How to Choose The Best Commercial Web Hosting Service
I know that many articles about this case which contains a guide how to choose the best web hosting services in the Internet.
In this article, I try to use a different approach for those who want to get the best web hosting services with a variety of perspectives that is rarely thought.
All my explanations below are for commercial web hosting services, so not suitable for those of you who want to find a free web hosting services, although there are some criteria that you can use to find free web hosting services.
I used to believe in the concept : “a hosting company that had been in the business for years is the best web hosting”, but things have changed. As I recall, nearly forty percent of all hosting companies out of business during the past year. If you are one of the customers of the hosting company that went out of business, you already have your own horror story to tell.
And these are the criteria of good web hosting service :
1. The reliability and speed of access
Not only the host network must be reliable and fast to ensure uptime. In fact, even 99% uptime is too low – it really should be 99.5% or higher. The host should provide some form of restitution (for example, the apportionment of the refund or discount) if it falls below that figure. However, that the guarantees are often difficult to apply to an end – the host usually requires all sorts of documentation. But without such a guarantee, the network host will have little incentive to ensure that their servers are running all the time. So how do you know if a hosting company is reliable or not? By word of mouth or feedback from others! If that’s not possible then you can yourself try accessing your site during peak hours and non-peak hours too so you can assess how well the speed of your hosting company is.
2. Amount of web space
The provider of web hosting services usually assign a certain amount of space on your server. You need to ensure that there is plenty of space for your site and business requirements. You can expand your online business tomorrow and would require much more space. It is therefore imperative that the web hosting company should be able to give enough space for your site, especially if it is rich in graphics or video clips. Most sites require less than 10 MB of web space, so even if they have a host that offers you with 200 MB or 500 MB (or “unlimited space”), be aware that you will not use all of these 500 MB, so it’s not wise to use the 500 MB of space as a big factor when compared with other hosting companies. The hosting company is also aware of that, which is why they feel free to offer you that as a means of enticing you to host there. For example, cybersplash.net, which has dozens of pages so far, used less than 50 MB to related pages and files.
3. Data transfer (Bandwidth)
Data transfer (sometimes loosely referred to as “traffic” or “bandwidth”) is the amount of bytes transferred from your site to visitors when they browse your site. You also need to see if the hosting company provides you with sufficient bandwidth for efficient data transfer. You also need to see if the hosting company provides you with sufficient bandwidth for efficient data transfer. Moreover, it is your website and you must ensure that you get the best for the money you invest. Budget hosts almost always used to be slow and overloaded, and many still are, but with bandwidth costs as low as they are today large server farms located in managed data centers are now a very reasonable alternative, especially if you host multiple domains or require less support.
4. FTP access
FTP access is very important because it offers the possibility to load new pages. Some web hosting services only provide web builder to design your own personal page. This is useful for beginners, but it will be difficult to use when your site requires further development.
5. PHP, Perl CGI-BIN access, SSI, .htaccess, crontabs
Please note that some commercial hosts do not allow you to install PHP or CGI scripts including crontab without their approval. This must be avoided because it means you have to wait for them to implement the features on your site. This means you will lose a lot of time. While .htaccess is needed if you want to Customize error page or to protect or redirect your site in a different way. Cronjob may be required for applications that need to be run periodically. Check to see if all of these facility is provided.
6. Server OS
If you want to run ASP language then choose the server with the Windows operating system. Do not use the Linux operating system to run ASP even linux also provides aspx. Why? Because Linux is not used to run the ASP. But if you do not need ASP so the operating system that you must select is Linux.
7. Technical support
Does the web hosting service providers provides you 24×7 support ? Will they be able to respond quickly to your problem ? That is the question you should ask to find the answer directly to the web hosting service provider. Test them via email in the middle of the night and on Saturday night, Sunday morning, etc. Check out how long they take to respond to your email. In addition to speed responses, check to see if they are technically competent. You do not want to sign up to host that run by a bunch of salesmen who only know how to sell and not fix a problem.
8. Pricing plans
I note that although the price is always a crucial factor, you should realize that they often get what you pay for, but is not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best. You should compare prices and services before you choose one.
9. Monthly / quarterly / annual payment plans
Most of the Web host allows you to select the annual payment plan that provides a cheaper rate than if you pay monthly. My personal advice is to pay monthly with all new web hosts until you are sure their reliability and honesty. The advantages of paying monthly is allowing you to switch a web host quickly when you find that the current web hosting company does not meet your requirements, so you do not bound to bad web host because you have prepaid for a year.
10. My Recomendation
If you want a web hosting service from the company that can be trusted, use CyberSplash.net. Affordable prices offered with a variety of features and services that support the rapid support through helpdesk, phone, email, messenger and SMS, CyberSplash.net is the best choice for your hosting needs.
Lecturer, Hosting Entrepreneur, Independent IT Consultant and Trainer. I’m passionate about my profession, my work, and the things that interest me, which naturally makes me passionate about opensource as well. The entire articles here can be distributed freely as long as YOU keep mentioning the name and URL to the full article at SetyaPutra.Org
January 14th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Bandwidth and reliability are the two most important factors in deciding on a web hosting company in my opinion. You need the host to not only always be reliable, but they also need to be able to handle the work you load that you have.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:37 am
I think most people think the cheapest web hosting service is usually the best way to go. While there are some good hosts at reasonable prices, you need to make sure the host can handle the work you need done.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:19 am
For me support and uptime comes first.. If that is top notch then thats the right hosting company !!
January 29th, 2009 at 6:03 am
I would have to say that uptime and support become more important with the number of websites that you own. There is nothing worse than support being “out for lunch” or unreachable for a long period of time as every minute that your site is down, chances are that you are losing money.
Lately too, I have been spreading my sites over a number of hosts so that they won’t all be down at the same time (at least in theory).
February 28th, 2009 at 4:30 am
Customer service is a very big thing with me. Too often I have had to deal with hosts who were just not responsive to their clients and this is not productive for business.
March 15th, 2009 at 2:55 am
I think service is most important. Then uptime is second. If you can not fix a problem fast then the hosting is not worth the money.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I think you need to prioritize what your looking for with a web hosting service. Everyone has different needs. I would personally look for a host that is reliable and offers great customer service.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Thanks for doing the break-down. I believe a lot of people are going to learn the hard way with free hosting when geocities closes down later this year. Free hosting is great but people need to protect their time and web development by having access to their own servers / web hosting. Free hosting is a gamble nobody should bet on.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
You give a lot of good points. Well written. Reliability is thee most important quality next to the companies financial credibility. After all you do not want to invest a lot of money into your sites, just for them to dissappear after your provider doesn’t pay the power bill. Uptime is a must, especially when using adwords or investing heavily in advertising.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
i searched for a free web host who offers me a reliable service for years.but none kept their words.hence i switched to paid hosting now…
May 12th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Very good article. We use DirectAdmin control panel for our Business Hosting plans and OS commerce is our default shopping cart for Ecommerce Hosting. We use DA due to being easy on the resources compared to cpanel which is way too over packed for many Small Business Websites.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:29 am
The average web hosting offer has enough disk space and bandwidth for every need. The point is how reliable a web hosting provider is. Look for respond times, how helpful the support personnel is, what kind of servers are used for web hosting, which versions of php they have. Search for reviews and if you are going to use it a company in order to host a website based on an open source solution, then ask if they are knowledgeable with that platform. Don’t compromise with a bad host, there are literally thousands out there that are dying to have you as a customer.
May 16th, 2009 at 3:46 am
Also choose a host in your own time zone so that they don’t do their updates in the middle of your working day.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I think service is most important. Then uptime is second. If you can not fix a problem fast then the hosting is not worth the money.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:01 am
I agree whole heartedly, finding the right provider can be tricky and you can end up with a poor company that is interested only in getting your money. Research is key. A little bit of time reading here and there can save you a lot of money and headaches
May 29th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I think that most reputable web hosts are more than adequate when it comes to account features, reliability, and uptime. The main things I concentrate on when looking for hosting are support related – can I get good quality support when I need it? To many of the big companies, you are just another account. I prefer a host where I can get a more personalized support experience rather than being just a number.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Hi,
First three point The reliability and speed of access,Amount of web space,Data transfer are very important factor for for web hosting.