Website Hosting

So you have given birth to a website. Now where are you going to let it grow? Finding a suitable web host should be one of your first considerations upon deciding to enter the online world. Too often we hear horror stories of entire sites being wiped out by a shoddy web host. There are so many companies offering web-hosting services now that it is almost impossible to sort out the good from the bad from the ugly.

Where do you start the hunt for a good web host?

The first thing you may want to think about is local hosts. Who provides Internet service in your area? These companies are often large and stable, they will have the resources to provide you with the service you need. The nice thing about a local web host is that they are generally easy to get a hold of in case you need some customer service. Also this ensures that you are in the same time zone as your host, which is helpful when you have to talk to someone.

Many people get discouraged when they see the prices of these web hosts. Bear in mind that you are paying for quality here. If having your website up and running at all times is important to you then I would strongly recommend that you consider an ISP as your web host.

Now if you have a hobby site or something that you don’t want to spend a lot of money on there are many alternatives out there. Some offer deals that appear too good to be true, "hosting for 5 dollars a month" and similar statements should be held at arm's length. If hosting is really so cheap then why are the big companies charging so much? The answer is simple, quality. The big companies can guarantee you that your website will be active 99.5%+ of the time. These little web hosting providers can claim that but I have some serious doubts that they can back it up.

So what is a Webmaster to do? Well there are a few tools out there that can help you on your path. We have used hostevaluator.com a few times. It offers tools for download that let you know ping times of potential web hosts. This can be really helpful in comparing various hosts. A slow host will mean that your pages load slowly and many of your visitors will just leave.

After you have narrowed the search for a web host open up your web browser and head to your favorite search engine. Type the host company name + review. Or you can type the host company name + sucks. This will find a disgruntled reviewer or even an entire website devoted to lambasting the company you're researching. Chances are, if you don't find anything related to that hosting company using this formula, then they're OK. Most of the time you will find someone who thought that company X 'sucks' but you shouldn't necessarily discount them at that point. Dig deeper, and see just how many unhappy experiences people have had with Company X. The Internet is a powerful medium for reviewing products and services. Another good place to check out is epinions.com. Get consumer reviews on just about any type of product or service, including website hosts.

Recently we have heard a lot of great things about Host Gator and after trying them out for a few months we would recommend them to anyone.

Hopefully this will help you in your search.

Best of luck,

The Higher Power Team