Tag: diy

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Can you recommend a hosting company?

Fascination Design offers managed hosting plans as outlined on our hosting page. Please talk to us before making a purchase as there are some additional technical benefits to using Fascination Design for hosting that are not listed. We’re not pushy about this, we just want to make sure you make an informed decision and also that you get hosting that will work for your needs.

If you desperately want to manage your own hosting however (or if you are working on a project with another designer/developer), our typical recommendations for small businesses include:

  • Verve Hosting: BEST for shared hosting aka small sites. Verve Hosting is actually a reseller for softlayer. Softlayer only does large accounts but it means that this reseller has a good quality server. Email support is better than phone support with Verve but they WILL take good care of you (though they will NOT build your website for you):
    https://cms.vervehosting.com/aff.php?aff=077
  • Liquidweb: BEST for VPS and Reseller:


These first two I’ve worked with closely in the past and they offer stellar customer support, uptime and more.

Tools for researching:

Several more good shared hosting options (not researched for VPS):

Others worth mentioning:
• https://www.softlayer.com Really heavy duty managed servers
• http://www.site5.com not their shared hosting but their higher level plans
• http://www.rapidvps.com/Cpanel-Shared-Hosting be sure to get a unique IP address with this one since their main IP is listed with spamhaus.
• http://www.lunarpages.com/id/FascinationDesign [affiliate link] the research I did on this one they look decent. One recommendation from someone I know who liked them and one person said they didn’t (but wouldn’t go into detail which is why I’m still posting the affiliate link.)

These are affiliate links and Fascination Design will make a small amount of money if you order from them. They were chosen for their merit however. List last updated December 31 2013.

If you’re a 501c3 (and have the paperwork to prove it) we do also work with hosting companies that offer free quality hosting.  Talk to us and we’ll get you pointed in the right direction.

See also: Why I no longer recommend Hostgator.

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Why using “DIY logo software” isn’t always a good idea:

There are dozens of software suites on the market that advertise “make your own logos” but there are a couple of reasons you might want to rethink that, especially if you are looking to start a business that looks professional and is in it for the long haul.

Major downsides to using a logo software suite tend to be:

  • Lack of Originality: You’re basically working with clip art that’s customized some so your logo will be less original and unique to you. If other businesses decide to buy the software and use the same icon or graphic as you use then your brand will be less recognizable as your own.
  • Lack of Scalability: most software doesn’t offer output in a vector format. If the logo isn’t vector it will pixelize or look fuzzy when scaled up for a sign, truck or billboard. Some software IS vector these days.
  • The Human Factor: and the person operating said software still needs to have some eye for design to create something that looks good. Yes, some software may assist you in creating something better looking but there’s often the option for human error …. errr I mean bad choice in customizations to be made.

When you might want to use a logo software suite? Small event logos would be a good example such as for a church or small personal group. When you don’t want to invest too heavily in a logo for a one time event but might want something with a little more detail than simple clipart or maybe text that stays in the same place each time the graphic is used.