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View Full Version : How to choose good web hosting company?



etech-martin
11-21-2005, 08:57 AM
There are millions of companies on the net who advertise themselves to be the perfect web company, but only few of them are REALLY proficient web hosting companies. In the world of advertising tactics and gimmicks, few good companies get overshadowed by the rest. There is no sure shot way to determine the perfect web hosting company, but it is possible to find a good company if we follow the consequent steps.

Quality V/S Price: Most of the companies offer web space at very low price i.e.99 cents, 1$ per month, these companies reckon to provide very high quality. What quality can you expect with 99 cents web hosting company? My point is, you can't get both quality and price, and you may have to compromise on one aspect at least. Therefore don't get tempted to buy from such low costing hosting company; you may lose on both quality and price. Have an economical budget, if you can afford high priced hosting company, good for you.

But if you can't, don't go very low on your budget. The best way is to keep a medium budget, not too high but not too low. Don't get attracted to the web hosting company which claims to sell web space at the cost of peanut.

Review, Research, Compare:

The first rule, don’t blindly believe on advertising tricks, most of them are over hyped, a website is the mirror of any web hosting company.

* Try to scan their websites, their web content, and their site layout. Flashy signs and no specific layout only spells trickery, also review their language in detail, if they have made tall far fletched claims that seems too good to be true stay away from them.

*Compare between the hosting company websites, their features, analyze their costs read their content and then decide which is the best hosting company. Comparison will help you to examine the features of hosting companies and enable you to select the one with the combination of best features and price.

*Try to get the opinions of the hosting company you choose from various acquaintance, business associates, friends etc. Give more importance to word of mouth, if they come from reliable and experienced source. Read various web hosting related forums of your niche market as well. You should also read various web hosting related forums. Also read the testimonials of clients on the website.

* Marketing people will go at any length to allure YOU to become a client.
Beware of such people. While searching for a good hosting company, look for a clean, uncluttered and organized website. Every information should be layered in user-friendly and easy interface. The information should be precise as you wanted and you should have no doubts and confusion in mind, these would be the signs of a good company....but wait, don't buy the plan yet! You have now finalized on 3-4 good websites, but which of them really works well?

* Drop A Ticket: The web hosting company looks good and reasonably priced but what about their service, their response time? Find all these queries.

* If they are truly dedicated customer support, they will clarify your difficulty within shortest response time. If they answer in 2-3 days, they do not care for your valuable time.

* Furthermore by dropping a ticket about a problem which is persistent in your company, which should little intricate and complex and check their response, examine their knowledge when you're interacting on chat/phone.

If they respond fast with satisfactory solution, you have found a reliable web hosting company.

* Go on a free trial: The final test which will determine the reliability of the hosting company. Many hosting companies offer 30 days free trial offer or money back guarantee, you should utilize this service to judge their capability. in this way you can be able to gauge their server speeds, technical aspects, response time, staff attitude etc.

* Bandwidth problems: Some hosting companies support unlimited bandwidth, but for large amount don’t just go for unlimited, fix a bandwidth as per your need as to avoid conflict if any.

* Do they help you grow: Your website may be small now, but it may grow tomorrow Clarify these details how they are going to help you when you expand in future.

If you are contented by the free trial, you can be sure that you have found a reliable web hosting company.

This article is developed by etechsupport sales team to help especially the newbies who are looking for reliable host providers; I hope you shall add few more points and some suggestion.

marcel
11-21-2005, 09:41 AM
Ask around...

If your going to use mostly Drupal - ask around on the Drupal Forums
If your going to use mostly VB - ask around on the VB Forums.

Ask for opinions on specific hosts within forums
Ask for host suggestions from other webmasters.

Chris 1
11-22-2005, 03:25 AM
Hey etech-martin thanks for the wonderful article. As I am a newbie in this field I am sure this will help a lot.

Cheers :)

ceetee
11-23-2005, 07:39 AM
I've been with four hosts over the years, all of the budget variety. And it seems the problem to watch out for isn't so much price but inexperience. If they've been in business for a few years most likely they've got what it takes to hold on to their customers.

Emancipator
11-23-2005, 09:37 AM
you are exactly right cee-tee. You can always find cheap hosting. Good hosting is a completely different story. I have hosted with MANY companies and I only reccomend one. The one I am with now, Nexcess.

paul
11-23-2005, 12:38 PM
I think there is a growth danger point too. The company founder is usually a systems heavy committed to making his new business grow. At some point the business becomes to large for him to handle by himself. Employees may or may not be well managed, but the serious core knowledge is probably still mostly with founder. At some point he has to learn how to delagate or he burns out.