Taken from Genwebs - Webmaster and Technology Blog As someone who has been running websites for three years now, I can tell you the sheer importance of having a good webhost. It is your backboard, your whole project. I've seen the worst hosts you could imagine, some being hosting24.com, hdwebprovider.com (shared), and santrex.net. Note: In this post I'm referring solely to shared webhosts. I was in love with santrex before. They were pretty quick, decent support, but after awhile I realized they aren't very secure or professional and if you miss your payment by one day your website is gone unless you have a backup. This is something a host should not do. A host should care about their customers. I'd like to mention uptime. If you website is not up 100% of the time, you lose credibility. ANYBODY who would have visited your website in that time will never visit it again, more than likely. Another thing to watch out for is "unlimited hosting." That is a marketing scheme, and is very impossible. Even if it says "unmetered," it is still bad to sign-up for a host like that simply because the server you share. Another thing that is important is refunds and support. If the host doesn't offer refunds and had a bad support system you do not want to sign-up. Bad support consist of inexperienced support members and slow response times. So if you think you found a host that will work, there is one last step. Google the hosting name for "hostingnamehere reviews" and "hostingnamehere sucks." Make your own judgement. Once you get more traffic you'll need to upgrade to a dedicated server. For that purpose I suggest HDWebProvider (their dedicated servers are good but their shared service isn't very good. As for shared hosting, I'm currently using MDDHosting and I am very impressed. Stay inspired, sorry for the brief post.
Good info. In fact,reliability is the most important characteristic of a good web host. Next comes the level of customer support and then the cost.
These are different for every person. Some might consider the price most important, maybe support responses, uptime, backups, server performance, etc... It just comes down to each person deciding which factors are most important to them and finding the host that matches them the best.
Just to add to that, my experience in the web hosting industry shows that Resellers are greatly messing it up. Just because they know they can always like push it back to the main host the bite more than they can chew. Always try to find out if the host is a reseller or a full time host. Response time for resellers is always longer than you did get with a stand hosting company.
@atinga, sometimes resellers are better if you are looking for value-added services. Most resellers do not only resell the package they get from the DC, but also give something else to make their service appealing, like free software license, free SSL, free backup, decrease in price, etc.
The same could be said for you as you haven't posted any useful information in response to the starters OP and the only thing I can see as to why you came to that conclusion is the OP's signature which you also have therefore I can only come to the conclusion that you simply posted this negative post for you own benefits. I think the OP was well written and informative and has some good pointers for newbies to read although I do think and feel that the OP could have been abit more in depth with the subject and there are other reasons why you need a reliable hosting provider. For the OP I give more rep. I also see mentos you have a considerable number of both posts and reps and I cant quite get my head around the fact of how you came to get all those post is it from negative posts towards others and I really cant understand how you came to have that much rep if all you can do is post negative post like the one you just did. Back to the OP I liked this thread till now keep up the good posting and over look the negative response if there is one thing I have learnt through forum base site is that there alot of negative posters but if you look hard enough and try hard enough you can actually find a few good people in them.
30 Day Money back Guarentee, has got to be one of the most important factors when your a new client at a hosting provider, If they don't offer a money back guarentee with no questions asked then i wouldn't really take a second look at them. - Jacob DwellWeb.com
I need a webhost. One that will allow monthly billing as I cannot pay the full year at once. Can anyone recommend one? It will be social website for the unemployed. thanks