Every once in a while I click on a Google Ad or two, because I'm interested in supporting web sites I read and there are sometimes pretty cool products and services on the other end. One example is Squarespace, a Manhattan-based software company that makes a pretty decent looking tool for making a website. I don't really see this as an option for casual users since there are so many free alternatives around, but for power users, businesses, marketers and people who don't want to buy "web hosting" this looks like a good alternative.
As you can see, the hosting prices are decent for a supported service, and you can even run a team-edited, member-based custom audience (not sure what that means) site if you get the "Advanced" plan. They have priced the upgrades at a very affordable level (just like Starbuck's), so you can upgrade without losing an arm and a leg. If you are interested in making money from your efforts, they let you post ads to your site, and it's not so Google-centric like Blogger.
Also cool is the integration of some geek blogger tools, like a TinyURL/ElfURL service to give out short easy links. They also have podcast enclosure support, widgets, print templates, server logs and Movable Type importing, along with lots of features I would consider "standard" from a hosted blogging service.
If I was a marketer who didn't know much about web servers and hosting, I think this service would be pretty compelling. It does not seem to be community-driven like Vox, Blogger, or Wordpress.com, but instead it lets you feel like you are carving out your own slice of the internet. I think this is an important niche to fill, and from the outside these guys appear to have it all together.
I didn't know they were using
I didn't know they were using ElfURL ~ where and how?
As far as I saw it goes like
As far as I saw it goes like this:
You upload a file that you want to provide for public download and they give you a URL that's easy to instant message/ email to a friend so he can download it.
That is like a restricted use of ElfURL, because it appears to only apply to files. I think for the rest of the URLs, they just have a search-engine friendly URL scheme.