How to Choose a Web Hosting Company

Web Hosting Advice

Choosing a web hosting company to host your website isn't easy these days. There are literally thousands of web hosting companies to choose from, each offering different combinations of web space, bandwidth, extras (such as databases, asp, php, cgi, free scripts), and customer support. Some companies lure customers with extremely low prices on the physical assets like space and bandwidth. In return, however, most customers of these extremely low-priced companies get poor - if any - customer and technical support. In the hosting business, as with everything else, you usually get what you pay for.

So how do you determine the web hosting company that's right for your website? Having been in the hosting business for several years, I've often had friends and acquaintances ask me, in so many words, this very question. I always suggest that they first sit down and simply write out what they think their website (whether for a company or personal) will need. Do they need a database? If so, what kind of database do they want, MySQL or something else? Likewise, do they need support for PHP, CGI, ASP, or some other programming language? If you have certain scripts you'd like to use on your website, these questions can be very important. Also think about exactly how much space your website is going to need - not necessarily right now, but perhaps five years down the road after you've expanded a bit. The same thing goes for bandwidth, or transfer. You want to secure enough space and bandwidth now so that you do not have to switch hosts, or pay a premium for extra services, in the future.

On the topic of bandwidth and storage space, there is an important financial lesson I'd like to impart. Although you want to make sure you have enough of both for the foreseeable future, you don't want to pay for lots and lots of bandwidth and storage space, month after month, that you will never actually use. For instance, there are many hosting companies out there who are now offering 5+ GB of space and perhaps 100 GB of bandwidth from $7 - $10 a month. This may seem like a pretty good deal. However, if you are only going to use perhaps 100 MB of space, and 10 GB of transfer, then you are wasting money! You can find a nice 500MB / 20GB plan for under $5 per month. This is where planning really comes into play; know how much space and bandwidth you will need before you go looking for a host.

Many hosting companies, big and small, are offering 24/7 technical and customer support these days. Be very weary of these claims. Most companies that claim 24/7 support don't really live up to expectations. In addition, a 1-800 number does not guarantee that someone will actually answer you phone call, or even be helpful. Look for a company that has a good, honest support structure set up with a variety of support options: support tickets, live support chat, e-mail support, and perhaps phone support as well. My own web hosting company, for instance, has everything but phone support. We are still capable of answering inquiries within minutes. If you are considering a particular web host, the best thing you can do to evaluate their support is simply send them an e-mail or open a support ticket and see how long it takes them to respond to your inquiry. If it takes more than 24 hours, that's probably a bad sign.

In order to substantiate the credibility of your potential web hosting company, I suggest looking for some type of customer testimonials on their webpage. If they list the customer's website or e-mail address, go the extra step and contact at least one of the customers. They will be able to confirm that they are real customers and let you know about their experiences with the given company. If they have no testimonials, or the testimonial listings do not contain a means of contacting the customers, do a search on the company using a big search engine like Google and Yahoo!. Look for forums and other webpages that may contain customer feedback about your company. Many times, customers that have either had a very bad or very good experience with a hosting company will go onto at least one webmaster forum and tell others about their experience. Looking up these comments is a good way to get a third-party assessment of a particular hosting company.

If you follow these bits of advice I am certain you will find a reliable, affordable hosting company that is right for your website. If nothing else, you could give my hosting company (SitePhase) a look and compare it to other companies offering similar plans. Whatever company you decide to go with, I wish you the best of luck!

Bradley co-owns the web hosting company SitePhase. SitePhase offers affordable and reliable shared and reseller web hosting services. Plans start at just $2.95/ month and include MySQL, PHP, CGI, 24/7 support and more.

Motivation goal-setting seminar Jan. 10 Caldwell Progress, NJ - 16 hours ago Frank Williams will moderate a one- day motivational goal-setting seminar on Saturday, Jan. 10 at the Parsippany Hilton, 1 Hilton Court, Parsippany. ...

Sail World

New Year's resolutions and goal setting Sail World, Australia - 4 hours ago Goal setting is a very important process in the sport of sailing, in sports altogether, and indeed the rest of our lives. What is most important is that ... Resolving to Make New Years Promises Last Georgetown University The Hoya How to fulfill your New Year’s resolution Solomon Star all 14 news articles

Community goal-setting Tracy Press, CA - 22 hours ago ... it was a goal setting session — before a dozen or so Mountain House residents and made it clear what they’d like to see happen over the next few years. ...

Is goal setting enough? Let's Play Hockey.com, MN - 21 hours ago By Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS Have you set your goals for 2009 yet? Hopefully, you set goals for what you wanted to achieve back at the start of the season. ... Do I Need To Set Goals? PWO all 2 news articles

Commission strategic planning, goal setting follow-up workshop ... Navarre Press, FL - 21 hours ago The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners will continue strategic planning and goal setting during a workshop on Thursday, Jan. ...

A strategic plan for goal setting Santa Rosa Press Democrat, CA - Jan 7, 2009 The council has done goal setting, but it seems that there are usually goals focusing on pet projects or pet issues of individuals, but there never has been ...

Team and a Dream Announces Goal Setting Teleseminar for Web Businesses PR.com (press release), NY - Jan 8, 2009 Team and a Dream (www.TeamAndADream.com) is announcing a Teleseminar workshop on January 12, 2009 entitled “Is your Web Business Failing to Capture Clients? ...

Frugal Duchess: Goal-setting Bellingham Herald, WA - Jan 6, 2009 Goal setting is an annual exercise as we try to whip our home and other fiscal assets into better shape. And so we crunch numbers and try to tone up our ...

Goal-Setting Drills Make for More Active Coworkers Newswise (press release) - Jan 5, 2009 “They had individual goal setting — a common technique — but they also had group and organizational goal setting, which provided the peer encouragement that ... Employer-Sponsored Workouts Boost Workers' Health Washington Post all 16 news articles

Missoula officials offer New Year's goal setting tips KPAX-TV, MT - Jan 2, 2009 Missoula City-County Health officials say the new year is a great time to re-commit to new health goals. Here are some goals they recommend striving for ...