Finding a Good Web Host for Your Website Is NOT a Walk in the Park
Finding a web host for your website is truly a task not for the faint-hearted. In my case, I have tried one host already (not a significant number compared to others who have tried 10!). However, based on my readings and initial study of choosing a web host, hundreds of website developers and owners regret having signed up with cheap web hosting plans.
Well, I don’t have anything against cheap web hosting plans. In fact, three of my websites are hosted with them. Unfortunately, I have a less favorable experience with my first web host (whose name I will no longer mention). Mind you, it’s not only the price that you should consider in choosing a web host. Some other factors to consider are the following:
• Robustness of the web host’s facilities
• Uptime/downtime
• Technical Support
• Customer Support
• Money-back guarantee
This is critical for web administrators who are constantly monitoring and updating their sites either for content or design. I understand there is a propensity for web admins to do this especially when the site is just taking off and the developer has not reach the point where he is fully satisfied with the layout, colors, themes, etc. Of course no web admin wants to see his website running up and down.
Observations arising from the administration of my own websites also point me to the direction of built-in features within the hosting plan. These include number of MySQL databases allowed for an account, available scripts, built-in installers for content management (PhpWMCS, PhpNuke, Joomla, Mambo, etc.), forums (e.g., PhPBB), blogs (WordPress, b2evolution, etc.) and many more. The importance of these features cannot be undermined. For bloggers and web developers alike, these built-in softwares are the lifeblood of sites. Customer support for the installation of these is also essential. Without an efficient staff looking after your web account, you may not be able to get to install these products properly (unless you spend a lot of time to read and understand the documentation of these softwares). Also, does the web host provide good service in allowing you to transfer files via ftp? For me, I need my web host to be very good at this department inasmuch as I upload huge file sizes (more than 10MB per upload, kudos to music files and pictures).
Now, let’s turn to security. Is your web host equipped with an efficient anti-spam tool, so you can protect all the emails coming into your domain? Some would say that all web hosts provide such security for their plan holders… but wait, why are some customers howling about spams in their emails in a number of forums and blogs? You see, certain issues regarding online security are affected by a number of reasons including leniency on the part of web hosting companies. Online threats will remain on the ever-growing worldwide web, and that’s a guarantee. I bet all my relatives’ properties on that :). Hence, your emails, particularly POP3’s should be filtered and scanned for malicious codes and legitimacy.
There. For now, these are my comments/suggestions in selecting a web host. However, the final verdict will be dictated by your actual needs. So determine which are the websites that you intend to develop for? What are the requirements for these sites? Do they need MySQL database(s)? Are they sites that need monitoring on a periodic basis or you can just forget about them after uploading all the files? So, before plunging into web development, try to read as many articles as possible about the reputations of available web hosts. You can find a lot of blogs and forums regarding user experiences that will help you make up your mind. Likewise, plan ahead. I suggest you finish the layout of your website before buying a web hosting plan so that your mission after signing up will be uploading your files to see your website up and running immediately. This way, you can use maximize the time you can use your web hosting plan. Time is money. So the more time you can use your paid web space, the better.
Personally, I love the hosting plan of Hostmonster. Their plans come with the following features:
- 300 Gigabytes of Hosting Space
- Host UNLIMITED Domains!!
- Unlimited Pop/Imap Email Accounts
- SSH Access (Secure Shell)
- 3,000 Gigs of Transfer
- SSL, FTP, Stats
- CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MYSQL
- Front Page Extensions
- Free Domain Forever
- Free Site Builder
- Fantastico Installer (which includes WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, PhpNuke, + more)
For blogs and small websites, their plans are cool. The monthly fee for a 2-year plan is only $4.95 and for their 1-year plan, $5.95. Well, not bad for a web space where you can upload your photos, videos, music files and invaluable articles.
Best of all, I love their staff for being so polite and act immediately to resolve your web hosting issues. This is I think their greatest edge over their competitors. And what better thing can a paying customer get than a good customer service?
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Tags: Web Host, Web Hosting, Website Development
Kuya bakit dimo pinabasa sakin to dati? Nice read again! Andami kong nalaman…
Scotty’s Princess’s last blog post..Twerlyn’s Wedding
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jps61974 reply on February 23, 2008:
Ellaine,
Archived post ko to eh. When i was starting to blog eh eto ang isa sa mga unang posts ko. hehehe
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Tama lahat ng sinabi mo rito friend. My webhost is one of the cheapest in town. 5 years na ako dito sa August 2008. Ilang beses na rin akong nagka problema sa downtime, okay lang kung ilang minutes lang pero yung latest nga eh 5 hours mahigit. kalokah! Kababayan at naging friend (not really close) ko na rin yung owner, pati yung isa nilang developer/tech support. Minsan nagrereklamo ako sa owner through text at tinatawagan nya pa ako to explain. Last year ang reason ng dowtime nila eh kesyo meron daw nag inject ng malicious script sa isang website kaya nila ni-restart at inayos ang server para hindi mahawa yung ibang website na nasa server din na yun. Yung latest na reason eh di ko knows kasi di na sya sumagot sa mga text ko. Hindi na rin kasi sya ang nagmamanage ng webhosting company n yun, busy kasi sya sa ibang business nya kaya iba yta yung naghahandle ngayon, pero according to him, kapag may mga problema daw ipinapa-alam naman sa kanya. Nagrereklamo din ako kapag may mga tech support sya na hindi marunong sumagot ng tama. Kaya dun sa tech support na lang na friend ko ako nagsa-submit ng ticket.
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Amor,
That’s correct. You see, it’s not always the low price that you have to consider when choosing a web host for your website. For me, the reliability of the service and technical support come to mind above anything else. A small differential in the price (say a dollar per month) is a small price to pay when you choose between two web hosts where the cheaper one provides inferior services and frequent donwtimes. The headache that you can possibly get when your site is down is not only worth one dollar per month. In most cases, i opt-in for the more expensive one due to the quality of service, technical support and good uptime rate. These things combined are not just a dollar differential in pricing to me. in fact, i consider good technical support as priceless.
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