How To Choose A Web Host

Finding a web host is easy. Finding a good web host however is tricky. Be sure to address these criteria when choosing a good web host.

1. Reliability and speed of access. A good web host should always guarantee its uptime (the time when it is functional). I recommend at least a minimum uptime of 99.5%. In case it falls below the figure, the host should provide some sort of refund.

2. Data Transfer (Traffic/Bandwidth). Data transfer is the amount of bytes transferred from your site to visitors when they browse your site. Many web hosts advertise “unlimited bandwidth”. It’s a marketing gimmick, don’t fall for it. Since the host is paying for the bandwidth, if you went overboard thinking it’s “unlimited”, you’ll be surprise when the bill comes. If you want to learn the exact amount allowed, it’s usually buried deep in their policy statements.

3. Disk space. For the same reason as bandwidth, watch out also for those “unlimited disk space” schemes. Most sites need less than 10 MB of web space, so even if you are provided with a host that tempts you with 200 MB or 500 MB (or “unlimited space”), be aware that you are unlikely to use that space, so don’t let the 500 MB space be too big a factor in your consideration when comparing with other web hosts.

4. 24 hours technical support. A good web host should always have a 24/7 technical support. The support should also be available during public holidays. You can never tell when things go wrong.

5. Control Panel. For your convenience sake, when choosing web host, having Control Panel is a must. Rest assured, many good hosts provide them for free. They allow you to manage your web account, typically adding, deleting, and managing your email addresses, change password, installing various website software, etc without the needs of asking for technical support.

6. Email, Autoresponders, POP3, Mail Forwarding. If you have your own site, you would probably want to have email addresses at your own domain, like sales@yourdomain.com, etc. Does the host provide this with the package? Does it allow you to have a catch-all email account that causes any email address at your domain to be routed to you? Can you set an email address to automatically reply to the sender with a preset message (called an autoresponder)? Can you retrieve your mail with your email software? Can it be automatically forwarded to your current email address?

7. Money backed Guarantee. This is an important factor to consider. Does the web host offer money backed guarantee? Only reputable web hosts offer these guarantee. Make sure to check whether there is any remuneration in the event that you are dissatisfied with their services.

8. Pricing. Web host is not suppose to be expensive. Although it’s true that you often get what you pay for, it’s not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best.

For web host, we recommend Hostgator. I have been using it for sometime now and have not encounter any problem since. Besides the low pricing ($4.95/mo. for Hatchling plan), they provide good customer support, is reliable and comes with a 45 days money backed guarantee. Learn more.

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