Look at the testimonials of a company closely, especially those featured on their site. Many shady web hosting companies offer fake customer reviews on their site. For some companies, this may be easy to spot, for others it may be more difficult. In either case, do not take these testimonials at face value. Get reviews from independent message boards not affiliated with the web hosting company.
Determine how many databases you currently require, and expect to require in the future. Keep in mind that you will need additional databases for each new domain that you add to your web hosting package. You might need to invest in another hosting package if you run out of databases, even if you have room to add more domains. Find out if it is possible to expand the package you are considering, and add additional databases if the need arises.
Sometimes it will be necessary, for various reasons, to switch your existing service to a new web hosting provider. Before you do this, however, consider the implications and the process for getting your valuable files over to the new host. It is always a good idea to sign up with the new provider and start transferring your files over several weeks before your current contract expires. This will help you avoid glitches, delays and the potential that your current provider could shut down your account before you are finished.
If your web host is down for more than a day, find a new one fast. Short of a natural disaster, no web hosting company has any real excuses for long outages so don’t wait for a customer service representative to hand you a pre-rehearsed statement explaining this short- coming. Simply find a better company, fast.
Weigh your web host’s customer reviews in your decision. Customer satisfaction is the best way to tell how well a host performs. You can get an ideal of how their customer support operates and performs, how manageable their downtime is or any amount of other information. Do not make this your only deciding factor, as sometimes, less scrupulous companies will self-create customer reviews.
A good site host should also offer good support for if and when you need help with something. This means that maybe they offer professionals that can offer advice to new site owners, or support simply for errors and general questions about how to make your site look its best using the tools the host offers. Some sites are more “hands on” with lots of templates and things to help their users, whereas others are more of a “do your own thing” type hosting site. Make sure you keep in mind whether you are a novice or a professional at designing and owning a website.
Make sure that you factor in the price of a host when selecting one. If you’ve ever heard that something is just too good to be true, then it likely is. This definitely applies to web hosting. You shouldn’t purchase a web-hosting plan that is really cheap. When a plan is extremely low in cost, then it likely won’t provide high-quality hosting. Therefore, purchase a service that provides a reasonable price for the quality that you expect.
You need to take the time to figure out how much web hosting truly costs and set up a budget for it. This is the only way that you can be sure that you are going to be able to afford to keep your site up and running for the long haul.
One thing to consider if you are looking to choose a web hosting service is to see whether or not a particular provider places bandwidth restrictions on your site unless you pay a premium price. Some providers have these restrictions while others do not so it is best to stay away from those that try and charge you extra for bandwidth.
Pick a web hosting company that offers around the clock customer service. In the competitive world of web hosting, 24-hour service is the minimum these days. Any company that doesn’t offer this is simply not competitive. When you are attempting to get someone on the line at 3 a.m. when your site crashes, you will be glad you have this service.
Look into how long a web hosting company has been in business. The online business is tough, and while a new company is not necessarily a bad choice, it can be a risky one. There is nothing worse than going to log into your site, only to find it no longer exists. A company that is experienced and has been around for a few years is a much more reliable choice.
If you will be selling products or services directly from your website, check to make sure that your web host offers SSL. This is a service that allows secure transactions, and do not underestimate the value of this. Many buyers will not give their personal financial information to a site that does that state that the transaction is secured by SSL.
It is important to understand the refund policy of your potential web host prior to making a commitment. A lot of web hosting packages will require you to sign up for a year at a time, or will offer significant discounts for making a long term commitment. You should make certain that you will be able to obtain a refund if the service is less than satisfactory. Certain packages may not allow refunds, or might have cancellation fees.
There’s no question that good, full-service web hosting providers exist. It may not always be easy to find them, but with the tips above, you now have a little bit of an edge over others and should be able to find a quality web hosting service that provides what you need, at the price you want.
