8 Steps to Choosing the Right Web Host

[rllunzmann]

Hello V7N Members!

First thing I would like to discuss is that price is not everything! Doesn't matter if your paying .99c for hosting and your site is completely unreliable because in the end, you'll lose money over these problems. Let's go through the considerations that you need to ponder in order to ensure that you get what you need. You want to choose the web host that is going to provide your needs as they stand now as well as where they lead to in the future. Here we go:

1. Understand the differing types of hosts: shared, collocated, unmanaged dedicated, and managed dedicated. Is your site brand new with little traffic? In the event your site is a newer domain, you won't need the raw power of a dedicated server unless your site is resource intensive which can include: streaming, video's, proxies and even linking to videos as well can cause a high load on Apache and the CPU(s).

2. Go for stability, not just size. Just because the host if offering you unmetered and unlimited space, doesn't mean you should soley base your decision on that. What good is that account to you when your site is down or the server is overloaded? Research how long the hosting business has been in operation. See if they have recently changed ownership, and if they show positive cash flow.

3. The possession of fully redundant data centers. If you are considering doing business with a smaller hosting vendor, ensure that they have adequate power and connectivity capabilities. Inquire as to the number of lines the facility has. Do they possess an on-site generator? Does the generator receive regular checks and maintenance? What is the average utilization of the connections available?

4. How skilled is their staff? When you need customer service of a technical nature, you need it immediately, right? Find out the availability of their systems administrators. Send them a support ticket and see how fast they respond.

5. Other customer's reviews of the hosting services. Same as any business, the hosting vendor should be able to provide good references.

6. Is the potential host flexible? In the future, your needs may change. Can you upgrade services should the need arise?

7. This step of course, is optional. Make sure that the host does not have blacklisted IPs. The host that you want to do business with would not be one that promotes illegal sites, spammers, or other security issues. You are considering associating your business with this host. You could always ask them what web server they plan to put you on.

8. Begin with and maintain a clear and written understanding of all services and all charges for them. If questions still remain or some terms are unclear it is strongly advised that you ask for clarification before signing up for anything.

If you do your research before beginning business, you will find a better avenue to the successful hosting, and thereby promotion, of your online business. Take your time in making this important decision.

Author Bio:
Ryan Lunzmann is part-owner and administrator of eMonsterhost, Inc. A provider serving the web hosting industry since 2002 located in northeast Wisconsin.

[ryukenden]

I think reliability including uptime, customer support, and other customers' reviews are vital important in choosing a web hosting company.

Take your time before signing up with a hosting provider, read the company's news, reviews and also test the websites hosted by the hosting company to see whether the hosting speed is slow or not.

Choose a company which has been reliable throughout past few years.

Never buy hosting from ebay!!

[gobeyond]

Thanks for the summary! Some of things mentioned are hard to consumers to find out themselves, like how many datacenters and how much redundancy the host has. I have tried over 10 hosting companies. I have to say that the best way to evaluate a host is to try it first. Give it sometime and see how everything goes.

Uptime is one of the most important factors. You can sign up a web site uptime monitoring program that automatically checks if your site is online. This is extremely important.

From my experience, size does matter. I'd rather go with a big name-brand host than a smaller host. Bigger names often mean stability. A small host can do very well with a 2 year period, but you never know if the company can survive in the long run.

[ryukenden]

Originally Posted by gobeyond

Thanks for the summary! Some of things mentioned are hard to consumers to find out themselves, like how many datacenters and how much redundancy the host has. I have tried over 10 hosting companies. I have to say that the best way to evaluate a host is to try it first. Give it sometime and see how everything goes.

...

It might be expensive to try all the hosts yourself. They are feedbacks and reviews about particular web hosting providers and you could learn from other people's mistakes.

[~ServerPoint~]

That is good list. Some can take it and add something for himself and it will be good reasearch desk

[Hahh]

Originally Posted by ryukenden

It might be expensive to try all the hosts yourself. They are feedbacks and reviews about particular web hosting providers and you could learn from other people's mistakes.

Yes, I agree generally, but there are free trial periods that some companies offer.

[ryukenden]

Originally Posted by Hahh

Yes, I agree generally, but there are free trial periods that some companies offer.

Yes, some even offers 45 days gurantee period. You can try and if you don't like cancel before the period over and you will get money back.