We're pleased to announce that all of our shared hosting plans have been upgraded with more space and bandwidth. This change is effective immediately for all new plans, and we'll be upgrading current plans over the next few weeks.

Economy Hosting
Space: was 5 GB - NOW 10 GB
Transfer: was 250 GB - NOW 300 GB

Deluxe Hosting
Space: was 100 GB - NOW 150 GB
Transfer: was 1,000 GB - NOW 1,500 GB

Premium Hosting
Space: was 200 GB - NOW 300 GB
Transfer: was 2,000 GB - NOW 3,000 GB

You don't have to do anything at all to take advantage of this upgrade. If you're a current customer, you may already be benefitting from this added space, if not, then you'll see the upgrade in your hosting space during the next few weeks.

If you find that your needs would now be met by a smaller hosting plan, you can always downgrade your plan. While you won't be able to receive a refund for this year's hosting fee, you'll be able to save money in future years by using a smaller plan.

Labels: hosting, shared hosting, upgrade

posted by PastorJon @ 9:23 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

YourChurchWeb.net is pleased to announce that you now get more free with every domain purchase (or renewal)! Read this article to learn how you might benefit from these changes:

1. For the past two years, customers have received a free, 25mb "Complete Email" with every domain. We've quadrupled the size of this account--and you can now store 100mb of email online. This is a $9.99 value.
   


2. 100-pack email forwarding - Add flexibility to your email management using forwards. Church leaders can have mail forwarded to them from an "official" address, small groups can be contacted with a single email address, and more. A $21.40 value.
   


3. Domain masking and forwarding - Are you hosting your site elsewhere? If you're using a free webhost that gives you a complex URL that's hard to remember, you can forward your domain to point to your website, and mask it so that your visitors never see the underlying URL.
   


4. Domain services - You have total DNS control, ability to change registrant information, the flexibility to set your domain for automatic or manual renewal, and the security of being able to lock your domain from being transferred.

The following products are fully featured versions of the products you can purchase. In exchange for the free product, an advertisement for YourChurchWeb.net will appear on every page. While most churches would prefer the cleaner look with no advertisement, this is a way we can assist churches with limited resources. For less than $10/yr, a church can have a domain, email, webhosting, photo storage, and more.

1. Free Online Photo Filer - Store, sort, share, publish, and print your favorite photos, right from your own personalized domain. This free version provides you with 1GB of storage space and 25GB of monthly data transfer. A $9.99 value.
   


2. Free Quick Blogcast - Ideal for people interested in starting a blog or podcast, this easy publishing platform allows you to share your thoughts, devotions, or sermons with a wider audience. You receive 300MB of space, and 15GB of monthly data transfer. A $41.28 value.
   


3. Free WebSite Tonight - Get a 5-page website and online creation tool. You don't need special HTML skills, but can simply design and write your website in a matter of hours. You get 50MB of space, and 1GB of monthly data transfer. A $59.88 value.
   
   OR
   
   Free Shared Hosting - If you want to design your own site, you can use this free version of our Economy Hosting Plan. Get 5GB of space, and 250GB of monthly data transfer in either a Windows or Linux hosting platform. Upload content by FTP, and you're ready to go! A $71.88 value.

That's more than $100 worth of free tools and utilities that comes with every domain registration at YourChurchWeb.net. Register your domain today for just $8.99 (+ a $.20 ICANN fee)/year.

If you're already a YourChurchWeb.net customer, you will see these new products appear in your account the next time your renew your domain.

Labels: domains, email, free products, hosting, photo filer, quick blogcast, shared hosting, WebSite Tonight

posted by PastorJon @ 9:38 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Every hosting plan comes with a selection of Value Applications, which are easily installed directly into your hosting space. Whether you want a discussion forum/message board, a photo gallery, or a chatroom, YourChurchWeb.net wants to help you get underway.

The list of Value Applications depends on your hosting plan, so you may want to choose your hosting plan accordingly.

Value Applications for a Windows Hosting Plan:

• MS IE Web Controls (Pre-installed)
• WSE 2.0 (Pre-installed)
• ASPUpload 3.0 (Pre-installed)
• ASPJPEG 1.4 (Pre-installed)
• GUIDMaker (Pre-installed)
• ASPCrypt (Pre-installed)
• Community Server 2.0
• DotNetNuke 4.0
• YetAnotherForum
• ASP.NET 2.0 PersonalWeb site Starter Kit (Deluxe & Premium Hosting only)
• ASP.NET 2.0 Club SiteStarter Kit (Deluxe & Premium Hosting only)
• ASP.NET 2.0 Time TrackerStarter Kit (Deluxe & Premium Hosting only)

Value Applications for a Linux Hosting Plan:

• ImageMagick (Pre-installed)
• Drupal
• Moodle
• Nucleus
• Geeklog
• Serendipity
• WordPress
• Gallery
• Coppermine Photo Gallery
• 4images
• Joomla!
• Mambo
• Xoops
• PostNuke
• WWW Paint Board
• SMF (Simple Machines Forum)
• Advanced Guestbook
• Advanced Poll
• phpCollab
• Aardvark Topsites
• paFileDB
• phpMyFAQ
• Noah's Classifieds
• OpenDB

Depending on how you've designed your site, you may be able to change your hosting plan from one plan to another at no cost.

Labels: design, hosting, shared hosting, value applications

posted by PastorJon @ 9:03 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

We're undergoing some signficant pricing restructuring--and it's all designed to benefit you and your church! As part of our pricing reductions, the prices of all Shared Hosting Plans have been changed. Our monthly prices have been reduced by $0.26/mo, saving all customers a minimum of $3.12/yr. The table below illustrates the changes made in the prices for those customers who purchase their hosting on a month-to-month basis.

Plan	2007 Prices	2008 Prices
Economy	$6.75/mo	$6.49/mo
Deluxe	$12.75/mo	$12.49/mo
Premium	$19.75/mo	$19.49/mo

In addition, customers who purchase their hosting on an annual basis will see even greater savings, as illustrated below:

Plan	1 year	2 years	3+ years
Economy	$5.99/mo	$5.59/mo	$5.39/mo
Deluxe	$11.59/mo	$10.79/mo	$10.39/mo
Premium	$17.99/mo	$16.79/mo	$16.19/mo

These pricing changes could result in up to a 20% savings for your church or Christian ministry!

You may not have to do anything at all to take advantage of these savings. If your hosting account is set to auto-renew, it will renew with the new pricing in effect. However, you may wish to maximize your savings by changing the duration of your hosting plan. To do this, simply visit http://www.yourchurchweb.net/, click on "My Account," login, and click on "Renewing Items." From there, choose the service you want to renew, and follow the prompts selecting the duration you want to renew.

Labels: 2008 price cuts, hosting, prices

posted by PastorJon @ 5:24 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

You can save your church up to 20% by converting your monthly hosting plan to an annual subscription. Between now and the end of 2007, we're running a special sale for annual subscriptions. Anyone can take advantage of this sale, even if your plan doesn't expire for several months. Simply login to your account and renew your hosting plan now. The longer you subscribe, the more you save!

Here's a look at the savings you can realize, simply by converting to an annual subscription plan:

Economy Hosting:
Monthly Rate: $6.75
Yearly Cost (when purchased monthly): $81.00
Sale - Yearly Rate: $64.68
Savings - $16.32

Deluxe Hosting:
Monthly Rate: $12.75
Yearly Cost (when purchased monthly): $153.00
Sale - Yearly Rate: $124.68
Savings - $28.32

Premium Hosting:
Monthly Rate: $19.75
Yearly Cost (when purchased monthly): $237.00
Sale - Yearly Rate: $194.28
Savings - $42.72

Are you already on a yearly subscription plan? You can still take advantage of these great sale prices by renewing your hosting plan between now and December 31, 2007.

Labels: annual plans, hosting, Sales

posted by PastorJon @ 7:22 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Our biggest sale yet--on our biggest hosting package!

Get 200GB of space and 2000GB of monthly data transfer with our premium package. Ideal for churches with lots of media files, this provides all the space you need for those large audio and video files. Also, since you can host multiple websites in one hosting account, you can save money by combining your church, youth group, school, and compassionate ministries website into a single hosting account.

Regularly priced at $19.75/mo, if you purchase this plan during September and October, you'll get it for just $14.99/mo. Extend the savings by purchasing two years worth of premium hosting for $359.76--that's less than fifty cents a day!

Compare our hosting plans today.

Labels: hosting, products, Sales, what's new

posted by PastorJon @ 8:27 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Save more than 20% off our regular prices for Deluxe Hosting during May and June of 2007. With our Deluxe Hosting accounts, you get 100GB of space and 1000GB of monthly transfer.

Our regular price for Deluxe Hosting is $12.75/mo, but during during this limited time offer, you can purchase 1 or 12 months of hosting for $9.99/mo, or you can purchase two years for only $9.49/mo.

This is particularly useful to you if you maintain more than one website. Instead of purchasing two economy plans ($81/yr for each plan), you can host as many sites as you want (size and transfer restrictions are shared among all the sites) for under $120/yr. Some churches run multiple websites: their church, their youth group, their Christian School, and even their pastor has a blog! Imagine the money you could save by consolidating those sites under a single account.

If you want to take advantage of this special offer, you can upgrade your current economy plan to a deluxe plan and you'll only have to pay a pro-rated amount. You can do this directly through your customer control panel, or you can call one of our sales representatives at (480)624-2500.

Labels: hosting, Sales

posted by PastorJon @ 7:40 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

It's been a while since I researched what other companies are charging for webhosting, so I decided to spend the last couple of hours searching for as many other Christian web hosts as I could find. If you're in the process of looking for a Christian based web host to serve your church, ministry, or Christian business, be prepared to spend some time researching your options.

In this post, I'll answer some of your commonly asked questions about MB, GB, storage and transfer, and I'll also provide you with the prices that I found during my searching. My intent is not that you would just "take my word for it," but that this information would provide a starting point for you as you search for the host that will best meet the needs of your church or Christian ministry.

What is MB and GB? MB stands for Megabytes (or megs), and GB stands for Gigabytes (or gigs). These are units which measure the size of your files. There are 1024 bytes in a Kilobyte, 1024KB in a Megabyte, and 1024 Megabites in a Gigabyte. Each week I upload a 20 minute sermon audio file that utilizes about 10MB. The old floppy diskettes held 1.44MB, a CD-ROM holds 700MB, and a DVD-ROM holds 4.7GB.

What is storage? Storage is the amount of space you have available to you on the server. Whether these files are linked to your website or simply stored there to be accessed by FTP, whenever you upload files, they take up some of the space in your account. Our economy hosting plan includes 5GB of hosting space.

What is data transfer, traffic, or bandwidth? Different hosts use different words to refer to the same basic concept. Data transfer refers to the amount of data that can be moved to or from your server during a given month. For example, if I have 1,000 downloads of a 10MB audio file during a month, then I've used 10,000MB (or 10GB) of data transfer. Our economy hosting plan includes 250GB of data transfer each month.

How much storage and transfer do I need? Every ministry is going to have different needs, depending on what they plan to do with their website. If you're primarily going to host text, then you don't need as much space as you would if you plan on hosting photos, audio, or even video. Consider what you plan to have available on your website, and start tallying how much space you think it will need. Then, consider how many visitors you hope to have each month, and what percentage of your site you expect them to download, and then you have a bandwidth projection.

What sort of prices did you find in your research? I'm glad you asked! To be honest, while I knew that we offered an affordable hosting package, I was somewhat surprised to see that we were among the least expensive Christian webhosts that are operating today. In fact, during my search, I didn't find any other Christian web hosting company that offered more space & transfer for less money.

In the following comparison chart, I list one plan for each host. In each case, I picked the hosting plan that I felt most closely matched our "economy" hosting plan in regards to space and transfer. In fairness, it should be noted that our "economy" plan is a very robust hosting plan, and few other hosts match it. In other words, I found that I was often comparing our least expensive plan with their most expensive plan. Consequently, if you don't need as much space as we provide, you may find that a smaller plan offered by another company would be cheaper and still suit your needs.

Company	Monthly Cost	Storage	Data Transfer	Domain Costs
YourChurchWeb.net Economy Plan	$6.75	5GB	250GB	$9.00
ArkWebs.com	$7.95	2GB	20GB	$9.00
ChurchQuest.com	$8.95	1GB	20GB	$12.95
MinistryWeb.org	$11.95	4.5GB	75GB	$10.00
JesusAnswers.com	$11.95	5GB	50GB	$9.95
eChristianWebhosting	$14.99	2GB	20GB	$11.95
TruePath.com	$15.95	3GB	75GB	$18.99
HPPChristianHosting	$16.16	5GB	50GB	$12.95
WebNet77.com	$16.65	5GB	70GB	$9.00
GraceNet.com	$19.95	2GB	17GB	$17.00
ChristianHosting.com	$19.95	350mb	*	$30.00
CrossSpot.com	$21.04	1GB	15GB	$15.00
ChristianWebHost.com	$23.95	40GB	150GB	$19.00
CrownWeb.net	$24.95	500mb	7GB	$10.00
SonServers.com	$25.00	1.5GB	15GB	$16.00
HostingTruth.net	$29.95	500mb	6GB	$11.99
OurChurch.com	$33.25	4.5GB	75GB	--
HostingChristians.net	$36.00	300mb	*	$15.00

* - indicates that the webhost does not state their data transfer limits. This may be due to a "soft limit" model in which the bandwidth is monitored but not limited unless it becomes excessive. If you are considering a host with a "soft limit," be sure that your questions about limits, throttling, and overage charges are explained to your satisfaction.

There is one anomaly in that chart that deserves further exploration. ChristianWebHost.com offers a very robust plan with 40GB of space and 150GB of data transfer. Instead of comparing it to our "economy" plan as I did in the chart above, I really should compare it to our "deluxe" plan:

Company	Monthly Cost	Storage	Data Transfer	Domain Costs
YourChurchWeb.net Deluxe Plan	$12.75	100GB	1000GB	$9.00
ChristianWebHost.com	$23.95	40GB	150GB	$19.00

As you can see, if you are needing more space than our economy plan (5GB), then our more robust plan (100GB) is still extremely affordable.

Information in this post was accurate as of March 11, 2007. I have presented monthly costs if you were to purchase your hosting by the month. Some discounts may be available for annual purchases. Also, just as YourChurchWeb.net runs sales and promotions, I assume that the other hosts referenced here have sales and promotions as well, which are obviously not reflected in the pricing chart.

You'll also see that I've listed domain prices when available. However, some of the hosts listed above do include domain registration with their hosting plan. Please read carefully the terms and conditions of included domain registrations--you want to make sure that the domain is registered in your (or your church's) name, and that you can take it with you if you ever move to another host. One of the hosts above will pay for your domain as long as you are their customer, but it is stipulated that they own the domain, and that you can't take it with you. Most churches I know would rather pay the $9.00 a year, simply for that added flexibility.

By the way, even if you choose one of these other hosts, we'd be happy to serve as your registrar. You'll see that our domain registration prices are among the lowest that you'll find.

If you own or operate one of these hosting companies and feel that I have somehow misunderstood or misrepresented your hosting plan, please contact me so I can correct this post. And, if you'd rather not be listed here at all, just let me know and I'll be happy to remove your company's name and information.

Obviously, I want to serve your church or ministry. I'd also like to help you save money, which you can use to help strengthen your other ministries. I'd be more than happy to help you transfer your website to our servers, or to discuss other options with you. Please don't hesitate to send me an email: sales@yourchurchweb.net.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: domains, hosting, prices

posted by PastorJon @ 3:39 PM

As I continue my blog series on the products that we offer, I wanted to focus my attention today on the difference between our hosting plans and our WebSite Tonight® program. These two options both help accomplish the goal of establishing a website, but they do it in two different ways. Also, they are two different products, and unless you have a specific reason for doing so, you shouldn't need to purchase both WebSite Tonight® and a hosting package. Regardless of which tool you use, you will still need a domain name to associate with your account so people can find your website.

Hosting Plans:
Hosting plans typically consist of a particular amount of space on a shared server. By purchasing a hosting plan, you have access to that server space for the duration of your hosting plan. It's up to you to create your site and upload it or publish it to the server. This "do-it-yourself" model requires you to have some skill with HTML, or access to a web-design tool like Frontpage or Dreamweaver. With hosting space, you can install certain scripts or programs that might help you run a discussion board or photo gallery. YourChurchWeb.net offers Economy, Deluxe, and Premium plans in two different flavors: Windows or Linux.

WebSite Tonight®:
For years, I've had customers ask me if we offer a web-based, template-driven web editing tool. Until now, we've only been able to offer hosting space. However, with the addition of WebSite Tonight® to our product line, we can now meet this need. WebSite Tonight® is designed for all sorts of clients, including: businesses, non-profit groups, and families. While not specifically designed for churches, this product allows you to pick a template and color scheme, upload your logo and photos, and design a site.

WebSite Tonight® allows anyone with a web browser to maintain your site--just provide them with the necessary passwords to design, upload, and maintain your site. You also get email, hosting space, and the ability to add forums or flash intros.

Which tool is right for you? It depends on your needs. We'd love to talk with you about your church's ministry and how you envision your website enhancing that ministry. Drop us a line at sales@yourchurchweb.net.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: design, hosting, products, WebSite Tonight

posted by PastorJon @ 3:30 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

At YourChurchWeb.net, we know that every church and ministry has unique needs for its website. That's why we offer a variety of hosting packages to fit a variety of budgets. Our economy plan offers plenty of space for most ministries, with plenty of room to grow as your needs grow. Before you purchase your hosting plan, you'll want to decide if you need to host your website on one of our Windows servers or one of our Linux servers. This article is designed to help you make an informed choice.

First, let's clarify some misconceptions:

1. It doesn't matter what Operating System you have on your local computer. Whether your computer is a Windows, Linux, or a Mac, you can utilize either type of webserver.
2. While you may have preferences, it's hard to say that one is inherently better than the other. While many people will often say that Linux servers are more secure or more stable, our technicians work hard to ensure the security and stability of all of our servers.
3. Microsoft Frontpage will run on both sets of servers. While Linux servers don't interpret some Micrsoft software and programming languages, Frontpage extensions are installed on all of our servers.

There are some specific benefits that you should weigh before making your decision, as there are differences in the capabilities of these two operating systems:

Windows

Windows runs Microsoft software such as Access and MS SQL databases. Windows servers also offer web developers the use of Microsoft's programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic Scripts, and MS Index Server. So, if you want to use ASP, ASP.NET, Access, or MS SQL, you should choose a Windows server.

Linux

Linux supports a wide range of software, applications, languages, and databases. However, Linux is not fully compatible with some Microsoft technologies. If you are already using Access databases, ASP, ASP.NET, MS SQL, or VB development tools, then Windows hosting is a better choice. On the other hand, there are many more open source applications available to run on a Linux platform--these include messageboards, photo galleries, and content management systems.

To compare the features available in each plan, take a look at our comparison chart.

Still not sure what to choose? Send me an email: sales@yourchurchweb.net.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: hosting, products

posted by PastorJon @ 11:52 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

At YourChurchWeb.net, one of my goals is to help you make the best choice for your church or ministry, and to help you get the most for your money. To that end, we offer a variety of hosting plans to meet a variety of needs.

This article is devoted to helping you choose between the Economy, Deluxe, and Premium plans. Take a minute now to look at our hosting page that shows the plans available.

First, let me say that I think our Economy plan is suitable for most churches. At the writing of this article, the Economy plan has a retail price of $6.75/mo (or $81/yr). Savings are available by purchasing the plan for 2 years at $137.70 (a 15% savings). The Economy hosting plan includes the following:

• 5 GB of hosting space
• 250 GB of monthly transfer
• 500 free email accounts (10mb each)
• 50 email forwards
• Software add-ons (dependant upon which operating system, Windows or Linux, you choose)
• 10 MySQL databases
• Windows: 1x200mb MS SQL Database, MS Access
• Linux: 6 FTP accounts
• 25 subdomains (ex. blog.yourchurchweb.net)
• DNS Control, External Domains, and Alias Domains

The Deluxe and Premium plans have more space, monthly transfer, email accounts, and database functionality, but there's one particular feature I want to highlight in those plans. Both the Deluxe and Premium plans allow you to have unlimited subdomains, and even better--they allow you to manage multiple websites under a single account. If your church or ministry operates more than one website, you should definitely consider one of our Deluxe or Premium plans--you'll get a lot more--for less money.

At the writing of this article, the Deluxe plan has a retail price of $12.75/mo (or $153/yr). Savings are available by purchasing the plan for 2 years at $260.10 (a 15% savings). The Deluxe plan features the following:

• 100 GB of hosting space
• 1000 GB of monthly transfer
• 1000 free email accounts (10mb each)
• Unlimited email forwards
• Software add-ons (dependant upon which operating system, Windows or Linux, you choose)
• 25 MySQL databases
• Windows: 2x200mb MS SQL Database, MS Access
• Linux: 6 FTP accounts
• Unlimited subdomains (ex. blog.yourchurchweb.net)
• DNS Control, External Domains, and Alias Domains
• Unlimited Multiple Websites

At the writing of this article, the Premium plan has a retail price of $19.75/mo (or $237/yr). Savings are available by purchasing the plan for 2 years at $402.90 (a 15% savings). The Premium plan features the following:

• 200 GB of hosting space
• 2000 GB of monthly transfer
• 2000 free email accounts (10mb each)
• Unlimited email forwards
• Software add-ons (dependant upon which operating system, Windows or Linux, you choose)
• 50 MySQL databases
• Windows: 3x200mb MS SQL Database, MS Access
• Linux: 6 FTP accounts
• Unlimited subdomains (ex. blog.yourchurchweb.net)
• DNS Control, External Domains, and Alias Domains
• Unlimited Multiple Websites

In conclusion, most churches will benefit from our economy plan. However, if you are planning on uploading a lot of media (photos, audio, video), or if you could benefit from consolidating multiple websites under a single account, you should consider a Deluxe or Premium hosting plan. Still not sure which plan to choose? Send me an email at sales@yourchurchweb.net.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan K. Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: hosting, products

posted by PastorJon @ 10:47 AM 0 Comments Links to this post