How to choose a good web host
Finding a reliable web host
There are thousands of web hosting companies online. It is not easy to decide which one to go with. At my own expense, I've had dealings with some terrible web companies. Therefore, my experience will help you avoid these floors. It is vital that you choose a good, reliable web host from the beginning.
Here are some tips to help:
- Reliability - One of the most important factors in web hosting is reliability. A reliable server can be often overlooked, because people mostly focus on the amount of bandwidth and disc space limit when choosing a web hosting plan. The most important factor is whether your hosting company will be online 99%+ of the time and provide fast loading pages.
- Reputation - What is the reputation like of the hosting company? Are there any testimonials on the hosting companies site? Is there a website address of their customers on testimonials? If so, e-mail their existing customers.
- Research - Find out as much information on potential hosting companies as possible. The more information you find about a potential host the better. Look on the Sitepoint forum for hosting and check out web hosting talk. People are willing to share their experiences, just remember that their all customers have different levels of technical experience.
- Avoid resellers - There are hosting companies that will offer you TB's of space for a few dollars a month and oversell. Overselling web hosting is overloading the servers and making your blog slower. Therefore, providing you a poorer quality of service. How often are you going to use 5TB on a blog per month? Highly unlikely for a new blogger. At the very most 10GB-20GB is more than plenty to begin with. You can always upgrade later, but purchase from a host that provides a realistic bandwidth and disk space.
- Technical support - Technical support is the most vital part of any hosting policy. Some hosting packages that cost a bit more usually provide better customer service. Is there technical support 24/7? There is no point of having a web hosting company with technical support that's Monday to Friday 9 to 5. Customer service is about you and not for the convenience of your host company.
- Read the terms and conditions very carefully - It is important you understand the terms and conditions of your hosting policy. Make sure you understand the rules and breaches of contracts first.
- Use a credit card - If purchasing web hosting and you require a refund use a credit card. It is easier to get your refund. A debit card takes longer to get your money back. The advantage of a credit card is your not having money taken directly from your bank account. This is from personal experience.
I've had some bad experience with hosting companies, I'd love to hear your experiences good and bad. Which hosting company would you recommend? Please leave a comment.
Many hosting companies came into play with offers like free and less costs and more…
Good tips dude.
Hi Lax.
Thanks for the input. Hosting companies are a minefield, after my third attempt, I’ve found a great company called Heart Internet.
Choosing a good web host can be very tricky at times. Thanks for the tips
Hi Salwa,
Thank you for commenting on the atmmultimedia blog.
In the UK there aren’t really any Oversellers selling TB’s of webspace.
But the web hosting company I am with in the UK is Heart Internet.
I suggest only using oversellers if you have a podcast or video tutorials, place those on your massive bandwidth. Embed podcasts and videos into your blog. So that, you don’t overuse your bandwidth to your server with your blog on.
Seperate hosting for blog (good fast server)
Seperate hosting for podcast (use a hosting account with TB’s of room)
Don’t use a database on a overseller account, there are too many sites on the server and it’ll crawl your database.
Great tips, thats why I love my hosting provider. They are totally against the whole idea behind overselling. My blog loads fast every time.
Very interesting and usefull post.
Thanks
Hi Kush money,
Thanks for stopping by. if you don’t mind me asking which hosting company are you with?
My hosting provider is hastyhost.
P.S. 99% off first month hosting on any shared plan with promo code: kushmoney
Review them if you like.
Hi KushMoney,
Thanks for your reply, I have my own web hosting server, but thanks for the offer.
James,
You’re welcome,
Thanks for commenting.
James are you building a web hosting company?
Hi KushMoney,
I am considering this: I’ve bought a reseller host, because I was with an overseller company and they were terrible, the customer service was dreadful. If I wanted some assistance, I needed to contact the CEO of the that hosting company to something done, that’s pathetic really.
My hosting company is great, although my hosting costs me £35 per month. As I am web designer as well, I can supply the hosting, domains and URLs as well.
It is something I am thinking of doing in the future.
Overselling hosting companies suck. Cost its clients money.
Let me see your hosting website when you done building it. Will you have an affiliate program?
Hi KushMoney,
Of course, I will show you when I’ve done building it. One concern I have will I have the time to offer excellent technical support. If you are a web host provider how do you deal with that?
I am currently in full time work.
Thanks
I thought about providing web hosting but realize I would suck at technical support. So I didn’t build a web hosting company.
If time is your problem, Hire someone to handle the times you can’t be available.
Thats a good idea, it is hard to create an online business in your spare time, when you’re in a full time job, but I am sure there are ways around this, hiring someone will be a good idea.
Thanks
Well I hope everything works out for you. Becareful of who you hire. Some people are really lazy.
I read a post similar to this a few weeks ago, but I think this makes more sense
After reading the article, I just feel that I really need more information on the topic. Can you share some more resources please?
Hi Ex Back,
What would you like to know? In more detail, please assist
James,
This is quite a hot information. I’ll share it on Twitter.
Hi Brampiompix,
Thanks for your comment, nice one I am grateful that you’ve twitted me.
As a novice with programming and technical information, I find that good customer service is key. Reputable companies will rise to the top and customer service is always one of the main reasons why. Look at companies like Zappos, and I would have to include from my experience Go Daddy.
I have never had a bad experience with either and both are proactively improving their business structure by listening to the customers that they serve.
Great Post!
John@jvanwyk.com
Hi John,
This post was written from experience, I had terrible customer service with Globat so I had to change. Stick with a hosting company that has a good reputation.