Before you even consider creating a website, first thing that you have to have in mind is that you need a reliable web hosting provider that will allow it to run normally. This service is crucial for survival of your enterprise given that bad hosting can lead to loss of time and money.
Here are some of the things that you have to be careful about when choosing your first web provider.
- Other user’s experience
Like with any other service, it is best to start your search by reviewing other people’s opinions. This is the quickest way to get some valuable insights. Of course, different people will have different views on the matter; some companies may receive negative critics even if they don’t deserve them.
Have in mind that bigger hosts, with a lot of customers, will most likely receive more negative reviews that the small ones. This happens due to a large client base and the fact that you cannot satisfy everyone. Remember, people are much quicker to critique and air negative sentiments than the positive ones.
Also, there will always be some kind of a tradeoff. Similarly to other products and services, pricey hosting will usually give you more bang for your buck. But, that is not a rule. If you are prepared to invest at least a little bit of your time, you’ll be able to find cheapest web hosting that doesn’t suck.
Anyway, if you wish to do things the right way, you will make sure to do proper research before signing a contract.
- Price
No matter what business you are in, price is always something that needs to be considered in advance. As we mentioned before, fee is usually connected to quality of the service and can rise or fall accordingly. However, this is not the real thing you have to worry about.
When it comes to hosting, there are a lot of ways for a company to take your money without you even realizing it. Basically, when you sign a contract, you should get everything that you need without any additional payments. For example, some of the companies may try and charge you for unlimited MySQL.
One of the popular tricks is “free domain”. When you sign a contract giving you a free domain, you actually do not get the possession of the domain. Instead, company still owns it. In other words, you will have to stick with them for as long as your website is alive.
This wouldn’t be a problem in a normal situation. But, some of these companies tend to charge unreasonable renewal fees, forcing you to continue going with them even though you lose more and more money each year.
In order to learn everything about your rights, make sure to read terms of service carefully. Here, you can read about technical aspects such as bandwidth and disc space. In that regard, no one can charge you extra if you know how much resources you have at your disposal.
Lastly, you shouldn’t sign any long term contract if you are uncertain that this company is just the right one for you.
- Technical aspects
Most of the hosting plans range from 4 to 10 dollars and they should provide you with everything that your website needs. Some companies may brag about incredible disc space and bandwidth but the truth is that almost every provider will give you enough space so that your project can run smoothly.
Anyway, two things that you have to check are speed and uptime. Best way to check speed is you visit a website hosted by that company. If it runs smoothly, yours will run without problems as well.
When it comes to uptime, you will have to pick a company that can ensure at least 99.9 % of uptime. Most of the people start a website in order to make money. If your blog is often unavailable, it can lead to permanent damage to the website’s reputation and company as a whole.
- Technical support
Every company that offers high tech service needs a proper technical support. Similarly to cable and mobile providers, there are a lot of things that may go array with your hosting. Statistically, these support centers are among the most active ones. Having this in mind, it can be a real issue for your company or a blog, if the employees within the call center are impolite or improperly trained.
Similarly to uptime, this is something that can severely hinder work of your website and with it, your potential to make money. You have to solve your tech issue as soon as possible and get back to work.
Best way to learn more about tech support is by reading other people’s reviews. Besides that, have in mind that the companies which are professional in other aspects of their business usually have excellent support team and vice versa.
