Website Hosting Providers - Points To Consider When comparing website hosting providers you should consider the following points. Thinking through what you need at the outset and matching it to the appropriate provider will be time well spent. Minimum upfront payment period Whilst most website hosting providers quote a monthly fee this is often just for comparison purposes and you actually have to pay 6/12 months in advance as a minimum. In some cases getting the quoted monthly price can mean paying three years upfront. If you do not want to (or cannot afford to) pay in advance you need a website hosting provider which allows monthly payments. Minimum contract period If you do pay in advance you need to check the cancellation terms to see if you get a refund if you need to cancel for any reason. The best providers do not lock you in at all. If you pay monthly it is reasonable to expect to be able to terminate at a months notice. Can you change your mind? Some website hosting providers offer you the chance to cancel and get your money back within a number of days of signing up. Whilst this should not be a major factor in choosing a provider it does at least show their confidence in their service and you might find out how good their support is during this period. Maximum number of domains Many of the basic website hosting plans only allow one domain. This may be fine but it is worth looking at the costs for multiple (or unlimited) domains, as once you get started you may well discover a need for another domain. Is a domain included? Website hosting providers sometimes include a domain in their package. Check if it is always free or just for an introductory period. Before using such a free domain consider if it is the best option for you (it will not be a .com). I always prefer to register a domain name with a separate company as this can avoid any problems if you want to change hosts later for any reason. Is there a bandwidth limit? Whilst limits are generally high it is safest to have unlimited bandwidth. Clearly “Unlimited� does not actually mean unlimited but buying such a package does allow for some flexibility by a good host if your site experiences peaks of traffic. What is the limit on disk space? Much the same applies as for bandwidth (above). How fast and reliable is the service? The speed of loading of your pages is important not just to users but also now to Google (with loading speed affecting search results). You can have your site monitored by third parties once operational but at the outset you can only go by existing user feedback. This should not be an issue with any of the top website hosting providers. You should also look for an uptime guarantee from your website hosting provider of at least 99.9%.
Does the hosting operating system matter? Many website hosting providers offer both Linux and Microsoft hosting. There is no connection between this and your PC operating system and I recommend that you go for Linux unless you have a specific reason not to do so. Linux powers the majority of websites, including major sites like Google, and there is a wealth of free software, tools, forums etc. dedicated to it. Many people now use Wordpress to build their websites or blogs and about 95% of these installations are on Linux as it is easy and straightforward. I would only recommend using Microsoft where you have had a website built for you and the developers have used tools that require it to run in a Microsoft environment. Other Functions The following should be available: • unlimited (or a large number) of email accounts and the tools to manage them. • multiple FTP accounts • access to and control of databases • backup of your site (and database where appropriate) • user tools such as Fantastico Customer Support Although I have put this at the end it is very important. If you are stuck the other services mean nothing until your website hosting provider provides help. Support can be provided various ways including, automated helpdesk, email and chat but should also include a toll free phone number. It is also worth searching the web to see feedback from real users on this.