How to Choose a Hosting Provider

Being IT & hosting industry veterans, we know firsthand that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of server and webhosting providers. For the server hosting provider, it’s a tough cut throat market that can mean game over if a hosting company fails to meet customer demand. On the other end, this means a wide range of options for the client to choose from with companies all fighting for their business….

But with numerous options comes increased indecisiveness and confusion about what’s right for your business. Looking for a server hosting plan can get frustrating, especially for the non IT savvy so we’ve decided to help you out in providing a check list in your server hosting search.

Free Trials –
Not many server hosting providers offer this one, but it’s always great to do a test run with something before committing especially if you’ve never experienced the service before. It’s just like buying a new car – you know what it looks like, you know what it does & all its specs yet you still want to take it out for a spin around the block and see how it fits. It’s that extra level of reassurance and comfort before your commitment.
P.S. Atum is one of the few server hosting providers that offers a free no obligation VPS trial. Head over to request a 30 day VPS hosting trial after reading this article:)

Money Back Guarantee – Second best thing to a free trial: make sure you can get your money back if you’re unsatisfied with your hosting service provider(did I mention we at Atum provide you with both options?) If you’re unhappy with your hosting, you need to have the option to get your money back. Say you read fantastic hosting reviews, asked your friends for recommendations and were charmed by the friendly sales person over the phone but a month into your newly established server hosting plan you’ve decided that it just isn’t a fit (perhaps the plan isn’t scalable or big enough for your business, or vice versa) – you’ll need to have the option to opt out. 

24/7 Customer Technical Support – Again, very critical. And they need to be available ALL the time (we suggest doing a test and giving the server hosting provider a call at 3am on Saturday). There’s a difference between a 24/7 voicemail and there’s 24/7 support.  
P.S. Feel free to give Atum a call to discuss your server hosting needs. Or what you thought of Scott Pilgrim VS The World (okay.. just kidding about the last one).

Hard Disk Space – If you need to host a large amount of files, you need to be comfortable hosting it all on your server. Figure out your needs and make sure your provider is able to support your needs. Atum offers a free IT analysis to help you evaluate your IT infrastructure business needs so give us a shout! Also remember, there’s never ‘unlimited’ bandwidth. There’s just ridiculous-amount-of-bandwidth-given-that-you-will-never-use-up. In Atum’s case, it’s 2 TB. Know how much your business hosting needs will require and go with that. FYI, this is one of the cases where it’s better more than less!

Tier 4 Data Center Location – Tier 4 is the highest tier in the data center world. Some of its perks include: 3 different internet connection backbones, 2 different power grids, bombproof, fault tolerant infrastructure, 24/7 security guard and more. Trust us, it’s the safest route to go.

Shared VS Dedicated Resources
We’ve covered this in the previous blog post in the definition of shared vs dedicated hosting that you can read here. For personal use and website hosting, shared can do the job. However, dedicated resources are needed for a business that requires fast and smooth running performance. The better and cost cutting option in the server hosting world are dedicated virtual private servers (VPS). VPS refer to multiple dedicated virtual servers in a single powerful physical server. Once the physical server is divided, each logical server can run an operating system and applications independently with advantages over traditional physical environments. Atum’s specialty is dedicated VPS hosting for small to medium sized businesses. We help small businesses achieve enterprise level dedicated performance for a fraction of the cost. Trial anyone?  
There are lots of facts to consider in making your decision about a server hosting provider. You have to figure out your business priorities currently and make sure your hosting provider is able to accommodate them. Where do you think you will be in the next 5 years? Can your hosting provider accommodate your needs then? Do you get along on a person level? Are they someone you want to be associated with?

Choosing a server hosting provider is very similar to choosing a car. You –need- that smooth running & fast performance that turns heads. You get what you pay for and it takes awhile to find that perfect fit, but once you do …. Ahh, well…. Did we mention we offer free trials?