The Costs Of Good Web Hosting

The cost of good web hosting differs among web hosts. It can cost anywhere from Free to hundreds of dollars each month. Here you will learn about the different price ranges of web hosts and hosting plans. Use this information to gain insight regarding web hosts and help you make the most informed decision when searching the web for a web host.

Generally you will find five web hosts pricing styles. First you have the free Web Hosting,then the low budget Web Hosting,the low cost Web Hosting,the semi-pricey Web Hosting, and the high end Web Hosting.Each web hosting style has it’s advantages and disadvantages,as well as different price structures. Let’s start with the “Free Web Hosting” now this might sound inviting, after all it is free. But having a free web host comes at a price, the web host usually offer a smaller amount of web space, and are good for only “simple needs” customers,(no databases, media, email, etc.) Then they need to support themselves to supply free web hosting so, they charge for other services, such as: email, domain name registration, banner removal or service upgrades. Extra costs from free hosts for, yearly domain name registration fee, one-time set-up fee, fee to remove ad banners. You can expect no customer support, if you have a problem with your website. And in most cases you have to put” there” banners on your site, that will make your site look tacky and unprofessional.

The “Low Budget” web hosting, are similar to free hosts in features offered, and reliability and support. These web hosts also charge a smell fee, from $1-$15 dollars per month. The good thing is they usually don’t require users to place banner ads on their sites. These sites are usually called “basic plan” or “starter plan”, and are made for a beginning web user who isn’t worried about site support or reliability.

The “Low-Cost” Web Hosts are the most popular, and the most competitive group out there. As far as affordability and services offered they are the best of both worlds. Low cost web hosts,offer a lot of features for a very low price, starting between $5-$10 per month. this sort of host is recommended the most because of the low price and they offer the best features and tools. The down side is they offer so much for so little and spend more on marketing than customer support and hardware. So, if you don’t need instant support, and a big website these hosts are the best deal out there.

Hosts that are “pricey” hosts are merely overpriced low-cost hosts that don’t have the top-notch features or support of high-end hosts. These hosts are usually from $15-$50 per month,and are the smaller web hosts who haven’t been able to drop prices enough to compete with the low cost web hosting crowd. Because of the price they usually have fewer customers resulting in a more one-on-one service. If you can afford them, make sure to get a reliable one that plans to be around for awhile.

Almost all web hosts have a package to beat all packages, this is the “High End” web hosting package. If you are a shared hosting users with a need for specific services or quality trained web site support staff, than this is the one you need. You can expect a high level of performance from these premium hosts. Prices can start as low as $15 per month, and go up to hundreds of dollars per month. You should expect some very professional and efficient service, with good reliability.

Why Free Web Hosting Is Not A Good Option

We have been so used to grabbing anything that is free that it has become our second nature. But often we forget that with free comes a lot of issues that are hidden which can cause immense trouble. You may have just started your business and you may not be sure of the response that you would get, so you do not want to spend your money on going for a paid website.

But you must think about your future plans when your business would grow and you would need a reliable site. The only advantage with free web hosting is that you do not have to pay anything but the disadvantages here outweigh the advantages on a large scale. Here are a few points to keep in mind why free web hosting is not a good option.

Advertising

This is one of the most important points to consider when opting for a free web hosting service. Since these web hosts do not charge you anything they will ask you to advertise for various products on your site as this is the source of sustaining their business. You will have no option but to bide with their demands.

The problem here is that your site will be filled with advertisements that have no relation with the content of your website and your site will lose its purpose. Your visitors will not be happy to stay and move on and this could cost you your business. You need to determine whether you want to display these ads or retain your customers by going in for paid sites that do not have such conditions.

URL

When you choose a free web hosting provider they will not allow an independent URL for your site and you have to use their sub-domain. Now you do not want to create a weak impression on your customers by using a sub-domain name, do you? If you want you can use redirect URLs also but this will only divert the traffic from your site to the sub domains.

This means that your site will only be redirecting traffic to other sites, which will be considered as a site that does not have data by the search engines. This can affect your site very badly as your site will not be indexed and therefore you will not be able to garner any traffic.

Bandwidth and Control

The free web hosting providers do not allow any advanced features like database and .htaccess files. You will have to be contented with only an ftp account for uploading your files. Also the bandwidth that is provided to you is limited. So once you use your quota your site is blocked and no one can access your site. You will either have to pay them or shut down your site permanently. Also you will not be allowed to monetize your site. So think how can you do business with so many restrictions?

Knowing The Difference Between A “Bad” Web Hosting Company & A “Good” Web Hosting Company

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.

How to Find a Good Web Hosting Company?

Finding a web hosting company is very easy. But finding a reliable web hosting company is tough. If the offer is too good to be true, then most likely it really is. From this article, you are sure fire way to have some advantage when you are looking for a web hosting company. Whether it is shared web hosting, VPS, Reseller or a Dedicated Server. I assume you know what different types of web hosting mean, so I won’t go into the definitions.

If you are new in web hosting, I recommend, check the following article in “Wikipedia”, on ‘Web Hosting’ before you start your journey.

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_hosting

Some of the things you need to be aware of

The points below are very serious, and you must not fall for them.

- Sign-up/Payment Page is not secure. (e.g. no SSL, takes you through an un trusted payment gateway)
- Unlimited Resources*
- There’s no other way to contact a web host besides email.**
- Web Host protects it’s domain with private registration.
- Asks for SSN or other confidential data.
- Asks for payment information on the web page (e.g. PayPal User id and Password).

*Unlimited Resources
If the price sounds too good to be true for the amount of resources you are getting, then probably it is. In the web hosting industry it’s a popular marketing gimmick. Do not pay much attention to the quantity than you really need. But focus on reliability, support and server up time. Request a network uptime report if you have to. If you see this kind of offer on an unknown company, then avoid it. But if you know a company who provide good support and are reliable, then you are good to go.

**Web Hosting Support
Whether a web hosting company is run by an individual or a team. You must have more than one way to contact the company. For example, in an emergency if you have to call the company owner’s home, then you should.

Running a Background Check

If you spend just 10 minutes of your time, you will be able to avoid a lot of hassle that might pile up later. My recommended methods are:

- Check how long the web host has been online. (added by maccrazy of SitePoint Forums
- Reverse IP Check

Check how long the web host has been online

You can easily do this by performing a simple domain name whois check.

- Go to http://www.google.com/
- Search for “free domain whois”
- Click on a result.
- WHOIS the company domain name.
- In the WHOIS information page, you will see the date when the domain was registered, along with its contact information.

If the contact information are private or goes to a PO.BOX, it’s best to avoid them. There are tons of good hosts to choose from.

Reverse IP Check

This trick is very useful and it can help you find a more trusted company.

- Go to ‘http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/web-sites-on-web-server/’
- Enter the domain name of the web hosting company.
- It will list most of the web sites hosted in that server.

- If you see any other web hosting company in the same server, then it is a reseller web host.
- If you see just the company domain name, then most likely they have a Dedicated IP Address, a VPS or a Dedicated Server.
- Read the web host’s testimonial page and reverse ip check their client’s domain name as well.

More information you gather about a company, better it is for you.

Should you choose web hosting from a reseller web host?

It’s a common question everyone ask. The answer to this question is quite simple too. Yes you should. Here are some good reasons why:

- Resellers get special deals. So, you will actually get better features than the parent company for lower costs.
- If the parent company is reputable, then you can trust their data center, server up time, location and technical support.
- In most cases Reseller company’s support staff are faster to resolve a customer’s issue. For example, if you submit a ticket to a big company, it might take few minutes to days. But a reseller company is small in customer base, so it takes less time to solve a problem.

Ask the web hosting company if they are a reseller and how they are different from the parent company. I believe that, there’s no shame for a company to admit that they are resellers.

How to test a web host?
It is very wise to try out any thing before you buy. For example, you wouldn’t necessarily order your birthday cake from a bakery without trying a piece first. Similarly, look for web hosting companies with Unconditional money back guarantee. There are lots of web hosts, who might have clauses on how or when you can get money back. Most common one is:

- Money Back only when the company is at fault.

Basically the above statement means, if you leave the web hosting company in your own terms, they will not issue a refund. It’s a trick to rip you off. But an unconditional guarantee is, you get full refund for leaving a web host within a fixed amount of time (e.g. 30 Days).

Here are some ways to test a web host.

- Ask them questions.
- Confirm their money back guarantee.
- Ask questions on how they offer such good deals.
- Ask for network uptime report.
- chapter from SitePoint Forums suggested:
– ask about their Internet network connection providers and whether or not they choose fastest path or cheapest path.
– ask whether or not they have any certifications like SAS 70 Type II for the data center.
– ask what (if any) bandwidth shaping and restrictions they will place on your service.
– review their MSA and SLA. Will they stand behind what they sell.
– carefully compare their service with others – little differences can make a big difference in performance, reliability and security.

Some other tricks and advice
- Ask if there are any coupons. Do not sign up for the offer listed on the web site. Few minutes can save you a lot of money on web hosting.
- DO NOT SIGN UP with a web host without reading their Terms of Service and Acceptable Usage Policy ever.
- Don’t fall for the marketing gimmicks. Worry about what you need, and what you are getting. Remember reliability, support and up time comes first.

Should you rely on a web hosting review site?

From my experience, you shouldn’t. Because these review sites basically charge the web hosting companies to list them on the top. So, there’s no guarantee if the reviews are even genuine. It’s best to Google Search a web hosting company or ask around in the community forums. I highly recommend SitePoint Marketplace and SitePoint Forums for user reviews on web host.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to find me at Sitepoint Forums.

I hope you enjoyed this article, and I wish you all the best.

Source Citation

Discussion Thread: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=576432
maccrazy: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/member.php?u=24975
chapter: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/member.php?u=291931
SitePoint MarketPlace: http://marketplace.sitepoint.com/
SitePoint Forums: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/

Whats A Good Free Web Hosting Site And Free Forum Board?

Where can i find a site with free web hosting and no sub domain name? Also, where can i find a free forum board to use with the site?

Suggestion For A Good Web-hosting Server?

im not really good in web designing and i cay say that i only know basic stuff to begin with. but im sure that i can always learn and ask in the future. can anyone recommend any good hosting server (free, if there’s any) for a newbie like me? thanks

What Is A Good Reliable Free Web Hosting Site?

I’m looking for a good Free web hosting site.
I dont think that freewebs has web hosting does it?

Any Good Place To Find Free Web Hosting?

Hey, I am basically trying to upload a coming soon page. Anybody know where I can get some free hosting just to put up an image?

What Are Some Good Free Web Hosting Sites?

i’m trying to help my friend set up her site, but we cant find any free web hosting ones that arent complete crap =(
i dont care if there are ads on the page, but we want one that we can make our own layout to. thanks!

I Have A Domain Name And Unused Hosting. What’s A Good Business Idea For An Online Business?

I have a very catchy domain name, and a hosting server laying around for about a year now. I want to start some type of online business, but I’m only sixteen. What I want to start is a business that will get me some money in my pockets, not a billionaire. What are some good ideas I should start? I’ve tried selling my things on ebay, but that’s not really what I want to do. I want to provide a service, or anything on my website to make money.

Next Page »