Guidelines To Choosing A Web Hosting Service
A few days ago a good friend of mine called me with a few questions.
He is building his first website and was overwhelmed with all the choices he had for a hosting company. He never realized that there were hundreds of different ones to choose from. He also realize that starting off with the wrong one could ruin his online business. I’m glad he called me.
I told him a few rules I follow when choosing a web hosting service and I thought I thought it could benefit all my readers.
- Cost: Always the first thing on peoples’ minds. It’s surprising at just how affordable hosting can be. While some are more expensive than others, with prices ranging from free to over $100 per month. I don’t recommend the free services because they will plaster their ads all over your site. They are also more prone to going down during peak hours. If they go down what are you going to do? You can’t ask for your money back. Using a free service can cost you more money in the long run.
- Reliability: If something happens to the facility where the server is located, for example a power outage, you don’t want your site to go down for long periods of time. Make sure they have backup servers and backup power sources in case of a failure on their part. A good backup server will switch seamlessly and the customer will never even be the wiser. That way the technicians can work on the down server while your traffic is moving on their other server just fine. In this case the technicians can repair it correctly, instead of a quick band-aid fix just to get the server back online. In addition to a backup server make sure the hosting company has backup power sources, such as a generator. So if power is knocked out for a few hours by a storm or someone hits the light pole with their car you’re still online. It should be seamless.
- Customer Service: In my opinion customer service rules over all else. Personally I’d pay a little more for good customer service than pinch my pennies and sacrifice this. Make sure they have a knowledgeable support staff that treats you like royalty. They should have several ways to contact them. It can be via phone, e-mail, live chat, or online ticket submission. The response time on any ticket should be less than 48 hours. Anything less than that is unacceptable.
- Customer Testimonials: Check out how their paying customers feel about their service. These are the people who have been through the process several times concerning several different issues with their service. Sadly enough a lot of companies are only concerned with acquiring new customers, consequently treating their paying customers like second-class citizens. That is way seeing how their current customers feel is critical.
Following these simple guidelines will make your job in picking a hosting service a whole lot easier and cut down on your stress, allowing you to spend more time on your business.
I have constructed a site for people with questions on where to start any online endeavor. It is a list of prooviders I use and I explain why I chose that particular company. This page is my gift to you to make your life a little easier. Access it at http://www.mikethomassmith.com/tools.htm .
Mike
P.S. Be sure to book mark it as I update it often.