You’ve probably noticed that I highly recommend the Third Sphere web hosting service. Note that I only recommend it if you’re going to create a small business web site. If you’re only going to create a personal web site, it’s a bit on the expensive side.

Third Sphere is essentially a CPanel based hosting service with extra oomph. It’s got all the normal CPanel features plus other features that are very useful for an online business. I won’t go through the CPanel features. If you’re eager to know more, check out the CPanel feature list.

Now, here’s how Third Sphere stands out from the rest:

  • Web based site builder
    Third Sphere doesn’t just offer you a web based site builder, it offers you three different types of web based site builders. You can start creating your web site almost immediately without any HTML know-how. You get to choose from several professional templates. This is a great feature especially if your budget does not include hiring a web designer. Note that only one of the web site builder is support a Mac.
  • Root installation for scripts
    Like any other cPanel web host with Fantastico installed, ThirdSphere allows you to install some of the more popular free scripts onto your server at a click of a button.

    What makes ThirdSphere different is the ability to install it to your root folder. So, for example, if you want your whole web site to be in a form of a blog, you can install WordPress to your root folder. As opposed to having to install it into a sub directory. This means that you can access your blog web site directly from your URL “http://www.yourdomain.com” instead of something like “http://www.yourdomain.com/blog”.

  • Automation Station

    ThirdSphere also includes with your account what they call an “Automation Station”. The Automation Station has many cool features. You can:

    • run an affiliate program - You can provide banners and text links to your affiliates and you have the option to pay them via PayPal’s masspay feature.
    • set up unlimited autoresponder followup series - You can set this up in a way that customers are automatically taken off your prospects list and added to your customers list.
    • provide a one time access download page - This prevents your customers from sharing the download page with other.
    • various payment processor support - You can use several different payment processors with the Automation Station.

There many other features that ThirdSphere provides but the above is the ones that caught my eye. In short, if you’re thinking of building a small business web site, ThirdSphere is a great web host. The features it provides will make up for the higher hosting fees many times over.

You’d probably likw to know if I use ThirdSpheremyself.

The answer is “No”.

Why?

When I first started my web site, ages ago, ThirdSphere was not around yet. So, what I did was purchase different scripts (affiliate, ad tracker, membership scripts etc) and integrate it to my web site. I even when beyond that to get each script to work seemlessly with each other. I finally have a system that works for me. The headache I went through to get this to work, you can’t even begin to imagine.

When I first heard about ThirdSphere, my jaws just dropped. If only they had appeared before I finished my “system”, I would have saved my self countless headaches. And the amount of money I would have saved. Ah well.

It’s a bit late for me but not for you. So, before you decide on a web host, think carefully about your future goals and what features you would need to reach those goals.

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