| There are a huge number of companies in the | | | | Space and Bandwidth, you should check for the |
| internet offering web hosting services - both free | | | | number of e-mail accounts offered, number of |
| and paid hosting services. At times their offers look | | | | sub-domains allowed, web mails, Scripting and |
| extremely confusing. Each one offering bunch of | | | | Programming supports, for example- MySQL / PHP/ |
| features as well as few restrictions. There are certain | | | | ASP supports, availability of pre-installed scripts etc. |
| factors which you must consider before trusting your | | | | 5) Supports and Services: |
| web host. What are those factors and how to | | | | You must make it sure whether the hosting |
| cross-check each of them will be discussed below. | | | | company can offer you reliable support, how quick |
| But before that, I need to tell you how important | | | | the support staff are to respond to your questions. |
| the web host is in terms of your online presence. | | | | You can check it out yourself by asking simple |
| In short, a Web host is a company that offers you | | | | questions to the support staff. |
| space and bandwidth to publish your web site in the | | | | 6) Cheap is not the best: |
| internet. A good host must be technically sound and | | | | In the web hosting industry, cheap is not always the |
| reliable to keep your website online for most of the | | | | best. Cheap web hosts mostly suffer from |
| time. Your website is your online signature, if it is | | | | sustainability problem. They offer good services and |
| down every now and then, your credibility will be | | | | supports to start with but mostly stop their business |
| endangered and you are bound to loose visitors. So, | | | | in the mid-way putting you into deep trouble. |
| you must be extremely careful in selecting the | | | | 7) Learn about the restrictions: |
| hosting company. | | | | Take a thorough look at the restrictions the |
| Now let us discuss the factors to be considered: | | | | company imposes on their hosting plans. Some of |
| 1) Credentials of the web host: | | | | them may be very crucial for smooth operation of |
| You must make a whois search for the domain | | | | your websites. Restrictions on .htaccess, SSH, MX |
| registration records of your web hosting company. | | | | Records , MySQL Storage Capacity are not very |
| You should see the contact name, address, Email and | | | | rare. |
| phone number of the registrant. Take a note of | | | | 8) Read Reviews:There are a lot of websites in the |
| those, try to figure out whether those are filled with | | | | internet offering reviews on the quality of hosting |
| garbage data, and, if you can not rely those | | | | services provided by different companies - some of |
| information - simply switch over to another web | | | | them offer price comparison as well. So it is better to |
| host. | | | | go through them thoroughly before making a final |
| 2) Sustainability: | | | | decision. |
| Sustainability is a big issue in particular for the new or | | | | 9) Discuss in forums: |
| cheap hosting company. So, in the Whois look up - | | | | Once you have made up your mind to go with a |
| you should check for when was the domain name | | | | hosting company, as a final check-point, discuss the |
| registered for the first time. To run a successful | | | | matter in different popular forums. You are most |
| hosting company, it requires experience and expertise | | | | likely to get some informative responses about the |
| on the part of the web hosts. So, the older the | | | | standard of services your "would be" hosting |
| better. | | | | company currently offers. |
| 3) Reliability of the web host: | | | | 10) Payments- Go for Monthly Plan: |
| So far as hosting companies are concerned you must | | | | It is better to go for a monthly plan to start with a |
| figure out how much reliable they are in terms of | | | | new host. Monthly plan often costs you more than a |
| their server uptime records- a close to 100% uptime | | | | quarterly or annual plan does- still it is better to go |
| is a clear indication of their reliability. | | | | for it initially. Most web hosts are flexible regarding |
| 4) Features they offer: | | | | upgrading / downgrading plans later on, so, you can |
| So far as the features are concerned, at the | | | | do it without much trouble depending upon your |
| bottom-line you need to know the Space and | | | | needs and their performance. |
| Bandwidth the hosting company offers against each | | | | To conclude, all I can say is that never take a |
| of the plans. It must be enough to meet your | | | | decision regarding a hosting company in a hurry. |
| requirements. A word of caution - do not rely on | | | | Rather, take your time to make a decision using |
| claims like unlimited space and bandwidth as such | | | | available information and your common sense. |
| claims have hardly any realistic basis. Apart from | | | | |