This article is useful for understanding the hosting industry and studies its dynamics to know what to look for before selecting a web host.
Firstly it is good to have a proper introduction of web hosting chain. It is termed as chain because here about 3 upstream providers serve the end consumer. First the web-hosting provider, who is in direct contact, then comes the web host’s upstream company who maintains the servers and sells space to web hosts, and above that, the data center that serves the purpose of providing the connection and houses the servers. There are some web hosts who act as the server administrator and liase with the data centers directly.
The growth of the web hosting industry in at saturation point due to the presence of hundreds of web-hosting providers claiming to provide cheaper and better services to businesses and individuals. The reason for this is the availability of resources in abundance and at cheaper costs with reducing disk space and data-transfer prices. Its easy to enter the web hosting business as there are large resellers of server space providing cheap hosting and reselling plans that provides ground to incomers to join the business.
Due to growing number of suppliers with cheaper reselling plans, more and more web hosting businesses are coming up providing web-hosting solutions to business and individual websites due to lower fixed costs and investment. Not only that this increase in supply is not caused by factors in any particular country. As Internet is not limited to the boundary of any country so the data centers present in any part of the world can easily provide the servers and web space for a local hosting company. Due to Internet it is easy to communicate to each other and providers can easily exchange their services in the global space.
Maintaining a proper balance between supply and demand is quite good for the customers. But imbalance has forced several new web-hosting providers to offer extremely low prices for their web hosting plans or packages in order to make them self stand in the tough market. Now it’s time for customers to choose the hosting providers having lowered prices from the vast number of providers.
However, continuous decrease in prices is quite disadvantageous for both the providers as well as the customers. By reduces prices, companies are able to earn nominal profit and are even not able to cover their support costs. Customers suffer by getting less support with their web-hosting accounts. It’s quite obvious if the profits do not justify the costs, web-hosting companies will easily close down and takes their clients’ sites with them.
The following are the factors to consider while choosing a web-hosting provider: -
The most important factor to consider is Support for any individual or small business looking for a web host for their websites. The Internet web-hosting provider who is unable to provide the facility of responding to emails within 24 hours is probably having problems providing fast and reliable support services. One can’t ignore the validity of these services especially for the beginners who needs guidance with publishing their websites on the web hosting account provided. The success of any web hosting business depends upon the relationships between web host and web hosting customers. To make business success, provider should be able to provide services when and where required also its crucial for customers to know when their site is going offline for sake of maintenance.
After support next important factor is Stability. It refers to how much uptime one can expect from the web-hosting provider, which in turn depends upon the providers’ servers and network. If the providers are not having reliable and stable providers, it would affect their servers and cause problems for the website. It is must to have an uptime of about 99.5% in the industry, as there are other external factors, which may be beyond control of the provider.
Third factor to consider is Cost which depends on the purpose of the website and budget. The budget may be smaller in case of Personal /Individual websites and so they opt to go with a cheaper web hosting provider, possibly in exchange for support and stability. But in case of business sites as they need better stability and support they opt for expensive host providers. It is most often observed that cheap web hosting providers are able to attract customers in the beginning by offering low prices but afterwards fails in providing quality support to their customers thereby creating problems for them. Also the large numbers of client sites cause sustained high server loads which leads to server crash thus hampering stability.
Another factor, which is not so important, is Location of the server. It is not considered important as it depends upon a user’s ISP/country’s connection to the data center where the server is located. Pings to the server normally tells the network latency to expect when people can access to one’s site. Lower ping rates leads to loading of site faster.
Last but not least one should take time to identify and contact a web host to check their service. This helps in providing an idea of the kind of support that one might receive and helps in deciding the reliability of the provider.
If one’s new website is all set to upload, the next desirable thing for him/her is a web host. Conceivably he/she already possesses a web host, but uptime and support are lacking. With several scattering web hosts all around how can the users choose an ideal one? One should be aware of what can go wrong and what to look out for, and investigate prospective web hosts cautiously.
Mistake, which may appear with web hosting
Excessive downtime:
It is inevitable that problems arise in the course of time happen, but even in the condition in which they don’t appear server maintenance results in a minimal amount of downtime. One can not only hope a dependable web host for well maintenance of his/her servers, but also expect monitoring the servers and fixing of problems immediately. With the type of web host one want to avoid, however, his/her site may be down for days.
Features that cannot be put in use:
Once the email of the user doesn’t work, his/her business shuts down. Problems related to databases and other features can also deliberate down or stop his/her business. Such problems are taken into consideration by several web hosts, but a few don’t concern to give high priority on keeping not only the user’s site online but everything working as well.
Ghastic support:
The response time taken by the dependable web hosts to answer tech support questions is utmost a single hour. Other web hosts, however, have been recognized to take several days to give response. And when those responses come, often they’re canned responses that don’t deal with the issue.
Poor communication:
If proper level communication skills are present, it supports people to restrict problems from becoming bigger problems. As told, “Everything looks fine here, so the problem is solved,” promotes irritation. Thus, one’s site can shut down because it has used plenty of resources rather than the web host contacting him/her about the problem first.
Troubles of Billing:
Yet problems persist even after user cancels his/her account. A number of below dependable range web hosts don’t repute their refund policy. Others do not discontinue the automatic billing even after cancellation of account.
Things to watch out for:
One should consider the following as the red flags to warn the user of possible problems that can come on their way.
Untenable pricing:
If the pricing looks to the extent of superb to be true, it perhaps is. Will it be sufficient to pay for server maintenance and tech support? One gets similar what he/she deserve to pay for.
Limitless bandwidth:
There is not anything which is really unlimited in real sense. If one signs up for an account offering limitless bandwidth and then uses a lot of bandwidth, anticipating having the plug pulled on his/her site. The web host may locate further excuse for discontinuing his/her account, but “unlimited” classically represent that “as long as you don’t use a lot.”
A website with unprofessional look:
The user foremost consider how much effort the web host is putting in providing a usable website along with informative content. Does it really mean that user has got full confidence in the web host, or is it overwhelmed of unsubstantiated statements and grammar and spelling mistakes? A web host doesn’t require being a specialist in spelling insertion, of course. But if the company hasn’t advertise much enough to the user about their services, will they be meticulous about matching the clients’ requirements?
Way to research web hosts:
It is quite easy to look out for web hosts. Search engines can be one of the ways to went on the websites of thousands of web hosts. But short listening after going through features and price, how can the customer look out which web hosts are reliable?
Interpret particulars of web host package and TOS:
If the host provider is offering hosting packages with huge amounts of disk space and bandwidth for quite cheap prices, that means something is fishy around. One should not expect that company to be well equipped with enough money for maintenance and support.
If one wants to be sure that he/she can get a refund if he/she want one, should ensure what the Terms of Service (TOS) signify about refunds.
One should examine the web host forum:
User should be aware about the questions like, what is the ambience in the forum. Are clients’ questions answered satisfactorily? The user should not be anxious on seeing a problem but in the condition when they don’t. It is quite common that, some web hosts remove posts that don’t demonstrate their company in a positive light. But if posts about problems stay in the forum, the user can easily monitor the way the host use to tackle the problem.
User should examine web host reviews:
There is no lack of cases in which, client feedback at the web host’s site perhaps may or may not be legal. One could not ignore the possibility of manufacturing of feedback and tracing it from other sites. The user should inquire about that via different web sites.
There are several forums which permits people to post their web host reviews. While reading the reviews, one should deem the poster’s credibility. A few people knock their hosts just because of the reason that they’re unhappy about somewhat. If the host posts in response to a problem, the user should inquire the way host tries to resolve it.
Inquire about the background of the company:
The page which displays the points like “About Us” or “Company Background” should disclose the answer of following questions.
1.) The experience of the company in this sector. A new company perhaps is excellent, but it’s good to keep in mind that an ample of businesses fails within the first year.
2.) Does the company use to publish a privacy policy? And does this policy clearly protect clients’ privacy?
3.) Where are the servers located? Ideally, they should be in a datacenter, and not in someone’s basement.
4.) About the server uptime statistics? If the web host doesn’t publish a link to a server uptime monitor, one should ask for a link to one. Uptime of about 99.7 percent or higher is usually considered good.
5.) Does the company publish an address? The user perhaps should not be in the need of it, but when he/she placing his/her company website in another company’s hands, it is his/her right to know that the company is legal and handy.
Email pre-sales queries
Response to user’s pre-sales questions will tell more than enough about the web host. One can easily judge how fast the company responds and about their communication efficiency. One can ask questions about any of the above points as well as questions precise to his/her requirements.
There is no doubt, that, Finding a dependable web host spends time, but dealing with problems and moving one’s site rather takes more amount of time. The time spent searching for a reliable web host is a worthwhile investment.
There are thousands of webhosting companies in the industry screening for business. To ensure one makes best of ones decision possible consider the points mentioned here.
1. Server Space
First think to consider is the amount of space ones site will acquire on a server. Files might require just 1 and 5 megabyte of disk space unless one is planning to run a software repository or an image gallery. Just to out perform their competitors many companies offer several hundreds of megabytes of webspace for a very rational price. Before taking that much space one should question oneself whether that much space will be required ever. Though one should allow extra space for site to grow in future but at the same time one should not opt for a great deal on an extraordinarily sized account if one will never use all of the space which is being offered. One can always find a better deal with amount of space which would be more suitable for ones site size.
2. Data Transfer Allowance
Decision for Data Transfer Allowance should be based upon the above principal. Many are under the impression that their sites would be equal to next Yahoo or Amazon and would be receiving enormous number of visitors daily but one does not require extremely high data transfer allowance unless and until as stated above one is running a software download site or a large image gallery. One should not exceed ones limit just because one is getting an awesome deal as even heavily trafficked normal HTML sites usually use s just a small amount of gigabytes every month in bandwidth allowance. Many companies are offering “unlimited” data transfer if one is planning to go for such an offer, be sure to read terms and conditions very carefully before opting for this type of account as there are generally some fine-print stipulations that make this claim not entirely true. For a small to medium sized business or personal site. A five or ten gigabyte bandwidth allowance is usually ample enough.
3. Technical Support
When choosing a web host types of technical support offered by the company and how easy they are to contact when needed is a very important point to consider. There are companies who do not even offer their contact number on their website though ideally a company has to offer 24/7 toll-free telephone support and email. Company that is very easily accessible in the time of need should be looked for. If one is in the mid of working on ones site and an important piece of information is required to conclude the job but is not able to contact the hosting company to get the information can be very frustrating.
4. CGI-Bin Access
Whether it is a contact form processor, mailing list management script or may be even a fancy credit card processing script one needs to install some type of CGI script eventually no matter what type of site one is planning on running. Hosting account will need to allow one to install and run them. One requires access to a special folder on ones server called “CGI-Bin”. Because of security measure only “pre-installed” scripts are allowed to use by few hosting accounts. As these scripts are already installed and configured by the owners of the company they are aware that these scripts will work properly and will not affect their server’s performance adversely. If one is acquainted with scripts, it’s always better to install ones own scripts that suit ones individual needs and configure them. One should make sure that the account one is using should support the languages like PHP, Perl, etc in which scripts are written
5. Up-Time Guarantee
How often and for how long servers “go down” for the webhosting company one is going to choose is a very important factor to be valued. Remember site cannot receive visitors or produce revenue if the machine on which it is hosted is not up and running no matter one has got a good deal on server space, bandwidth allowance, or tech support service is good. So select a company which can guarantee the highest up-time percentage possible. Its true that none of the company can offer 100% uptime as servers are taken down temporarily from time to time for maintenance or upgrading purposes but one always wants ones site to be hosted on dependable, well managed machines that do not have problems frequently and are down for long periods of time.
6. Email Accounts
Some companies offers heaps more email accounts than required just like transfer allowance and server space. Few even offer hundreds or even unlimited email accounts as a selling point. If one is just one person or is a small company 10 or 15 is enough but this can be an important factor if one is having thousands of employees each requiring email box.
7. Reputation
Last but not the least this is one of the most important factor to be considered while one is choosing ones web host. Today there are numerous sites around the Web featuring discussion forums that permit people to discuss and critique various hosting companies. Be aware of any negative feedback one may hear or read about a particular hosting company. Try Putting up questions about any company one might be interested in using to check if someone had any negative experiences with that company. While beginning a business one of my friend contacted a company to host his site and he was promised good, dependable service at a very low price. But for no obvious reason his entire site was deleted without giving any warning or explanation. He then visited few forums and found that many had negative experiences with that hosting company. So my suggestion is to not make the same mistake which my friend did so search out from beginning and make sure that the hosting company one chooses will not let one down.
In web hosting world there are many interesting events that take place. For a beginner it’s quite difficult to segregate between two hosting companies as all look alike in the beginning the difference is only found out afterwards when he/she gets shut down without warning.
The problem faced by beginners now a day is how to rely on a web host review when thousands are there. It is really impossible for anyone to review the thousands of web host out there, but it is in one’s favour if the user bases his/her web host review on high in demand providers. It is a fact that there are many top marketers having their own server, and one can’t afford to pay $200 or more monthly for one’s own server.
In this article we are going to discuss on the things which are helpful in preventing web host shut down and the ways by which one can learn how to use the forums to find recommendation for choosing a right web hosting provider.
For a beginner it is really difficult to digest that even the forums given are not very helpful. These forums are posted by people who are not having any good experience by the company.
Following are the four tips one should follow to get a good web host review:
1) Say no to unlimited domain names: One should always keep in mind not to go for unlimited domain names. Whenever a user creates a new account a provider automatically divide up his/her hosting bandwidth, it means that if one is just having 40 Gigs of bandwidth and he/she opts to divide it up by four domain names, in that case he/she must have used up all his/her bandwidth. Thus addition in any domain name will exceed the bandwidth as well. This is the policy adopted by cheap web hosting providers. By this way cheap hosting providers charges unlimited for extra bandwidth and user has to pay as he/she is not having any other choice. Thus one needs to be very careful regarding this matter.
2) Say yes to monthly payments: It is quite often that web hosting providers offer cheap prices in case user is making yearly payment. However in that case user will be in great loss as after paying the yearly amount he/she has already tied up with the company and now they will provide the services which are just useless and user have to accept it. Thus one should go with a company that is offering quarterly or monthly payment plan with money back guarantee.
3) First test by sending email: One should first test by sending a simple introductory email to check the response time. The response time of the host provider will tell everything about his/her services.
4) Ask for refund: One should always keep all the receipts safely and at any time if his/her site gets shut down, he/she should ask for refund from the provider if the payment is paid in advance. One should immediately file the complaint and should do all to get valuable money back.
Thus after keeping all the above 4 points in mind one will surely know how to get rid of problems and will safe his/her valuable money.
There are many people who wants to have a presence on internet, purpose can be various; it can be whether business purpose, or just for personal reasons, but the second part of this process consists of a daunting task called selection of hosting service. A host who is affordable, providing maximum uptime, adequate bandwidth support, suitable web-space, and brilliant customer service and support is just like a dream and users usually do not get such an all rounder, still patient and strategic decision can provide user a dream output.
Here, user’s requirements and purpose of actual site plays a key role. If the web site required to be hosted is a commercial website, then uptime of the concern server matters the most. If the uptime were less than 99.5% then it can be lethal for a commercial web site. This is because if one’s site is suffering downtime and at that very moment search engines index the sites then one’s site may loose an opportunity as well as business. In addition to it, if there is any customer who visits the site finding it unable to publish it can create a negative impression in his/her mind. If the web site is meant for a non-profit organization, a club or for personal use designed for limited use then user should not concern about 99.5% uptime.
If one talks about another matter for consideration then it will be the quantity of file space that is provided by hosting company. If one talks about an average commercial web site then it usually enclose around few hundred web pages, some java or php scripts and image, multimedia files etc. One can surround all these details in the web space of about 50 to100 Mega Byte. But when it comes to additional space, charges differ from host to host.
Another concerning aspect is Bandwidth. If the site is meant for personal snaps then there will be no immense amount of traffic. But if user possess an Ecommerce site and have a huge amount of traffic each day then he/she should enquire how much amount of bandwidth does user offers for a month.
One should also ensure that what are the additional features in the package. Does the host provide only 3 email accounts, or rather up to 100? Can user establish sub domains along with it? What sorts of technologies does it adapt to? For example, if user plans to use PHP, he/she should confirm the installation of PHP in the server.
At the end, one should account repute of host in the market. It’s experience in the sector? What is their customer service standard?
If one values his/her web site then going along with a high standard and dependable web host is recommended, as it is always said, “prevention is better than cure”.
