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How do I choose a web hosting company?

Originally published on Sunday, July 31st, 2005

Often overlooked, choosing the right web hosting company can be the difference between a smooth transition onto the Web and the ultimate website nightmare. Here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Choose a company that offers phone support, 24-hour support if possible

Truth be told, countless web hosting companies are 20-year old kids reselling web server space from a legitimate company or building their first web server in their parents’ basement. When problems occur, you don’t want to find out that your IT tech support is mastering Playstation, or worse yet, at after-school intramurals. If the only way to contact the company is via a web form, don’t bother.

2. Don’t pay for features, web space, etc. that you won’t use

Assuming you’ve narrowed down your list of web hosting candidates, your next step is to choose a hosting plan to suit your needs. You’ll see specs like “unlimited email accounts, ” “50 GB transfer,” and “unlimited e-mail forwarding.” This is great and all, but 99% of all clients I’ve ever worked with never come close to using all of the features included in their plan. If price is an issue, 3 GB of transfer, 200 MB of storage space, 10-20 POP email accounts, server-side language support (PHP, ASP, ASP.NET) and a database (MySQL, Access, SQL Server) are all you need for professional-level web applications. Don’t fret if the cool guestbook and hits counter aren’t included in your plan. Those are SO 1995.

3. Make sure they do DAILY web server backups!

This is where it starts to get nerdy, but consider this: some web hosts SAY their servers are reliable, but I’ve seen plenty of situations to the contrary. More likely, however, is the possiblity that you or your developer (if you’re a small business owner) will make a mistake to potentially compromise your web site. I once saw a company’s entire e-commerce database get deleted by accident. In the life of a web developer, this is a code red. Luckily, the hosting company backed up their servers twice a day. They were able to restore the database to what it was 12 hours before the catastrophe, and thus prevented a MAJOR disaster. Keep your own backups of your website, sure. But make sure your web host has your back in the event of an “oops” moment.

In summary,

Make sure the web host offers excellent phone support.
Don’t overpay for bells and whistles that you won’t use.
Make sure the host does daily, if not more frequent, server backups.
Don’t be afraid to call the host and ask lots of questions.

So you’re probably wondering what web hosts I prefer. I’ve had positive experiences with Verio (www.verio.com), Hostway (www.hostway.com), and Alentus (www.alentus.com). By far, though, my favorite web host is 1and1 Internet. I won’t promise a fairy tale experience, but they’ve been good to me and that’s enough for an endorsement.

Happy web host hunting!

This article was written by Christopher Jason and published on Sunday, July 31st, 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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