It is very important you go with a reliable and stable web hosting company to host your website/forum. Many times when looking for a web host, it can become overwhelming just by looking at how many web hosts there actually are out there. However, there are some main points you should consider and look at to decipher between a night-by and good host.
Not all these points are always applicable but most of the time it will be. So here we go, what do you look at when you want a good web host?
Not all these points are always applicable but most of the time it will be. So here we go, what do you look at when you want a good web host?
- AGE AGE AGE AGE AGE! I can't emphasize enough on how much age of a host shows the reliability of a web host. No matter what you say, if a web host is old, they are bound to be good - to say the least. If a company is alive for at least 3 years, you know they will have a good enough income base to keep on providing great hosting and support. Now these aged hosts can be expensive and it's obvious why. But not always are new companies are bad but you have to be extremely cautious when going with a new hosting company. - 1 year = 2 points. A host that is 5 years old = 10 points.
- Methods of support & contact. Don't you want to be able to contact your host at 3 AM in the morning if you have a issue? Any reliable hosting company will be provide you with multiple ways of contacting them - if they don't...WALK AWAY! Most common methods of contact are Email, support tickets, live chat, forums and phone. When a company provides forums & phone support, you should automatically give that host an extra 2 points. Each method of contact/support=1 point.
- Appearance & Presentation. When I say appearance, I don't just mean if their site is appealing to your eyes but how do the company introduce themselves? How do they greet their clients? Read their about us page - if they don't have one, it would be wise to look the other way and to walk. - how do they describe themselves? what is the aim of their company, what are they trying to do? Look carefully how the statements are presented, does it look like a fourth grader wrote it? - 1 point for presentations. Now appearance, this is basically the design of the company's website. Ask yourself the following questions, does it look professional? Are the information vivid and organized? Are they conveying their message clearly? Are the colors easy to the eyes? Are the fonts too small or too big read clearly? Are the information overcrowded, like they are trying to tell you everything in this universe about web hosting and their services? These are personal questions, there are no right or wrong answers, it's what seems proper to you. 1 point for appearance.
- Hosting Packages.There are a LOT of things you can tell about a hosting company from their packages. This is a quite simple, are the resources and prices outrageous? Are they providing you with the world in their packages? Yea..if they are, they're going down within few months. Stay away from hosts that give you the world - not only do you not need it...but you probably won't even be able to come close to using what they advertise - you'll be suspended(read their AUP/TOS, you are certain to find some kind of restriction preventing you from using all of your resources). Look for reasonable hosting packages with reasonable prices. Don't go for a host that provides huge amount of resources for almost nothing. Also, age goes hand with hand with reasonableness. What reasonable means is absolutely up to you, therefore you have to assign the amount of points, I'd say 5 points for reasonable packages.
- Terms of Service, Privacy Policy & Acceptable User Policy.This might as well go with the Presentation point. Are the policies clear and concise? Or does it look like hey just slapped something together? TOS and AUP is where most hosting companies hide their true identity. Any good company will write their TOS in firsthand and in a clear and concise manner explaining almost all possible situations. If a company barely has anything in the TOS, please do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. A hosting company's TOS is probably the most important aspect of their, not only liability, but also reliability - isn't that what you want? A reliable host? 2 points for a well written TOS/AUP.
- User Reviews. What are the clients saying? This is very important in verifying the reliability of a company. User search engines and web hosting dedicated forums to gather user reviews. 1/2 for every positive review. -1 point for every negative review.
- What main premium features are provided? Of course after all the critical points are taken care of, you are looking for what premium features uphold your web host. Many companies will provide RVSkin, RV Site Builder, R1Soft, FFMPEG, Ruby on Rails, Auto Scrip Installers such as Fantastico, Softaculous & Installatron. These premium features show that the company wants to give you the best. 1/2 points for every premium features.
- Lastly, I want to end this with the following quoting Sain Cai from FWS:
