As a web designer, I’ve worked with a variety of web hosting companies over the years. One might think on the surface that they’re all the same—but that’s far from the case in reality. A poor web hosting company can not only cause you unnecessary grief, but lost revenue as well.
With so many choices today, how do you know who to use? Here are some areas to consider:
1. Customer Service
I rank this as the #1 criteria to evaluate when choosing a company to host your website. Can you get in touch with a live human when you have a question or when something goes wrong? And if so, can you understand the person on the other line? What is their response time? Do they provide useful documentation on their site, as well as frequently asked questions?
With some companies, you can only submit a trouble ticket and may wait days until you hear a response. There are simply too many choices out there to settle for less than top-notch, responsive customer service.
2. Disk Space
The amount of disk space is an important consideration—especially today with more video, applications and online media incorporated onto our websites. You want enough space to store all of those files.
Having said that, don’t overdo it and end up paying much more than you need to just because they offer a larger plan. Often with the major companies such as GoDaddy and HostGator, their lowest hosting package will have enough storage for most businesses, unless you have specialized needs.
Also, some hosts will tell you that the storage space is “unlimited” but if you read the fine print there are some restrictions after all.
3. Uptime
You want your web hosting company to be reliable. Quality web hosts invest millions of dollars in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment that allow them to guarantee your website will be up 99.9% of the time. Their servers are in climate and humidity controlled environments with multiple back up systems and generators in place to handle any emergencies.
4. Features
Web hosts today offer a tremendous amount of features you can add such as blogs, photo galleries, e-commerce shopping carts, contact forms, online calendars and many more. Also, most hosting plans come with web mail and a set number of email addresses — but be sure that it includes enough storage space per email account (not just the overall amount). If not, purchase a separate email package because you’ll most likely need it.
5. Pricing
Hosting prices have been driven down by the amount of competition and increased efficiencies. Smaller hosting companies find it hard to compete with the global giants who can offer their services at a fraction of the cost. But don’t get caught up in shopping for the absolute lowest price alone. You can find a good host for most general website needs for less than $10 per month (often half that amount). These will typically be shared hosting accounts, meaning that you share space and other server resources with others in exchange for a smaller price.
If you have special needs, you can invest in a dedicated server or virtual dedicated server which will give you more performance, more space and more control. But I usually recommend these for really large sites that have extensive e-commerce or expect a ton of traffic and need to be able to meet those demands.
5. Recommendations
There are lots of good hosting companies out there. The two that I personally have the most (and best) experience with are GoDaddy and HostGator. With any hosting company, there are both fans and haters wanting to present their side and debate the particulars. But I feel confident recommending either of those companies to most of my clients.
For clients who do need to upgrade to higher end hosting, Rackspace and Media Temple are both good choices.
One last important tip. Whether you host your website yourself or your web design company hosts it for you, be sure to:
- Have every log-in and password associated with the account (including control panel access)
- Keep this information on file so you can access it at any time
- Insist your domain name is registered in your name so you are the official owner with full control (this will probably be the subject of a future blog post in and of itself)
How can we help you?
We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.
