Tip 2: Price
The next thing to consider before narrowing down your host selections is price. First, you must know your budget and understand that, the more you need, the more you can expect to pay. Virtual Private Servers, Dedicated IP’s, Rollover Bandwidth – all usually come with a cost. The quality of the server also will play an impact on the price.
Today’s hosting market is competitively inexpensive. There was a time a few years ago that you would never find $7/Month hosting anywhere, and now, it’s hard not to find such prices. The hosting market has become increasing bigger by the day, forcing prices to be driven down, and to unbelievable lows. Evaluate your needs and the packages available by some hosts you may be interested in. Decide what package you’d like from a particular host, and jot down the monthly and yearly prices, and compare with a few other possible choices.
Also be aware of some costs which may appear hidden. Some hosting companies automatically bill you extra when you exceed your bandwidth or space, otherwise will simply disable your site until you either buy more space or bandwidth or until your next months cycle. Extra email address and databases may also come with extra fees, so make sure you know what the fees are for all of these, to avoid any unexpected charges.
Tip 3: Support
Another essential feature to any good hosting company is there support. You want a host who is as reliable as possible, and is there to help you quickly and easily when ever you run into trouble.
Everyone has experienced there horror stories with hosts not helping with problems, and experiencing excessive amounts of downtime with no way to control it.
Make sure you find a host who is committed to customer service and support. Find answers to these questions:
- Help Desk / Ticket System – Does this host have a help desk to trouble ticket system so you can report problems via email or a web interface?
- Phone Support? – Does this host offers a toll-free telephone number I can call if I run into critical and serious problems? If not, do they have some other equivalent immediate contact method?
- Live Chat Support? – Does this host offer a live chat or email support, so you may contact them or talk to a person one on one to discuss problems?
