Thousands of companies, tens of thousands of
different plans and only a few of them are really suitable
for your web site and for your online needs.
This is what you are confronted with when choosing a
web-hosting provider. Nowadays being part of the informational
revolution that the Internet has brought along, it is
compulsory for a business and also for individuals. No
need to explain here why having a web site out there on
the World Wide Web is such a must, instead we’re
only going to point out a few things related to choosing
an adequate web host for your web site.
As complicated this entire business might seem, once you
know what to look for, it’s really easier to find
it.
Analyze your requirements and stick to them
When evaluating their needs in terms of space and bandwidth
many inexperienced web owners often buy more than they
will ever need. As this is unbelievably common, many web-hosting
providers size their web servers taking this into account
and actually over sell the space and bandwidth thinking
that customers will never make full use of it.
To avoid web hosts that result to just that or crowed
their web servers to get an extra profit per customer,
simply ask them their client per server ration. As a diligent
buyer, you should do this with all the other companies
you find interesting to do business with and are eligible
to host your web site.
A web site is almost like a living creature. It grows.
So try to leave some room for it, don’t just buy
a web-hosting plan that will fit your needs just perfectly.
Buy a little more so when the time comes to expand you
would have the resources available. Think of the possibility
that your initial bandwidth evaluation proves itself insufficient.
You might find yourself in the position not to be able
to use your web site because you have exceeded your bandwidth.
So leave margin for error too.
Most web hosting plans come packed with features and
some even offer pre-installed scripts and programs that
might come handy for both knowledgeable and less knowledgeable
web owners.
As you could consider any extra feature a plus, don’t
forget to look for the things you actually need like the
OS (Operating System) or the PHP support. You decide what
you need, don’t let the provider talk you into something
you don’t want or is less than you have expected.
Support – can you get enough of it
Support is something you might overlook when you consider
an offer that suits you in terms of space and bandwidth
and is packed with all the other features you will ever
going to need. It might be good to understand that the
road to all those features goes through Support city.
If the web-hosting provider is careless about the support
he offers to his customers, any technical problem concerning
your web site could be solved only after long hours of
waiting and making plenty of irritating support calls.
To test the quality and the responsiveness of the support
personnel, e-mail them some pre-sales questions. Is the
response fact enough for you? Imagine that your web site
is down and your company is just attending a congress…
many clicks are expected, but is your web site online
to get them? Is the response you are getting from the
support team thorough or is it merely scratching the surface?
Is the response easy to understand for you?
A provider concerned about the quality of his support,
would make available as many as possible ways to communicate
with its clients. So find out as much as you can about
its online support staff, help desk, message boards etc.
Information on the reputation of a web-hosting provider
is something you might find on forums or discussion boards.
Any disgruntled customers there? Would you like to be
one?
Reliability is another aspect of the problem. Ask for
the uptime of the company’s web servers. Some hosts
offer an uptime guarantee, usually 99.9% (100% is not
a realistic figure in the computer world). The guarantee
means that if your web site is not available 99.9% of
the time, you will be refunded the money for that month
or you will receive free web hosting for a month as compensation
for your web site being unavailable.
Price
Well, true it’s paid web hosting and this means
you have to pay for it. My advice would be don’t
try too hard to find the cheapest possible web host. You
will probably end-up wasting an incredible amount of time
and is very likely that within two weeks after you have
bought it, you will stumble upon a better deal. Apart
from the irony of it and the loss of time, cheaper is
not always better.
The other extreme, paying big money to get what you could
have gotten for less is equally bad. At $50 for 200 MB
of space with 2 GB of bandwidth you are definitely getting
robbed, but the same service for $5 or $10 is a good deal.
The thin line between a profitable and, why not, enjoyable
web presence and a nightmare with slow server response,
unreachable support and irritating server downtime is
drawn by you. By you choosing the web-hosting provider.
Choose carefully: there can be only a few that will live
up to their promises and deliver for you good quality
web hosting!
About the Author
Calin Indre is editor at HostPinPin (www.hostpinpin.com),
a Cheap Web Hosting Directory Resource.
HostPinPin.com is a resource for webmasters and consumers
looking to find a web hosting company. Providing web hosting
reviews, articles, tips.
This article may be reprinted or published without the
authors consent as long as the “About” and
“weblinks” are kept intact.
