The thing about web hosting is that they are a dime-a-dozen; nowadays, you can get web hosting for your website(s) in all shapes, sizes and price-points.
Competition is awesome, right? It drives prices down and increases the level of service. Indeed, thanks to what is now an ultra-competitive market, you can find super cheap web hosting to host one or more of your websites very easily. I’ve seen hosting packages start for as less as a couple of dollars-a-month!
But cheap is not always a good option; in fact, it rarely is.
From random and extended downtimes to crappy customer service, websites hosted on cheap web hosting services end up losing big time.
This is why I always recommend people not to give precedence to the money paid when it comes to choosing web hosting.
Before going for cheap or expensive web hosting service, look for the following in a good web host or a web hosting service:
- It should fulfill your needs: Do a requirements assessment before taking the plunge. Usually, shared hosting is a better option any new website. However if you expect to get a lot of traffic, or want to host a large multi-media rich website, it might be a good idea to invest in dedicated, VPS or cloud-based web hosting solutions. IP Media, for instance, offers all kinds of solutions.
- It should be reliable: In terms of their quality of services, after-sales service, up-times, and so on and so forth. Stick with reputable and well-known names – they are reputable and well-known for a reason!
- It should offer unlimited bandwidth, hosting space and domains: I absolutely love IP Media due to this reason: even their cheapest, basic shared hosting package comes with all these unlimited goodies. What this means is that you’ll never need to worry about your bandwidth running out, or if, for instance, you plan on hosting multiple websites on the same host down the road and discover that your plan/hosting doesn’t allow you to do so. I like the freedom of unlimited!
- It should have a user-friendly back-end/control-panel: If you’re planning on managing your business or personal website your own self, be prepared to spend enough time in the hosting’s control panel. That is yet another area where IP Media excels: you get an excellent, user-friendly UI that has a very short learning curve, even for those unfamiliar with such things.
- It should provide you with responsive technical support: With IP Media, you have the option of getting in touch with a tech-team through various methods: email, phone or live-chat. I’ve been using IP Media for a while, and I absolutely love the fact that they are prompt when it comes to providing assistance, and generally very helpful. They make it a point to solve your problem, the person on the other end will do his best to provide any and all aid and assistance, and they are also quite professional.
- It should provide value to your money: A good web hosting company will provide you excellent value-for-the-buck!
I hope this article will help those trying to find a web hosting provider for their new or existing websites. Do check out my in-depth review on this great web hosting service here, and don’t forget to leave your feedback as well!