2DreamHost discovered the dirty laundry of web hosting review sites. Very interesting read. Great revelation right from those in the industry on the dark secrets of all those reviewe sites as well. What have I learnt?
- There exists very few web hosting review site that is unbiased. I won’t say none of them are non-affiliated because I am always optimistic, just that I haven’t found one.
- Hosting review sites make good money. Demanding $3,200 for the #10 spot + referral sales. Maybe I shall start one here :)
- How much web hosting companies pay for those reviewing sites to “rank higher” is astonishing. It also shows how much competition and how much profit in this industry.
- DreamHost themselves are not innocent, as their promo code affiliation system provides lucrative incentive for many individuals to promote their service. Search for dreamhost review on Google for many examples of not-so-unbiased reviews.
I also came across this post from Matt Heaton, the top guy at BlueHost. It seems paying $100+ per customer is a pretty normal practise in a competitive environment like web hosting, and they all rely on loyalty to survive.
That explains why we don’t receive any response from them when we inquire about getting reviewed. We’re very confident that we would rank very high in an UN-BIASED review. Personally, I’d rather invest funds into other areas. For example, trained customer service personnel and better server hardware. That is whats really important! GoDaddy has their “ladies” with low structural integrity bra straps, BlueHost has their biased “paid for” reviews, and we have reliability, and customer service. That’s our story, and you know what, we’re sticking to it. Thank you for taking the time to write this, and letting people know.
No, I see a very big number beside a dollar sign, I hope that does not mean the cost is high.