Just about everyone has a web hosting company that they use to host their company or personal web sites.  The wide range of pricing levels and service offerings can be confusing.  I have been using CrystalTech hosting for years and recommend them highly.  If you are searching for a new web host, you should definitely include CrystalTech when researching your options.

CrystalTech offers .NET shared hosting, ColdFusion shared hosting, Semi-dedicated and Dedicated hosting as well as SharePoint hosting.  As of the writing of this blog post, they are hosting 106,148 domains on their servers.  The blog you are currently reading… (www.bluegurus.com) is hosted at CrystalTech.

Plans
If you are going to host your own WordPress site, CrystalTech’s .NET Value plan is perfect and costs $7.95/month.  Their hosting packages scale as your needs grow.  The value plan comes with 500MB of storage and 10 email accounts.  You can migrate through the various shared hosting packages from Intermediate to Advanced to Premier.  Premier shared hosting is $36.95/month and has 4 Gigs of storage and 500 email accounts.  Cl;ick here for a more detailed comparison of .NET shared hosting plans offered.

Shared Hosting Control Panel
One of the most important features to look at when picking a shared hosting environment is how much control you have through the hosting control panel.  CrystalTech built their own control panel solution using asp.NET.  There is an amazing amount of control provided through their custom interface for managing your shared hosting account.  All billing, site-wide settings, IIS settings, DNS settings, Database settings, Email settings and web statistics are easily accessible and configurable from their control panel.

Reseller Discounts and Not For Profit Pricing
Another nice thing you get when picking CrystalTech is that they have a graduated discount model based on the number of web sites you host with them.  For each additional site you host, the monthly cost goes down.  Additionally, Not For Profit organizations get 50% off their monthly hosting fees once they prove their Not For Profit status.

CrystalTech is a fantastic web hosting company.  I have been doing business with them for years and plan on doing so for years to come.