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Guide to Select A Web Hosting Provider
Briefly, web hosting provider will host your website and make
sure it can be accessed by everyone 24 hours a day. So, it is
vital to select a reliable one to make sure your website is
always accessible particularly if your website is an important
means of communication for you to reach your end users. Hence, I
have decided to write some tips for those who need to choose a
web hosting provider. There are as follows:
Types of Web Hosting Provider and What Do You Expect from
Them
Freebies Never expect too much from freebies. If you need a
professional looking website to get running on the Internet, I
don't think you should rely on freebies. They may not be able to
provide you the features and support you need.
Paid Ones I would personally opt for this if I were to set
up an online business or start any professional looking website.
As the term implies, paid hosting provider will definitely serve
you better and you can select those who offer the features that
you want.
The Criteria to Select Web Hosting Provider
Support Yes, support is undoubtedly the most important
thing. Not only support that you need, but make sure it's a
Professional Technical support and it's advisable to choose
those company that provide 24x7x365 support. Who knows if your
website suddenly has problem in the middle of the night. Without
round the clock support, who will be able to help you? A simple
advice here, before you choose a web hosting provider, try
emailing them and see how fast is their response. Whether it's a
technical question or question to their customer service
department, it doesn't matter. But, since you are interested in
their plans, I would suggest you email their customer service
department first. If they have prompt reply, give them a tick in
your criteria list. So, remember this essential point.
Price When it comes to money, people will think twice.
Yup, so do I. People will compare the price from one company to
another. In order to make a wise decision, make sure the pricing
you choose is unbeatable and reasonable. However, do take note
that cheaper provider does not necessarily mean better service.
I'm sure you will have doubt when you see that Company A offers
so cheap plan compared to Company B. Have no fear. Just do some
other surveys or join forums to ask for other people's opinion
on the particular company's review. Of course, until the end of
the day, you will also have to decide and take some risks to
trust the company that you will choose. Hence, the next
criterion is also equally important when you take your risk to
trust a company.
Money Back Guarantee Make sure you find a web hosting
company who has money back guarantee policy. The most common one
is 30-days money back guarantee. Only a handful will offer
60-days money back guarantee. So, with this guarantee, you do
not have to worry when you start venturing into the cyberworld
and letting the whole world view your proudly developed website.
Platforms and Applications Available In a more technical
sense, it means the different type of platforms available.
Nowadays, web hosting company will offer mostly Linux or Windows
platform in their server. So, if your website is based on .ASP
technology, no doubt you will have to go for Windows platform.
Check also on the features offered for you, whether the features
is supported by your website back-end technology or not. If you
are unsure, don't be hesitate to ask them. That's why as
mentioned earlier, support is very important. You can email them
to ask or even call them if they are your local hosting
providers.
Scalability, Reliability and Security How good a web
hosting provider is also depends on how scalable; reliable in
terms of backbone connnection and website uptime; and secured in
terms of virus and SPAM filtering. Remember that all these
criteria are needed to make sure your website is running well.
It will be great if the provider allows simple and easy upgrade
for any hosting plans. Some also provide customisation for you.
So, this depends on your decision ultimately. Please remember to
choose provider that allows you to easily add bandwidth, web
space or email accounts as your traffic grows.
Do also check on the reliability of the web hosting company on
their uptime guarantee as well as asking them on where is their
server located and their backbone connection. You can always
email to ask them this. And I suppose a reliable web hosting
company will provide this content on their website for you to
see. So, in case if they do provide livechat, ask them
instantly. A proven uptime guarantee will at least ensure that
your website can be safely viewed by your intended users from
anywhere and at anytime of the day.
Security is what everyone needs. Therefore, it's best to choose
provider that has stated clearly on their policy that they have
SPAM and virus filtering feature already installed. As there is
one saying that goes like this, "prevention is better than
cure". So, be prepared before you are attacked by virus or
malicious email attachments.
All in all, I hope this guide can more or less help you in
selecting a web hosting company. At least it gives you a rough
idea of what to look for.
About the author:
SY Ho is an Online Marketing Executive for
http://www.exabytes.com