Starting a website can be a very gratifying experience, but choosing a reliable hosting provider might not be so pleasurable. This is mainly because some hosting providers do not live up to their promises and sometimes even choose to elude their customers. Very close attention should be taken when choosing a reliable web hosting provider since there are so many to choose from and several might not provide all the features you require to host your site effectively.
Just as you would have with any normal service, web hosting providers also know pretty well how to dazzle their potential clients with useless promotions and too good to be true offers. Unsuspecting consumers are drawn by these offers and only realize too late in the game that the service or package that they have purchased is not adequate for hosting their sites. To avoid such unpleasant situations you should know that there are basically three features that are important when opting for a hosting provider. These include the amount of storage space, the amount of bandwidth included and the number of databases provided. So if a hosting provider offers a good amount of storage space together with many databases but neglects to provide a decent amount of monthly bandwidth, that package might not be a good option since you will be restrained by this limitation. The recommend alternative is to choose a hosting provider that offers a reasonable all round service because this will insure that your site can function relatively well without any restraints. When you find such a hosting provider establish what other services or functionalities you might require to insure that they can cater for your needs, paying special attention for hidden or extra charges. Such functionalities could include, upgrade options, email accounts, add-on domains, a control panel, number of domains permitted, backups and site builders just to name a few. Another extremely important facet of a hosting provider is their customer service. Nothing demonstrates a host’s competence more than the manner in which they resolve customer inquires or problems.
Now that you know what to look for, take your time when searching for a hosting provider. There are so many to choose from that rushing into things will only harm your chances of finding the best deal possible. Remember to also search for user reviews on the hosting provider you chose to verify that they live up to their promises.
As a potential hoster, I asked IXHosting if they had a security policy regarding their employees being able to access sensitive information on websites hosted with them – they dont have one !!
So, in theory their employees can access information on websites hosted with them (possibly credit card details) and IXHosting will not give any assurances that this information wont be misused ! – not good !!
Customer service indeed is very important. I even would say it’s the most important feature of a hosting provider. If your website is offline for some reason, it is important your hosting provider is helpful *and* fast. Every minute your website is offline means lost visitors, lost customers, and lost sales.
I wrote on my website a checklist that can help to detect hosting providers you have to avoid. For instance, when the hosting provider aggressively promotes its affiliates programme and when this programme is very rewarding, this may indicate this hosting provider has a high customer turnover rate. So, many customers are leaving the hosting provider because of the poor service. Hence, the hosting provider is spending a lot on its affiliates programme to compensate all these lost customers. In contrast, hosting providers which provide a good customer service will have a (much) lower customer turnover rate and will not need to acquire new customers as aggressively as bad hosters.