Hosting : What you should look for in a hosting company

There are certain factors you need to consider when choosing a suitable host. All of these factors should be researched and weighed up before you take the plunge and pay for a hosting company. Before we move on i strongly recommend reading my previous posts ‘The Basics of Hosting a Blog‘ and ‘Never Let a hosting company control your domain name‘.

What you need to consider when choosing a host

Once you have narrowed down your search for a host you should compare hosting companies for :

• Price – The price is usually the first thing that grabs your attention about a hosting company. I understand that price is an issue for most people however it should not be the most important factor when you decide which company to go with. A few dollars saved might sound great at first but if the hosting company sucks it’s more hassle than its worth. That being said, you clearly still need to choose a hosting package that is within your budget.
• Features & Options – Does the company offer you the number of domains or mysql databases you need? If not, do they charge extra. More importantly you need to compare how much disk space and bandwidth each hosting company offers you. You want some bang for your buck!
• Support – The most important factor in your decision should be support. Sure, price is important and you need to get the package that suits your disk usage and bandwidth needs but support from your hosting company should always be the most important factor when choosing. And yes, its more important than price! Seriously, i have been with over a dozen hosting companies since 2000 and the one thing i have learned is that you cant put a price on good support.

So support is the most important factor….how do i compare that before hosting with them?

Good question! Essentially you need to become a private investigator and do a bit of homework on the hosting companies. You want to find what existing and previoous customers have said about the site – good and bad. There are numerous hosting related forums on the web you can check this but the biggest and best in my opinion is Web Hosting Talk. All major companies have a presence there with some companies having 2 or 3 reps checking the site on a regular basis for posts about their company (and offering support to members in the hope of generating good exposure for their company).

I personally don’t think that hosting directories are the best place to do comparisons as most are just trying to make money through commissions and have not had personal experience with the hosting company (not all but most). You should be looking specifically for people who have actually used the company for hosting.

Search engines are also a great place to search but again, try and look for information from people who have actually used them. Information like upload times, support response times, helpfulness with your website/blog etc.

Summary

It’s vital you do some research for you choose your company as its likely to be the company you will be with for at least 6 months to a year. Search for the company at Web Hosting Talk and look at all the comments regarding the company. Every hosting company is bound to have negative feedback somewhere but on the whole reviews about the site should be positive.

If you want any advice about what company to go with please let me know and ill do my best to help you out

Kevin

Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes Club
Posted on June 3rd, 2007 and filed under Domain Names & Hosting
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