How To Choose A Web Host

Finding a Host | Articles

Many business people certainly don't look forward to the time when a suitable
web hosting provider must be chosen. And they have good reasoning behind it.
This article is all about the pros and cons of web hosting companies - including
the scams and some tips on how to avoid them. After reading this article, you
should be more equipped when the time comes for you to make the big decision.

Choosing a Local Host

For businesses that specialize in certain areas (i.e. the area they are located
in), it is quite important to try to choose a host that is located near you.
Some reasons are:

Your website will be downloaded faster by the majority of your visitors
You will have access to local technical support when required
You will have greater success with service complaints to higher bodies

Your website will be downloaded faster by the majority of your visitors

If the host is located near you, when your visitors download content from
your website it will be delivered faster to them than if the host was located
interstate or overseas. However, many hosting companies in fact resell hosting
solutions from other companies - these other companies could be located
elsewhere, and although you think you're getting service from a local company,
you are in fact receiving it from somewhere else.

Fortunately, there is a way to find out if the host you are thinking about
choosing is located near you. Assuming that the host's own website is hosted on
the same servers that they provide to their customers (which is almost always
the case, however can't be relied upon 100%), you can find out the IP address of
their website and using that, the exact city in which they are located. Once you
have the IP address (which you can obtain by "pinging" their website), you can
enter it into a program called
NeoTrace,
which will tell you the city they are located in.

You will have access to local technical support when you need it

With all technology these days, something is always bound to go wrong. Web site
hosting is no different, and when you notice that something is wrong with your
site or e-mail, you need it fixed quickly. You could be losing customers while
your website is offline! In times like these, you need instant access to
technical support. Making a phone call always results in a faster response than
sending an e-mail, and obviously making a phone call to a hosting company
located close to you will save you money. You don't want to be paying interstate
or international rates to receive support!

You will have greater success with service complaints to higher bodies

Many business people receive the infamous "Nigerian Money Scam" in their inboxes
on a weekly, possibly even daily, basis. The well-known scam promises you a cut
of a large sum if you "help" by "hiding" the money. To "help", you have to
provide your bank account details - and that's where the scam begins. Don't be
surprised if you do this and find out the next day that your account has been
cleaned out!

One of the reasons this scam is so successful is because the people that pilot
it are based in Nigeria. If you are from Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, or
any other country, and you fall for this scam, the people that have your money
are out of reach of any law enforcement agency. That's why you must be careful
with hosting companies that aren't located near you - if your credit card gets
continually charged until it reaches the credit limit, and the host is located
in Nigeria, there's not much you can do about it!

Fraud isn't the only problem with web hosts. A host might provide terrible
service that you aren't happy about. Here in Australia, the independent
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman takes
complaints from consumers about telephone or internet services provided by other
companies (and there would be similar options available in other countries).
It's a great way to get your complaint heard if the company in question is not
listening to you. Once again, if your web host is located out of your country,
it will be quite hard to file a complaint this way.

Avoiding Hosting Scams

Recently, one of my friends found a web host that provided fantastic facilities,
including unlimited data storage and unlimited data transfer, for only $1 per
month.

Pop quiz: What are three of the surest signs that a hosting company is a
scam?

If you don't know the answer to that question, read the first sentence of this
section again.

Three of the surest signs that a hosting company is a scam are a promise of
"unlimited" (or unusually high) data storage, a promise of "unlimited" (or
unusually high) data transfer, and an unusually low price. Paying $1 a month for
hosting works out to $12 a year. Can you really expect a hosting company to
survive with an income like that? They'd only get a lunch or two each year out
of your $12.

Providing "unlimited" data storage and "unlimited" data transfer is technically
impossible. No computer system can keep storing information forever - if you
wrote a program that continuously uploaded 10 kilobytes of data to your host
every second of the day, you'd upload 843.75 gigabytes of data in a 24-hour
period. In a week, you'd have almost 6,000 gigabytes. Most hosts would not be
able to store that!

Data transfer costs money, even for hosting providers. If a hosting provider
promises you unlimited data transfer, it's a sign of a scam. If it costs them
money, how can they afford to give it to you for free?

Before going with a new hosting company, always take some time to check them
out. Do a quick search in Google for your host, and read up on any articles and
reviews that come up about them. By reading about other people's experiences,
you can learn from their mistakes.

When I mention scams, I don't mean that scamming hosting companies are not
giving you what they promise. I mean that they are promising something that is
too good to be true, to get you lured in, and then they run off with your money.
A simple well-known phrase that will keep you protected most of the time if you
stick to it - If it's too good to be true, it probably is!

Choosing A Host That Meets Your Needs

Choosing a host that meets your needs is important. You need to choose one that
provides what you need, and doesn't provide what you don't need. You don't want
to get stuck out in the cold with a website that doesn't function as you want it
to, and you don't want to be paying for facilities that you don't use. So, take
some time to write a quick list of what you're looking for in a web host.

How much money are you willing to spend? (setup fees,
monthly/quarterly/yearly charges)
How much data storage space do you need?
How much data transfer allowance do you need?
Do you require e-mail accounts? How many?
Do you need access to a server-side scripting and database solution? (ASP,
PHP, Cold Fusion, Perl, CGI, MySQL, Microsoft Access, FrontPage)

There are many more questions you could ask yourself - these are just some of
them. You may also need to have a chat to your web host to make the final
decisions on what facilities you need. For example, if you have five pages in
your site with not many images or downloads you won't need more than five
megabytes of storage space. But if you have sixty pages of content and a large
download directory, you'll need a lot more space and lots of data transfer
allowance if you're planning on people downloading from you!

Conclusion

Today I've explained to you some of the aspects of web hosting that you should
consider before choosing which company you will trust with your important web
site. You've learnt about scams and how to avoid them, and you've learnt the
importance of choosing a host that meets your needs and is located close to you.
My hope is that you'll go out ready to make a decision now with more confidence
and research behind your choice.