceived before that became true. Similarly, people who started buying hosting years ago still retain at least the subconscious idea that bandwidth and storage is a purchase consideration. (Cf. people who started buying Jeeps when they were called Willys-Knights--it may be emotionally hard to grasp that roofs aren't an extra-cost "addon".)

I don't know if any of all that makes sense. I think it may come down to determining which would annoy you more: paying the $36 for the multi-domain ability, or doing without the advantages, even potential, of having it. If having more than one domain is a given anyway, then the $36 is just what it costs to do so.

[GatorEricS]

Originally Posted by RainbowViper

About the only reason to get [a dedicated IP] is to be able to use an SSL, and then you add the cost of the SSL and HG's installation on top of that, and...... you see what I mean?

If I may posit another reason for a dedicated IP address.
Personally, I have a shared hosting account on HostGator that I do pay for (employees are provided free shared hosting, but only for personal sites. I run some commercial sites, and therefore I pay for my plan). I also pay for a dedicated IP address. I have no SSL certificate and do not need one. In my case, the IP is for SEO purposes. By having an IP that is dedicated to just my domains, my domains therefore receive a boost in the Google (and other search engine) indicies. This allows for better ranking, and better optimization in SERPs returns. The $24 a year is definitely money well spent, in this case, as it means I am not affected by any "bad rankings" or "bad rep" that may be associated with any of the other domains on the shared IP of the server on which I am hosted.*

I'm not saying that your comment is not justified, I'm just trying to offer an explanation as to when a dedicated IP may be warranted outside of an SSL installation.

(*I am not saying that any particular domain may have negative effects on ranking. Merely that it is possible that a domain on a shared IP, that is banned from the search index, could cause a potential downward trend in the ranking for other domains on said IP. Whether or not there are any such "negatively ranked" domains on the shared IP of the server on which I am hosted, I do not know. I can verify, however, that my rankings took an almost immediate (within 30 das) increase in SERPs rankings, once I switched to a dedicated IP.)

DEFINITIONS:
SSL: Secure Socket Layer: The protocol and technology used in conjunction with security certificates to secure the communications between client and server.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization: Optimizing your site's layout, performance, content, and other factors to increase ranking and listing in the search engines.

SERP(s): Search Engine Result Page(s): The pages displaying results to a query at a search engine. Normally used to refer to how well a particular website ranks (or where in the results it displays, i.e. the position number) within the SERP.

[slapshotw]

Eric-- just my opinion, as someone who does SEO professionally for clients: 99% of the "shared IP penalty" from Google is just urban myth. Millions of highly-ranked sites share IPs with other sites, and Google is far more likely to ban the domain rather than the IP. Perhaps there was an algorithm shift (they happen fairly often) that coincided with your change.

Again, just my opinion...

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by slapshotw

Eric-- just my opinion, as someone who does SEO professionally for clients: 99% of the "shared IP penalty" from Google is just urban myth. Millions of highly-ranked sites share IPs with other sites, and Google is far more likely to ban the domain rather than the IP. Perhaps there was an algorithm shift (they happen fairly often) that coincided with your change.

Matt, I was wondering what your thoughts about that were, and I'm really glad you piped up.