How to choose a web host
There’s so much competition for web hosting these days and while that does drive down prices it also makes it really difficult to choose the right provider. There’s thousands of different packages and deals out there but how do you pick a company that’s going to look after your business? Here are a few points I keep in mind when shopping for hosting.
Some site owners don’t actually know how much bandwidth their site is using but it’s really important to have a figure when searching for a new host. This is because most packages are capped and if you go over your limit the host will charge you extra or may even turn your site off.
An uptime guarantee is where the host promises that your site will be up a certain percentage of time, usually its 99% or even 99.5%. It’s also important that if they do fail to meet the percentage that there’s some kind of compensation for you, otherwise the promise is pretty meaningless.
Support is one of the most important factors in a hosting service, if your site is down you will be losing customers. Many providers say they have round the clock support but if it takes them 2 days to reply to a ticket it’s not much good. Make sure the host promises a reply to all tickets within 6 hours.
Even if you don’t have much technical knowledge there’s lots of smaller hosting tasks you may want to do for yourself. If your host has a good control panel system you will be able to setup email accounts and databases yourself. If you have to contact support every time for these tasks it’s going to cost you time and money.
The reality is there are some unreliable hosts out there so it’s important to see what existing customers are saying first. On google there’s an option called “discussions” which allows you to see forum and message board comments on any term. Put a hosts name in there and you’re sure to get a picture of what real customers think. I hope these tips help next time you’re searching for a reliable host.
For more hosting advice visit my new web hosting service blog, there’s lots more free info.
Popularity: 1% [?]
