2009-04-16 by  Amy Armitage

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It is always a good idea to do some product research before you start shopping. The same is true of services that you pay for, too. You also need to consider that there are often many different makes and models of the same general products, and many variations on the same kinds of services. Therefore, in addition to general information, you need to get specific facts about what products or services would best fit your unique situation. It is no different with web hosting.

It may be best to begin our division of web hosting companies into "good" and "bad" categories with basic features that apply to everyone. Since a web host is actually the company that will store your website on its servers (to "serve" it up to the Internet), one of the primary considerations is making sure that the server is fast. Of similar importance is ensuring that the server works well enough, and has enough backup equipment, to keep your site's "uptime" well over 99%. Companies that can guarantee these things are good candidates for your site, while ones that cannot have to go into the "bad" category.

Other primary considerations

A well-managed hosting company will not require you to have any particular technical expertise, unless you opt for a certain kind of dedicated hosting where you agree to take on some of those duties. For most people and small businesses, however, a good web hosting firm is one that keeps things running, upgrades its equipment to stay competitive and does all this without bothering you (or raising the price too fast). You want to concentrate on making the site profitable, not on solving bandwidth problems or troubleshooting the Domain Name Server (DNS) settings for your site's name.

Another basic consideration is the amount of disk space you get per dollar, and the amount of data traffic (transfer) allowed per month. When you calculate the price you are paying for disk space, as well as the price to bandwidth ratio, you will have a common yardstick with which to compare pricing. The best, most reputable web hosting companies will not charge you much more than the average of your other final candidates for the same amount of disk space and/or bandwidth ratio. Generally, of course, the more you want of these the more you will end up paying per month. A good company will have prices in the average range. Interestingly enough, a bad company may charge either much more or much less than average. Again, you don't decide on price alone, but on what the price buys you in relation to other companies.

Differences and similarities

Today, you will discover that most of the top web hosting companies share many standardized features for customers to manage their sites. There is usually a control panel or some sort, disk space and bandwidth meters, e-mail accounts (sometimes unlimited) and customer support available via phone, e-mail, chat services or web forms. If you are looking at four or five potential hosts, and some do not have the number of these tools as others, you will have another way to separate out some "good" and "bad" firms.

Investigate the standing of the companies, too. Better Business Bureau reports and listings at Complaints.com and other consumer protection sites can tell you about some of the bad companies and their nefarious ways. You can also discover what awards and commendations some good sites have won from industry groups, consumer advocates and government agencies. This will augment what you learn about the companies' reliability from user forums and other Internet sources. These are all good ways to separate the "good" from the "bad."

Boiling it all down

The best web hosting companies will demonstrate good management, have reliable equipment, offer speedy service and be priced in the range covered by your four or five candidate firms. More specific reasons to choose or not choose one company over another will have to do with the precise type of website you are putting up. If you are not up on the "lingo" and do not understand the concepts, you should get help at once from someone you trust, and not rely on a web hosting company sales person to watch out for your best interests. After all, you haven't decided which is the "good" (or "best") company yet.

Go with a company that has expertise with the type of site you are planning to build. If you are opening an online store, a "good" host is one that has a lot of experience with e-commerce and customized shopping carts. If you are doing confidential client work, a "good" host will be that has state-of-the-art security and top programmers and analysts on staff. You need to make sure your special needs are covered.

Good and bad plans

The major website hosting packages are free, shared, managed dedicated and unmanaged dedicated. Free hosting services give you a limited amount of space, and place advertisements on your pages that can be off-putting to your customers and clients. The may not offer all the functionality of a paid site, either. The other paid web hosting plans offer better levels of support, more bandwidth and all the features you could ever want. "Good" companies will be able to tailor a site plan to your needs, while a "bad" one in the regard is a company that asks you to fit into preformatted categories.

The shared plan puts your site on a server with others, and the web hosting company provides all of the system administration. Dedicated hosting is good for sites that need more storage and ample bandwidth, as well as other characteristics or features that aren't available with shared web plans. A managed dedicated plan, with your site on its own "dedicated" serve, will cost more because the hosting firm is giving you your own server and taking care of the administrative duties. In the less-costly unmanaged dedicated web package, the user will act as the server administrator. While this gives you, the user, the most control and flexibility, you need a good deal more technical knowledge to keep things running smoothly.

"Good" web hosts will meet you where you are at, or tailor your plan to get you where you want to go. The "bad" firms are ones that do not put your needs first, generally speaking. Review this article again, read some more about how web hosts operate, then let your assessment of your candidate firms' features, support, reliability, service and security signal a winner.

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