How to choose a Web Host

[Dreamiyi]

There’s no doubt about it. Choosing the right web host is probably the most important decision you will encounter while setting up your website.

Whether it is for personal use, or a commercial site, your web hosting company makes all the difference. In this article we’ll go over some key points to look for when choosing a web hosting company, which will save you a lot of grief and heartache in the long run.



Instructions

1. Step 1
   First things first, why is getting a good web host so important?
   
   Your web hosting company is going to be your lifeline to your site. Without them, no one is going to be able to see your site, not even you. You'll want to do a little research before signing up with a web host, as it's going to be a long term relationship.
   
   Probably the most important part of your hosting company is going to be their support team. Here are some questions and test you want to give your potential hosting company:
2. Step 2
   Is their support team available to you 24/7?
   
   This is extremely important. Especially if your site is going to be for commercial use. It's likely that you will have customers from all over the country, if not the world. So will your host be there for you if something happens at 3:00 am? Or will you have to wait until they come show up in the morning to get your site back to 100%?
   
   If they have a "Live Help" feature, try using it at all different hours. See if someone is there to reply. Any decent hosting company will have someone there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer any questions or concerns you might have.
3. Step 3
   Do they have a well established and put together knowledgebase?
   
   A lot of things can go wrong when setting up a new website. And most of the time it's an easy fix. If your potential hosting company has a well put together knowledgebase or support desk, you can likely fix a small issue yourself. Take some time to browse through their help desk to see if they have taken a good amount of time to actually make it knowledgeable.
4. Step 4
   What are they offering for your money? Is it too good to be true?
   
   Take a long hard look at the plans they are offering. Are they offering you unlimited everything for $4 a month? Be careful when signing up for a plan like this. I own a web hosting company, and I'm not affraid to tell you, there is no such thing as unlimited. And if their were, it would cost you a lot more then $4 a month. Think of it like this:
   
   If a web hosting company if offering everyone unlimited storage and bandwidth for an insanely low monthly cost, what they are doing is called overselling. It is there hopes that you wont actually use it. Instead, you'll use a very small percentage, allowing them to sell the rest of your space and bandwidth to another customer as "Unlimited". Basically, they are pooling everyone's unused resources together to make it seem like it's unlimited.
   
   So why is this bad?
   
   Well, plainly put, if you are using too much resources, they will tell you. They could possibly even suspend you based on the fact that you violated their terms of use. Make sure you read them very well. A lot of hosting companies will offer you unlimited as long as you only use about 30% of it, and if you use more they will try and get to you upgrade to the next available plan. (Which is usually a lot more then your paying on your current plan.) It's sort of a bait and switch tactic.
   
   If there were truly an unlimited plan, every person in the world would be on it.
   
   Look for a host that actually offers you limited resources. That way you know they are offering the same limited resources to other people, and what you are paying for is actually yours.

[webmaster12]

Nice sharing.Reliability and good customer support are mainly the most important attributes which a web host should possess.

[Frankykeats]

Thanks for this information.Quite useful and informative.