Being a member on this forum for a while now, too often do I see individuals jumping on the bandwagon to subscribe for web hosting from questionable characters/businesses. I wrote this article a while back and provided it to our members a few years ago but thought it might be worth bringing up again to help reiterate to all inexperienced users what they can do to help safeguard their online presence. First thing I would like to discuss is that price is not everything! Doesn't matter if you’re 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, videos, 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 solely 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 & domain registration industry since 2002 located in northeast Wisconsin.
There are good list of "to do" items. That is for ideal situation. In real life customers do not read TOS and AUP and next day start posting negative reviews because of suspended account due to the TOS violation.
That is very much true Rob. I can't stress enough how important it is for all users to read them carefully. One may think that they are getting a particular service but then once a particular condition has been met such as excessive usage of RAM/CPU and then their account is suspended. It certainly is a classic case though. Point being, take your time getting to know your possibly new web host before jumping on.
The problem is most customers do not know how much server resources they need/use until it's being used and by that time it's usually too late. Ask the provider what type of servers they use, how many accounts on average do they put on a server. Read the AUP and compare server resource limits. All good providers will clearly outline what limits are allowable if they take abuse seriously. Take all those into consideration before picking a provider.
reading the tos is very important. People want to skip it but every host provider has their specific rules. They need to cover themselves legally like all companies. Some like web hosting pad even tack on extra fees which is sad.
Very much true. Sounds like you may have had an unfortunate episode with them at one point but I guess the last impression I would leave would be realize what your comfort zone is and some people absolutely need to have technical/customer support over the phone while others prefer to use e-mail or support ticket type systems. In any event, test each of those systems, I know that calling in to each proposed provider could be tedious but if you get the feeling that your waiting too long on the phone or if you've reached a person who has no idea what's going \on and is giving you the run around, then perhaps it was best that you decided to call in. For those that prefer to exchange communication via e-mail, live chat or tickets, I would test their ability to answer any sales/system related questions. Do this especially during the weekend and maybe even during the dead of night or early morning to see if you get a response from a "true" 24/7 host like they all say they there...