I discovered iPage in 2010, so this was after it had made the switch to webhosting but before EIG bought them. I had just started a new business and needed to build a website. Honestly, I hadn’t done much with computers in a while. I did some basic web design and coding in college, but I had lost touch with it. Things move fast in that world and it’s not something I ever needed to spend a lot of time on. Basically, I wanted to find a service that would make it easy and cheap to launch a site.

Easy and cheap were the two things that interested me most at the time. iPage seemed to meet those requirements quite well.

Top Features of iPage

Ok, so the cheap and easy part were definitely important, but I’m kind of joking about that. I was serious about making this new business succeed, so I wanted a webhost that offered really good services. I liked most of what I found.

The company has changed a lot since I launched that first site. Since then I’ve started a few more that focus on different businesses. I’ve also built personal pages for myself and some clubs I’m involved with.

I’ll focus on the current features since obviously old features that have been phased out don’t mean anything to the people reading this.

Marketing Tools

I’ve learned that marketing is an important part of running a website. Without marketing, you have very little chance of getting traffic to your site. An iPage plan comes with a marketing suite that includes:

• $100 for Google AdWords
• $100 in credit for Yahoo! and Bing
• A free listing in YellowPages.com

You also get an authentication seal and some site analytics software that will help you track performance.

Getting the free credits for AdWords, Yahoo!, and Bing was really helpful because it let me test those services without committing any of my own money. Once I had used all of the credits, I decided to stick with Google AdWords. It had helped quite a bit. The Yahoo! and Bing advertising didn’t work so well for my sites. It may not be the same for you. The good thing is that you get to try it to see.

Design Tools

Basic design has gotten a lot easier over the last few years. And that’s not just because I’ve learned more about it. Today’s tools are way more advanced than the ones I used just a few years ago.

With iPage’s design tools, you shouldn’t have any problems building a basic site that includes:

• Blogs
• Photo galleries
• Online stores

The web builder uses templates that will let you drag and drop most features right where you want them. You don’t have to anything about programming. It helps to know a little about design theory, but that’s not a big deal.

Things get a little more complicated if you want to build a custom site. You can inject original code into your site, but that’s a little more advanced. If you don’t even know what I’m talking about, then you probably don’t need to use it.

Miscellaneous Features

Some miscellaneous features that I think deserve mention are:

• PayPal integration
• A GB of cloud storage
• Custom email addresses
• Unlimited disk space
• Free domain registration

Keep in mind that you have to repay iPage for domain registration if you cancel your account before a year lapses. I think it costs about $15, which is pretty close to what you would spend registering a domain name elsewhere.

iPage Prices

iPage offers a lot of different services, so it has to use a pretty complex pricing system that some people might find confusing. Each service has its own price, which sounds simple enough until you realize that those prices change depending on how long you plan to use it.

When I was evaluating webhosting companies, I made a list of the prices so I could compare my options. I found that iPage has prices that are pretty close to those of its competitors. Hopefully you will find this break down useful.

The SuperBoost Plan

• $12.99 (This is the only plan that costs the same no matter what term youchoose.)

The Essential Plan

The Launch Plan

Criticisms of iPage

I think it’s a little unfair that iPage offers promotional rates that are so much cheaper than renewal rates. Some people probably think I’m kind of dim for saying that. I mean, who doesn’t want to save money, even if it’s just for a month?

My complaint is that it feels a little predatory to me. You actually have to do some digging to find the renewal prices. If they were front and center, the promo rates wouldn’t bother me. I’m just concerned that some people get duped into thinking that they get those incredibly low prices forever, which is absolutely not the case.

Then again, you can always cancel if you really don’t like the service or you think it’s too expensive. Also, the renewal prices are fair. They’re pretty close to what other companies charge for similar services.

Maybe I’m complaining about nothing, but it still bothers me.

A more serious complaint is that it’s pretty much impossible to customize your account. There are times when I want just a little more or less of something. Well, too bad. There are basically three plans and that’s what you have to choose from. I’ve made it work, but it’s still annoying.

Eventually, I had to move a few of my sites to other webhosting companies because I couldn’t get the right mix of features from iPage. Still, I have several hosted by iPage today.

iPage Customer Support

iPage offers the same customer support options that you would expect from a major webhost service provider. You can contact customer service reps by live chat, email, and telephone. I’ve only had to talk to them once. I used live chat, which was a really convenient option. It turns out that I had done something kind of weird that messed up my site. It took the customer rep guy a few minutes to track it down. I felt a little impatient at first. Then I realized that it was all my fault and I had to apologize for being a bit gruff.

From my one experience with customer service, I’d say it’s pretty good.

Pros of Using iPage

• iPage offers a 30-day money back guarantee
• You can get discounts for signing up for longer terms
• iPage offers both Windows and Linux servers
• Customer service representatives are based in North America
• Extensive knowledgebase with plenty of user guides
• Scalable bandwidth matches your website’s needs

Cons of Using iPage

• Plans aren’t easy to customize
• The introductory prices are misleading low (make sure you know the renewal price instead of just the promotional price)
• Difficult to find some information on the website

Conclusion

Since I manage several websites now, people sometimes ask me for webhosting advice. Over the years, I have tried a couple other hosting options. Most of them have also been bought by EIG, though, so maybe they’re just like iPage now.

I recommend iPage to people who want to host personal or small business pages at affordable prices. I think the customer service is just right for people who kind of know what they’re doing but aren’t really professionals. If you want a big, professional website for major company, then there is no way that you will get what you need from iPage. If you want something more basic, though, I think iPage is a great option.

I currently manage 10 websites. Seven of them are hosted with iPage. That has to say something good about their products and services, right? I’ve gone elsewhere and I usually come back within a few months. Sometimes a company will lure me away with a lower price. When I get there, though, I find that you get what you pay for. The other three sites that I run belong to companies that have outgrown iPage. That’s the reality of the situation.

If you’re new to website design or you want some good services without spending a lot of money, then I would recommend iPage. It’s a reliable company that does what it says it will do.