How to Compare Web Hosting Companies

Web-hosting companies host and serve websites from their servers. There are different types of Web-hosting companies, from small resellers and VPS-hosting providers to large dedicated hosts. These companies offer various hosting packages at different prices.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Decide what you must have in your hosting package. Different hosting providers offer different packages at various prices. Decide if you want a Linux or Microsoft IIS package. This determines the type of website you can build. Consider the content of the packages, like the number of email accounts, spam filters, free domain names, free 24-hour technical support, storage space, monthly transfer bandwidth and data backup.

2. Visit host comparison websites and compare various Web hosts. Decide who is offering the amount of monthly bandwidth and storage space you need, telephone support and other solutions at lower prices. Narrow your choice to a few hosts.

3. Test the Web servers of the hosts you have chosen. Ask the hosting providers you are considering to give you universal resource locators (URLs) of websites they currently host so you can test their services. Good Web hosts won’t have problems with this request. Go to the websites and test them. This allows you to determine their server loading speed and efficiency.

4. Call the customer service and technical support telephone numbers provided by the Web hosts. If none are available, send email messages to their support departments to see how quickly they respond to your messages. Eliminate Web hosts that don’t respond quickly or respond with generic email messages and auto-responders.

5. Read customer reviews. Customers like you write reviews about their experiences with various Web hosts, and this is invaluable information. The more positive reviews a Web host receives, the better. Reading these reviews allows you find out which Web hosts are good and offer excellent customer service and technical support.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t choose a Web host based on price alone. Cheaper Web hosts can cost you more in the long run due to shoddy customer service and technical support.
• When reading customer reviews of any Web host, be aware that some of the positive reviews may have been written by the companies themselves. Visit many review websites and search for the same companies to read their reviews.

Resources

• Find My Hosting: Find, compare and evaluate different hosting plans
• Consumer Search: Web hosting reviews
• Web Hosting Reviews: Customer reviews of Web hosts

[psmith301]

on 5/13/2009 You're right, I've learnt my lesson - NEVER purchase a cheap hosting service. In fact, I'd like to share with you a site that I came across offering comparisons of top web hosts. Stress is on the 'value' of services rather than price. Looks good to me. Check it out http://www.myhostingcompare.com/