Today, web hosting packages are cheaper than ever, with many hosts offering unlimited resources such as bandwidth, storage space, addon domains, databases, and more, all for less than $10 per month! And while this might seem like a good deal, there are a few other factors that you should consider before selecting a hosting plan. These include quality of support, uptime guarantee, and plan features.
Quality of Support
Whether you are a developer extraordinare or a complete novice, you will have questions from time to time on using your hosting account. Remember, this is not your personal computer, so you are probably not aware of all of the individual settings that your host may have used to configure the server.
And even if you do not need any special assistance, you will want to know that you can notify your web host if something undesirable — such as a server failure or attack — were to occur.
So when choosing a web host, be sure to select one that has readily available technical support via phone of Live Chat. The best hosts usually have support technicians available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Uptime Guarantee
It is also important to make sure that your website will be always accessible. After all, downtime often means disappointed visitors and lost revenue.
So when selecting web hosts, ask about their uptime guarantee. An uptime guarantee is a monthly money-back guarantee that your website will not be down.
Of course, there will be some unavoidable downtime such as when servers are upgraded or rebooted, so you probably will not find a web host offering 100% uptime. However, you will find some good hosts offering 99.9%, which is the industry standard for shared web hosting.
Plan Features
Last but not least, it is very important to compare features and make sure that your hosting package will support the needs of your website. Some things that you might consider include: bandwidth allowance, disk/storage space, number of databases, dynamic script support and versions, and number and quality of email accounts.
To avoid purchasing a plan that is incompatible, be sure to gain a good understanding of what resources your website may need. (In many cases, this may necessitate a discussion with your developer.) And it is also a good idea to select a host which offers a trial period, so that you can opt out of a plan if it does not meet your needs.
Your choice of web host is one of the most important things that you’ll need to decide on when planning your website. A bad host can cause your website to function poorly and/or be inaccessible. And given the time, effort, and money that you are investing in building your website, it is worth it to select a good host
source www.velvetblues.com
