A Hosting Company with a Twist

Written by Christine Buske
on February 21st, 2007 / 4 Comments / Print this

I just received a sponsored review request from a company I did not previously know: SiteProPlus Website Design. I decided to browse the site and see what they are are offering their customers.

I’d like to take this opportunity and point out a few of this site’s benefits I’ve noticed when looking at their services. Here is my review of SiteProPlus:

When loading the website it looks like yet another hosting company offering web design services. However, after a second or so it is impossible to miss the “free design” promise on the home page. SiteProPlus offers to design your site for free, without any obligation to the client. This means that you do not actually have to host the site with them if you change your mind after seeing the site. I can see this solution being beneficial for busy professionals who need a presence of the Internet and want a well designed site without any hassle.

Of course SiteProPlus recoups its design costs through the hosting plans, which no doubt many of the people who receive a free site design will chose to go with. The plans are relatively competitive, given the services they offer.

On the SiteProPlus website you can also browse through sample websites they have already designed for their customers. Although the sites look professional and the diversity in designs is encouraging, I have to admit that with a little time and effort most people will be able to accomplish similar results with content management software or by purchasing a site template from one of the many template retailers online.

The whole idea of course is that SiteProPlus clients are people who either do not feel confident doing it themselves, or don’t have the time for it. While a specialized design company will likely be able to give you a more sophisticated site, the dramatically higher cost associated with that will make a free custom design from SiteProPlus a very attractive alternative. This is especially the case if you are busy, designing websites is not your hobby and you also need a good hosting plan. The only catch? SiteProPlus is based on a content management system, so moving your site from their hosting service to another is not easy. Basically you can count on having to host your site with them, and give up the design if you decide to move.

It’s a nice strategy for targeting entry level clients who like the idea of a free design and will likely default to the hosting service as well, making it a profitable initiative for SiteProPlus too. Whether that’s a sustainable model in the hyper-competitive web design and hosting industry is hard to say.

Most small business owners have a habit of doing everything themselves, even though that is not really a good idea. Most successful people will say the same thing I am about to say: focus on what you are good at, and have someone else do the tasks you are less than talented in. If designing your website does not float your boat, then spend those hours actually doing business, and let a company such as SiteProPlus take on the rest.

Christine Buske