Enbeeone3 : A Freelancer

How to choose best web hosting

by enbeeone3 on 10/01/10 at 10:16 pm

So you want to build a web site and need a company to host it for you. Or perhaps you already have a web host that you want to ditch for a better one. In any event, how to choose web hosting is not always an easy question to answer.

We are the champions of hosting…or are we?

The thing is, all web hosting companies claim to be the best, to have impeccable uptime, the most features, best support, at the lowest cost. But a majority of these have to be wrong, or the world wouldn’t have so many unsatisfied web hosting customers. Just have a look at an honest user review site and check out what customers, or former customers, are saying about some of the web hosts out there. The answer to how to choose web hosting just gets more complicated when you add the fact that even for good web hosts you will find customer that are unhappy, not necessarily because the web host is bad, but because expectations are unrealistic.

The average customer experience

This is why I personally always look at what the average customer says about a host they either are hosting with now, or have hosted with in the recent past. If you can find a web site with anywhere from 20-200+ reviews of a single web host you can be pretty certain that the average rating these customers have given is accurate. As mentioned, you will have outliers, the most positive and the most negative, but just focus on the middle grounds.

All things equal – let price and features decide

How to choose web hosting then comes down to price and features, since you have covered network and server reliability, and support, with the customer reviews. Of course, if two hosts both have tons of happy, long-term, campers, and the same set of features, price will be the deciding factor. If one of the hosts packs more features in to their product than the comparable priced competitor than that will tip in the feature rich hosts direction.

Proven track record

A couple of tips I also adhere to is to go with hosts that have a long track record of providing quality services. Too many web hosting companies start out serving their customers to perfection, but as the customer base gets bigger, or the company is sold to new owners, server reliability and support go down hill. So try to find a host that has been in business for at least 2-3 years, minimum.

Money back guarantee – the one that counts

How to choose web hosting also becomes a lot simpler and less risky if you go with a host that has a reputation for refunding customers with no questions asked if they are unsatisfied. Almost all web hosts offer this with their products, ranging from 30-60 days after purchase, however many have a hard time actually getting their money back. If you choose someone you can trust, the worst thing can happen is that they such at hosting, you get your money back and move on to the next host.